- Joined
- Nov 5, 2016
- Messages
- 1,418
I’ve been thinking about doing a little model making lately and decided to take the plunge with one of Mr. Pete’s wobblers. Since this is my first one, I decided to give it to my grandson. Now, he’s way too young to appreciate a simple toy like this and since it doesn’t take batteries or have buttons I don’t think he’ll be too impressed by it. But, hopefully, in years to come, it will become a keepsake (if it survives that long) and he will think about his grandpa Ted when he looks at it (and maybe even runs it a little).
With the potential of becoming a keepsake I added some of my own twists on Mr. Pete’s original design. I put a lot more work and finishing into it than he did in his videos on making his. I gussied it up a little. I machined the connecting rod out of a solid piece instead of a two piece like his and put two tiny oil grooves in the piston because I read that this will not only help with lubrication but also act as quasi rings for aiding compression. Runs great! Runs nice and smooth at 2-3 psi and I don’t dare run it over ~8 psi for fear of self destruction. As he states in his video, you can email a fellow named Toly and he will send you a nice set of drawings for it.
I didn’t want to paint it since all surfaces were machined and/or ground on my surface grinder and looked very nice as finished. But, I knew that the steel parts would rust with handling so I bought a Testors paint set and painted those. Not the best paint job in the world; I’m not a very good painter.
It also gave me an opportunity to use a couple of the features on my new DRO for my Bridgeport. I used the circular hole pattern for the fly wheel and the radius function for rounding the top of the upright. Both did a nice job!
The last finishing touch was the piece of cherry for the base. I don’t do much wood working although my dad gave me all of his wood working tools and machines, so I do hope to get into that more in the future.
Fun little project! Maybe I'll try a double acting wobbler next???
Ted
With the potential of becoming a keepsake I added some of my own twists on Mr. Pete’s original design. I put a lot more work and finishing into it than he did in his videos on making his. I gussied it up a little. I machined the connecting rod out of a solid piece instead of a two piece like his and put two tiny oil grooves in the piston because I read that this will not only help with lubrication but also act as quasi rings for aiding compression. Runs great! Runs nice and smooth at 2-3 psi and I don’t dare run it over ~8 psi for fear of self destruction. As he states in his video, you can email a fellow named Toly and he will send you a nice set of drawings for it.
I didn’t want to paint it since all surfaces were machined and/or ground on my surface grinder and looked very nice as finished. But, I knew that the steel parts would rust with handling so I bought a Testors paint set and painted those. Not the best paint job in the world; I’m not a very good painter.
It also gave me an opportunity to use a couple of the features on my new DRO for my Bridgeport. I used the circular hole pattern for the fly wheel and the radius function for rounding the top of the upright. Both did a nice job!
The last finishing touch was the piece of cherry for the base. I don’t do much wood working although my dad gave me all of his wood working tools and machines, so I do hope to get into that more in the future.
Fun little project! Maybe I'll try a double acting wobbler next???
Ted