Sloth

Hello, During the last four weeks, Anna and I spend a lot of time with gardening. Also, I build a new green house for Anna (Chinese made kit ). The last green house was a flimsy affair, it was cheap but served its purpose well. So a new, and more sturdy one was ordered. Took me several days to assemble it. Lets say that the assembly manual left a lot to guess about. Original manual was translated from Chinese in to the French language, from there to English and German, and all four where used to come up with a Dutch translation (well, some kind of Dutch 🤣). Cleveland activities: First of all, I would kindly thank Terry Harper very much for the very nice 3D drawings and STL files, of the brake drums! They are of an outstanding quality and detail. I printed the drums on my 3D printer and they came out perfect. I used a filler/primer, this to get rid of the printing pattern. After that, and after some sanding, I will paint them with 2K paint, and hope, by the beginning of next week deliver them to the foundry to have them cast in grey iron. Brake drums, two different axle diameters. Will need two of each. My 3D printer, next investment will be an enclosure for it. Printing an brake drum, using PLA. As soon as the drums are painted in glossy yellow, I will publish better pictures. Furthermore, I completed the drawings of the head gaskets and ordered them at "Gasketstogo" in Thailand. Also tried to order piston rings at "Otto engine". I did send two emails, each one a month apart, but I did not get any reaction. Tried to call, but the phone was not answered. So I give up and will look for a different supplier. Also I am still working on a drawing for the brake bell crank and some small levers, hope to complete it coming weekend. Regards, Harm

Hello, Today, at last, I completed the drawing of the simplest head gasket of the Cleveland engine. Next in line is the more complex head gasket. The Cleveland has two head gaskets, one for the inlet and exhaust "chamber", and one for the head to the cylinder. I am sorry for the quality of the picture, during conversion from DWG to PDF to JPG, it got blurry. I need to investigate to improve that process. To day I started early, 07:00 hr and managed to get the Ford model A engine running, but oh boy is that engine tight. So after running the engine for 30 minutes at low RPM, I called it a (very short) day. No overheating occurred nor worrying sounds from the bearing department. The remaining part of the day I spend learning QCad. Regards, Harm

Hello Terry, Thank you very much for offering your expertise! I am impressed by the quality of the drawing and molds, they look wonderful. To be honest, one of the many problems with the Cleveland, are the brake drums. This type of drums, I only saw these fitted on a 1903 Mitchell. They did not came with the Cleveland when I bought it. I postponed the manufacturing of them, hoped I would find them some day. But after looking for them during 20 odd years I gave up. So I could make molds of wood (the proven but old fashioned way), instead I am thinking about drawing them in 3D. But, as I am struggling to master a 2D drawing program, 3D is way out of reach for me. Maybe it is an interesting small project for students? I own a 3D printer (and know how to use it 😉), printing could be a bit slow, but till now Anna and I printed a lot of parts (ThingiVerse). So printing would not be the problem, but 3D drawing 😰😰. Below are pictures and description of the drums (left and right), copied from a Hayden Eames catalog of 1902. Terry, please let me know if this is something for students to take on. If not, no problem. Regards, Harm

Hello Mike, At my former job, my department used AutoCad (2D) for years. A few engineers where quite good with it. But some years ago, we needed to draw our designs more and more 3D. So we changed to Fusion 360.... well, that took quite a while, courses and effort, before they mastered it. But, I must say, the results where marvelous. A few years ago I gave it a try, and very soon lost the battle 😒. As I need drawings for the head gaskets and drawings for bell-cranks (to have them water or plasma cut), I think 2D is OK for the near future. Later (when mastering 3D) I hope to make 3D molds for the bell cranks and have them properly cast at the iron foundry. Regards, Harm

