First core box

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Rainer
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First core box

Post by Rainer » Wed Feb 01, 2012 1:06 am

Hello All,

tonight (already 2 o'clock in the morning here in Germany)... I have made my first sand cores from the two fresh made core boxes.
Attachments
020-zb-drehend-4-k.jpg
I think you can find out which core is for which part of the piston valve chest...
020-zb-drehend-4-k.jpg (83.47 KiB) Viewed 15477 times
2012-02-01.012618-k.jpg
Drain chanel (round part going to the right) is added here compared with the drawing above because I need some support for the cores...
2012-02-01.012618-k.jpg (67.92 KiB) Viewed 15477 times
2012-02-01.012432-k.jpg
HP Steam canal height 8 mm (1/3") , width 36 mm (1 1/2") for Piston of about 58 mm diameter.
2012-02-01.012432-k.jpg (80.35 KiB) Viewed 15477 times
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fredrosse
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Re: First core bockes

Post by fredrosse » Wed Feb 01, 2012 2:55 am

Very good to see such high quality work you are doing. Far beyond what most of we steamboaters are capable of.
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Re: First core bockes

Post by Aheadslow » Wed Feb 01, 2012 3:39 am

Very nice cores, they should leave good clean cavities. . are they Sodium Silicate Co2 bonded cores ? and what are the molds made with ? I do not recognize the material.
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Re: First core bockes

Post by DetroiTug » Thu Feb 02, 2012 6:13 pm

Rainer,

Very nice work! This is something I need to learn about..

Thanks, Ron
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Re: First core bockes

Post by Rainer » Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:18 pm

Thanks for all the roses!

It was a long and time-consuming way to learn all the technologies - steamboating - CAD - CAM - machining - core making - till I could hold this in my hands. And it will need some more month till I can hold a cast iron part in my hands.

So it is good to have the possibility to show something here and to get back some warm words to stabilize my endurance ...

Now the answers to your questions:
- yes, the cores are from CO2 bonded Silicate
- the core boxes are made from SikaBlock® M650 plates - normaly also used to make "clay models" for car prototypes etc. This is expensive material but it saves much time because you dont have to paint and grind and paint it like wood after machining. You can make the cores in it right when it comes from the mill.
- all was done on a simple 3D CNC mill controled by the popular Mach3 software http://www.machsupport.com/.
- using a 6 mm ball nose mill.
- because the resolution of the milling steps is 0.2 mm = 0.007 inch and the max feed rate of 60 inch per minute it will take about 3 -4 hours to mill such "smal parts" like shown here.

So the main parts for the cylinder pattern has to be made on an commercial mill - if not, you will become crazy of waiting for results...
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Re: First core bockes

Post by SteamGuy » Thu Mar 08, 2012 3:39 am

Ranier-

That is a nice core, and a nice 3D model.

I have tried a fine silicate sand recently, and as long as I followed the recommended mix percentages, and mixed well in a blender, then the cores worked very well, and with very smooth surfaces.

What modeling program are you using?

Can you show us a screenshot of the engine model?

Here is a bottle engine I modeled last year.
http://www.thesteamboatingforum.net/for ... ?f=3&t=720
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Re: First core bockes

Post by Rainer » Thu Mar 08, 2012 5:39 pm

SteamGuy wrote:Ranier-
What modeling program are you using?
I am using pro-engin eer
Can you show us a screenshot of the engine model?
Have a look here:
http://www.thesteamboatingforum.net/for ... ?f=4&t=577

Or at my homepage -> see signiture

I am still in progress with making the 26 core box parts and the 6 main parts for the cylinder. Hope to visit the foundry with it in some month...

Funny, like you - http://www.classicsteamengineering.com/ ... opic=432.0 - I also started to think about an 3d RepRap Printer http://objects.reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page but will build a smal CNC mill (table of 380 x 380 mm) first to machine the other patterns of the engine.
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Re: First core bockes

Post by SteamGuy » Fri Mar 09, 2012 12:12 am

Ranier-

I was able to access your website today, and I will review that.
I emailed you a few years ago about your valvegear software, but I forget the exact topic.

I assume you are doing simulation runs using ProE on your engine? I have found the engine simulations to be invaluable for pointing out inteferences, collisions, etc. as the engine is running. (I use the base package of Solidworks).

I like the ribs on the flange at the bottom of the cylinder, to remove the stress point from the edge of the flange. Overall, the engine looks very good.

Are you paying attention to draft angle.
My first attempts with green sand casting brought out the very critical necessity of draft angles on almost everything, from 1 to 3 degrees.

I am very unhappy with that 3D printer, but it was all I could afford on my limited budget. I have been able to make a few patterns with it, but it is a slow and tedious process.

I looked at a 3D mill, but it was very expensive and so not an option.

I have a wood shop for pattern making, and generally, I can make up a pattern from wood fairly quickly, expecially for the larger patterns. For the smaller model engine work, the 3D printer replicates very small detail that would be difficult to do with wood patterns.

A good 3D printer is in the $25,000 range, but the material for the expensive 3D printers is way too expensive. My 3D printer material is inexpensive, but it is best to make a pattern that is oversized, and then cast a metal pattern to avoid degredation of the inexpensive plastics.

The use the 3D prints to make the cores for the steam and exhaust passages, bore and steam chest interior, but as tedious as my 3D printer is to use, I think I could make these easier by making a positive first, and then casting a negative from Moldmax.
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Re: First core boxes

Post by Rainer » Sun Mar 11, 2012 6:26 pm

SteamGuy wrote:I assume you are doing simulation runs using ProE on your engine?
Yes it is easy to do. You have to set some points on the valve and the piston and instantly you can watch a graph of timing!
SteamGuy wrote:I like the ribs on the flange at the bottom of the cylinder, to remove the stress point from the edge of the flange. Overall, the engine looks very good.
Thank you. Yes, it seems to be a proven design by the German Navy in 1900 - lets have a look how I can reproduce it with the limitations of knowledge in the 21th century...
SteamGuy wrote:Are you paying attention to draft angle.
Yes of course! But during the engine design I avoid to draw draft angles and rounded corners - still having them in mind. If you try to draw it with your first ideas you and/or the software will struggle!<br>
So draft angles only will be drawn before modeling the molds and core boxes - Even some of the rounded corners never will be drawn - they will appear while milling the pattern with a round nose mill - all this keeps the data model simple till the last step!
SteamGuy wrote:My first attempts ... draft angles ... from 1 to 3 degrees.
Yes, that is what you can find in every book and what will tell you every foundry man. Please have in mind. As longer the walls are as smoother you can make the angle. A 10 mm flange should have 3 degrees while a 100 mm cylinder wall will be fine in 1 degree...
SteamGuy wrote:I am very unhappy with that 3D printer
For me this is the technique of the future - but as you mentioned, it might be a little early for the consumer.
SteamGuy wrote:I looked at a 3D mill, but it was very expensive and so not an option
I think this has changed already. You can build your own 3D mill for some hundred $ or Euro. Because pattern making do not need a machining of Nickel or Chrome steal you can build a "week" mill - but as usual you must be able to operate it and to handle the CAD - CAM - G_code chain. This makes it to be "not an option" for the "regular" steam boaters?! And why not doing the pattern making like our grandfathers!

I like and did it the old fashioned way too - but I tryed it the full 3D-electronic way for this engine - because I am always looking for new challenges in my short live - hopefully more then 40 summers left ?!!
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Re: First core bockes

Post by kno3 » Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:21 am

That looks really nice. When are you expecting to finish the first castings? Are you going to make more than one set?
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