Young America 1853 by EdT - FINISHED - extreme clipper

[dgbot]

Ed, I have had bad luck with the paste flux.  I remember working on a winch for my Latham and when I used the stuff the assembly dissolved.  Everything was cleaned and prepared for hard soldering.  To this day I still do not understand what I did wrong.  Plus where can someone buy Liver of Sulfur?

David B

[mtaylor]

Google it David.  I've seen it on Amazon and E-bay. I'm sure there's other places also.

[mhegazi]

great work 

thank you for sharing 

[EdT]

Thanks, everyone for the comments, likes and questions.

 

Crackers, if being professional means earning money, you've got the wrong guy.

 

Harvey, redoing things may be part of the craft.  After seeing Remco's Kingfisher wheel, I am entertaining similar thoughts.

 

E&T, I could write a whole book about my frustrations trying to make metal black.  The only way I have had consistent success is to use copper and blacken it with liver of sulfur.  I have had little problem with that.  Brass has been another matter, beginning with cannons I made in the 1970's.  Silver soldered joints have been the major problem - either getting them black to begin with or watching white by-products emerge later.  I suspected our hard water, but using distilled water didn't make much difference.  Pickling is of course essential.  I now boil all parts in white vinegar then degrease them before blackening in a dilute solution, either WinOx, Hobby Black, or Birchwood Casey Brass Black (I switch when I get frustrated.)  WinOx can be used, like liver of sulfur, next to wood without staining.  That does not answer your question, but is background.  On the pawl baseplate I used copper-phosphorus silver solder paste from Contenti.  I believe it is in the midrange of silver solder melt temperatures. It works well on copper with LOS and can be used on brass.  One aid in blackening is to use very tiny amounts of solder.  That is where the solder/paste syringe comes in handy, but I usually squeeze some out and apply it to the joint with a toothpick.  In spite of all this I cannot boast of consistent results and sometimes, not very often, revert to the old standby, Rustoleum flat black.

 

David, I believe Mark answered your question on liver of sulfur.  Also, note that the paste I refer to is not just flux, but a combination of flux and silver solder types.

 

Thanks, again everyone.  I hope to have the first post on the blackened brass bilge pumps up shortly and that may provide further fodder to the blackening discussion - and maybe some helpful responses.

 

Ed

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 137 – Bilge Pumps 1

 

You may recall from an early post that suction pipes were installed from the limber channel at the garboard strake up to the main deck just aft of the main mast.  There, the two pipes were terminated at an iron plate on the deck.  Unlike earlier chain pumps that could only pick up water from above the floor frames, reciprocating suction pumps that came into use in the md 19^th century could lower their intakes to the underside of the floor frames. This was discussed in earlier posts.  The first step in constructing the pumps was to make the two cast iron casings.  The completed casings are shown mounted in the first picture.

 

 

Casings typical of the times – these being only typical of the type and not based on a specific specification – usually consisted of a cylinder to house the piston and a second chamber or reservoir to collect the water and discharge it from the pump.  The integral assembly was cast iron.  There were two options that I considered for making these.  They could be machined from a block or they could be fabricated.  I chose the latter approach, using telescoping brass tubes.  The first fabrication step is shown below.

 

 

The main cylinder consists of a brass tube and the secondary reservoir is made from a similar tube that has had a portion sliced off on the circular saw.  In the picture the two pieces are shown ready to be soldered together.  The next picture shows steps after soldering the two tubes shown above.

 

 

The soldered pieces were first cut to final height.  Rectangular shapes were then soldered top and bottom.  The assembly on the right, shown upside down, has had its flanged discharge pipe installed the top rectangle shaped and drilled as shown to be open at the top.  The next picture shows the first soldering step with the cylinder assembly held in place on the top plate for soldering.

 

 

The device and surface shown in this picture is a new tool acquisition that I will discuss in a later post.  After the top plate was soldered on, the two top holes were drilled as shown in the next picture.

 

 

After drilling through from the bottom and soldering on the bottom plate, that plate was then drilled to fit a spigot that would fit into the suction pipes at deck level.

 

 

In the above picture the top figure eight flange has been roughly shaped.  The two finished casings are shown in the next picture prior to final pickling and blackening.

 

 

Also shown in this picture is the piston/crankshaft assembly.  A supporting iron standard with a mounted bearing is shown at the center of the shaft.  Work on this assembly will be covered in the next part.

 

Ed

[Erebus and Terror]

Stunning metal work, Ed, and thanks for the explanation of your blacking techniques. I admit I'm just a little encouraged to hear an artist like you has troubles occasionally - as blacking metal often seems more like alchemy to me than chemistry.