Hello, I got a bit distracted by finishing the rebuild of the Ford model A engine. Took a lot more time and effort than I previously anticipated. For example, the carburetor: I am fond of Tillotson carburetors for the Ford, always driven them with the Tillotson model X and have good experiences with them. Sold my last one to a friend (should not have done that...) As they are a bit rare in the Netherlands, I ordered a "rebuild" one on Ebay. Big mistake, the carburetor looked good (at first glance) but when put on the engine, it leaked petrol like a sieve. Well, disassembled the carb, no gaskets what so ever, main jet broken and so on. Further more, a lot of warping of the upper part. Long story short, I rebuild it, milled out the warping so the upper part fits nicely on the lower body. Removed the stuck main jet part., and so on. O well, just the usual mishaps when restoring an old car. Crankshaft: original and never polished, showed some slight warping of the flywheel flange, so out with it. And after careful measuring the crankshaft between the centers in the lathe I observed a slight bend at the second main bearing. Took me one day to correct it, not difficult, but putting it under the hydraulic press, and taking it at the lathe again, becomes (after a number of this movements) quite heavy. But after a very light skimming of the flywheel flange, the crankshaft is perfect now with a minimal flywheel wobble (< 0.001"). I while ago, I started with learning to use a simple 2D CAD drawing tool for engineers. I bought QCad, the reason is simple, first I tried a free program, but that proved unstable, my frustration and blood pressure ran quite high 🤬. So I looked for another simple (relatively that is) but stable program. After some evenings visiting expert sites and user groups, I have chosen QCad. It got good reviews, is stable and has a very good user manual with a lot of examples and exercises. Most evenings I am busy with self education, because due to Corona, there are no vocational courses available. This old dog is trying to learn new tricks...😉. My ultimate goal is learning 3D-CAD as used by engineers, I tried a free program, but that was a bit to much (very complicated -non intuitive- user interface). So first I have to start with 2D-CAD, just to get the hang of it. I must say I am happy with my progress so far 😊. First serious drawing will be the head gaskets for the Cleveland engine. The Cleveland got -unfortunately- a bit to the background. First thing to do is line boring the main bearings, no reason to postpone that chore any longer. Regards, Harm

Hello, Today I spend a lot of time, taking measurements of the position of the con rod in relation to the sump. Well, the idea of yesterday of making some kind of oil catcher will not work. I was mistaken by the position of the drip oiler on the engine, it drips on the wrong side of the con rod. Redirecting the oil, by some kind tubing seems not possible, there is not enough room into the crankcase for it. I turned the con rod up side down, oil hole to the bottom of the engine. Well, the distance between the oil hole and the sump is just 1 3/8". The con rod also turns into the right direction (clockwise). If I make a small tube with a scoop on the end, with just a 1/8" clearance between the scoop and the sump, it scopes up the oil in the sump, problem solved..... I hope. Regards, Harm

Hello Mark, Looks nice and shiny, well the inclusion, I would be "creative" with the oil grooves😀, I would use it as is. Keeping in mind that the bearing is used for an accessory shaft. I guess that the load is not an impact load as with a crankshaft or con rods. If used for a crankshaft or con rods, I would re-pour it, but not for this application. Regards, Harm

Hello Terry, I think that is a real possibility, as there is an oiler just above the rotational returning point of the con rod. So if I keep the hole up (as Cadillac did) and I make some kind of "oil catcher "and screw that into the hole, oil supply is guaranteed. Well, tomorrow I will take some measurements, to proof that this will work as described. One of the pictures I got from Roger Weiss shows an Oiler on top of the engine. Regards, Harm

Hello Al, Thanks, but I really have no idea. Maybe they screwed in some kind of oil scoop? I still have to measure the clearance between the lowest point of the crankshaft and the sump. Regards, Harm

Today, after searching the web, I found a nice detailed picture of a Cadillac con rod. It seems to answer my question about the threaded hole in the Cleveland con rod. To me it looked like an oil hole. See picture below, red arrow point to the oil hole. Gentleman, do I assume this right, is it an oil hole? Picture copied from a 1903 "Instruction Book for the Cadillac Automobile" Regarding the counterweights, I could not find another crankshaft from that period, with these bolted on counter weights. Regards, Harm

