Watching RR and Packard assemble Merlins via photos or film there are tantalizing glimpses of a rotating engine assembly stand. Various photos stolen from various sources are reproduced below showing this design. It seems to be a brilliant design, based on two large diameter rolled and machined rings that connect to the engine block feet. The rings break in two, allowing both full rotation and, by removing one half of the ring, easy access.
The earlier RR Kestrel engine stand designs, both for factory assembly and field maintenance, are cumbersome and a poor ergonomic design. Somebody put a lot of thought into the Merlin assembly stand, and I think Packards evolved it even further.
Your usual engine stand of today, which may accomodate a truck diesel of similar proportions to a Merlin, is suspended from one end, and won’t allow the fitting of supercharger or reduction gear, so there is not much out there to do V12 aero engines. They seem to be built up on the bench. I have cast an eye over Allison fabrication techniques, and they did not seem to have something like the Merlin rotary stand.
Does anybody have more detail or plans for the Merlin stand? – I would like to try and build one.
Because I can’t seem to insert images inline with text on key anymore I have numbered the attached images 1-3.
The first two images show UK RR Merlin production, with the half rings removed, but they can be seen on the ground. When it is necessary to fully invert the block, the half rings are fixed back and the assembly rotated 180 degrees. I assume a pin was put in place to stop the block from auto rotating.
Image 1 shows engine ‘banks up’ while image 2 shows engine ‘banks down’. I assume there was a fitting on the block feet that engaged with the gusset feature on the rings, that allowed support by either the ‘banks up’ or ‘banks down’ half ring. It’s nice to see everyone in a tie.
The third image shows, I think, a Packard or Ford Merlin assembly line in the US. In this case, the block seems to be fixed to a small rectangular trolley, which makes its way down the line from left to right. The trolley enters a position with two fixed rings, that allows the cylinder banks to be lowered vertically down on the block. This assembly is then pushed out to the right. The principle of full assembly line production seems apparent, in comparison to the fixed station approach in the UK pictures, where the fitters ‘build up’ an engine in the one spot.
By: QldSpitty - 24th November 2018 at 01:54
Mate I would but not in pink ! Very interesting jobbie. Are you 3D printing ‘chunks’ that are then stuck together?
Bits of wood and plastic stuff.Customers work.Sorry its Fb
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012270510876
By: powerandpassion - 23rd November 2018 at 05:09
Stargate with mock Kestrel being sent into another dimension [ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:”none”,”data-size”:”large”,”data-attachmentid”:3841609}[/ATTACH]
By: powerandpassion - 3rd August 2018 at 08:25
Mate I would but not in pink ! Very interesting jobbie. Are you 3D printing ‘chunks’ that are then stuck together?
By: QldSpitty - 31st July 2018 at 23:03
Engine thingie
Noice 🙂 Instead of a metal “buck” for the Merlin have you considered a Fibreglass or foam Merlin?Im doing a Db605 for a customer for his 109G6 static replica.
By: Trolly Aux - 31st July 2018 at 17:56
wow
By: powerandpassion - 31st July 2018 at 14:26
Coming together. Once you start laser cutting you cannot stop. I think I have been fascinated with laser since James Bond was strapped to a table while a sinister laser beam tracked towards his goolies…anyway a poor man’s ‘buck’ of a Merlin and Kestrel were laser cut and assembled, to provide a lightweight shape for another fairing forming job, but we can fit these to the engine stand and see if it all works.
By: powerandpassion - 19th June 2018 at 09:53
Coming together….
By: Archer - 6th April 2018 at 12:37
I haven’t seen a photo or the stand itself (only the end result), but someone I know built two big hoops that bolt to the axles on a Morris Minor. It enabled him to rollover the entire car in his garage and complete a comprehensive restoration of it.
By: Adrian Barrell - 6th April 2018 at 07:52
Well, it’s had three Shermans and one Ram in it so far!
By: powerandpassion - 5th April 2018 at 14:15
Thanks for your comments, great stand pics and replies. Tankbarrell, fantastic ! Everybody needs a tank rollover stand in their workshop !
By: Arabella-Cox - 3rd April 2018 at 23:11
Sorry P&P, just saw your question. It is an light industrial 40:1 gearbox I found on ebay.
DAI
By: Adrian Barrell - 3rd April 2018 at 07:52
I built this to fit a Sherman hull, rather larger in scale but the same principle![ATTACH=CONFIG]259769[/ATTACH]
By: Whitley_Project - 2nd April 2018 at 18:40
Pity there isn’t a like button here. I’d be pressing it like mad! I do wonder if you could have gotten away with some thinner plate though – maybe even 1/4″. Good job!!
By: racer2_uk - 2nd April 2018 at 17:23
Hi P&P,
A really impressive set of blanks and a lot of precision work, well done, after yours it is more than obvious that I made mine in an afternoon with an old Belle cement mixer gearbox, it is still working and has rebuilt 4 engines so far, a 1924 Napier Lion, a 1914 Daimler and 2 1913 Chalmers 17’s.
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I look forward to seeing the finished item.
Andy
By: Arabella-Cox - 2nd April 2018 at 11:58
Impressive fabrication and assembly, P&P. I hope you’ve got the dimensions correct!
Anon.
By: QldSpitty - 2nd April 2018 at 05:22
When old age sets in you cant beat a rollover jig.
By: powerandpassion - 2nd April 2018 at 01:39
The current trend is to build Walls, while I do remember Mr Reagan telling Mr Gorbachev to ‘tear down that Wall.’ Accordingly we have ripped down the fence dividing us from the next door nieghbours and are using the galvanised fence posts as spacers for the rings in the iUnderstand. A bit of work on the trusty lathe and the rings are starting to snap together. I really like laser cutting, it’s kind of like Lego for grown ups. There’s lots of steel in this prototype, a real Soviet piece of work, and I am starting to think that an aluminium version might make things easier for me once the arthritis kicks in. This is a stupidly expensive stand, lots of material, laser cutting, fitting and welding. It makes no sense unless it can be adapted to a wide range of work, and I am starting to think of inserting a bit of fuselage into it, just to see if that will be another viable use.
By: Whitley_Project - 20th February 2018 at 07:13
Looks promising Ed
By: powerandpassion - 20th February 2018 at 04:47
CKD iUstd
iUnderstand arrives as laser cut pieces. Lots of laser cutting of half inch plate, not cheap….
By: TonyT - 25th January 2018 at 11:06
Gnome in a stand, as a roary it probably didn’t need to roate as such, but this appears to do it from vertical to horizontal.
Also another, that appears to rotate but not 360 degrees
I would imagine those to be prior to the Curtis..
Nice design for your stand BTW.
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February 1, 2017 at 11:32 am