[the learner]

Ed, when you are showing detailed work some times you will show  a drawing underneath or near are all of these drawings included in the plans?

 

Keep up the fantastic work

 

Guy

Edited January 27, 2016 by the learner

[EdT]

Hi Guy, nice to hear from you.

 

The short answer to your question is yes,  all the drawings I use for the model, including those shown in some of the posts are included with the books, either as full sized prints or as letter-sized pdf files that can be printed from the CD.  The final drawings may differ slightly from those shown during my builds.  I update the drawings to reflect any changes made or errors picked up during my construction.

 

E&T, alchemy barely describes it.

 

Ed

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 138 – Bilge Pumps 2

 

The next task on the pumps was to make the crankshaft/connecting rod assembly shown in the last picture in the last posting.  This included the central supporting bearing pillar shown in that picture.  That part was made first - as a tapered pier with vertical gusset supports in an X pattern.  This provided an opportunity to use one of my new Christmas toys shown in the next few pictures.

 

In the first picture one of the side gusset plates is being silver soldered to the main central plate. 

 

 

The parts are firmly held in place by the two articulating clamps that are mounted on either side of a rotating ceramic base.  The clamp arms each have a pair of ball joints that can be tightened to hold the clamps very securely in any position.  The clamp rods are tungsten, so there is no problem with heat.  Also the stout handles do not heat up, so pieces can be unclamped immediately without risk of burns and the clamp springs are protected from overheating.  For someone like me, with my shaky hands, this tool is a godsend – and just in time for the plethora of metalwork coming up.  The torch is just a miniature propane torch.  Oxy flame temperatures are unnecessary for most of this work.  The next picture shows the pier subassembly held down on its baseplate for the next soldering step.

 

 

Because these assemblies will be blackened, I used Phosphorus-Copper prefluxed solder paste, which seems to blacken easier.  It has a melting point of 1325 degrees F – about the same as medium (65%) silver solder.

 

In the next picture one of the connecting rods is being shaped after drilling of the bearing hole in a small piece of brass plate.

 

 

The connecting rods were then fitted with undersize “pistons” at their bottom ends.  These fit very loosely in the pump cylinders to allow easy rotation.  I did not attempt an authentic fit with these.  

 

There are three pillow block bearings (sometimes called rhodings) that hold the crankshaft – one in the center and one mounted on each fore and aft fife rail.  These were made by slicing off individual bearings from the soldered strip shown ready for the torch in the next picture.

 

 

The bearings are provided by the hole in the brass tube.

 

 The crankshaft was formed from a length of .032” (2.5”) brass rod.  The connecting rods and center pillar bearing had to be fitted to this before bending.  In the next picture the crankshaft assembly is being test fitted to ensure unobstructed rotation.  

 

 

The side bearings are clamped to the fife rails for this.  I was very glad at this point that I did not opt for closer fitting pistons.  In the last two pictures the crank assembly has been blackened and permanently installed.

 

 

 

The central pillar and the two side bearings were cemented in place with thin CA.  So far so good.  Now it was time to make the two delicately shaped flywheels that I hope will be the eye-attracting features of the pumps.

 

Ed

 

[Mahuna]

Hi Ed

 

Your soldering station looks very similar to one I bought from Gesswein several years ago - although mine only has a fixed base.  They're a little pricey, but are a great aid in holding small parts for soldering.

[Capt.Bob]

Hi Ed,

Can't wait to see the hand wheels.

 

BTW where did Santa find your new toy??

 

Bob

[EdT]

Thanks again everyone.

 

Frank the soldering table is not an inexpensive tool and not an absolute must, but very useful and I think reasonably priced for the quality.

 

Bob, here is the link to the product page on the Contenti website:

 

https://contenti.com/soldering-n-joining/soldering-tools/soldering-boards/rotary-soldering-table

 

Ed

[Mahuna]

Hi Ed - I like your soldering station better - the articulating arms are much more flexible than mine.  Mine is about 6 years old, so improvements are expected.  As you say, though, it's not a requirement so I don't expect to upgrade from mine - there are many other ways to spend my tooling budget.  Here's a link to mine.

 

http://www.gesswein.com/p-1321-grs-soldering-station.aspx

[EdT]

Looks pretty good to me, Frank.

 

Ed

[druxey]

Lovely miniature metalwork, Ed. The third hands and rotating ceramic plate are a nice sophistication over earlier fixed base soldering stations.

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 139 – Bilge Pumps 3

 

The twin pump flywheels were arguably the most beautiful feature on the entire deck with their graceful, s-shaped spokes.  The wheels, almost finished and ready for mounting are shown in the first picture.

