Model Engine Maker
Engines => Your Own Design => Topic started by: Brian Rupnow on June 15, 2022, 02:05:18 PM
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I have been so impressed by RReid's build of a v-twin engine on "Model Engine Maker" forum, that I've just had to start modeling my own version. I will use the same cylinder, piston, and cylinder heads (although one of the heads has to be machined "opposite hand") as my 7/8" bore horizontal engine. It is not terribly difficult to design a V-twin engine. However, I'm thinkin' Lincoln,--what if? What if two V twin "stand alone" engines were completely finished then mounted on a common baseplate. Then, with the correct rotational aspect between the two engine crankshafts (using a Lovejoy coupling), wouldn't that make a reasonable v4 engine? I think the second engine would have to be a complete 180 degrees out of phase with the first engine to make this work right, but I'm not totally sure yet. I'm not going to build any engines this summer, but I do love to design.---Brian
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/7711/sV0Xsd.jpg)
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Very interesting - looks like some fun in CAD for you this summer!
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Okay---That's enough silliness for today. The timing gears are just hanging in space for now, not really positioned accurately.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/9894/F8K0yW.jpg)
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Hell, yes!!!--We can do this. All four valves have lifters. I have one idler gear on backwards but that will be changed. Tomorrow I will figure out how to support the idler gears and work on ignition.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/9367/ClduWq.jpg)
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With all the gears turned to have the hubs facing in the correct direction, I went ahead and designed a gear guard. I'm not sure of the final shape---It currently looks a bit too much like Mickey Mouse ears. I'll worry about that one tomorrow. The endplates for the crankcase are 1/2" thick, so that lets me use two 3/8" diameter shoulder bolts to support the idler gears.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/9776/nIxOLc.jpg)
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The Mickey-V engine!
You have been having fun on the computer today!
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Yes Chris, it has been a fun day. It is amazing how quickly it comes, when you have ten or twelve years of "Archive files" to steal parts from and tweak them a little bit to fit whatever engine you may be thinking of. Fifty years ago when I was working on a drafting board, I would never ever have believed what can now be done on a computer. I've got about seven hours in today on this thing, starting from scratch.
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With two cylinders, each of which must be timed more or less independently of each other, the simplest way for me to do this is with two sets of ignition points. That doesn't really trouble me, and I've found that by mounting the ignition cams to the camshafts, I can bolt a 1/4" thick flatbar across the back of the crankcase endplate to support them. My original thoughts on this engine was that I would run it with an open crankcase similar to what RReid done on his engine, but I see now that I can run it with a closed crankshaft with splash lubrication for the con rods.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/6110/E6gWjk.jpg)
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I've never had a lot of luck putting tight bends into small tubing without kinking it. So---I'm going to make the intake manifold out of a piece of 1/2" aluminum plate. The carb is my old tried and true Traxxas 4033, same as I've used on my other engines.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/7228/O6UFPy.jpg)
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And of course, being an internal combustion engine, it needs a fuel tank. Fuel tanks are generally pretty boring, but I can fancy them up a bit with a real swoopy support bracket.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/7104/XKHnPD.jpg)
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My original thoughts on this engine was that I would run it with an open crankcase similar to what RReid done on his engine, but I see now that I can run it with a closed crankshaft with splash lubrication for the con rods
I went the other way with mine. Started out planning on a closed crankcase with splash lube, and decided pretty quickly to go with the open form instead, just because I like to see inside and see stuff whirling around.
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Brian,
A V4 would be cool! The later Saab 96's that had a V4 instead of the 2 stroke triple were based on a Ford V6 and was used for many years in fork lifts. Good start on the V twin.
Art
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Thanks Art--It's good to hear from you. Hope you and your lady have a great summer coming up. I'm burned out on machine building, but I still enjoy the design end of the business. Hope to get back into building when the fall comes.---Brian
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I went to bed last night, and as I lay there thinking about this engine, I realized that I had neglected to put a flywheel on it. Okay, that lets me get rid of the Mickey Mouse ears gear guard and put two smaller gear guards on--The rest of the gears are covered by the flywheel. I like this much better.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/3352/fTl5Li.jpg)
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Today I thought about pricing brass to use for my flywheel and gas tank. The one supplier I contacted in Barrie, wants $25 for a piece of 4" round brass 1" long (My flywheel). I then tried to find a piece of 1 3/4" round brass to use for a gas tank. Best price I could get was $40 for a piece 3 1/8" long. Not really complicated parts to make, but I like the color contrast. Okay, maybe I'll try something else.--I did a web search for cans of metallic spray paints that are a close match for brass. A spray can of "metallic brass finish" costs $10.00. Hot rolled steel for the flywheel and and thin wall steel tubing for the gas tank are so cheap that they almost give it away. In fact, I have some lying around in my materials bin. So---Use hot rolled steel that is essentially free (because I have it) and $10 for some spray paint, or $65 for material to make flywheel and gas tank. The only thing I gain by using brass is that I find it much easier to machine. Somehow it feels a bit like I'm cheating to make something from steel and then painting it to look like brass, but that's a heck of a big price differential.
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Today I finished detail drawings of all the engine parts. There are 35 drawings including the overall general arrangement. I like the dual exposed camshafts. It is probably a bit more work to do it this way than with a single center camshaft, but I like the "mechanical" look of it. The extra gears aren't as big an issue as you would think. I just cut my stock extra long when I cut the 24 dp. gears and then part off as many as I need. I've done a bit of preliminary pricing of material, but haven't done any machine work.
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(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/5482/Kxs5lD.jpg)
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And a bit more--
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/3035/YwljJW.jpg)
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And a bit more again--
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/7126/Wn7RqD.jpg)
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And one final kick at the can, and that's all folks!!!
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/227/HKuAT6.jpg)
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I had to break down and machine something today. I've read every book in the local library, downloaded everything that I would like to read on my tablet, and done all the household chores my good wife could think of. I actually caught myself reading a book about Zombies today, and decided "Oh boy--Better go machine something.----Zombies---Oh Lord!!!" So, first parts today---Camshaft supports. I still have some finessing to do on them, and I won't drill the shaft holes until after the main crankcase and gears are made.--I've been caught out on this one before. Far wiser to let the gears determine where the hole for the shafts will be. I know where they go dimension wise, but anytime there is a possibility of stacked up tolerances, it is better to assemble the gears and center-punch thru the bore to get a true center distance.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/378/UxuqaF.jpg)
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Today I'm playing with gears. I have a full set of 24DP gear cutters, which seem to fit the size of engines I build very well. I also have a drawer full of random gears that have been recovered from abandoned projects. This little treasure chest of gears yielded two of the 30 tooth gears that I will need. I prepared a 1" diameter piece of cold rolled steel so that I can cut two 20 tooth gears from it. I only need one, the second will go into my drawer of spare gears. I prepared a piece of 1 3/4" stress proof steel to become two 40 tooth gears. In a perfect world, I would have made the idler gears out of brass, because there is a theory out there that gears of dissimilar metals run quieter. However, since I have the two 30 tooth idler gears already, they are what will be used. Next step will be to set up my rotary table and milling machine to cut teeth on the gears.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/8830/Y3nXFP.jpg)
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After thinking about it for a bit, I decided to go with a brass flywheel. I could have used mild steel (which I already had) but decided it was worth $25 just to avoid all the bandsawing and shaping involved in making the piece from a 1" mild steel plate. I do love those radiused inside corners.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/1607/oq34YN.jpg)
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Today was crank-case day. I started with a piece of 4" diameter solid aluminum. My largest drill is one inch diameter, and the finished hole diameter is 3".--So, you know what I've been doing for a goodly part of the day---boring. and boring, and --boring. All of the inner features are finished now, so next thing will be milling the flats for the cylinders and camshaft supports to bolt to.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/60/OT8OiQ.jpg)
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As Don might say, Dang dude, you are really moving along on this!! :ThumbsUp:
:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:
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A month ago I was so tired of machining things that I wanted to take the summer off and do other interesting things. Come to find out that at 75 years old, there just aren't that many other interesting things to do. I've read until my eyes are sore and I've used up all the good books that I wanted to read. Grandchildren are too grown up or live too far away to go and spend time at the beach. Can't really take a trip because we are terrified of catching Covid. All my yard work is caught up, and I'm starting to drive my good wife crazy, looking for something to do. ---Brian
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Today I managed to crank out a pair of crankcase endplates. The 3/8" sealed ball bearings fit into a recess bored on the inside of each end plate. Lots and lots of other small holes, some tapped, some not.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/3847/fWL141.jpg)
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A month ago I was so tired of machining things that I wanted to take the summer off and do other interesting things. Come to find out that at 75 years old, there just aren't that many other interesting things to do.