Hello sir, That is a nice set of molds you have made. Keeping the mold, the shell and the Babbitt at temperature is indeed very important. I use a fairly large cast iron ladle (drawback: its heavy), this keeps the temperature of the Babbitt long enough stable for pouring. When I did my first pour (longer ago than I want to remember 😁), it really looked terrible, but after a while I got the hang of it. I just kept on trying. The car still runs on that Babbitt bearings. Good luck with your second pour. Regards, Harm

This morning I took a picture of the hole in the con rod diameter about 5/16", it has a very fine thread in it. Did not figure out yet what kind of thread it is. As you can see, the connecting rod sides are machined, but left with a really very rough finish. Threaded hole in connecting rod. (Somehow I have the idea that the hole was later machined there.) Here are all the counterweights parts. Counterweights weighing 4.33 Lbs each. Assembled counterweights with the crankshaft. Side view of the assembled counterweights. The U bolts seemed to have been repaired several times (at the thread-ends), so I will make new ones. The thread on the U bolts is 5/16 BSW, I consider that a bit odd, but all the threads on the Cleveland engine are BSW or BSF, the same applies for the gearbox. I was under the impression that at that time (1902/1903) standardization to UNF and UNC was already done. Further as it is still bitter cold in- en outside the shop, I came to nothing useful. Regards, Harm

Hello Ed, Thanks for your advise. No the engine does not have a scupper, looking at the con rod cap it did not have one originally. The only strange thing I can see, the con rod has a threaded hole (about 3/8") to the bearing like and oil hole, but why threaded? Did some oil catcher of some sort was screwed in that hole? Could that be some kind of scupper, mmm interesting. Time to find out how deep the con rod goes into the sump. Maybe I can design something acting like a scupper. I will take detail pictures tomorrow. Regards, Harm

Hello Mike, Yes, I was aware that that you had the same weather, saw it on the weather radar pictures. After the weekend thaw will set in here, and temperatures will rise to 50F, but they also predicted a lot of rain. But first we will have some bitter cold nights. Mike, thank you for the Douglas Motorcycle link. The way they assembled the con rods, and the con rod bearings at the crankshaft is very ingenious, really very clever. I guess these motor bikes were expensive in their time? The bearings for these engines are split roller bearings. I had a very enjoyable afternoon and the best had yet to come..... Reading a blog on the Douglas Motorcycle technical forum (Illustrated tour on the pre-war OHV Douglas Crankshaft), I saw some vaguely familiar pieces at the pictures. I thought they looked like some pieces of steel that came with my Cleveland. I never could identify them, let alone if they belonged to the Cleveland or not. So I stored them and forgot their existence till this afternoon. To my amazement, those pieces appeared to be crankshaft counterweights! So I took the box with the unidentified pieces of the shelf, and tried to assemble the parts. You would not believe it, but those steel pieces and the U-straps fitted like a glove on the Cleveland crankshaft, even the nuts fit. Tomorrow I will take some pictures of the crankshaft assembly and publish them. Mike, I am very grateful for your help, this was really unexpected 😀. Best regards, Harm

Hi Al, No snow at all. Saturday morning the 6th the temperature was about 40F and it rained a bit. Late in the afternoon it became windy and colder. At night the temperature dropped fast, and "windy" became a storm and it started to snow. And it stayed till Tuesday morning. At this very moment its 18F outside... Regards, Harm

