2015 WOW, happy New Year, where do we go from here? In the last 2 years I’ve covered about all of the kinds of top end work that we do. There are a few of you who have taken the time to show & tell some of their projects. I’d like to encourage any of you to do more write ups about some of your own special projects, anything which is shop related.
This is the first in the new post, “How it’s Done 2015”. We’ll keep the original “How it’s Done” on line for readers study & comments. As time permits, The first page index will be updated for particular projects.
It has always been my idea to pass along & encourage readers to learn the shop skills which are required to build & repair our equipment. Here in the US people working the trade skills are becoming more difficult to find. In my family company, it’s becoming more difficult to find a machinist for either manual or CNC machine tools. The trades are an honorable place for any person who is good with numbers & mechanical abilities to seek a career. For you younger folks, continue your education, the way to a higher living standard.
After being away for a number of years, it’s been exciting to return to the cylinder repair business. From where the work comes from, it’s obvious that there is room for more people to enter the cycle machining trade. I’ll be 67 this year & plan to keep going as long as I can. Full time retirement isn’t for me with all of the wonderful machine tools in the family business. Maybe someday there will be somebody who is interested in carrying on with my small endeavor.
At www.smallenginemachineworks.com we are starting to work with some investment castings for our sleeve production. My first shell mold pattern will be for some 250cc sized cylinders which consumes most of our production. The new blank sleeve castings will be available for mail order purchase. I’m busy digging thru my records & notes in order to produce castings which will cover most of the cylinders around the 66mm bores. As I move along with my pattern work, some of the procedures for shell mold patterns will be covered in this thread. One of the main problems with working with cast iron is the shipping costs of the heavy parts. We are always noting casting size requirements to get our best value in the weight of our raw castings
There has been much conversation about different kinds of sleeve material. Much has been said about centrifugal castings & ductile iron. Besides a sound & uniform casting, Material hardness has always been one of my main interests. I’ve found thru cutting experience that most 2 stroke iron cylinders are as soft as a dry dirt clod. (Japanese cylinders) Many multi cylinder & 4 stroke liners are extremely hard & require more than a few tool sharpening’s. Most of the older air cooled European 2 stroke cylinders are extremely hard. (Montessa, CZ & Husky to name a few) It seems to me that the slipperiness of the sleeve is as important as any other characteristic. One of the previous foundries which I’ve used would put an extra ladle full of nickel in each of our sleeve pours.
Mr. Dave Clinton, founder of Darton cylinder sleeves sent me this email about sleeves & cooling
Question to Dave; What is the best material for small engine cylinders? Best for heat transfer, Aluminum, not exactly what I was expecting.
John,
Great question, comes up a lot. The simple answer is that dissimilar metals react differently in all aspects of interaction with each other. This is true for coefficient of expansion and heat transfer. Any dissimilar material is impossible to permanently bond to each other in high temp environments. Iron typically absorbs more heat and depending on the alloy may or may not transmit all the surface heat to a host but it will always be a compromise when installed in aluminum. Therefore in an aluminum engine the best heat transfer would be with an aluminum sleeve, provided the metallurgy of each material is compatible.
Dave
Most information is all available on the net with a little Google searching.
I’m now on the subscription list for “The Engine Professional” www.aera.org magazine. The last 2 issues had an article called “The Sleeve Solution” by Mr. Dave Clinton. Mr. Clinton is owner & founder of www.dartonsleeves.com Reading Dave’s article’s on cylinder sleeves is a true learning refresher.
Please let us know if any of you have any other questions which we can help with.
“Old Dog” www.smallenginemachineworks.com John Tice 503-593-2908
“Nice Lady” www.northwestsleeve.com Linda Wagner 503-666-8430
Stay Tuned
:Cheers:
This is the first in the new post, “How it’s Done 2015”. We’ll keep the original “How it’s Done” on line for readers study & comments. As time permits, The first page index will be updated for particular projects.
It has always been my idea to pass along & encourage readers to learn the shop skills which are required to build & repair our equipment. Here in the US people working the trade skills are becoming more difficult to find. In my family company, it’s becoming more difficult to find a machinist for either manual or CNC machine tools. The trades are an honorable place for any person who is good with numbers & mechanical abilities to seek a career. For you younger folks, continue your education, the way to a higher living standard.
After being away for a number of years, it’s been exciting to return to the cylinder repair business. From where the work comes from, it’s obvious that there is room for more people to enter the cycle machining trade. I’ll be 67 this year & plan to keep going as long as I can. Full time retirement isn’t for me with all of the wonderful machine tools in the family business. Maybe someday there will be somebody who is interested in carrying on with my small endeavor.
At www.smallenginemachineworks.com we are starting to work with some investment castings for our sleeve production. My first shell mold pattern will be for some 250cc sized cylinders which consumes most of our production. The new blank sleeve castings will be available for mail order purchase. I’m busy digging thru my records & notes in order to produce castings which will cover most of the cylinders around the 66mm bores. As I move along with my pattern work, some of the procedures for shell mold patterns will be covered in this thread. One of the main problems with working with cast iron is the shipping costs of the heavy parts. We are always noting casting size requirements to get our best value in the weight of our raw castings
There has been much conversation about different kinds of sleeve material. Much has been said about centrifugal castings & ductile iron. Besides a sound & uniform casting, Material hardness has always been one of my main interests. I’ve found thru cutting experience that most 2 stroke iron cylinders are as soft as a dry dirt clod. (Japanese cylinders) Many multi cylinder & 4 stroke liners are extremely hard & require more than a few tool sharpening’s. Most of the older air cooled European 2 stroke cylinders are extremely hard. (Montessa, CZ & Husky to name a few) It seems to me that the slipperiness of the sleeve is as important as any other characteristic. One of the previous foundries which I’ve used would put an extra ladle full of nickel in each of our sleeve pours.
Mr. Dave Clinton, founder of Darton cylinder sleeves sent me this email about sleeves & cooling
Question to Dave; What is the best material for small engine cylinders? Best for heat transfer, Aluminum, not exactly what I was expecting.
John,
Great question, comes up a lot. The simple answer is that dissimilar metals react differently in all aspects of interaction with each other. This is true for coefficient of expansion and heat transfer. Any dissimilar material is impossible to permanently bond to each other in high temp environments. Iron typically absorbs more heat and depending on the alloy may or may not transmit all the surface heat to a host but it will always be a compromise when installed in aluminum. Therefore in an aluminum engine the best heat transfer would be with an aluminum sleeve, provided the metallurgy of each material is compatible.
Dave
Most information is all available on the net with a little Google searching.
I’m now on the subscription list for “The Engine Professional” www.aera.org magazine. The last 2 issues had an article called “The Sleeve Solution” by Mr. Dave Clinton. Mr. Clinton is owner & founder of www.dartonsleeves.com Reading Dave’s article’s on cylinder sleeves is a true learning refresher.
Please let us know if any of you have any other questions which we can help with.
“Old Dog” www.smallenginemachineworks.com John Tice 503-593-2908
“Nice Lady” www.northwestsleeve.com Linda Wagner 503-666-8430
Stay Tuned
:Cheers: