Small parts and Column

The unions and gland clamps were all made in the same way. They were first machined back and front using the 4 jaw check. The face with the bush sticking out of it was machined last so that the drilling and reaming / or threading could all be done in one setting.

Machining one of the unions

To get the parts looking the right shape a set of filing buttons were used. The picture below shows one of the parts with the filing buttons in place.

Union ready for filing.

And here is the completed part

Completed exhaust union

Once all the unions and glands were finished they were used as guides to dill the mounting holes in the parent part and to cut gaskets to shape (unions only).

The Column.

The plans call for the column to be machined from a solid. I found this to be rather a bonkers idea and rather wasteful so I fabricated a rough shape using a rod of bright mild steal which was cut to length and threaded at one end to fit a foot which was cut from the column material provided. These 2 parts were then brazed together.

The fabricated column.

Then it was a simple case of turning between centres to get the final shape. The only critical distance being between the base and the top of the upper shoulder which is what gives the engine the support. If you're artistic then you can do all sorts of radii, flutes, profiles etc…. I decided to keep it simple and strong and actually turned a parallel column to avoid having to upset the tail stock position on my lathe.