1895 Otto Vertical Gas Engine

[RayW]

Just received the kit today from Engineers Emporium. Having just built the very comprehensive Wyvern engine from Hemingway Kits, my initial reaction on opening the box was just how few parts this kit contains (see photo), and just how many parts have to be made from scratch.Now I understand why their catalogue describes this model as "not for the faint hearted".
Having had a quick look through the book of plans, I am a bit surprised to see that there is no indication of the material to be used for any of the parts and no general arrangement or sub- assembly drawings. Of more concern is that on the very first plan, there appears to be an error where the cylinder liner, with an O/D of 27mm is supposed to fit into a hole of 25mm ( which is actually the I/D of the liner). I have not yet spoken to EE but will definitely ask them if they have a list of any known errors on the plans. There is, apparently, an optional extra CD with over 100 photos which you can get, and I certainly think that will prove pretty essential.
Looks as if this is going to be a pretty long term project.Will keep you updated.

[b.lindsey]

Ray, that will make a nice looking engine once you sort out the issues and such. The castings, even if few, look to be of good quality...nice and clean and well defined. Will look forward to following your progress.

Bill

[Jo]

 

So they claimed one or two of the castings were missing  I am guessing all the ali ones. But nice to see they arrived in one piece.

Yes the dimensions do sound a lot like the last kit I heard was purchased from EE. My friend John Day brought one of the Anzanis from them  mine came from elsewhere 


I think it could do with being drawn up in Alibre to make sure it all fits together

Jo

[RayW]

Hi Jo. Sorry, I am not up on Alibre. I assume it is a computer programme.Please enlighten me!

[Jo]

Its a parametric drawing package that a fair few of the member on here use. You can draw the parts assemble the engine and see  where it doesn't line up before you cut metal.

A question: are those Ali castings heat treated? They look very shiny 

Jo

[RayW]

I have downloaded a trial version of Geomagic, which apparently is the new name for Alibre, but have no idea how to use it. I am an old fashioned pencil and drawing board type! The ali castings are very shiny, but I don't know if they have been heat treated or not. Would the purpose be to relieve stress in the castings? If they have not been heat treated, what would the implications of that be?

[Jo]

That is a 30 day free trial but make sure you have time to have a go with it before you install it or your days will run out. Here is a link to the training videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvpFHPSB33Eegf8Rm4sHMA26ujGeBewv- Watching them makes it a lot easier to learn 

Heat treated ali looks dull. The treating hardens/ages the ali which makes it easier to machine (it becomes less gummy and less prone to stick to your tools).

Jo

[Dave Otto]

Hi  Ray

It is good to see this project get off the ground; as I indicated before, I also have a set of these castings. It is a nice looking little engine and it will be fun to watch you work your way through the project. I purchased the photo CD from Heinz and while there is a bunch of pictures I'm not sure how much help it would be. There are a lot of construction photos that may help with the fabricated parts and machining setups if you wanted to do it the same way that he did.


Looking forward to seeing some progress.

Dave

[RayW]

Hi Dave. Think I will definitely get the CD to see how Heinz did things, as some aspects of the drawings are less than clear and, as I mentioned before, I seem to have already found one error on drawing 2. This is definitely going to be the most ambitious project I have ever attempted, so any guidance is welcome. If you are aware of any other errors on the plans, please let me know.

[Dave Otto]

Hi Ray

I haven't looked at the drawings for sometime now; I would be interested to know what the errors that you find are? Then I could at least make some notes on my drawings.

Dave

[Tom Jamboretz]

   Greetings,  I have just finished this engine. I'm in the process of trying to run it on the lathe to get compression up. The thing I missed the most was no drawings as to where all the parts go. No assembly or sub-assembly drawings. I have the disc and it did not help me much. It looks as if it will be a hard grind to get it running and operating on the governor. Dr. Otto had strange thoughts on governing mechanisms. I hope to run it on propane. I wish you luck and will follow your build.  TJ

[b.lindsey]

Hi Tom and welcome to the forum. I see you have been a member for a while and hope you will post an intro in the "Introduce Yourself" section so you can get a proper welcome. Perhaps you can start a thread on your Otto build as well, I am sure there are many that would enjoy seeing it.

Bill

[Dave Otto]

Yes I would love to see it??

One of the NW model builders Bob Kipp; built one of these a few years back and it did run pretty well. The governor works quite well on the full sized engines but I'm not sure how well it scales. My personal opinion is all the parts related to the governor and fuel system would need to be made to a very high standard before it would ever have a chance of working very well.

I thought I had a picture of Bob's engine but I can't put my finger on it right at the moment.

Dave

[RayW]

Hi all and thanks for your responses. Having had another look at the drawings, I must take back what I said about having found an error. It appears that the liner must fit the opposite way up in the base to what I thought. As Tom said, and as I have already commented, not having any general arrangement or sub-assembly drawings to see how the various parts fit together can lead to exactly this sort of confusion.
Tom, if you have any photos of your engine that you can post on the forum,that would be really useful. Also, what type of ignition system will you be using?

[Jasonb]

Couple of photos of a nice one built by one of the members on ME forum

http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/albums/member_photo.asp?a=6778&p=122275

And also found these few

http://gasandsteam.com/otto%20pictures.htm

PM sent