We all knew you couldn’t stay away long Brian. :ThumbsUp:
I’d opt for the V4, but then it’s easy for me to say because I’m not building it. :embarassed: I’ll be following along.
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Sometimes when I am machining parts, I'm making it up as I go along. I should have turned the two inch radius in these engine support brackets with them mounted on my lathes faceplate. However, that would have involved drilling and tapping hold down holes in my parts or my faceplates, so it was machined on my mill. My boring head will just reach a 4" diameter cut, and I already had the 3/4" holes designed more for "pretty" than anything, but at the last minute I drilled them undersize and reamed them to 0.750". That let me gang the two plates together and push in some boring tools with 3/4" shanks. I hogged out most of the material with my bandsaw, so the job went quite well on the mill, even though it required a wacky set-up. As you can see in the pictures, they turned out quite "spiffy". I was away part of the day, attending a graduation ceremony for my oldest (18 years) granddaughter, who surprised us all with graduating from high-school as an "Ontario scholar"--which means with an 80 percent or greater average grade. Way to go Hannah!!!
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/6324/h83fCz.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/6953/NrAdIO.jpg)
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And now I have a place to mount my two sets of ignition points. I have one ratty old set of points that were damaged in the past. They work very well to just bolt in place and confirm that I have made the drawing correctly.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/1760/UlU1pi.jpg)
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And that's it for today!! The support feet are attached to the crank-case. I have to trim the length of the bolts, but that can be tomorrows job.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/6138/Gcp5PA.jpg)
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At this point in the game, just as I am about to machine the cylinders, I have changed the design of the cylinders and cylinder heads. My original cylinders and cylinder heads were exact copies of the cylinder and heads that I used on the 7/8" bore horizontal. These cylinders were tapered at the top, and the heads were 1.6" diameter. I have decided that due to the mass of the crank-case, the cylinders and heads had to appear larger. This didn't change anything internally---it's just that with the taper removed, the cylinders and heads "grow" to 1.9" diameter. I think this gives a much better overall "balance" to the engine.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/1509/98Q2VQ.jpg)
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Here we have the new cylinder which doesn't have tapered fins on it and the old style cylinder which does have tapered fins. Both cylinders are the same bore and same length, but the new style with untapered fins looks much more robust in comparison to the crankcase. I was going to make a second cylinder this afternoon, but I feel a fit of lazy coming on, so will make the second cylinder tomorrow. They are made from cast iron.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/8607/gCAUFz.jpg)
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So, now we have two cylinders the same. Second cylinder went considerably faster than the first one. I started this one at 10:00 this morning and finished it at 12:30. I like making all of these large parts first. Tomorrow I will get the tapped holes and clearance holes and the o-ring groove finished in the cylinders. I had some thoughts this morning about a cooling fan, and will probably spend some design time this afternoon to rig a cooling fan that is driven by an o-ring belt off the flywheel.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/6959/UOJpD4.jpg)
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When you end up with the cooling fan and the carburetor both wanting to be in the same place, this is what you do. Looks wild and crazy, but I can't see any reason that it wouldn't work. I've got lots of things to do before I get to the point where I need to make this intake-carburetor-fan mash-up, so I've got a while to think about it.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/3764/z9nLMg.jpg)
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Spent the first half of today drilling and tapping 18 holes in the crankcase and sideplates to get everything bolted together. Probably the next thing will be putting threaded holes and clearance holes in the cylinders.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/1223/EutOhK.jpg)
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So, here we are with both cylinders drilled, tapped, grooved for o-ring head gasket seal, and bolted into place on the crankcase. Oh my, what nasty little buggers those socket head capscrews are that hold the cylinders in place. It would have been a lot simpler if I had cut the bottom cooling fin off each cylinder to give myself some more clearance. I didn't want to give up that cooling fin, so I shortened up one end of an Allen wrench and tightened them up, about 1/4 of a turn at a time. Ah well, it's progress.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/7023/N6HYR1.jpg)
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I'm running out of "quick and easy" parts to build. Today I will attempt the swoopy looking gas tank mount and the tank itself, and then I get into the more technically challenging things like con rods and crankshafts. I'm building this engine in reverse---most times I recommend that people build the difficult engine parts first. If they can build the crankshaft, con rods, and valve train, then they can go on to do the easier large parts. Thank you to all who are following this build thread.---Brian
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Holy Gas Tank Batmen!!!--There's a full days work in that gas tank and bracket, but I like it a lot.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/4485/rLa5O5.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/6972/91nz4C.jpg)
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Really coming along nicely. This looks like a large engine, think it will be used to drive one of your machines?
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I don't really know Chris. The cylinders are 7/8" bore so it will have some power. I don't have anything in mind for it to run ----right now.
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Brian,
Good to see the progress you are making. We've been on vacation and this is the first time in half a week I've been on the forum. I have to say that I like the straight cylinders better.
Art
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Not a lot of new fabricating today, as I had some automation design to do for an old customer. However, I did get my new points and condensers and had to try them to make sure they fit, and I managed to pick up some oilite bronze bushings for my camshafts and the two idler gears.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/7356/AVzQIB.jpg)
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Today was gear making day. Not terribly difficult but time consuming. Tomorrow I will add a bunch of set screws and get all of the gears meshing with one and other.(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/3285/XuMoqx.jpg)
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Hi Brian, I don't know if it is just me or if others find your pictures a bit large? This last one looks like 20Megapixels and comes out about 6 feet square on my pc. Can you reduce them in size if possible? Love the build.
Ian.
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By golly you are making some progress!
Actually yeah I just noticed the size of the images
There is a free command line tool you can use called NConvert which can batch process photos
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But they are just fine on iPad. Very mysterious.
Great progress on the build though Brian. Another of your masterpieces coming up.
MJM460
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I think some browsers have some smarts to auto resize images
I note that if I look at the images now below this reply text box, they are showing their true size.
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Yesterday the cam gears were completed and the engine was driven by an electric motor to wear in the gears for a perfect mesh. The camshaft support blocks were drilled for bushings and the cam shafts installed. The ignition cams were made and installed. The ignition points were installed, but there was a fitment problem and I am going to have to redrill two holes and move them around a little bit.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/1954/0UGE0q.jpg)
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I keep redesigning and refining this engine as I build it. I'm almost at the point where I need to start building finned cylinder heads.---and I'm thinking how great they would look made from brass. Aluminum works, and works very well, but brass is sooooo pretty!!! I need a piece of brass flat bar 2" x 3/4" x 4" long to make two cylinder heads. On Monday I will call my metal suppliers to see what a piece of brass that size would cost me. I'm pretty sure that the last time I used it my 0.094" slitting saw blade (which I cut fins with) was dull as a hoe, so I'll probably need to replace it also. Tomorrow is scheduled to be a big backyard birthday party for my daughter and I (I just turned 76 and my daughter is turning 38) so a family party day will give me another day to think about this.
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Ooh, a brass headed v twin, that would look great!
And happy birthday to all!
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This morning before we got into birthday party mode, I spent an hour reconfiguring the cylinder head so it can be machined from a piece of 2" diameter brass. Actually, the finished part is 1.9" diameter, same as the outer diameter of the cylinder. I will look at it more closely tomorrow morning to make sure I haven't missed something. If all looks okay, then the cylinder heads will be brass.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/9697/kdYGX4.jpg)
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Great build Brian :ThumbsUp:
I wish you both ab happy birthday and a nice party to all :cheers:
Per
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Does anyone know of a source for #5-40 socket head capscrews that are 3" long, and not full thread? McMaster has them but only with full threads. I need ten, but would buy a dozen. I can't find any on the net.---Brian
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Does anyone know of a source for #5-40 socket head capscrews that are 3" long, and not full thread? McMaster has them but only with full threads. I need ten, but would buy a dozen. I can't find any on the net.---Brian
Checked my usual sources, don't see any over 2" long. Get the 3" ones, add a thin threaded-inside-smooth-outside collar?
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Don't really have enough room Chris. These shcs would pass thru the cylinder head, thru the cylinder, and thread into the crank-case.
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Just turn off the unwanted threads from some screws and have screws with a plain shaft at the minor thread diameter, or just under. Should be OK. Would look a little bit like cylinder head studs. Indeed - just make some studs and use acorn nuts on the outside. That would look spiffy.
