WW1 Dennis truck find

[Gordon_M]

I'll add my congratulations, and nice to see that the video camera in the last vid was actually picking up the ignition clicks from the plugs....

[wildside]

I have been following this restoration since i found it on hmvf and have looked as often as i could but due to a horrendous accident at work that left me in intensive care for 5 days i obviously didnt see the computer. I have been cheered up no end today seeing the videos on you tube you have done an absolutely magnificent job on this truck. i wish i had finished my albion !!!!! any way thankyou again for cheering me up no end and keep up the fantastic work i hope to see many more of your restorations.....

[Enigma]

I only just saw the video of the 1st start.

 

Well done chaps!!

:dancinggirls::banana::yay:

Edited September 3, 2010 by Enigma

[Minesweeper]

I must say that all three of us are grateful to have such kind and generous comments from everybody - and it is doubly pleasing to us to read the note left by "Wildside" where we have, perhaps been especially helpful to him, in taking his mind off other things after his unfortunate recent experiences.

 

When we started writing about this saga, we never expected there to be a lot of interest in it, and we have been quite overwhelmed with the response that it has attracted. "Number Crunchers" may have noticed that the number of "hits" on the site has now exceeded the 100,000 mark which really astonishes us. Thank you, everybody, for your interest.

 

Tony

[Cel]

Congratulations to you guys! When looking at the video of that engine running so sweet, the statement 'better than new' seems to be an understatement. I hope to see it in the flesh some day at a show.

All the best

Marcel

[Old Bill]

During the rest of my time in Devon, I made up the fuel pipes and fitted the filter and it all looks very nice. However, the filter stop valve didn't seat and no matter how hard I turned it off, it still leaked. A closer look revealed a sliver of steel down one side of the thread where I had drilled out the old spindle. This was pushing the new one off-centre causing the leak. Much poking with the scriber wouldn't shift it and I was somewhat at a loss until I remembered reading of a method for extracting broken taps from non ferrous metals by dissolving them out in a saturated solution of Alum. After obtaining a supply of Alum from an on-line pharmaceutical supplier (The first time I have used one of those!), I dissolved as much as I could in a plastic pot of hot water leaving some crystals still visible in the bottom. I then immersed the offending casting and left it there all week on top of my central heating boiler to keep it warm. I have, this evening, washed it out and found the steel completely gone. Reassembly demonstrated instant success so I am very pleased.

 

I don't understand the chemistry that is going on but I guess that it is an accelerated galvanic corrosion process between the dissimilar metals. As a result, it will only take steel out of a non-ferrous casting. If you break a tap off in your cast-iron block it won't work! Another useful process to keep up one's sleeve.

 

Steering wheel pattern next!

 

Steve :-)

[Asciidv]

 

 

This is the commercial offering of what Steve was talking about above. Called 'Broken Tap Remover' it is of course avaialble on ebay at around £7 per tub.

 

I wanted to remove snapped in 3/8" studs and I was impatient. Consequently I had little success.

 

Barry.

[Old Bill]

I'm afraid we have been a bit quiet recently due to end-of-season rallies and so on. We are still working on it though and I hope Tim will be able to post some pics of the steering wheel pattern I am making sometime next week.

 

In the mean time, we have ordered the timber for the body frame and are also in the process of applying for a licence plate. Whilst digging through the paperwork for evidence of age, I came across this picture. I'm sorry it is so poor but I hope that you can see that it is our chassis frame and another in the roof of a garage near Huddersfield, viewed from underneath. It must have been quite a challenge just to get them up there!

 

Steve

[Great War truck]

Cripes! That is some impressive beam.

[Great War truck]

It has been quiet for a while, but Tony got stuck in to the "Dennis" today and picked up the Headlamp Brackets again. All parts now cut out - but the main "stem" is only in embryo form - this has to be machined at the top to take the big "U" and then machined and filed all over to final rounded shape before the assembly is welded together.

 

 

 

We have no original drawings for the Lamp Brackets or precise dimensions as to their exact location and with this, we are very much working from photographs. So the bits have been set up with clamps - to see if they look right.

 

The front wings have yet to be fitted and we must ensure that they will be clear of the lamps - or the lamps will be clear of them!

 

 

 

 

[Great War truck]

Whilst we have been a bit quiet lately, work hasn't ceased and Steve has been pressing on with the steering wheel. We were fortunate to be able to inspect an original one but it was in a totally unlit shed in the dark which proved a bit of a challenge. We just pointed the camera in the general direction a few times and took flash pictures.

 

 

Steve had to hold his tape measure across the wheel, pinch it and then take it outside to read the diameter! This with the pictures gave enough scale to be able to make a reasonably accurate copy.

 

The original was made by wrapping a steel tubular rim around a cast aluminium centre. Making the tubular rim, complete with finger grips would have been very difficult for us so we have opted to cast the whole wheel in aluminium and then plastic coat the rim and polish the spokes. It should look like the original and only you will know any different!

 

First, we had a steel profile of the rim laser cut and then bent the spokes to an appropriate angle.

