The Le Rhone 9C

[Laurentic]

Interesting Colin, but those inlet and exhaust cams are something else, never seen cams like that before, there is obviously an excellent reason why the designer arrived at those profiles but just how escapes me at the minute, other than to accommodate the firing order and the fact the engine rotates!

Chris

[pieterb]

this shows everything clear I think

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th-GuQ7OMSc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th-GuQ7OMSc</a>

[crueby]

Oh my, what an incredible movie!  That must have taken quite a while to make.  I was going to ask about why the cams had 5 sets of lobes, but the movie showed how the cam set turns at a different speed from the crank due to the gear reduction. And the motion on the con rod inner ends is mind boggling....

An amazing build! 

  Chris

[Twizseven]

As you say Chris an amazing piece of animation.  I cannot begin to think how long that would have taken to research and then produce.

Colin

[mikemill]

That is a remarkable video and an excellent way to visualize how the engine is built and works. A nine-cylinder rotary engine is probably the most challenging project a M. E. can undertake, and brings back fond memories of the Bentley BR2 I built many years ago, and the amazement when the engine first fired up with castor oil flying around.
I will follow this build with great interest.

Mike

[Brian Rupnow]

Somebody spent significant time on that animation. I have done a bit of animation in the past, but nothing to compare with that. Magnificent animation and incredible engine design.----Brian

[bent]

Between Craig's video of his engine and the one shared by Pieter, I think I finally get how this contraption works.  Thanks both!

[Craig DeShong]

Thanks for stopping by.   Lots of folks commenting, THANKS, especially to Peter who shared that excellent assembly video of the LeRhône 9C.   

Welcome to the latest update from the LeCrâig aero-engine factory where we are in the process of making THOUSANDS of cylinder jugs.  (Ok- just nine, but when you’re standing at the lathe it Seems like thousands).

And… Mike, I hold you personally responsible for the “nine cylinder” requirement thing.  You, being the “round engine” expert here, you should have warned me there were NINE CYLINDERS.

You can get into a nice rhythm with nine of everything.

Ooooops  looks like you did, sorrrrrrry.

Three cylinders done, six to go (though I’m well into number 4).  I’m hoping to finish them around the end of November.  Below are a few photos of the growing family.

[Admiral_dk]

They look amazing - just like the crankcase 

[Kim]

Very stately looking family there, Craig! 

Just wondering - If I were doing this, I think I'd do more of an assembly line thing and bring all nine (or at least the remaining 8 ) along at the same time - do one step on all of them, then do the next step, etc.  Looks like you're doing all the operations for one cylinder to completion, then starting over for the next one.

Kim

[Vixen]

And… Mike, I hold you personally responsible for the “nine cylinder” requirement thing.  You, being the “round engine” expert here, you should have warned me there were NINE CYLINDERS.

You can get into a nice rhythm with nine of everything.

Ooooops  looks like you did, sorrrrrrry.

Ye Ye, thats right, blame me 

But I havn't told you yet about the valves and rocker gear; suddenly there are eighteen of everything to make

Better do as Kim sugests and set up a production line, one operation on each part at a time, rather than making each part individually.

I do like the look of your growing family

Mike

Just to remind you............Real engines are round

[crueby]

More 'wow'. I need another box of 'wow's for this build...

[90LX_Notch]

Craig-

Beautiful work on the cylinders.

-Bob

[Craig DeShong]

suddenly there are eighteen of everything to make

Kim & Mike

I thought about cutting the remaining pieces from stock, them doing all the machining needed for one setup for all cylinders before moving on but....

That would be SO MONOTONOUS and the whole idea of this hobby (or any hobby) is to have fun, so I'm performing all the steps to complete each cylinder before moving on to the next to break the monotony up.... some.

the real pain in the a$$ is the boring operation.  I drill out to 3/4 inch, then bore to about 10 to 15 thousandths under one inch and finish with a one inch ream I happen to have.  The boring seems to take forever.  Where the turning removed nice little curls of material, all I get with the boring is powder.  I've tried different speeds (70 up to 270 RPM) and different feeds .001 inch per revolution to up to about .005 inch per revolution and still all I get is powder and at most a diameter increase of about .020 inch per pass.  I've even tried new inserts on the boring bar.

I would hate to have to bore eight if these things, one after the other.  I'd be boring for weeks.

[Brian Rupnow]

Craig---You are doing fantastic work. Most of my engines are 1" bore, and I drill them out to 7/8", then bore out to 1" diameter. I used to use a 1" reamer, but found that if the drilled hole is the least bit off, the reamer just follows the drilled hole. Boring trues up the hole and keeps both ends concentric to the o.d.---Brian