F&W Steel Star

[CTXmiller]

Nice progress.

[Kenneth]

I made a little more progress on my mill. Earlier this week I made the Governor Stud. This is 3/4" square bar. It is above the cross head. When the mill is furled out, this bar has a casting connected on both ends, and one has the chain on it and the other has the counter weight.

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And today I worked on the pump rod casting. The previous owner had welded the pump rod to the casting. I was able to grind the weld down and cut off the rod with a cutoff wheel. I put the casting on my mill and drilled the center of the threaded rod.

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I was able to remove the rod with an easy out.

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And I dressed off the pump rod and and used a threading die to rethread the rod.

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This project is on hold until after the Trade Fair.

Kenneth

[Kenneth]

Ok. I had some time to work on this mill and here is what I got done. The walking beam had worn holes on both ends so it was obvious they needed to be bored and bushed. I measured, and it looked like it would need 1 1/4 bushings. The ID is 7/8. I had access to an angle plate but it was too small to clamp the walking beam to it. See pic.

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I then thought up an idea to make a 1/4 plate that I could bolt through to support the part. See pic.

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Clamping the part to the plate created another obstacle. I could use 1/2 flat bar to clamp with but the small end has a radius. Therefore l milled across the one clamp with a ball nose end mill to create a groove to accept the radius on the part. See pic.

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Then I was able to sandwich the 1/4 plate between the part and the angle plate. See pics.

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Now I was ready to bore these holes out. This is the finished part.

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Just as a note, this was a major undertaking. This was a long process. I was only able to take a few thousands of an inch at a time. I still need to bore the pump rod casting as it was worn as well. As soon as I get more done I will post.

Kenneth

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

Kenneth when I first got into restoration of windmills an ole wind miller told me you better have a lot of patience and then more patience. How right he was!!!

[Kenneth]

Dan, that is exactly right. It's a good thing I am not in a hurry. I guess that's why it's a hobby.

Kenneth

[mtblah]

Very nice outcome of a well thought out process !
Clean shop also .

[Kenneth]

Thanks Mike. I will bore the pump rod casting next. Will post when I can work on it.

Kenneth

[Kenneth]

I was able to get a little more done on my mill. I bored the pump rod casting for a bushing. This one is 1 1/8 OD X 7/8 ID. This was a lot less complicated than the rocking beam. I didn't get a pic of it on the mill, I thought you guys wouldn't want to see that. I just mounted it the machine vise and bored it. See below for the finished part and bushing.

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Kenneth

[Kenneth]

A little more progress this afternoon. I blasted a few parts, primed and painted them.

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More to come.

Kenneth

[63markB]

I was very curious about the color of the Steel Star. Is that hunter green?