 

 

The plan was to build this up with MDF blocks and then sand and fill as necessary. To shape the rim pieces, Steve first cut some blanks

 

 

and then made a fixture for his mill. The concept was to use a plywood turntable to which the blanks were screwed and then rotate them against a router bit held in the drill chuck.

 

 

The router bit was generally quoted at £58- but Steve found one on Amazon for only £8-. Amazing.

[Great War truck]

The concept worked quite well.

 

 

 

However, the feed was entirely controlled by hand turning the plywood disc and a momentary loss of concentration resulted in the tool digging in and spinning the disc out of Steve's hands when cutting the second side.

 

 

No harm done but it goes to show how careful one must be. A trial fit followed.

 

[Great War truck]

The hub was done next. This was a simple turning exercise of two pieces which were bolted either side of the steel with a layer of contact adhesive to secure them.

 

 

The rim was then glued on, one side at a time.

 

 

 

Then some oieces were cut for the spokes and these were glued on, using every clamp Steve has!

 

 

[Great War truck]

Then it was just a case of filling and sanding where the trusty Dremel came into it's own.

 

 

 

 

Next came the finger grips, eight between each spoke. These were marked out with pencil with a cross on the areas to be removed. It would be only too easy to cut the wrong side of the lines!

 

[Great War truck]

Then out with the Dremel again and cut them all in, followed by a final rounding off and sanding all over.

 

 

 

The final pictures show the pattern with one coat of Bondaprime. This will be rubbed down and a second coat added which will be polished with wire wool. Then Dad can take it off to the foundry.

 

 

 

Once the casting returns, he has kindly volunteered to file and polish it all over ready for coating. One challenge remains, however. How do we cut a 5/8" square tapered hole through the centre? Any advice would be welcome!

[Stormin]

How do we cut a 5/8" square tapered hole through the centre? Any advice would be welcome!

 

How about casting the hole into the wheel and just trim up with a square file? Should be quite easy to make a plug mold for the square taper.

The wheel pattern looks almost good enough to be just painted and used as is. Who would know? apart from a few people following this thread on here.

[Cel]

Drill a hole and broaching would be as they have done it originally I guess. Or just drill small holes and file the rest. I will gladly do the broaching at no charge if you decide to go that way, but it might be a little bit too far away:nut:?

 

All the best

Marcel

[Old Bill]

Thanks for that Chaps. I have been trying to work out how they did it originally as the taper is very fine.

 

Is that a slotter Marcel? It looks as old as the lorry! Can it be set at an angle in order to plane the taper in? My thinking at the moment is to drill the hole and file it roughly square. Then I plan to make a broach which I can pull through the hole with a piece of stud to make it accurately square finally finishing up with some careful filing. It did occur to me to use the quill on my milling machine as a slotter and just mount the wheel on a rotary table, packed up at an angle so that I could plane the taper. However, my mill is not big enough to get it underneath!

 

Many thanks for your kind offer Marcel but perhaps you are a bit far away this time!

 

I guess they must have used the slotter originally unless they had some sort of fancy broach. Filing is fine for one-off but production is a different matter.

 

Cheers!

 

Steve

[Cel]

Yes Steve, that's an old Halifax slotter. No idea what year it is but it might well be as old as the lorry! It can not be set at an angle but it has a rotary table so the setup as you described would work. Looking forward to see the broach manufacturing process!

 

Marcel

[Adrian Barrell]

I have a slotter of a similar vintage and a bit closer to you if you feel the need!

[mattinker]

I realy enjoy this thread. Although I don't restore vehicules that are as old as the Denis, I do all my own mechanical work, including inventing machines for theatre and television. I have a project vehicle, a mear flegling of an '83 hilux that's going to be my retirement car!

 

I am surprised that you don't have a shaper, square holes, tapered square holes, inside gears, inside splines and making things flat using simple HSS tooling.

 

My suggestion is to drill a straight hole to start with, if your wheel will fit in your lathe, bore a taper hole, with the diameter the same size as the square. I would be inclined to cut to the corners radially from the middle. depending on the diameter, it may be possible to saw triangular sections to eliminate metal. Having the final slope allready cut with a hacksaw will make it easier to file out to the square conical shape. The steering column and some "blue" would help to get things right.

 

Regards, Matthew

[utt61]

One challenge remains, however. How do we cut a 5/8" square tapered hole through the centre? Any advice would be welcome!

 

 

Could you use spark erosion? I have had a number of odd-shped holes made in various objects over the years by a friend of mine (now long retired, unfortunately) who worked as a tool-maker and had access to a spark erosion machine.

 

A one-off 1/2" drive deep socket to fit an unusual splined fitting, and a 1/2" female square to 13/16" female square adaptor are two examples which spring to mind. I was unfamiliar with the technique until he used it, but the holes are extremely accurate and the splined socket is a complex shape.

[Tony B]

Stupid question, what's a Broach?

[Adrian Barrell]

Stupid question, what's a Broach?

 

It's a tool for cutting internal profiles. Usually drawn through the workpiece, it has multiple teeth, each one cutting a little more material until it is fully through leaving the desired shape. Internal keyways and splines are usually broached.

[Tony B]

Thank you!:-D