Stromberg/Lathe Fun

[Scott_Conger]

I am definitly not the first to do this, but it has been a fun exercise in figuring things out, as well as being a satisfying turning exercise, and thought that somewhere some Walter Mitty of the Machine Shop would enjoy seeing. I also discovered during the process, that though the parts are simple, there are a couple of not-so-obvious traps in getting this done. The seat that was replaced is on top, and the rest is self-explanitory. Throttle shaft, choke shaft and bushings for the body are next. One thing I can tell you, and it is no surprise, is that there is no easy way to do this work in any amount of time without making lots of multiples of parts at a sitting, for future use, as the setup takes all your time. The parts are simply a happy result of your set up effort, and almost anti-climatic when all is said and done. The great and interesting thing about machine work is that if the set-up is correct, the results are pretty much a forgone conclusion.

And yes, the camera severely distorted things...the two fittings are exactly the same size in real life.

My hat is off to Stan and others who can make this into a money making enterprise. Tooling isn't cheap, fixtures must be made, and a lot of time gets spent for little to show if you're doing just one-off work.

[AndyClary]

Good work Scott. I once had to make a similar needle for a Cadillac. It can test your patience. A collet chuck is worth it's weight in gold.

Andy

[Henry K. Lee]

Therapy Scott, Therapy! Nice work Man!

Hank

[tmodeldriver]

Howdy, Scott. Happy New Year. Mighty pretty work. As you know, I spent many years working in a machine shop turning out parts both large and small. The work was fun, satisfying, sometimes challenging, and always therapeutic. I just wish it had paid. The little poem below I learned many years ago and it sometimes helped in getting through the challenging parts.

The Thousandth of an Inch by Thomas McMahon

At night I sit and ponder
on the thousandth of an inch.
I knit my brow and scratch my head,
and then my fists I clinch.
O show to me the man sez I,
if Irish, Dutch or French,
the man who first invented
the thousandth of an inch!

When finally I crawl in bed
so thankful for a snooze
I drive my sorrows all away
without the aid of booze.
I dream that they have caught the man
and him they now will lynch,
By jinks! The man who did invent
the thousandth of an inch!

[Scott_Conger]

Hi Bob!

good to hear from you!

News from FL about Suncoast T Club seems to be all good these days and I am happy to see that. Thanks for the ditty...I'd never heard that one before.

We still wear those lovely embroydered jackets your wife did...we love them. Tell her "Hi" from us.

[Duey_C]

I hesitate to post due to the Walter Mitty (mindless dreamer never actually doing nor finishing anything) reference...
Yet:
Beautiful work Mr C.
An M-3 is quite similar inside.

[StanHowe]

I've made well over 1,000 of those and have it pretty well down to a science but like everything else, it takes time and tools. I have another design for the "banjo" type inlet that takes more work and more brass. I actually got a call several years ago from the company that supplies those needles asking me what I was using them for that I was ordering 200 at a time.

The carburetor business looks simple because they are just old brass carburetors and there is nothing to them until you start trying to figure out all the parts that are worn out and how to fix them and do it in a time frame that will still let you make a little money on the deal. A guy was here the other day and picked up my brass bucket -- lathe cuttings -- to move it and we got in that conversation about brass/tools/lathes/designs, etc. and he was amazed at all the brass in the bucket plus the brass on the rack. I guess I hadn't thought about it for awhile but it is no question my "New" variable speed lathe is about worn out, I have no idea how many hundreds of hours it has on it but it's a lot. I don't even attempt to keep it clean anymore, I do dump the cuttings tray when it gets so full it gets in the way. I have three or four buckets of brass cuttings out back -- should sell them and take a trip. Gotta be worth something.

Anyway, good job Scott, interesting to see how you shaped the seat housing.

Back to the shop, it's only 9:30 PM.

[Scott_Conger]

Here's an exercise in a poor use of time! Value recieved vs. effort expended is way out of whack Still though, it was an interesting endeavor. The fabrication of a wire guide with a 2" long .052 hole through it was a success and was the smallest/deepest hole I've ever drilled into a piece of steel on a 9" lathe. That sort of thing is a (relative) snap in an instrument or jeweler's lathe, but was happy to have success and no broken tools using my South Bend. Actually drilled from each end and was pleased (and maybe just a little surprised) that they met and lined up perfectly 1/2 way down. It worked nicely to lay the wire at the right pitch and apply the necessary tension, too.

All this because I wasn't about to use a rusty original choke spring on an OF I'm doing for myself. After all that work, why stop at just 1?

Anyway, here's the result of a couple hours of making tooling and a little bit of set-up time: