Author Topic: RLE questions!  (Read 30159 times)

Offline michaelr

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Re: RLE questions!
« Reply #15 on: January 24, 2016, 06:52:30 PM »
John. The extra timing gear acts as a carrier for the sensor magnet, the magnet is bedded into a alloy disc which is free to rotate on the gear boss, you can then time the ignition by rotating the disc when the right position is found the disc is locked to the gear boss by a grub screw, the gear and disc are retained on it's shaft by a small disc with a fixing screw tapped into the end of the shaft.

Mike.

Offline Alyn Foundry

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Re: RLE questions!
« Reply #16 on: January 24, 2016, 07:45:27 PM »
Hello John.

Hmmm. Yes the kit was £60.00 the gears were so expensive ( HPC ) @ £12.00/ pair, we didn't put anything on them, supplied at cost. Kindly PM the gentleman's name, just for sheer nostalgia!! 

Dennis's RLE has a set of car ignition points hidden inside the dummy magneto and a conventional car/motorcycle HT coil in the base.

A few RLE facts.

RLE is short for Roy's little engine, named after my eldest son.
It was loosely based around the BEECo ( Leek ) number 3 atmospheric gas engine that I acquired at the Anglesey steam rally in 1984. The attached video is the same engine running on HHO ( electrolysis of water ).

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwjTDXR31KA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwjTDXR31KA</a>

The RLE was originally intended to be air cooled, in fact number 103 was first rallied with a finned cylinder as can be seen clearly on the main drawing set. A friend suggested the hopper and whooo, sales really took off.

Here is number 103 ( prototype ) running with the extra 1/4"  ;) and still missing the odd time despite the work it's doing !! That's it's third crank and second set of main bearings!!
I have a small cam and points attached to the non geared side of the crankshaft thus giving two sparks.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMH21SK_BN8" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMH21SK_BN8</a>

Kind regards, Graham.


Offline Manorfarmdenton

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Re: RLE questions!
« Reply #17 on: January 24, 2016, 10:38:09 PM »
Mike, I get it.  I reckon an alternative would be to mount the disc and magnet on the crankshaft inside the flywheel on the other side, and just waste a spark each rev?  Do you then use a trembler coill like I have on the Red Wings?

Graham,  IM with details of purchaser duly sent.  Thanks for posting the vids.  I know the full sized air cooled engines weren't very popular over here, in fact I have never seen one in the flesh?  I have become very fond of my aircooled Red Wing though, and it was a lot easier to machine on a lathe with no tee slots in the cross slide.  Your solution for the water hopper is a lot nicer than the Red Wing, in that it has cooling all around the cylinder. 

At risk of trying your patience, one question.  Can you possibly tell me the dimension between piston and head at TDC in the higher compression engine!  I ask because the drawings that came with the kit are illegible and the ones that Jason kindly sent me are not 1:1 so its beyond me to work it out.  I ask because I'm thinking I'll fit a Red Wing piston as I have the necessary jigs to hold it on the mill etc, and I need to work out the required length of con rod.

John.
John Fearnley

Offline michaelr

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Re: RLE questions!
« Reply #18 on: January 25, 2016, 08:37:29 AM »
John. I use a Miniature Ignition Controller, Novus Coil, and a Hall Effect Sensor for my ignition on the RLE, which has proved very reliable over the years, and for me is easy to wire up.

See here. http://minimagneto.co.uk/Products.php

Mike.

Offline Manorfarmdenton

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Re: RLE questions!
« Reply #19 on: January 25, 2016, 08:51:44 AM »
Thanks Mike.  I'll study that with interest, and will definitely go that way with the RLE.   

Now I'm off to the workshop to turn some new rings, having made the last ones 5 thou oversize  :)  I'll do my best to take some photos so we can all have a chuckle.

John.
John Fearnley

Offline Alyn Foundry

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Re: RLE questions!
« Reply #20 on: January 25, 2016, 02:56:22 PM »
Hello John.

The high compression version, I don't think 4:1 would be considered high!! ;)    The piston leaves a 1/2" gap between crown and cylinder head.

I wouldn't suggest going any higher as the engine itself is of light construction and would need some strengthening.

Open question, was the Stuart Turner " Sandhurst " 9:1 compression ratio? I was also told that it had some inbuilt complications to tax the ingenuity of the students?

Kind regards, Graham.

Offline Manorfarmdenton

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Re: RLE questions!
« Reply #21 on: January 25, 2016, 05:22:57 PM »
<<The high compression version, I don't think 4:1 would be considered high!! >>  Yes, well... :)

Thanks Graham!  I knew you'd have the answer.