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No machining progress today----But---I took a very deep breath and went into my metal suppliers and bought 2" diameter brass to make cylinder heads and gas-tank ends, a piece of 1144 stress proof to make a crankshaft, a piece of 1/4" cold rolled flatbar to make a changed ignition points bracket, and a piece of 0.040" brass sheet to cover up a machining boo boo that I made on the crank-case. That little handful of metal cost $75. I can see a time coming when I have to start making engine parts out of rocks or something.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/8430/mv6HIl.jpg)
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So, here we go!! Cylinder head machining step one. The two inch diameter brass has been turned to 1.9" diameter, set up in the rotary table 3 jaw chuck, zeroed out under the quill, and all of the holes drilled .8125" deep. (The finished head thickness will be 0.75".) The holes for the #5 shcs have been counterbored 0.297" deep, which is the same as the depth of the cuts between the fins. The valve cage holes have been drilled and reamed to finished size, but still have to be counterbored on the far side to accept the flange on the valve cages. One hole gets tapped #5-40 for a shcs which will eventually hold the rocker arm tower. The spark-plug hole will be drilled and counterbored in a future step, as will the flat on one side of the cylinder head. the rotary table is not being turned for these steps. It is simply acting as a holding fixture. Next step will be moving back over to the lathe to part off the first cylinder head so the radial groove for the o-ring head gasket, the counterbore for the valve cage flange and threaded hole for the sparkplug can be added.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/6535/2hj7oz.jpg)
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And as we get farther into it--- The counterbores have been put into the inside of the cylinder head to accept the flanges of the valve cages. The annular groove for the viton o-ring head gasket has been cut, the flat has been machined on one side to accept the intake flange, and the scariest part of all is the sparkplug hole drilled, tapped, and counterbored. This is very scary, because you are working blind. You follow all the dimensions and really, really hope that it breaks thru in the correct place, inside the annular groove and clear of the valve cage counterbores. The holes for the intake, exhaust, and intake flange won't be put into the head until the valve cages have been loctited into place. Tomorrow I get to do this all over again, only opposite hand.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/9526/M0MmWh.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/7930/enEB46.jpg)
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It fits!!!
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/9021/fe9HdX.jpg)
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The brass sure looks good! :popcorn:
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Chris--I love the look of brass used as "contrast" parts on an engine. I started this machining rodeo about thirteen years ago, and every year the price of brass has went higher. I still do enough mechanical design for old customers to afford the odd brass item, but man, if it was coming out of the grocery money, I wouldn't be using any brass at all.
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I was away from home most of the day, but my old brain never stops ticking. I was thinking of how to hold the cylinder head accurately and rigidly to machine the flat area where the rocker arm tower bolts on, and to put the slots in to make cooling fins. I decided that I needed a fixture to hold it properly, so when I got home I grabbed a piece of 2" square aluminum stock, squared both ends in the lathe, and drilled and tapped the bolt pattern to match the cylinder head. Now I can hold the head exactly where I want it to perform follow on operations and not have to worry about my set-up moving in the middle of the operation.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/8476/plaxbK.jpg)
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Got up this morning all bright eyed and bushy tailed and decided to mill the flat spot on the cylinder head where the rocker arm tower bolts on. I can't cut the cooling fins in right now, as my 3/32" slitting saw is dull. A new slitting saw costs $53 but it only costs $12 to have the old sawblade sharpened. He lives so far from me that it would offset any cost benefit to drive there, but he picks up and delivers in Barrie once a week. I can't do anything else on this cylinder head for now, so will spend today machining the other opposite hand cylinder head.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/3641/LQs2Ep.jpg)
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I put my 4" length of brass to good use. It has made two cylinder heads and two gas tank ends. I have much grinding and sanding to do to finish the tank, but I like it. It is all ferrous metal and all silver soldered except for the two brass ends which will be held in place by J.B. weld. And if you see that the gas tube enters at the center of the tank, don't be alarmed---it bends 90 degrees just inside the tank and reaches down to the tank bottom.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/9928/RJYe5V.jpg)
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If I was really good with the tig welder I would have tig welded everything together instead of silver soldering. I can stick things together with the tig, and get good penetration, but cosmetically it will be a disaster. This morning I spent an hour with my file, sandpaper, and polishing buffs and various wax grits, until I deemed things satisfactory, then J.B. welded the brass ends into the tank and set it up in my outer garage vice to dry 24 hours.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/1171/F9M70n.jpg)
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Your fuel tank is looking great, Brian.
Just curious, why didn't you silver solder the brass ends on the tank? Why did you choose to go with JB Weld?
Kim
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I could have silver soldered the tank ends. I have done it in the past. I have found though, that there is always at least one spot that will always leak and one place where the silver solder runs over onto the brass, and it becomes a pig to clean up, not leak, and look right. J.B. weld does the same good job of holding the ends in place and I've never has a clean up or leaky issue doing it this way.
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Today, for the first time, the flywheel is in place and the rocker arm towers have been added to the top of the new cylinder heads. I hadn't planned on doing so much today, but it's not my first day that didn't go as I planned. I'm liking the look of this!!!
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/3576/91QlRa.jpg)
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They look great! On the notches you cut in the sides for the towers, how did you get the square inside corners? The end mill was lots bigger radius. Did you drill the corners and/or use a small end mill? :thinking:
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I drilled first with a 5/32" drill----. Then put in a 3/16" endmill and plunged full depth in the same spot, then hacked out most of it with the same 3/16" endmill. There was still a fringe of uncut metal and I worried about breaking the 3/16" endmill, so switched out to a 7/16' endmill for final clean up.
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We're getting down to the short strokes now. Today I'm doing a search for simple easy things that have to be built. I've found four valve lifter bushings, four hardened rocker arm tips, four rocker arms and four valve lifters. I'm going to take a look at the rocker arms right now and see if they can be simplified a bit. I am currently using the rocker design used on my 7/8" horizontal engine.
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Today I managed to get the valve lifter guides machined from brass and Loctited in place. I machined and flame hardened the valve lifters and the four contact wheels that fit onto the end of the rocker arms, and I got the rocker arms cut to length but not machined yet. Doesn't look like much, but it's 4:30 now and I started this morning at 8:00. Stopped at 12 and eat some lunch, stopped at 3:00 and went up onto my top deck with my good wife and had a wine cooler break. Tomorrow I hope to finish and install the rocker arms.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/4331/5GVS8T.jpg)
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Today I did more running around town than I did actually working, but I did manage to finish the four rocker arms and four knurled adjusting "knobs" and got them "mocked up" in place.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/9159/KEwbOZ.jpg)
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It is very seldom that I have to remake parts. I hate it worse than snakes, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Today, I remade the bar which the ignition points are mounted on. The first one I made (shown in the picture) wasn't machined incorrectly. It was designed incorrectly. A bit of investigating showed what the problem was. This bar was based on the fact that gears are SUPPOSED to mate exactly at the theoretical pitch diameters. My gears mate very well, but probably not on the exact pitch diameters. Normally that wouldn't matter, and it doesn't affect how the engine will run, but there is enough difference that it screwed up the dimensions on the bar. Things have been fixed now, and my ignition points open and close how they are supposed to. I also took the opportunity to mount the gas tank and tank support back onto the engine.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/5223/so2EZi.jpg)
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Progress is progress - even if you had to step one back to go two forward - but I understand the fustration.
Per
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Both cylinders have been removed from the engine and lapped. That is an acro-lap laying in the foreground. It was so difficult to get the bolts out that held the cylinders to the crankcase that I machined 0.200" off the diameter of the bottom cooling fin to give me better wrench access.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/5660/ZgU1ew.jpg)
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This is the "Big cover Up". When I machined the crankcase, I got a bit too enthusiastic when milling the flat spots that the cylinder sets on, and as a result had some very visible nasties machined down past the counterbore in the sides of the crankcase, right up on top where they would show. Didn't affect how the engine would run, but looked awful. There is a lot of work in that crankcase, so rather than build another one, I scored a piece of 0.040" thick brass, and with a bit of creative cutting and carving, it fits between the base of the cylinders and the top of the crankcase, and hides the uglies.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/4033/eF6u0r.jpg)
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Thanks Shopshoe.--Today I'm building a crankshaft. Stress proof 1144 is only available in rounds, so the first operation is to slab off both sides so that I have a flatbar to start my work on. This first side can be done on the mill or on the bandsaw. I prefer to do it on the mill, so I have a "witness side" to run along the bandsaw fence. It can also be cut on both sides with the bandsaw, but I prefer this method.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/6281/LtbZvz.jpg)
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And after what seemed to be an awfully long day, I have a finished one piece crankshaft from 1144 stress proof steel. The day wasn't really THAT long--(I was out and about doing things this morning and had a visiting guest this afternoon.) Crankshaft was turned between centers, has no really measurable run-out. I wish that I was a good enough machinist to turn to a bearing fit. After you've ruined a couple of crankshafts by ending up undersize, I leave my crankshafts about .0015" oversize, then spend what seems like ages with sandpaper strips bringing them down to a perfect bearing fit.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/3760/7jYxoE.jpg)
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Beautiful result!
