Bugatti engine turned cam shaft covers

[docwatson1938]

Sounds like a good idea, any ress to show us yet??

[ScaleMotorcars]

Tage what are you using for the turning tip?

[Mario Lucchini]

Found a fun way to carry the engine turned look to the cam shaft covers on the Bugatti 50T engine.
Using solid aluminum duct tape, mounting it to a flat glass surface, then using a Dremel drill press with the small carbon steel brush, you can obtain the engine turned effect on a very thin, adhesive surface. I Pre-scribed the measurements lightly with a pencil, The wire brushing will wipe out the lines, so carry the lines beyond so you can see your measurements later. I also have a small jewelers punch that allowed me to punch 2mm holes for the bolt heads. Could be taken off and added after I suppose.

Brilliant, Tage....that's a breakthrough for all us modelers...
Thanks for the tip!!...........

Mario

[hot ford coupe]

Thanks Tage. I was wondering how I was going to do that. You've help solved a big dilemma for many of us.

[Tage]

Tage what are you using for the turning tip?

[B]Dremel[/B] #443 Carbon Steel Brush, and a light stroke.
Doing it by eye, it is difficult to get the perfect fish scale appearance, but practice will make perfect.
This is my first Pocher kit in 30 years. Havent even started painting yet.
My Pocher Sedanca deVille was purchased in 1972, the partially built kit was stolen in 1978.
I purchased a prebuilt Sedanca deVille from ebay that was/is falling apart.
So I am using the Bugatti engine to re hone my skills.

Wish me luck.

[hot ford coupe]

O.k. Tage, where did you get the rubber dam punch? That sure is a great tool.

[Tage]

O.k. Tage, where did you get the rubber dam punch? That sure is a great tool.

I've had it so long I forget where I got it... lol
I think it was a pawn shop.

Used to use it to punch a micro hole in black electrical tape.
The tape would go on my right eyeglass lens to provide a pinhole view when I was shooting air Pistol in the 70's. Put all the sights and target in focus.

It now has new functionality!

If it is a rubber dam punch, bribe your local dentist.

http://idsdental.stores.yahoo.net/rubdampun.html

[hot ford coupe]

I have a rubber dam punch also except I used to use mine to punch holes in rubber dam for 30 years.

[Nortley]

Hi all,
The rubber dam punch is indeed a great tool. I got mine from an abandoned dental supply shop in Seattle that was discovered when the American Eagles hobby shop bought the building and moved in, sometime in the 1980s. They had all sorts of dental gear cheap for years. With a light touch it's a good rivet embosser. Here's a thought on the engine turned tape. Harbor Freight, Tool Town, and such places sell a real cheap XY table for drill presses, and I have seen small ones there. It is a moveable flat bed mounted on a base, moveable in the X (cross) and Y (fore and aft) axes by little handwheels. The original idea was to make it easy to accurately spot a workpiece for drilling. The wheels are graduated, so it is fairly easy to make a row of evenly spaced spots, then move up an increment, and keep repeating until the required area is engine turned. They can be cheaply manufactured, a bit loose, and are definitely not sturdy enough for milling, but the slop can be adjusted out, and it will not be necessary to make guide lines, just use the marks on the handwheels to move your work so many thou or mm at a time. Ettore Bugatti would be proud of you, Tage.

[Herman]

That table is referred to as a "cross table". They might be a bit sloppy, but search the internet for "lathe lapping" which will bring you to some articles about lapping the sliding mechanism of lathes, and which can also be used for cross tables. If you always move from one direction to the other, a little play in the mechanisme should not affect the outcome too much. (so always work from left to right, or from right to left, and never a combination of those)

About the pattern on cam covers: The period correct style is "hand scraping ". This was performed on cam covers, engine blocks, and other flat surfaces.
What you call engine turning actually is correctly referred to as "jewelling". However, the complete Bugatti community uses "engine turning" as the correct word, and I might even not be correct.

Some interesting links:

http://www.bugattibuilder.com/wiki/i...metal_finishes

http://www.metalmeet.com/forum/showt...739#post124739

http://www.engineturning.com <-- this is where I learnt about the difference between jewelling and engine turning

[Tage]

Hi all,
The rubber dam punch is indeed a great tool. I got mine from an abandoned dental supply shop in Seattle that was discovered when the American Eagles hobby shop bought the building and moved in, sometime in the 1980s. They had all sorts of dental gear cheap for years. With a light touch it's a good rivet embosser. Here's a thought on the engine turned tape. Harbor Freight, Tool Town, and such places sell a real cheap XY table for drill presses, and I have seen small ones there. It is a moveable flat bed mounted on a base, moveable in the X (cross) and Y (fore and aft) axes by little handwheels. The original idea was to make it easy to accurately spot a workpiece for drilling. The wheels are graduated, so it is fairly easy to make a row of evenly spaced spots, then move up an increment, and keep repeating until the required area is engine turned. They can be cheaply manufactured, a bit loose, and are definitely not sturdy enough for milling, but the slop can be adjusted out, and it will not be necessary to make guide lines, just use the marks on the handwheels to move your work so many thou or mm at a time. Ettore Bugatti would be proud of you, Tage.

Thanks Nortley,
I used to be American Eagles biggest competitor. I had a hobby shop called Webster Supply it has changed hands several times and I think it is gone now. I turned Webster Supply into a hobby store, about 30% of the members of IPMS Seattle were members I took to the meetings in the early 70's. Nice to hear from another Puget Sounder.
And thanks for the kudos.

[xken]

This was just an experiment I did for a friend, but it worked out. I used .005" aluminum sheet. As mentioned above the use of a mill or cross table is recommended. A cross table is available at www.micromark.com for those with no milling machine. For offhand work another old school technique (no picture) was to use an electric eraser with the gray ink eraser that had abrasive in it. Was very tedious and nerve wracking but very effective.

MICROLUX® X-Y TABLE ATTACHMENT
Item Number: 82389
List Price $129.95
Sale Price $86.95



Ken

[modelmaker]

Great Tut Ken I do my scraping using this exact technique always giving the finished surface a clearcoat to seal and protect it !

Sean

[Tage]

The clear coat is highly recommended.
The aluminum is so bright and beautiful when first worked,
then the air will dull it in just a few hours.

On the Bugatti 50T engine, the crankcase cover and cylinder cover were done in .016 sheet aluminum. The heads and cam covers were done in the Aluminum ducting tape.
The duct tape would not work for compound curves.

I used a Dremel drill press and did it by eye.
I made an aluminum fence system to control the row overlap,
and used my eye to half overlay each swirl.
This will only work with large scale models, I think the scale pattern I got was not to scale (pun).
Knowing now what kit could have been I am disappointed in myself for rushing it through.