3" Burrell Traction Engine build.

 3" Burrell Traction Engine / Steering Stuff       Cutting 3mm steering bracket in the miller. I think I found a small problem on the Bridport / Plastow 3" Burrell drawings. The dimension of the steering bearings ID is not right. The chain drum axle is 1/2", but the bearing states 5/8" bore? However as I was going to make the bearing in mild steel, with a bronze bush pushed in. Then boring it out 1mm bigger to 16.8mm this means I can have a bronze bush with a 2mm wall thickness and it all looks ok. I think other people have done this, it seems a waste to swarf off a big bit of bronze for this part. I found some spare bits of bronze from the front axle that I made wrong so its not going to waste. Above the steering bracket being cut on the miller, someone commented it was a very versatile machine the Centec 2A, and Its true I do perform a number of different setup/machining operations on the machine. Sensitive tapping off centre, between centres. The next it...

 Burrell TE, Horn plates (Part 3) revisited..... Following on from a successful show/ open day with the engine the horn plates had to be stripped down of the bearings to allow the axle shaft bearings to be machined.   The setup for drilling the axle hole. Note the use of temporary fixings from the aircraft industry to hold the two horn plates together. A special Jig was made as a way of checking the distance for the gears to mesh correctly (Photo Below-Right). The Jig can be seen in position (Photo Below-Left). Once the distance of 6" has been set, the hole's can be opened up to the 30mm for the bronze bearings. It is also possible to remove the bar a leave the silver steel pegs in, then placing the gears on these shaft as a final running check.  Final 2 shots: the holes were completed, and the complete thing was reassembled for a customary photo. The bearings still have the tapped holes to complete but these shots show the size of the engine and the weight is unbelievabl...