Hello, The last week of January I spend at completing the Ford model A engine. I rebuild the distributor, oil pump, water pump and starter motor, also new valves etc. Went well, until I put in the adjustable valve lifters. They are impossible to adjust easily, the problem is that the square on the lifter body falls below the lifter guide (with the valve in closed position), so it is impossible to put a spanner on it. Luckily, a lot has been written about it, so I do "What the Romans did" and follow the advises given . Last Friday and Saturday I cleaned the Babbitt bearing of the connecting rod of the Cleveland engine and bored and scraped it at a 0.0015" play. I used PlastiGauge to see if the play I measured was real. It was, so I am happy about it. Only thing left: putting oil channels in. Gentlemen here I have a question: as I have no experience with horizontal engines, where in the bearing shells should I locate them?? I must say I could not find any reference on the internet to it. I just have one picture of it, for some reason the other pictures (I made a lot of them) just will not leave my IPhone... Ready for boring, micrometer for making sure everything stays straight as the clamping nut is tightened. After boring and fitting on the crankshaft, I measured it again for straightness and if the piston pin is parallel to the crankshaft. Did it by using a steel shaft (very straight) and a machine level. Everything is fine, the crankshaft and the piston pin are parallel and the con rod is not twisted (measured it with 4 positions of the crankshaft) and against the table of the milling machine. Will try to get the other pictures off my IPhone... The last few days, I did not much at the shop. It is really too cold. Last Saturday (the 6th of Feb.) a cold wind started to blow from the North East. Saturday night the wind speed increased to a storm including snowfall (some kind of a Blizzard), which is very rare for our country (sea climate). Monday the country came to a stand still and no traveling was possible. So how about that for enforcing the Covid lock down 😁. Long story short, Tuesday early in the morning it stopped snowing. The temperature dropped to 17 F, coming night Friday/Saturday it will drop to about 6 F. We are not used to this kind of weather.... So that is the reason I do not go to the shop, the shop stove can not keep up with this kind of weather (and neither can I). Below are some pictures of our farm and neighborhood. The last time this kind of weather appeared, was during the winter of 2009/2010. Removing the snow from our driveway was not difficult. Weeks before I put the front loader on the small tractor and used it to shovel most of the snow. But as could be expected I got very cold.... so this time the "seat time" was not very pleasant. Picture I took this afternoon, sunny but windy again. Anna shoveling snow and clearing the doors of the shed so I can get the tractor out..... Stupid me stored the tractor inside, it now stays outside (advice of my better half 😙 ). Sunday afternoon, just 30". Monday afternoon 45". Snow all over the place. All ditches are filled with snow, one should be careful to walk there. Looks a bit desolate..... the wind is still blowing (Monday morning the 8th of Feb.) The weather forecast predicts: thaw will set in after the weekend. Regards, Harm

Hello Sir, Good to read you will give it a try. Just one tip, be careful with the aluminum mold. Make sure that the Babbitt will not stick to it, when I pored the Flanders20 bearings, I learned that the hard way. To remedy this, I put soot on the mold (trick I learned out of an old book about pouring bearings). I guess there are other releasing agents, but I used some soot from the shop stove. Good luck with the poring! Regards, Harm

Started very early in the morning, cleaning the ladle and used fresh Babbitt. I started Babbitting the remaining shells, they came out very nice and shiny. This got me worrying, why are the shells I poured yesterday much more dull. Long story short, I cleaned the shells I poured yesterday and started all over again. I did not mix the "old" Babbitt with the fresh Babbitt. After pouring, all of the shells came out nice and shiny. I am satisfied now. Probably something wrong with the "old" Babbitt? I don't know. @Al, bubbles are mostly caused by moisture. Cleanliness and slow heating before pouring of the shells to get rid of moisture is of utmost importance, also slow heating of the fixture is important. You will be amazed how much moisture will show on the surface of the fixture when you heat it. All the shells are done, on the picture they look a bit dull. In reality they are more shiny. This shell is ready to be poured, the green stuff is the Babbitt Rite. Next job will be the removal of excess Babbitt of the bushing and the shells. This afternoon I collected my Ford model A engine block. It is sleeved and milled back to standard size pistons. Coming weeks I must overhaul the distributor, oil pump, water pump and start motor, also new valves etc. Its nice that one can buy so many spare parts for it. For most of the cars I restored, no spare parts were available, I had to make them my self. I must admit that this is one of the attractions for me. But economically speaking its a disaster, so I do understand very well, why some cars never got professionally restored. Technically there is not so much of a problem, but when speaking of money and economics, no way! Speaking about the Cleveland, I know very well, I will never get the money back that I sunk in it. Luckily I have a very understanding wife 🥰 who likes what I do. Regards, Harm