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Today is going to be "piston day", and it is going to be a piston with a difference. Whenever I used viton rings (one per piston) I always got immediate compression and my engines started with no muss, no fuss. If instead, I made and used cast iron rings, the problem always seemed to be to get enough initial sealing for the engine to start. Once the engine started, it only took a short time for the rings to "wear in" and provide a good strong compression seal. After giving this some thought, I decided "What if we used both types of rings?--The viton ring would give great initial sealing to get the engine started. Once the engine started and ran for half an hour, the two cast iron rings would "wear in" and provide a good compression seal. After that, the viton seal ring would become redundant, but could stay on the piston, doing no harm. Pistons are relatively easy to make, and I think my idea has merit. So, on the piston, as I have modelled it, the top two rings would be cast iron heat treated conventional rings, and the ring groove just above the wrist pin will be a 1/16" cross section Viton o-ring.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/916/kQzIye.jpg)
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Hello Brian,
I didn't even know that Viton rings also work on combustion engines!?
But I wish you the best of luck. I'm also interested in whether you make the cast iron rings yourself.
Michael
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Michael--Viton rings are heat proof, work fine as piston rings, and always seal 100% right from as soon as they are installed. The nominal ring cross section is 1/16" and the o.d of the ring should match the bore of the cylinder. The groove in the piston is 0.094" wide and 0.059" deep, and you only need one ring per piston. Yes, I do make my own cast iron rings, have posted extensively about it on this forum, and bought a heat treat oven to "set" the rings over an expanding fixture. I have indifferent success with my cast iron rings. Sometimes they seal great, other times not so much.---Brian
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Thank you for the information. I'm looking for your post on piston rings.
Michael
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And now---Lapping a piston. The cylinders had been honed with an Acrolap, and measured about 0.8752 inside. I chucked up a piece of 1" cast iron in my lathes 3 jaw chuck, and turned the outer diameter to 0.876", going very slowly and checking often with my micrometer so as not to turn it undersize. I turned the piece of grey iron to about an inch longer than the two 1" pistons would be. Then I coated the iron with 600 grit lapping paste, and with my lathe running at a very low speed I worked an internal split lap which I made from brass back and forth over the full length of turned shaft, progressively tightening the screw, which closed the lap in very small increments, until I had removed enough stock that the iron piston would just begin to slide into the cylinder. At that point I recoated the iron with 600 grit lapping paste and holding the cylinder firmly in my hand I slowly worked it back and forth until the entire machined length of the cast iron round bar would fit all the way through the cylinder. You have to be prepared to let go immediately if the cylinder starts to seize onto the rod, shut the lathe off, and work the cylinder loose, then carefully start again. Once the cast iron rod passes the the cylinder, you are finished the first step.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/2152/KXbtRZ.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/7065/On4mCX.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/3604/sOkO1l.jpg)
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The bottom counterbore has been added to piston #1, and the ring grooves cut. The piston will now be parted off, and tomorrow a deeper slot below the counterbore and the wrist pin hole will be added.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/1897/s9DBga.jpg)
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Sorry if you have already mentioned this, what type of lapping paste do you like to use?
:popcorn: :popcorn:
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It is aluminum oxide suspended in something like a heavy grease.
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Today I finished the pistons. No real problems encountered, just a couple of different rotary table set-ups.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/8003/XBEf7y.jpg)
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Tomorrow I get to do something exciting. I get to start machining my knife and fork style connecting rods. I have never built knife and fork rods before, and I find the concept to be quite intriguing.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/139/qji0oA.jpg)
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Okay kids, hold on tight, here we go with our first machining step on the fork style con rod. The block of material has been milled to size, and our first step is to put in two holes and to cut the slot that the "knife" style con rod rides in. The 1/4" radius where the con rod narrows will fall partly outside the material. Can't drill half of a hole, so a piece of scrap material has been positioned on each side of the blue block, which lets me drill a thru hole with a 1/2" diameter bit.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/1811/7lJKbo.jpg)
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Interesting shape to make, holding it along the way will be fun. :popcorn: :popcorn:
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The wide end of the con rod has an angle leading off from the 1/4" radius to the outside of the part. I set the part up in my vice and use my digital angle finder to set it at the correct angle, then come in and machine the corner down until the flat I am creating falls tangent to the 1/4" radius. This is done once on each side of the fork style con rod.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/3215/TfnDFL.jpg)
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The con rod has been taken down to final dimension on "first side". Next machining step is to begin machining the second side.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/8759/HLJTh9.jpg)
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Now we turn the material 90 degrees and machine the second side. Once again the 1/2" diameter holes where the con rod begins to narrow will fall partly outside the con rod material, so once again we have a piece of scrap aluminum clamped on both sides of the con-rod so as not to drill holes thru my vice jaws. The 3/16" wrist pin hole has been drilled and reamed, and two smaller holes which form the radius tangent to the sides of the con rod have been drilled. The hole for the crankshaft journal will not be put in until the con rod caps are finished and installed.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/9788/Xm9brh.jpg)
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And here we are--This con rod is almost finished. I still have to drill and tap four holes in the big end for the con rod cap bolts. I started this morning at 7:00 and it's 2:00 now. take out an hour for breakfast and lunch, and there's still 6 hours work in this con rod. I might get the caps done this afternoon if I don't take a lazy spell.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/176/t6pvbe.jpg)
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So, the fork style con rod is finished and so are the two rod caps it requires, and bolted in place on the crankshaft. There is a full 8 hours in this con rod and caps, and I'm quite happy with the way they turned out. Tomorrow I will tackle the knife style con rod that rides on the same journal and fits inside the slot in the fork style con rod.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/4033/V2PYLx.jpg)
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Busy day, great results!
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Thanks Chris.---I won't really know for sure until tomorrow, but I may have to cut an access hole in the bottom of the crank case, to tighten the rod caps onto the rods. Things are starting to get very crowded in there. Trying to install and tighten con rod cap bolts when you can only swing the allen wrench in a 25 degree arc is kind of like banging your head against the wall.
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On my 2-Bits v-twin I managed to arrange it so that the crankshaft/conrods could be slipped in or out of the crankcase as an assembly.
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I am watching along on this portion of your build as I have a set of con rods like these in my future. Thank you.
BC1
Jim
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Now this is a beautiful thing!! The second con rod and cap took only three hours to make, and an hours fussing and fitting to get crank, rods, rod caps and pistons to all go together nicely. I'm liking it!!!
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/784/cdgRMV.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/2146/TdUUIn.jpg)
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Things are back together, and it all fits ---and that's a good thing. I can't rotate the crankshaft thru a full 360 degrees because I'm getting some interferance between the connecting rods and the bottom/inside of the cylinders. I did end up drilling a 1.25" diameter hole thru the bottom of the crankcase to let me tighten the con-rod cap bolts. Tomorrow I will sort out the clearance issues.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/706/AH7heo.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/411/OP6LJp.jpg)
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All interferences have been removed, and the crankshaft rotates thru a full 360 degrees without any solid stops along the way. It is very stiff, but the stiffness is being addressed in this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoihk81r3U4
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The engine has been "run in" until the crankshaft will turn freely with the rod cap bolts tightened down. Hopefully, I can get my 0.094" slitting saw back from sharpening this week, and cut the cooling fins into the cylinder heads. I have to make a bolt-on plate to cover the hole in the bottom of the crankcase, and have to put a hole in the side of the crankcase for an oil filler pipe.----This engine will have oil in the base for splash lubrication of the connecting rods and wrist pins. I haven't made the valves or the valve cages yet. There will be a pair of gear guards made to cover the camshaft gears, but I won't make them until after the engine has been ran. Probably will be ready to start the engine by mid August.
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So, what do you do when you've cut a great big hole in the engine crankcase to give wrench access to the rod cap bolts? Well of course, you make a cap plate that screws onto the crankcase hole to give it leak proof cover. This of course means milling some material away on both of the crankcase support feet so that the cover plate can be taken off in future without having to remove the crankcase feet to do so. Now I'm off to the hardware store to see what they have in small diameter black iron pipe that might work for an oil filler spout.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/9558/hr64hG.jpg)
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And after a visit to my local hardware store, I came home with sufficient pipes and elbows, etc. to make my oil filler tubes from.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/3001/NXtevs.jpg)
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Now we have a place to put the new oil in, and a slightly lower place that the oil starts to run out of when the crankcase has the right amount of oil in it. Somehow, this was far more difficult than I had assumed it would be, but it's done---even if it did take me an entire morning to do it. Sid suggested that the oil level in the engine should be lower than I initially planned, so I dropped the oil level another 1/4" from where I had originally intended it to be.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/8866/30XR1f.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/4418/IWETch.jpg)
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Brian,
My experience with oil level and crankcase ventilation is that if you have it wrong you can't imagine all the places that oil will come from! Looks good so far!