It was such a lovely day I decided to work on my mole drainer instead of retiring to the heated machine shop.  I did take a photo or two though, so I hope to get round to posting some later.

Kind regards,
John.
John Fearnley

Offline Manorfarmdenton

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Re: RLE questions!
« Reply #22 on: January 25, 2016, 06:28:11 PM »
One or two photos!  Making the rings for the RLE, cylinder bolted to frame with hopper installed, the base with no mounting lugs, the poor old Best gathering dust in my study, and the mole drainer I built last year and to which I am now doing some mods.  The linkage holes in the foreground are the size of hole I'm more used to drilling - this model stuff is a bit stressful!  :)  John.

John Fearnley

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: RLE questions!
« Reply #23 on: January 25, 2016, 06:40:59 PM »
Love that 4th shot! Nice!

Had to look up what a mole drainer is. Cool.
Does the use of one mean there's a drainage issue? i.e. too much water? or to provide more water?
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
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Online Chipmaster

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Re: RLE questions!
« Reply #24 on: January 25, 2016, 09:13:14 PM »
I made my RLE about 20 years ago and I increased the connecting rod by a 1/4" to increase the compression.
Here's a few pictures of the engine taken in a friends back garden a couple of years ago, a pretty good looking model for nearly 20 years old but I must get round to improving the presentation. The cornflake packet was necessary to catch the oil that the engine throws about.
I have an old video of the engine running in 1997 which I will add asap. The engine isn't running at the moment because I borrowed it's ignition system for my Economy engine.
Andy

Offline Mathew28

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Re: RLE questions!
« Reply #25 on: January 25, 2016, 09:50:10 PM »
I love the Gardner and also the RLE. I think it's so nice to see other peoples version of them and how they make it there own.
Mathew
Nil Carborundum illegitimi

Offline Manorfarmdenton

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Re: RLE questions!
« Reply #26 on: January 25, 2016, 10:28:40 PM »
Carl, mole draining is only effective when there is clay subsoil to form the mole (tube like a mole makes) in.  It takes a big tractor to pull the drainer, which slides along the ground on its skids and carries a blade that penetrates down to 24" and carries on the bottom a 3" diameter cast bullet (foot) behind which is a 4" ceramic expander (bigger bullet) on a short chain.  Land with clay subsoil tends to be wet, and is drained by perforated pipe every so often across the field with shingle in the trench above the pipe, but water tends not to be able to reach the pipes.  So the idea of moling is to cross the pipes as near to right angles as possible just above them but through the shingle, channelling the water to the shingle and thence to the pipes.  The moles are either 6' or 9' apart.  We do the operation after the crop is harvested, covering up to 2000 acres each year.  Because of the force involved the clay becomes compressed to almost resemble a glazed pipe, which lasts up to ten years.  In a dry time the skids get so hot they sometimes set light to the stubble, and the wearing parts in the ground get far too hot to touch.

Andy, what nice looking engines!  Thanks for the photos.  I love the Gardner - I kick myself for not buying a kit that was on ebay with my RLE.  I bid on them both but didn't get the Gardner.
John Fearnley

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: RLE questions!
« Reply #27 on: January 25, 2016, 10:31:24 PM »
Thanks John! I appreciate the detailed answer.  :ThumbsUp:
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
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Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Online Chipmaster

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Re: RLE questions!
« Reply #28 on: January 25, 2016, 11:10:39 PM »
Thanks for the comments John & Mathew, those pictures were taken in the Summer when we meet up at each others houses on Wednesday afternoons to run a few of our model engines - steam, hot air and i/c out in the gardens.
John, my RLE crankshaft runs in the iron main bearings of the cast iron base. I probably over lubricate the bearings which may have ensured the engine's longevity but it's messy. The engine is fairly lively because I increased the compression. If I had time I'd like to try a shorter connecting rod to lower the compression and perhaps make the engine more docile.
Your engine is coming along nicely.

Andy

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Re: RLE questions!
« Reply #29 on: January 26, 2016, 06:37:27 AM »
Here's the only video I have of my RLE. Taken at the Hartlebury Castle, Worcestershire, rally in 1997. The quality of the video is awful but it serves to demonstrate how the 'higher compression' engine runs. The engine was probably just finished at the time and jury rigged so it could run it at the rally with an old E.D. fuel tank and ignition coil off a Triumph motorcycle.
Andy
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMHMCxZn118" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMHMCxZn118</a>

 

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