Hello Gary, Thank you for your warning. I am aware of the pitfalls using the infrared thermometer, but using the black inner side of the ladle I get a stable temperature reading. For the molten Babbitt in the ladle, usually I use a themocouple. But as I broke it last summer, and promptly forgot to order a replacement, I have to rely on the infrared thermometer. Regards, Harm

Today I went for pouring the bearing shells and bushing. First thing to do, tinning the shells and bushing. I use flux (S39 new formula not so aggressive as the S39 of the past) and as for the tinning I use bearing material chips. For heating I use a simple map gas torch, overheating is nearly impossible with it. The Babbitt chips where left over from the Babbitting of the Flanders20 bearings. I think using the same material for tinning is better than tinning with solder. After careful cleaning the shells and bushing with a solution of water and ammonia (stinky stuff), I left them dry on and electric stove around 180 F (82C), the temperature is not critical, just to make sure no water is left. For measuring the temperature, I use a Flir electronic thermometer. Now I heated the Babbitt on the gas stove, using an special ladle, with a bottom feeder. That means that the dross will stay into the ladle and I have clean Babbitt from the bottom of the ladle for pouring. I bought this ladle 10 years ago at an Ebay shop. Now it is the time to put the shell into the fixture and close all the gaps between the fixture and the shell with Babbitt Rite. After the Babbitt is simmering at about 790F (420C) this is critical, be careful here: to hot and it oxidizes very fast, too low and it will not flow into the cavity between the fixture and the shell and, so it will not bond to the shell either. In between I heated, with the torch, the fixture and the shell till 430F (230C), that is the melting temperature of the Babbitt. Now the easy part: taking the hot ladle off the stove and pour the Babbitt into the cavity between the shell and the fixture (some overflow happens). After some extra heating with the torch, I let it cool down for a minute or so, and than spray some water mist on the base plate of the fixture. This forced cooling is done to be sure that no large crystals, but only nice small crystals are formed. After 5 minutes the Babbitt has solidified and the shell can be removed from the fixture. Today I managed Babbitting 6 shells and one bushing. Two shells failed, probably the shell and Babbitt were to cold, so it will re-pour them tomorrow. When the shells are removed from the fixture, they look really terrible. But after cleaning and a first pass at the mill (line boring) one can see the quality (or lack thereof 😒). Box with Babbitt chips. Tinned shell before cleaning with water/ammonia solution Flir, electronic temperature gauge, functions remarkably well. Much easier to use than a thermocouple. Ladle with bottom feeder. Set up of Babbitting tools and fixture. Ready for putting some Babbitt Rite on and after that pouring the Babbitt. Connecting rod bearing shell, this is a good one. Main bearing shell, looks not so nice but in reality is a good one. Main bearing shell, this is a really bad one. Shifted during the pouring, and the shell was not hot enough, to be re-done tomorrow. One of the great things about Babbitting bearings by my self, is the fact that I can do it over and over again. So if it went wrong, nothing is lost. One of the Flanders main bearings (long bushing 4") I poured 3 times before I was satisfied. Did it 6 years ago, and after a lot of miles they are still as new (inspected them a few month ago). Line boring gives me much more trouble, when that goes wrong one has to start all over again. Regards, Harm

Hello Ed, I heat the fixture by torch, as the pouring and forced cooling of the base of the fixture is done by a plant sprayer its quite a messy affair. Pictures in next post. Regards, Harm