 

 

As can be seen from the underlying drawing in this picture, the wheels are 4’6” in diameter.  The momentum created when rotating these large heavy wheels greatly assisted in the manual pumping effort.  Pumping could be done with one or two men on each side.  The curved spokes were more than decorative.  Their purpose was to yield to the shrinking stresses created when the castings cooled – avoiding fractures.

 

I have been puzzling about how to make these for quite a while, considering the complexity of the spokes and the importance of symmetry in the final pieces.  They were made in two phases.  The first, described in this posting, used machines – including the most important (and most used) of those shown at the top of the above picture.  Because all of my drawings show real world dimensions, scale equivalents had to be constantly calculated for machining adjustments.  The drawings were tailored and dimensioned to support the machining process requirements. The second phase was done by hand and will be covered in Part 140.

 

The next picture shows a 1” diameter brass bar chucked in the lathe in the first machining step.

 

 

In this picture the piece has been centered, faced off square, center-drilled, drilled for the shaft and turned to the final diameter of 54” (3/4” at 1:72).  The wheel is 4” thick overall with a 4” x 4” rim.  In the picture the recessed spoke area is being cut out at a depth of 1” (.014” at 1:72) – from the inside of the rim to the axle hub, to allow for the final 2” thickness of the spokes.  In the next picture, the wheel disk is being parted off.

 

 

The remaining machine work on the piece was done on the mill.  For this work the rotating table had to be very precisely centered on the spindle so all the cuts would be concentric with the original turning.  This centering is shown in progress in the next picture with the aid of the dial indicator.

 

 

I used a 3/8” milling bit holder chucked in the four-jawed self-centering chuck for this.  The dial indicator is chucked in a spindle collet so it can be rotated.  The small size of the Sherline mill sometimes requires ingenuity in coming up with dial indicator mounts.  The bit holder is precisely concentric and worked well for this.  After alignment, both x and y axes on the mill were locked to prevent accidental movement.  The wheel disk was then placed in the chuck as shown below.

 

 

The face recessed in the lathe is downward.  The surface of the disk is set precisely flush with the ends of the jaws. 

 

The first machining steps have been completed in the next picture.

 

 

I designed the wheel to have an inside radius of 8” on each arc of the spokes and a spoke width of 2”.  This required a special end mill.  The one shown is .110” diameter (7.92”) - close enough.  All the milling was then done by adjusting the y-table calibration wheels – after loosening the stop.  After facing off the 1” recess, five holes through the spoke area were made at 72 degrees apart and flush with the inside of the rim as shown above.

 

Next, the cutter was moved in by 10” (.139”) and holes were bored on the same radius as the outer holes – flush with the axle hub.  These holes are shown below after one more final machining step.

 

 

In this last step, the bit was returned to the outer position over one of the outer holes.  It was then lowered and the table rotated 42 degrees to remove material between spokes at the rim.  In the picture this work has been done and the chuck – with the piece unmoved – has been removed from the machine.  So far, so good.  The remaining hand work on the wheel will be described in the next part.

 

Ed

[Mahuna]

Excellent work Ed, as usual.  Getting the disk flush with the jaws must have been interesting.  I'm sure the use of CAD and good math skills were important parts of the design process.

[dvm27]

Brilliant, Ed. I would have thought that forming the spokes and adding them later would have been the way to go but your method is both simple and elegant. Were there any issues with deflection of the disk while machining the spokes and boring the holes? Doesn't seem like a lot of contact between the jaws and the disk.

[GLakie]

Top-notch iron-work Ed! Something to aspire to. 

[Mirabell61]

excellent modeling of the capstans Ed,

 

beautiful metal turning- and machining work...

 

Nils

[EdT]

Thank you all for the comments and likes.

 

You are right, Frank.  The Cad drawing helped a lot in determining precise dimensions and angles.  While this could be done by hand, the CAD features provide better precision. 

 

Getting the disk to be flush with the ends of the chuck jaws was quite easy.  First the disk was laid on a flat surface and the detached chuck placed over it.  As the jaws were tightened the disk was held down with a dowel through the hole in the chuck.  The chuck was then inverted, the fit checked with a straightedge and the jaws tightened further.

 

Greg, the problem with making these in multiple parts is assuring concentricity of the assembly in something this small, to say nothing of the challenge of aligning the parts for soldering.  I never considered anything but making the wheels from one piece. 

 

The piece was held quite adequately in the chuck as shown, and as will be further shown in the next post.  I was concerned about this as well, so after tightening the jaws carefully, I took the precaution of taking very light cuts with a slow feed.  This worked fine.

 

Ed

[gjdale]

Another great lesson in machining - thanks Ed!

[michael mott]

Definitely a light touch Ed, and a very elegant solution to a complex looking flywheel. This is the sort of item that i would want to make a rubber mould from to make waxes for a lost wax casting.