Art
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Now I have to ask Is that a beautiful thing, or what? I had a bad attack of lazy yesterday afternoon so I drove down to Alcona and picked up my sharpened slitting saw from my tool sharpener man. He does great work. This morning I cut the fins into my cylinder heads, and I'm really happy with the results.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/5417/nlHLVI.jpg)
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I can only agree - those Heads look Great :ThumbsUp:
Per
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This afternoon we have four valve cages---two for each cylinder. They are not yet ground for the valve seats and they don't have the hole thru the side yet that aligns with the cylinder head ports. They are inserted into the heads with a light push fit and 638 Loctite. They will be ground to accept the valves 24 hours after the Loctite was applied and the port holes will be drilled in the cylinder heads and the valve cages at the same time.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/6918/Ihbb6M.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/5628/8zt7z3.jpg)
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This morning I made the four valves for the v-twin engine. they look a little funky right now, because I left the "handles" on. After each valve is lapped into it's own particular seat, the valves will be match marked with the valve cage they fit in, and the handles will be cut off.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/5751/dGoLWH.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/9900/vd5CFq.jpg)
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So, we're coming down to the wire on this build. Tomorrow I will lap the valves, cut off the handles, and cross drill the ends of the valves for valve spring retainer pins. Will probably also make the valve spring retainers tomorrow. Then I can drill the inlet and exhaust ports in the heads, and drill and tap them for the intake manifold bolts. I need to put a keyway in the crankshaft, and I have to design/build a starter hub. I may build and install a gear guard, although it isn't necessary to run the engine. I haven't done anything yet on the intake manifold/fan mount.----And I need to machine four cams.----And exhaust pipes. I may have to build a crankcase vent valve, but I'm not sure yet. Still have to make proper rocker arm shafts with a c-clip groove on each end. So, probably another couple of weeks work yet.
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Today I had a very lazy day. That's not usual for me, but when I'm lazy, I'm lazy. I lapped the valves into their seats, trimmed off the handles, and cross drilled the ends for retainer pins. I hunted around in my box of spare parts left over from other builds, and found a couple of valve springs, and four valve spring retainers. (Two of the retainers need a skim taken off the o.d. and that is why they are loctited to a 1/8" piece of rod, so I can hold them in the lathe tomorrow and do that). I had great intentions of drilling the ports into the heads and drilling/tapping the intake manifold threads, but I went and laid down for a nap instead. Today I'm a lazy bum!!! Tomorrow I will finish the heads.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/9369/a7yOpB.jpg)
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Thats why its a Hobby, not a J*b. Do what you want when you want, and enjoy it!
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Silly question brian but why the valve cages? Seems like the valve seats could have been machined into the head. If you make a boo boo, then you could have remachined for cages.
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Steve--This is the first time I have made heads from brass. I thought about not using valve cages, but I always have, and the thought of maybe screwing up the heads was enough to stay with something that has always worked for me.
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The valves, springs, retainers and cross pins are finished and the heads are now completely finished. I will bolt on all of the rocker tower supports, axle pins, and rockers next. You will see that I had to move a set of tapped holes where the intake manifold connects to the heads. I had a pair of tapped holes interfering with one of the head bolts, so I moved the tapped holes and updated the drawings.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/5057/Mk24ub.jpg)
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Well, so far, so good.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/2760/fSmNO6.jpg)
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This is going to be a very good looking engine! :popcorn: :popcorn:
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Today things slowed down a little. I wasn't getting enough clearance between the head of the valve at "fully open" and the top of the piston at tdc. I didn't plan on having one of those zero clearance engines, where if it jumps time then the valve goes thru the piston. This issue was solved by putting a 0.100" thick spacer between the bottom of the cylinder and the crankcase. I took a quick look at my bin of mystery metals, found something close to the right size, and didn't realize until I was machining it that it was 303 stainless. That's okay---almost any metal would have worked. I also machined a starter hub. Right now I have both cam shaft supports removed to give me better access to the bolts which hold the cylinders to the crankcase.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/1462/y4sGOI.jpg)
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This is where I'm off to next. The carburetor is a purchased carburetor. The fan and fan shaft are supported by two 3/16" i.d. x 3/8" o.d. sealed ball bearings which are sold as router guide bearings. The center part is turned from brass. The trick of course will be to purchase and bend the two curved pieces. PartSource Automotive sell a metal brakeline that has the same inner and outer diameter as I have used, and I have a reasonably good tubing bender that accepts that diameter of tubing. The part I'm not sure about is what radius my bender makes.--I'll know tomorrow when PartSource opens.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/6393/knPU8D.jpg)
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What did I do on the engine today?--Not that much. I took two grandsons swimming at a nearby lake. Geez the water was cold. I bought a new 1/8" carbide end mill and cleared some obstructions out of the cylinder heads where the head bolts go thru. I bought a length of rigid brakeline to make the two bent intake manifold pipes. I redesigned the gear guards into something that will be a little easier to make, and I spent some time making changes on the fan mechanism because the 1/8" ball bearings that I used originally are no longer easily available.
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I haven't had stellar results bending my intake manifold tubes. I bought a length of steel brake line from PartSource, my local auto parts store. This is what I generally use to make bent tube assemblies from. The one on the right was a total failure using the red tube bender beside it. It kinked and that was that. The one on the left was bent using one of those wound spring bending devices, and although it didn't kink, it flattened out considerably in the bend area. I'm too cheap to buy a container of Ceramet which is a very low melting point metal which melts in hot water, can be poured into the tube, where it rapidly solidifies and then you can bend the tube without it kinking or flattening out, then just heat the tube in hot water and pour the liquified Ceramet out. I've bent these brake lines before with no trouble, so I will have to go down to PartSource tomorrow and see if there is a different grade of brake line that is more bendable. I was in a hurry today, and they had moved the stuff I generally buy to a different part of the store, so I may have picked up the wrong kind of brake line.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/4304/zuFXS3.jpg)
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Annealed brass tubing bends easily and well with the kind of bender you have (the red one).
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Okay---as I thought, I had purchased the wrong type of rigid brake line first time around. This morning I went back to PartSource and bought a length of copper nickel line. I bent two pieces on the right with the red mechanical tubing bender, and although they bent without kinking, the bends were very lumpy looking. Then I bent up a second pair of tubes with the silver coil spring tubing bender. This gave a very satisfactory bend with no kinking and very little flattening.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/1241/HGt5lF.jpg)
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I've changed my mind three or four times about what to do for a gear guard. Gear guards on these little engines do more than protect fingers---they cut down a lot of the noise created by the gears. Yesterday I finalized the design of the gear guard, and this morning I bought a piece of aluminum to make it from. We spent part of today returning a visiting grandson to Orangeville, and I got a good start on my guard this afternoon. I have the final shape laid out, but won't finish machining it until tomorrow. I'm trial fitting this part as I go along, because the finished engine always has minor differences from the engineering drawing. So far, it's fitting the way I had planned.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/3426/92mcmQ.jpg)
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And Presto!!!---We have a beautiful new gear guard. Lot of work in that puppy, but it looks good.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/1153/Mv4e51.jpg)
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Starting to run out of things to make--and that's a good thing. This afternoon I made the main brass turning for the intake manifold---in fact, I made it twice. First try was with some of the mystery metal I bought last week. As I was turning it, I realized that it was bronze, not brass. I don't even know if you can silver solder bronze, but I was willing to try. Then I found that I had misread my own drawing and I had one of the turned down areas too long. At that point I thru it in the can and started over with something I knew was brass.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/1944/ve8muW.jpg)
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Brian, bronze does take silver solder just fine, for future reference.
:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:
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Chris--thank you so much. That is good to know.---Brian
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Todays offering to the Machine Gods is a cooling fan. The discoloration is from the heat of silver soldering. I wish I had a small sandblaster, but I don't. This fan has been pickled in Citric acid, scrubbed with an old toothbrush and polished a bit with silver polish on a Q-tip. I may just pint it flat black.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/1741/QVDFi0.jpg)
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I'm thinking a hard cotton buff in the Dremel and some jewelers rouge would take out that discoloration out, at least a goodly portion of it anyway... most definitely something a bit more substantial than a Q-tip to apply pressure and generate a bit of heat. That fan looks good.
