Eccentric rods

Hi Craig/Steve,

I have only one straight eccentric rod. Please see attached picture. Not easy to show but the one to the right is the only straight one. The worst two are either side of the ruler.

Also missing 8 M6 nuts to secure the rods to the straps. It says 16 in the kit list but only 8 have been supplied in mine already attached to the straps, and no spares.

Awaiting your comments.

cheers

Rick

Hi STW

I can confirm I am short the nuts for securing the Rods to the straps. One of my rods is also curved but not too bad. Unfortunately one of my rods at the expansion end both saddles are fractured.

sack the packer!!!

That looks like they were machined out of bright drawn steel and the stock size was not big enough to have the rectangular rod section in the middle of the stock. Best to use black stock it does not bend from stress in the bar.

Just checked my four rods and three were somewhat curved just like yours Rick. With a steel rule as a straight edge & 5 minutes of careful bending they are all straight as a dye now, just don't bend too much the other way! The trick is to find were the high spot is as it's not always in the middle and then take that out. Two were just bowed but one was W shaped which took a little longer to suss out & straighten.

Thanks for the advice Steve. Did you use any heat or just bend 'em cold ?

Mine two are bent/bowed at different points along their lengths.

Hi Rick

I just straightened them cold with hand pressure and the rod held in a 4" vice, it didn't really take much pressure as the amount of movement required is very small.

OK...

the bends in the rods are due to stress release in the bar when they are machined. this is normal and we would usually straighten them before they go out. however this seems to have been missed on this occasion. you can straighten them yourselves but if you feel you would rather we did it please return them to us.

i would only attempt minimal lapping on the eccentrics and straps. again if you are in any doubt send back both the strap and eccentric, and we will sort them out

if you are not happy with any of the parts, return them to us for replacement.

Mike will review the fastener quantities and send out any that are missing. we wont sack him this time but will give him a good kicking

i apologise on behalf of the people responsible

Thanks for Steve Trails' advice - all rods now straight and taken to the platers.

I wished I had not bothered with the plating kit from Frost now. I took the whole motion bits - con rods, crossheads, all nuts, bolt, washers and all the valve gear compenents to a company in East Kent, who quoted me £50 to plate the lot with no polishing. They will polish the Eccentric rods and cross heads for an extra £15 and I'll have it all back within two weeks.

For anyone interested the company is Butterworths in Ramsgate. They are incredibly helpful and I would add I have no connetion with this buisness, they were recommended to me by an engineering company in the area.

As you can see not worth the cost of the FRost kit, so If anyone wants to buy a cheap Nickel plate (normal sheen), let me know. I have a heater, aquarium pump and a glass tank to take larger parts as well.

cheers

Rick

What are you looking for for the plating kit? and will the depth of the plate affect the crosshead gapping or have you not set the slides yet?? Also what about the bushes in the little ends??

Kev.

When I plated the motion work on my 4" SC I found that the nickel plating is lazy in that it forms thickest on the parts nearest to the plates. Very little seemed to go into any holes but it did affect the clearance of the motion work on the outside of some of the rods so that one has to allow a bit more clearance and then (hopefully) when it's plated its a snug fit.

I bought a nickle plating kit from Frost when building my 4" Burrell. I ordered the "brush on" type so that I could plate the long parts. The results were very dissappointing and produced a brownish finish rather than a bright "silver" look. A few weeks later rust appeared and I gave up.

I then found a very helpful company in Portsmouth who in several batches plated most of my unpainted parts at an average cost of around a pound per item. I am very pleased with the results they achieved.

I trial fitted all parts and cleaned them up well before sending out for plating. When I mentioned the bushes I had already fitted to some of the motion parts the plating company fitted small rubber corks to them to keep the fluid out and prevent the insides becoming plated. The thickness of the plating is just a few microns so should not prevent parts fitting after plating. I certainly had no problems with fitting.

I would certainly recommend anyone to nickle plate unpainted parts and use a professional platers to get the best result in the least time.

Would anyone like a little used plating kit?

David Steel

Hi David,

Dont want the plating kit but could do with the details of the platers as I want to get my bits done soon. Hope you're doing OK.

Cheers Kev.

highpressure wrote:Hi David,

Dont want the plating kit but could do with the details of the platers as I want to get my bits done soon. Hope you're doing OK.

Cheers Kev.

Hi Kev.
I'll do you bits for you got a couple of nice house bricks and a sharp stanley knife !!!

Colin

Hey Colin,

You'd need to find them and sew them back on first.. Dont forget I bought a bowser at the GDSF and SWMBO saw the credit card bill last week!!!!!

Hows your build coming on??

Kev.

highpressure wrote:Hey Colin,

You'd need to find them and sew them back on first.. Dont forget I bought a bowser at the GDSF and SWMBO saw the credit card bill last week!!!!!

Hows your build coming on??

Kev.

Hey Kev

You should not have mentioned that, now the clock is ticking - you need to finsh it by next week to beat Lynn!!

Brian