Today, I completed the two fixtures needed for Babbitting the bearing shells and cushion block bushing. Not much to report about it. Fixture for the main bearing shells ( front view). Fixture for the main bearing shells ( side view). Fixture for the main bearing shells with shell, ready to pour the Babbitt. Parts for the fixture needed for Babbitting the bushing for the cushion block. Assembled the fixture for the bushing, the tube parts is turned one degree taper, this is done to remove the tube more easily after pouring. The bronze bushing will be fixed by means of Babbitt-Rite. Babbitt-Rite is a clay like high temperature resistant putty. I use it to prevent molten Babbitt to escape through small gaps between the fixture and the shell. After pouring it is still pliable and can be used over and over. Its a replacement for the Asbestos type of putty. I bought 2 pound of the stuff 25 years ago, and after a lot of use its still all there. All the bearing parts and fixtures needed for the Cleveland engine bearings. Made also a shallow tray to collect a possible overflow of molten Babbitt. Today I also managed to buy and collect a full (10ltr) bottle of oxygen, so I hope to pour the bearings at Monday. Regards, Harm

Today I made the fixture for Babbitting the main bearing shells and the con rod shells. Made the mold of hot rolled steel, and the mandrels (one for the main bearings and one for the con rod bearing which is smaller in diameter) of black tube. I split the tube lengthwise and brazed end pieces and a middle piece into the half tubes. The end pieces are inserted for preventing Babbitt entering the mandrel during the pouring. The middle piece is needed for fixing the mandrel to the mold, using just one fixing screw at the back side. The fixture for fixing the shell against the mold is the only thing left to make. I hope to pour the Babbitt tomorrow, but first I have to go out for buying a full bottle of oxygen. During the brazing I ran out of it. Problem at the moment is to find a store which is not closed due to the corona measures. The parts for the mandrel. Mandrel, parts brazed into the half tube, milled flat and fixing hole bored and threaded. The mold with the two mandrels. A mock-up of the mold, the mandrels and the shells. The shell fixing will be made to morrow. Regards, Harm

Hello Al, Thanks for your trust in me 🙂. The shells and bushing are made of bearing bronze RG-7, very easy to solder. The solid bearing tube is used for the cushion block. The cushion block is mounted on the chassis rails, and functions as a third bearing for the crankshaft. The crankshaft is quite long and slender, and is carrying a heavy load (flywheel 65 Lbs and gearbox 28 Lbs), so it needs a sturdy bearing. Regards, Harm PS Anna and I watched the inauguration of Mr. Biden and Mrs. Harris, very moving!

Hello, @Jeff, Terry and Joe, thank you very much for your comment. Started very early in the morning, after kicking my self, for forgetting to roughen up the inside of the shells and bushing. After spending some time at the very informative site of the Old Motor, I decided that threading the bearing shells and bushing is the only way to go. So I spend today to correct the bushing and shells. This is how I did it: I soldered the shells together on the edges, with tiny solder blobs. Then put the shells into the 4 jaw independent jaw chuck. Centered the shells, and started threading them, easy does it. That went remarkably well, but it took a lot of time to have them centered and threaded. I used a setting of 12 threads per inch, not going full depth. After completing the threading, and de-soldering the shells, I very carefully removed the solder. Fitted all the shells into the engine bearing seats, everything still fitted nicely 😚 so I am relieved and happy. Threaded bearing shells. Threaded cushion block bearing. All shells and the bushing ready for Babbitting. Corona: just watched a press conference of our PM. New stringent measures: a curfew from 20:30pm til 4:30am, starting Saturday January 22 till at least February 9th. Further restrictions: only one guest allowed to visit a "household" and more restrictions on gatherings as funerals etc. The lock-down, as is, will be possibly extended. Further, no traveling from South America, Great Britain and South Africa. On a positive side, the numbers of infections are slowly decreasing. But our government is worrying, that it is going not fast enough to accommodate the people who (possibly) are getting infected with the English variant of the Corona virus. So they are preparing for a third wave. Regards, Harm