BC1
Jim
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Thanks Bearcar--I will try that today.---Brian
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This morning I made up the flanges which bolt the intake manifold/fan to the cylinder heads. It went well, so I figured a "mock up" shot was called for. Nothing is soldered yet, it's just held up there by the grace of God and tight tolerances. I still have to do some cosmetic work on the fan blade, but it is getting exciting.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/5762/ImCvgY.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/1690/UX133F.jpg)
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This afternoon I cut the keyway into the crankshaft and into the starter hub. The flywheel had been keyed back when I first built it. I made a gasket for the inspection hatch in the bottom of the crankcase, filled it with #30 motor oil until oil began running out the overflow pipe, signaling that the crankcase had the correct amount of oil for splash lubrication. A few squirts of oil down the sparkplug holes, and then I drove my engine with an electric motor for one hour. This loosened everything up, and the motor can be easily spun over by hand now. Tomorrow I will solder the intake assembly and flanges together. I have to remake the axles that the hardened rocker arm ends mount on because of some minor clearance issues, and then all that is left are the exhaust tubes and the cams. I leave the cams for last, because they are always the parts I find hardest to make.
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Today seen the soldering of the intake manifold and the changes made to the small axles that hold the hardened part to the end of the rocker arms. I'm reasonably happy with this, and tomorrow I will make the exhaust pipes. I built an aluminum jig with the same bolt pattern as the two cylinder heads, and did my soldering on the intake out in the main garage away from the engine.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/9052/xas1WE.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/1843/SORhH6.jpg)
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Looks good Brian, won't be long now!
Art
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This is my current exhaust system plan. My cylinder exhaust ports have a 5/16"-18 internal thread.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/159/vNSfOJ.jpg)
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Exhaust Details
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/6660/ZAtCOD.jpg)
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I'm very happy with the way this turned out. I especially like that I can adjust the angle of the exhaust pipes to be any place I want it. If I want to remove the exhausts, I can heat the "cap" with my torch to allow me to remove it and access the bolt which holds the exhaust to the cylinder head.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/3374/jM4hTz.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/9154/xmhRSu.jpg)
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REally shaping up well. What parts are left?
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I think that just about covers everything except the cams which operate the valves and the pushrods. I still lack one bearing for the fan, but it is supposed to be here this week. I may discover the odd thing here or there as I go to finish everything up, but by and large, the heavy duty machining and fabrication is finished. I started this build on the 15th of June, and by the 15th of August the cams should be finished. I have worked on this engine every day since I started building it.
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HELP!!! I know that there are two main methods of cutting cams for these small i.c. engines. One method uses a vertical milling machine and a printed out set of offsets that will give you the cam profile that you want if followed precisely. I have used that method in the past, but windows 11 seems to not run the charts I originally used. The other method also uses the vertical milling machine and after initial set up there are no charts used in machining the cam. I THINK someone has set up these offset charts for the first method on an excel spreadsheet. I would like to use the first method with the excel spreadsheets, because it lets me cut all four cams at once. Can someone please point me to a post where I can download and use these excel spreadsheets, and perhaps a post where it all gets explained. It has been a long time since I used that method of cutting cams.---Brian
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I did surprisingly little today, and Damn, it felt good!!! I did complete the assembly of the fan, fan shaft, two roller bearings and a bearing spacer. After it was finished I painted the fan and fan pulley with a couple of coats of flat black enamel. It is still quite "fresh" in this picture---it will get flatter as a bit of time passes. I will assemble it with the rest of the intake manifold tomorrow. I did get a response to my request for a post about the cam-calc method of machining cams, and will take a deeper look into it tomorrow.---Brian
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/9873/ZvaVbo.jpg)
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Today, I'm making cams. Unfortunately, I was not able to use the cam-calc tables that people so kindly sent to me. It could be that my software won't run it, but it is also possible that since I have very little knowledge of Excell spreadsheets I didn't know how to operate it properly. That's okay, my method yields a perfect cam with radiused flanks. There are no mathematical tables to use, but my right arm may fall off from taking the 90 plunge cuts required to do this right. I am going to start another thread on machining the cams, but for now, this is the cam that my method yields.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/16/oG7kq7.jpg)
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So there we have it. Four little cams with curved flanks, all in a row. And really, I've been about 5 hours getting to this point. They are all made from 01 steel, and will all be flame hardened and quenched. Before I harden them, I have to drill and tap them for set screws. That 5 hours includes turning a piece of 3/4" 01 steel down to 0.640" diameter, sawing off four lengths about 1 1/4" long with my bandsaw, squaring the ends of each piece in the lathe, and drilling/reaming each of the four pieces to 5/16" diameter. They're not exactly the same, but they were all done on manual machines.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/4649/AhKia5.jpg)
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I do flame harden and oil quench the cams and the lifters. That's why I make them from 01, so I can harden them.---I just did that to the cams I made earlier today.---Brian
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Machining and fabrication is complete. This video shows operation of the cams, push-rods, and rocker arms. Next step will be to see if I can persuade this engine to run.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHKm-rOTpUE
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Brian,
I did see that you asked for help with the cam tables, but wasn't sure I could help. I have used the cam calc program to make my cams and I don't think its compatible with windows 11. I did set up a cnc program the last time I made a cam that worked quite well. I do have a new desktop and ordered it with 10 as I can always update it but can't go back to 10. Your work looks good nice radiused flanks and nose on the cams!
Art
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Today I assembled the cams for the other cylinder and made up a pair of pushrods. The rockers now operate on both sides when I turn the engine over. I went across town to Hercules O-ring and begged a couple of 1" i.d. Viton o-rings to use for my head gaskets. This is getting harder and harder to do---I used to know all of the Management there, and they gladly gave me whatever Viton rings I needed in exchange for $5 for their coffee fund. The management is all new there now, and they don't know me. I find it difficult to order Viton o-rings in the sizes I need unless I want to buy a thousand of them. I leak tested my gas tank by filling it full of Naptha gas and setting the engine on a piece of white paper overnight. The paper had no tell tale stains on it in the morning, and the fuel level stayed the same in the tank overnight. I have to make up gaskets for the bottom of the cylinders where they attach to the crankcase.---There is no compression there, but the engine has an oil base and splash lubrication, and if I don't put gaskets there it will leak oil.
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Today was the day to start thinking about piston rings. I have a number of heat treated rings which were originally made when I built my 7/8" bore horizontal i.c. engine. Whenever I set up to make piston rings, I make a bunch of extras, and they do get used up. These pistons are prototypes. They are made of cast iron, and the top two ring grooves get the heat treated cast iron rings. The third groove down from the top of the piston get a single Viton o-ring. (Which you can see on the left side of the picture). Theory here is that the Viton rings will give immediate good compression to start the engine. After the engine has started on it's own and ran for an hour, the cast iron rings will "wear in" to the cylinder to provide compression. The rings in the picture haven't been ground for flatness nor "fit" to the pistons, that will be done tomorrow.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/410/9bwGjS.jpg)
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After the run-in time, do you take away the viton ring?
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Chris---there's no real reason to take it away. I have heard (but never experienced) that when one of these small engines runs for a full day at a show, the Viton rings wear out rather quickly. Non of my engines run for a full day. I have never had a Viton ring wear out. I have, however, experienced the heartache of trying to get a new engine with cast iron rings to start. I have all the equipment to make good, heat treated cast iron rings. That being said, I have experienced utter misery trying to get enough compression to get the engines running. Once they do start, the rings 'bed in' fairly quickly and the compression comes up. These pistons are a "Try it and see what happens" kind of thing.----Brian
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Today the cast iron rings were finished "to size" and installed on the pistons. The Viton ring was added to the pistons as well. Using a tapered ring compressor, the pistons were installed into the cylinders. Ended up being a very tight fit, but they are in, the cylinder walls didn't get scored in the process, and I'm happy with the fit. In this picture, the pistons have been shoved thru the cylinders until the piston pin hole is just visible, enough to get the piston pins started into place. The rings are all still compressed in the cylinders. One of the things about a small bore engine using knife and fork connecting rods is that the connecting rods (at least the forked one) won't fit thru the hole in the cylinder. This means that the piston pin must be installed thru the piston and rod while the rods are still attached to the crankshaft.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/9608/WSJBPh.jpg)
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The pistons with rings are installed in the engine. It is very, very stiff. It is too stiff to consider running on it's own. I used a cheater bar to turn the crankshaft thru 360 degrees, and when I was sure there were no definite "Hardstops" in the engine, I turned it over 200 times by hand. This freed things up to the point where the engine would turn over, but still stiffer than Hell. I filled the crankcase with oil, gave a shot of oil down each cylinder (the heads are not on the cylinders). I put my 8" v-belt pulley on the crankshaft and my two inch v-belt pulley on the electric motor I have, connected them up with a v-belt, and set it up to run for a half hour out in my main garage. I don't have any work planned for the rest of the day, as I'm off to see my friendly neighborhood dentist this afternoon.
