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Scratchbuilt Piston/Machine-Shop Project.


RTz

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I introduced my grandson to machining over the last couple day's, as he seemed to have a sparkle of interest. The first project was a simple pair of spacers for SuperDan. They were perfect for learning how the machine 'moves', basic safety, cutting tools, and the thought process. He built a pair that were identical to within one half-thousandth on his first go!

 

Well then... time to graduate onto something a little more fun. We decided on a 1" piston. His work is an impressive first effort at any age, let alone 13...

 

Done-1.jpg

 

 

 

Some in-process work...

 

Facing...

 

PistonB.jpg

 

 

 

Grooving the ring lands...

 

PistonC.jpg

 

 

Milling the skirt...

 

PistonD.jpg

 

 

He insisted on valve reliefs :-)...

 

PistonE.jpg

 

 

 

The Mad Machinist at work....

 

MadMachinist.jpg

 

 

Finished...

 

PistonF.jpg

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PistonG.jpg

 

I'm not sure which one of us had more fun!

 

He's already talking about building a conrod.... Its not hard to imagine where this is going :-)

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Guest bojo68

After looking at your scratch built intake, he's got a good teacher. When I took machine shop they told us that you were supposed to tie an old grease rag around any cuts on your hands. He seems to have missed that part...:)

Bye the way, I've built some custom intakes too, and believe me NONE were anywhere near as pretty as yours. I think at least one of them might have come close in effectiveness however. I used to like the old Isky dual port idea, and made some of them for things Isky didn't.

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The real challenge will be the billet aluminum block and cast iron liners, oh, and the double overhead 4V cylinder heads, not to mention the billet crank, rods, roots blower etc, etc. We fully expect that to be completed and running by Christmas you know.

 

Well I just got as far as rods and a block in my mind but I was thinking about doing something like this at work. I don't think I will now.... I can't imagine trying to make a crank or a block with a mill with dial gauges. Aluminum would seem to be the way to go though.... Good luck.

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I wanna see a scale turbo or super-charger too! Put THAT into a radio controlled Z and see if you can match the real thing in the 1/4 mile.

Radio controlled S30Z, now THAT I'd like to see...S30 bodies are SO hard to find these days in any scale.

 

Very cool project Ron! Looks like Rusch Motorsports is getting a little competition up there!

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We fully expect that to be completed and running by Christmas you know.

 

 

Christmas 2015? :wink:

 

One of my favorites is the scale Offy...

 

P9220010.jpg

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P9220007-1.jpg

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P9220045-1.jpg

 

 

I have the complete prints for it. I keep telling myself 'someday...'

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I can't imagine trying to make a crank or a block with a mill with dial gauges.

 

I think building a small crankshaft on a mill wouldn't be much harder than a lathe. An upright rotary table with a matching 'tailstock'... and away you go. The biggest drawback might be finish quality, but I think a home-built crank polisher would wrap things up nicely.

 

Just my dos pesos.

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I can't really see how you could do the rod journals. Please enlighten me :)

 

Machining is is like a lot of things... there are usually a number of accepted way's to do any one thing. That said, the below picture illustrates probably the most common way to machine the mains and throws...

 

 

MachineCrank.jpg

 

 

In this example, three 'centers' are spot drilled on each end of the blank. Install a Faceplate and Center in place of the lathe chuck along with a Center in the Tailstock. Capture the blank in the Centers (with the Tailstock) and use a Faceplate Dog to drive it (usually Faceplates and drive Dogs come with the lathe). Now you have a means of rotating the blank on each of the three centers. Obviously it will 'wobble' when machining the throw's, but speeds should be low anyhow if using steel. Finally, part off the end cheeks when the mains and throws are completed.

 

Again, there are numerous methods to achieve the same thing... use your imagination :wink:

 

Hope this helps.

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