Crankcase machining ???

[Bluebird7]

Has anybody ever machined on of these recast crankcases.

[Charles P]

Yes. I have. 
Not a task for the faint hearted, or those with a small milling machine.

[Tony Griffiths]

This is the sort of milling that should be able to accomplish all the machining operations - including line boring - on the A7 crankcase.
Deckel FP1 and FP2 http://www.lathes.co.uk/deckel
At the bottom of the Deckel page is a list of similar "universal" millers of the same type including
http://www.lathes.co.uk/hermle
http://www.lathes.co.uk/prvomajskamacmon
http://www.lathes.co.uk/mikronmillers/
http://www.lathes.co.uk/tosfn40/
http://www.lathes.co.uk/metba/
etc
Or, you could go mad and find one of these: http://www.lathes.co.uk/omniversal/

[Charles P]

This is the sort of milling that should be able to accomplish all the machining operations - including line boring - on the A7 crankcase.
Deckel FP1 and FP2 http://www.lathes.co.uk/deckel

Or, you could go mad and find one of these: http://www.lathes.co.uk/omniversal/

As Tony may remember I used a Maho MH600, which was *just* big enough. I suspect that being just a bit smaller the Deckel FP 1 might struggle but an FP2 should be ok. 

Charles

[Reckless Rat]

Interesting casting. Fuel pump, oil filler and dipstick all on n/side. What's it for?

[Charles P]

Interesting casting. Fuel pump, oil filler and dipstick all on n/side. What's it for?

Grasshopper type crankcase. A Dave Flake casting I believe 

C

[Bluebird7]

Yes. I have. 
Not a task for the faint hearted, or those with a small milling machine.

Hi Charles, in a roundabout way I really would be interested in the cost to achieve a "As New" crankcase.
pm me please if interested in quoting. I'm in the early stages of creating an engine for a project that's under consideration, &
who cast these originally, recall seeing one at Beaulieu some time ago.
(Silly me, Who is Dave Flake)

[Charles P]

Yes. I have. 
Not a task for the faint hearted, or those with a small milling machine.

Hi Charles, in a roundabout way I really would be interested in the cost to achieve a "As New" crankcase.
pm me please if interested in quoting. I'm in the early stages of creating an engine for a project that's under consideration, &
who cast these originally, recall seeing one at Beaulieu some time ago.
(Silly me, Who is Dave Flake)

I only do this for fun, not money. It’s a useful distraction from the day job in management consultancy. I know that even an experienced machinist will consume a lot of time on one of these so it’ll be in the thousands of pounds.  
I suppose that the question you have to ask yourself is will a new crankcase offer any meaningful advantages over a suitably strengthened original? Given that cars like Christian Pedersen’s single seater have original standard type crankcases you have to conclude that performance possibly isn’t the advantage so a new crankcase has to meet other needs, more along the Mallory and Irvine philosophy. 

Dave Flake was an excellent engineer who died about a decade ago. He cast these and some blown Ulster crankcases along with 10 stud blocks. Most of his patterns are with Tony Betts. However, I doubt that many crankcases have ever been completed 

Charles

[Bluebird7]

Hi Charles, I thought that would be the answer. It was just an option to consider as this crankcase is currently on ebay !!!!.
I recall seeing one at Beaulieu, and yes that was about 10 years ago. At the time I thought without having it supplied fully machined then what's the point.
Having been in engineering most of my working life, it's not a project I would consider. Wouldn't even know where to start , ref datum point ?

[Austin in the Shed]

I have machined hundreds of castings over the years but not attempted to machine a new crankcase although I have one as a " retirement project ".
Having a casting is one thing,but is it dimensionally correct,missing any bosses etc,porous anywhere particularly around the oilways?
I've always thought the first casting off a pattern to machine the worst because you might see it's shortfalls or faults when you machine it up.On a one off you don't get the benefit of that.
Plus the fact all the set ups to do the one off and particularly machining the crank/cam and oil pump centers which have all got to be correct to a couple of thou.
The thing that worries me most about a c/c is the internal oilways either breaking out or being porous .
I use a Bridgeport milling milling machine with a raising block on the head and a crankcase would be on its limits of size I think.
I believe Paul Bonewell has machined crankcass in the past ,I think he has a horizontal borer to do them.