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So--we are almost ready to rock and roll!!! Head gaskets are in, rings are in, everything that bolts together is bolted together (except the gear guard) which will be installed after the engine has been ran. I have to set the valve and ignition timing before I attempt to start the engine, and do a bit of electronic rigging for the ignition. Wish me luck peoples.-----Brian
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/4396/89cQhd.jpg)
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Best of luck! :popcorn:
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Wish you luck and joy on the last bit here :ThumbsUp:
Per
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Good luck, Brian.
I think the IC world is run by demons that feed on frustration. They seem to demand a certain tribute before allowing a first start. Hopefully they will be easily satisfied! >:D
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Rreid--Frustration devils---I like that. I've built about 40 engines now. They all run, but many times I have wished I could have George Britnel and Sid both sitting here in my office to tell me what the heck I'm doing wrong.
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So, what did I do today on the engine?---Not much that shows, really. I cobbled together a wooden base that would hold one of my cylinders truly vertical. Setting up the valve timing is a lot easier if I start with a cylinder that is truly vertical, rather than laid over twenty five degrees. Of course, before you can set the valve timing, you have to set the correct valve lash. This took me down the road of having to finalize my valve lash adjusting screws and soldering the knurled tops onto the #5 bolts---and putting c-washers on the rocker shafts and on the shafts for the hardened donut that fits on the end of the rocker arms.---In the middle of all that a man with an idea for a new invention showed up at my place and we discussed that for two hours.---Then I had to mow the lawn, whipper snip the weeds, and blow all the cut grass off my Unistone driveway so it wouldn't start sprouting grass all over the driveway. Then I got an email from someone I had sold a set of drawings to for my 7/8" bore horizontal engine, saying that a bunch of drawings were missing from the package I sent him. I went thru all the files on that engine and he was right, I had to chase down about 20 drawings, save them as pdf files and send them to him. It was an interesting day!!!
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/9885/OLdlwE.jpg)
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So---we're all ready to set valve timing. Piston is at top dead center, timing pointer is pointed straight up at "0" degrees (you can just see the tip of it sticking up past the degree dial.) Enough of the starter hub is exposed to let me turn the crankshaft to move the timing pointer. Both intake and exhaust cams are exposed thru the side of the camshaft support block to let me rotate the cams into the correct position. Now I have to go and help my good wife get set up for a family birthday party!!
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/9488/YgwJjj.jpg)
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Okay, it's time to rock!! Valve timing is set. Ignition timing is set. Gas line is hooked up. Gas tank has been leaktested. Electrical connection to the the points are ready. My "coil box" that I use to run all my single cylinder engines will do for one set of points. I have a spare ignition coil and switch, so tomorrow I will have to cobble up a second "coil box" to run the other set of ignition points.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/6595/tGJEHL.jpg)
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Progress is slow. In order to give a second ignition system for the second set of points on this engine, I have to have a second coil, switch, and on/off light. I've had a 12 volt coil hanging on the wall since 2013 with a note on it "Coil may be bad". I'm going to assume that the coil is good, and having dug around in my cupboards I've found a switch and an on/off indicator. This second ignition source will be nowhere near as sophisticated as my original "coil box" but it should get the job done.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/8256/gAjInZ.jpg)
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Is the reason for the second coil/etc just that the first one doesn't have the ability to fire as often as a twin would need?
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No, it's just that this way I don't have to build a distributor. Each cylinder has it's own points and ignition system.
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Interesting method, Brian! So, is this why the engine is only a V-2 instead of the V-4 you teased us with in the title? Four independent ignition systems would be a LOT! :LittleDevil:
Kim
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No, my idea for a V4 was based on two of these v-twins coupled at the crankshaft. It wasn't a tease. If these engines could be coupled at the crankshaft with a Lovejoy coupling, then conceivably you could have a v twin, a v-four, or even a v6 or v8. You will notice that on the 3d model and in the actual pictures I have posted, that the crankshaft extension on the non flywheel side is longer than necessary. That is to allow 1/2 of a Lovejoy coupling to be attached to it. Will I build a second engine identical to the first and couple the two together?---I don't know right now. I've been thrashing on this one for 10 weeks non stop, and I'd like to see it running before I make any further plans.
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Brian,
I really like the way you think about this V2/V4 concept. Very Interesting. I'd like to see you continue to build out the V2 to something else, but I'll bet you'll have some more brainstorms and I can understand why you might move on. It's YOUR project. Do whatever you want and I'll certainly be watching.
My brain is telling me: "If he makes another V-cylinder module, maybe he could decide to put a clutch between the parts, then the first 2 cyls start as a pony engine and the clutch is used to spin the next module until it starts."
--ShopShoe
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I'm about to try and start the engine, but I have discovered that the coil hanging on the wall really was bad.----Poop!!! Should have threw it away 10 years ago. I just called PartSource and a new 12 volt coil is $60. I'm trying to reach Canadian Tire to see if they have any cheaper coils. While I wait for Canadian Tire to call me back about a coil, I'm sorting out my shop and putting away tools and cleaning machines.
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Exciting time at the Rupnow house!!! I bought a new coil, wired everything up, and the engine is firing dependably on one cylinder. The second cylinder is firing sometimes. Engine hasn't decided to take off and run on it's own yet, but damn, it's close. I've developed a massive oil leak, and initial impression is that it's coming from that access door I cut into the bottom of the crankcase to get at the rod bolts. I will dump the fuel back into it's regular container, turn the engine upside down, and have a look at the oil leak---Got to fix that, because once the engine runs on it's own I don't want to shut it off for half an hour.
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...
I've developed a massive oil leak
I hope you mean the engine has! :o
Seriously, sounds like it is close to running, best of luck!
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Today the first change has been made. My beautiful exhaust pipe assemblies were just the right length to dribble oil out directly onto one set of ignition points. This was not good, so I have added 1 1/4" extensions to my exhaust tubes. I have changed the solid model, and drawing to show the pipes at the correct length.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/5394/plRkQj.jpg)
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Today the engine ran. Both cylinders fired quite well. Had a two minute sustained run. I have way, way, way more oil than the engine can cope with.--Engine could be used as a mosquito fogger. Blue smoke like you wouldn't believe coming from both exhaust pipes as it ran. Okay--I'm pleased as punch!!! At the end of the two minute run, both sparkplugs were overwhelmed by oil and the engine slowed down and quit. Now I have to make a decision about my oil in the engine. One of the possible solutions is to cut access holes in the engine endplate where the ignition points are located. I could reach in with my trusty oil squirt can and lube the big ends of the connecting rods.----forget about having an oil sump. The only problem with that is how to get oil to the small end of the con rods, up inside the piston. Anyways, I'm happy happy happy. Videos will follow once I get the oil situation figured out. :pinkelephant: :pinkelephant: :pinkelephant:
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Congratulations, Brian!
My big ends, which are lined with 660 bearing bronze, get by fine with a squirt of oil before running. I'll admit I don't plan to let it run for lengthy periods. The small ends/wrist pins aren't really rotating, so shouldn't be a problem. Mine seem to get plenty of oil anyway from the 50:1 premix fuel I've been using.
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I checked on my CAD software, and I can lower the oil level 0.2" and still touch it with the rotating conrod. I will do that tomorrow and then have a test run. If it still oil fouls the sparkplugs I will open up the engine endplate for oil squirt oiling.
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Okay, showing my ignorance of IC engines here probably, I am mostly a steam engine guy, but how is having the oil level too high in the crank case getting too much oil into the cylinders to foul the plugs and burn oil? :headscratch:
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Brian, can't you take out the short length of tube with the cap and fit a plug to the hole. Then drill and tap a new hole at an angle lower down the crankcase. Then drill and tap a new hole at an angle lower down the crankcase. If you can drop the level lower then add a splasher to one of the big ends rather than have the whole big end and crank go into the oil.
As you gave it now the level is very high you really only need enough for the big ends to splash a bit of oil about. If that is too close to the existing line them make a fitting with an extended end that can be cut to length to suit the oil level and screwed in further down. You don't really need to use such chunky fittings a 1/4" thread would do and give you more room to position the new outlet.
Chris if too much oil gets thrown up by the crank and big ends it will find it's way past the rings and can also start to throth
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The drain plug for engine oil has been moved down a good 1/4". The hole which originally had the oil drain pipe in it has been sealed with a 1/2" threaded plug, and a new #10 hole has been drilled directly below it. I set the engine up in the run position and inserted a piece of 3/16" rod thru the hole horizontally. When I turned the engine over by hand, the 3/16" rod moved a bit, so I know that the con rod is still going to touch the pool of oil. Now, back to the bench for some more test running.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/71/IWCsYj.jpg)
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Even with a reduced amount of oil in the sump the oil is still splashing up onto the cylinder walls, getting past the rings, and overwhelming the sparkplug. So----No oil sump. Now I will cut access holes in the engine backplate for squirt can oiling of the rods big ends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abFNSZ-SrYg
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Today, for the first time in 10 weeks, I haven't worked on the engine. I've spent the day cutting grass and catching up on all the other things I've let go over the summer. Tomorrow I have to go to my oldest son's house and put in a new sump pump line before the weather turns cold. I've had a couple of runs out of the engine, one which I videoed and a longer run that I didn't. I've learned a couple of things, which I will discuss later on as this thread continues. Thank you all for following my build thread, and yes, there will be more---just not right away.
