[Steam-engine] Pouring Crank bearings.

[Andy glines]

Things are a little slow on ATIS steam.  I know that I
have written about the crank bearings on the Huber
before but I'm going to pick your brains some more. 
This particular aspect of the restoration really has
be nervous.  I see to many ways to get it wrong.  Of
course I have to get the crank lined up and square to
the cylinder.  I'm not sure how you establish the side
to side position of the shaft and there seem to be no
thrust surfaces.  I know that there is no side to side
thrust in operation but I would think that we need to
control side to side movement.  
My engine has a Woolf valve gear similar to Case
engines.  With Woolf gears the relationship of the
crank to the pivot shaft is very important.  On Case
engines the pedestal that the pivot is on has shims to
allow height adjustment.  My Huber has no such height
adjustment therefore the bearings must be poured with
the crank the proper distance from the pivot.  The
pivot on this engine is on Babbit and can be moved if
I have to.  All of these factors and my inexperience
has me a little worried.  Now that I have vented my
worries a little I need some ideas.  Of course I will
have to build some fixtures to position the crank for
pouring the bearings.  I have not melted out the old
bearings yet and am beginning to think that I should
hold off on that.  I may need to reinstall the cranks
on the old bearings.  With the crank in I can assemble
the valve gear and set it as close as possible.  I
will observe the amount of slip in the valve.  After I
have set the valve I need to fixture the crank so that
it doesn't move then melt out the old bearings.  I'm
assuming that I will need to fixture the crank in a
way that allows me to still turn it so that I can
position it as needed for the valve gear.  This whole
thing has my head swimming.  I thought that these
supposed to be simple machines.  Someone bail me out!

Andy Glines
Evansville, IN

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