3" Burrell Traction Engine build.

 Stoke Prior Steam Show Sat 16th - Sun 17th Sep 2023 The show as usual was well attended, and I'm happy to report the paying numbers looked good despite the 10% suggestion of rain from Alexa on Saturday, and Sunday being showers all day. This is in contrast to last year, when we got sun burnt.  😎 The show boasted 737 individual exhibits which included 26 miniatures, and 6 full size engines, along with a huge number of commercials, cars, bikes, military vehicles and stationary engine displays. This time unlike last year also had a miniature railway, which was fascinating to watch, as long as you could keep the coal ash out of your eyes :-) <--(My car displaying the Lotus 907 engine). I attended Saturday with the classic car a Jensen Healey 1973, but was lucky enough to get a drive on a friends 4" scale Foster Traction engine. This was the highlight of the day for me, as its the first time driving a miniature. I have previously only driven a full size Fowler Road Locomotive ...

 Burrell Bearings. (Part 2) and Carbide Tips Hello  I'm fresh back from another holiday, and back in the workshop to continue with the bearings. Also to refamiliarize myself with the shed again. 😏 At this stage its just roughing off loads of the material to get the basic shape of the two shells.  Accurate fitting in the housings will follow then the boring of the holes out for the crankshaft. A temporary silver steel shaft of the correct size will be used to check the alignment and hence mesh of the gears.     Also as this time of the year we are approaching the Midlands Model Engineers exhibition in Warwick, my attention normally turns to a shopping list of part and tools I might need for the winter.    This leads me into another side feature on tooling and in particular what I use on the lathe. Tipped Tooling A  tipped tool  is any  cutting tool  in which the cutting edge consists of a separate piece of material that is...

 Burrell Bearings. Finally Something Different.. This month as by way for a change from some of the other long term parts, I have made a start on the bearing material. This was a slab of cast Bronze from the foundry, and I have started the preliminary squaring up and cutting in half, to make 2 smaller manageable but identical pieces.  Following a study of the drawings, it also has meant the bearing housings have needed additional machining, as they were oversize for the bearings to fit. Essentially some small corrections are expected, and making parts fit each other correctly is a double check on the drawing accuracy as I'm going along. When both the housings are complete to a width of 1 inch internal size then the bearing shell work can continue. In other thinking - (and this is an odd side topic) - My Machines. I have a number of machines, some easier to use, some more accurate and with less run out.   When rectifying a part, if it could be machined by the Lathe or...