 

Michael

[rtropp]

Ed,

I don't remember seeing much, if any, metal work on the Naiad.  Is that correct?

Richard

[EdT]

I don't know, Micheal.  Seems like a lot of work for the two flywheels.  You would still have to make one pattern.  I've done quite a lot of small pattern and moldmaking for casting of lo-melt alloys in RTV, but have never done any lost wax.  Is this something that could be practically done in the home shop, or would the brass casting likely have to be farmed out.  I am interested because there are quite a lot of metal parts to be made where large runs may be appropriate for example shackles, jackstay stanchions, perhaps yard trusses.  Open to suggestions.

 

Hello, Richard.  There was actually a fair bit of ironwork on Naiad - a lot of iron knees, about half of which were photo-etched triangular plate knees and the rest iron bracket type.  These were also the deadeye chains, some ironwork on the capstan pawl rings, what else??  Virtually all were copper.

 

Ed

[michael mott]

Ed if you make the waxes for the lost wax method then you could talk with a jeweler who does this sort of work they would be able to advise on the best way to assemble the tree of wax masters or models these are small enough Items that a number of items could be cast at the same time. Unless you are able to melt bronze you would need to have it done by someone with the right equipment, that said it is in the preparation of the investment that takes all the time. If all the "foundry" had to do was pour the metal, the costs would be substantially lower. You could probably cast quite a few at a time using the silicone molds to make the wax investments that you assemble into the tree. it all sound rather complicated but actually the major work is in making and developing the the initial set ups then it gets easier. the thing with the wax masters is that the wax is much easier on the silicone rubber moulds which can then last much longer.

 

Michael

[EdT]

Micheal,

 

I guess if I wanted to cast parts I would use pewter.  Investment casting doesn't seem to be the right answer.  The casting equipment I have could easily handle a large number (dozens depending on size) of parts per pour and with the right RTV rubber, mold life would not be a problem with pewter.  I have never blackened pewter but there seem to be many products out there.  The other issue is that for the books, I want to use methods that other modelers can reasonably adopt.  I wouldn't like to suggest that people acquire a vacuum degassing chamber and centrifugal casting machine to make shackles or jackstay stanchions. Without spinning, casting just a few of these at a time would be extra tedious, and without vacuum I think you would be in for drilling a lot of mold bubbles out of eyebolts.  Casting is an interesting option though, and deserves some thought - especially in the absence of a good process for some of these parts.

 

Thanks for the thought.

 

Ed

[michael mott]

Ed yes pewter would be a great metal to use for multiples if small parts basically being mostly comprised of tin with copper and or antimony as hardeners, it seems that blackening pewter is quite a common practice.

 

Michael

[JerryGreening]

Edt - spent the last few day catching up on your build. Once again you have set the benchmark for modeling and build logs. Well done. beautiful simply beautiful

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 140 – Bilge Pumps 4

 

In the last part the basic geometry of the pump flywheels was machined into one of the wheels.  With the symmetric geometry of that wheel established, the remaining work on the wheel was done by hand with small files (serrated and diamond grit) and polishing sticks.  To take advantage of the wheel being chucked, one wheel was completed at a time.  In the first picture the machined and still chucked wheel have been removed from the mill together so the chuck could be used to hold the wheel for the hand filing – as shown in the first picture.

 

 

Starting off with this was a bit confusing until one filed out spoke set the pattern. The basic shape of the spokes was first filed out without doing any rounding.   The next picture shows this still incomplete step.  There is still some material to remove between the spokes. 

 

 

Once the parallel curved lines of the spokes were established, each was rounded.  The wheel was flipped in the chuck to file from the other side.  The polished wheel is shown below.

 

 

The second wheel was then made by the same process.  Each rim was then drilled to fit a crank handle. The inside end of each of these was peened over to hold it in place – avoiding soldering.  I had originally intended to blacken and perhaps paint the  flywheels but once made I decided that their shape could best be appreciated by leaving them as polished brass – call it artistic license.  The next two pictures show the finished wheels mounted on the crankshaft.

 

 

 

Small sleeves between each wheel and its bearing keep the wheel clear of the fife rails.  The wheels were finally glued to the shafts with epoxy.  The last picture was taken after cutting off the excess shaft material and after the fife rails were fitted out with their complement of belaying pins.

 

 

All the work of the last few months has involved a series of discreet tasks –cabins, companions, windlass, capstans, and now the pumps – that need to be completed before I can get “off the deck” with the masts and rigging.  I am impatient to get to that, but there are several more “deckbound” tasks to complete yet.

 

Ed

Edited February 1, 2016 by EdT