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Looks good and sounds great - congratulations Brian :cheers:
Per
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Old bones are still in recovery mode from putting in a 100 foot sump pump line at my oldest sons place. He has early onset Parkinsons disease, and I try and help him out whenever I can. I haven't went near the engine for three of four days, and I've enjoyed the break from it. Just for the record--I do take advise from people who post on my builds. Not all of the advice, not all of the time, but some of it. I know the engine runs, you've seen it in a video I posted. I want it to run slower and more dependably, so now that the pieces have all been machined and assembled I will devote some energy in tuning the engine. The fact that the engine runs gives me a pretty good feeling about the valve sealing. For now, I am going to run with a dry sump and use "squirt can oiling" thru the holes I machined in the engine backplate. I think that I will remove the "knife" style con rod and cylinder and set the engine up to run the way I want as a one cylinder engine. When I am happy with that, I will reinstall the con rod and cylinder and then concentrate on running it with both cylinders installed.
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Today, after a well deserved break away from engine building, I am in diagnostic mode. The engine runs (You seen the video), but it doesn't run smoothly nor consistently. The surest diagnostic trick is to pressurize the cylinder with compressed air, and see where air is leaking out. If you are testing the cylinder off the engine, you have to put it in a vice like I show, or the piston and rod will take off like a cannon ball as soon as you pressurize the cylinder. If you test the cylinder on the engine, the piston has to be at top dead center on the power stroke so that both valves will be closed, and you must devise something mechanical to prevent the crankshaft from turning. So, with 50 psi on the regulator---If you have air coming out the intake side of the cylinder head, your intake valve is leaking. If you have air coming out the exhaust, then your exhaust valve is leaking. If you have air coming out the other end of the cylinder, then your rings are leaking. Follow the pictures and it shows what I am talking about. There were no leaks in this set up I have shown. after this post I will check the other cylinder which is still attached to the engine.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/8453/qCxDsU.jpg)
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In these pictures you can see the test rig as assembled on the work table in my office and actual test procedure being done with the cylinder and rod in my bench vice to keep the rod and piston from taking off like a rifle bullet.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/9574/VmG04m.jpg)
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/9937/Bn4WyX.jpg)
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This picture shows the other cylinder being tested in place on the engine, with my left hand holding an allen wrench in the starter slot to keep the engine from rotating when the cylinder is pressurized.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/6896/LgWNVa.jpg)
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So, what were the results? The cylinder tested in the vice is not leaking any air anywhere at 50 psi. The cylinder still on the engine is leaking a little bit around the rings at 50 psi. I may have pinched that Viton ring when assembling the piston and rings into the cylinder. I will pull that piston out and check the condition of the ring. Both sparkplugs are firing in the correct sequence as the engine is rotated by my variable speed drill. I may have a carburation problem, but will check that out as I continue my diagnostic testing.
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An inside view of the cylinder head. There is a possibility that the end of the sparkplug is too shrouded by the cylinder head itself. As it is right now, the threads in the cylinder head fully engage the threads on the sparkplug. I don't want to deepen the sparkplug counterbore any more, because although it would allow the tip of the sparkplug to extend farther into the combustion chamber, there is too much chance of the smaller thread engagement stripping out the brass cylinder head threads. However, I can come in with a 5/16 endmill from the near side of the cylinder head and plunge about 0.100" concentric to the sparkplug hole. This wouldn't change the thread engagement at all, but would open it up around the tip of the sparkplug more, to give a better chance of the air/fuel mixture igniting.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/6996/Ha8305.jpg)
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This picture shows the same cylinder head. I have ran a 5/16" endmill down 0.100" from first contact. This doesn't do away with any thread engagement with the sparkplug, but does open it up so that the air/fuel mixture has a better chance of igniting.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/5093/LK1Bqs.jpg)
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Good detective work. Following along... :popcorn: :popcorn:
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Things have been crazy/busy around here this past week. My wife organized a "Walk for Parkinsons" charity walk on Saturday. Weather was great, over 100 folks showed up and she raised over $32,000 for Parkinsons research. I've been working on a robotic work station for one of the big 3 automakers and this morning they changed everything that I've done in the past two weeks, but I still get paid for what I've done. Today I made a new piston for the cylinder which was leaking pressure into the crankcase, because I couldn't stop it leaking past the rings. I think the previous piston had it's bottom ring too close to the wrist pin hole. Tomorrow I will pressure test that cylinder again, and hopefully the leak is fixed. I also learned the nasty truth about socket head capscrews today.---I love the look of them, but after you've tightened and loosened them about 5 times, the socket rounds off and then they can't be tightened any more, and even worse, the tight ones can't be loosened. Of course, I'm always an optimist, thinking they will only have to be tightened once.---HAH!!!
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After stripping the engine down to it's basic parts, I haven't found anything that would prevent it from running. I replaced the piston on the side that was leaking past the rings a little bit, and I've opened up the cylinder heads a little bit around the sparkplug ends. The Traxxas carb which I had originally ran was a bit questionable, so I have replaced it with a home made carb based on Malcolm Strides plans. The engine is now reassembled, and I'm going over the second ignition coil as I write this. The spark seems to be a lot weaker than I would like, but I have some more testing to do before I replace it. I hope I can sort that out, as a 12 volt coil costs $70 here. I may have to try and return the coil to the automotive parts house where I bought it and hope for a free replacement.
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Do you have a crankcase vent so pressure will not build in the crankcase and push oil pass the rings?
Ralph
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I've moved on to an dry sump. Couldn't solve the oil fouling issue, so two 7/8" holes cut into endplate opposite flywheel to allow squirt can oiling of rod big end.
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After spending a ridiculous amount of time fussing with this engine, I think I have narrowed the reason it won't run to be that wild and crazy intake manifold/fan mount system. The engine has compression, valves are timed correctly, and ignition is timed correctly. The one thing that I am seeing and I haven't seen this before, is that while the engine is being cranked with my variable speed drill it is absolutely not pulling any fuel from the gastank up to the carburetor. I tried this with a purchased Traxxas carburetor and with a home made carburetor. This is a totally new one on me---haven't seen this before. At any rate, I have built a new fan support, which is totally independent of the intake system, and I have built two stubby carburetor mounts that work with Traxxas carbs---I have two new ones on order.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/7043/bpE6MM.jpg)
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This morning held a startling revelation!!! I got up early and sneaked down to the bat cave, and as I was pondering why my engine wouldn't start when everything was adjusted correctly, I was fondling the carburetor. When I had been trying to start the engine a few days ago, it had good spark, the valve and ignition timing were set just right, but when I tried to start the engine it simply would not suck up fuel from the gas tank. I've never seen that occur before, and it left me scratching my head and made me decide to move on to two carburetors with individual short inlet pipes and a separate stand for the fan.---And as I fondled the carb, the thought suddenly appeared in my head "I wonder if the carburetor is letting the fuel thru it?"--So, of course, I picked up the carburetor and tried to blow air thru the inlet where the flexible gas line attaches to it. (Another sort of "Blow yer guts out" kind of thing). And it was plugged tighter than a fishes arse. That tiny little tube 0.055" outside diameter x 0.025" inner diameter was plugged absolutely solid. I tried high pressure air to clean it out--no luck. I tried to push a very small diameter wire thru it---no luck. NOW I know why the carb wasn't sucking up any fuel from the tank. Remember, this engine did run briefly, but that was with a different store bought carburetor on it. Big mystery is solved!! As soon as my new Traxxas carburetors arrive, I will try and start this engine again, with dual carburetors on it.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/6676/qerhsX.jpg)
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Son of a swarf! That would explain a lot! Nice find! One time I spent a day trying to get a steam engine to run, only to find the inlet at one end of the cylinder was completely covered by the gasket. :facepalm2:
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I remembered that I had a couple of sets of cleaner wires for cleaning oxy acetylene tips with. I finally persuaded a 0.018" wire to pass thru the blocked tube. If I didn't clean it right now, I'd probably pick up the same carb in six months and be puzzled all over again when it didn't work.
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Last week I ordered two new Traxxas 4033 carburetors from Ebay. Had a terrible time logging in to Ebay, so I bought and paid for them as a "Guest". When the sale was completed I thought it kinda weird that I didn't get a confirmation nor a tracking number. Next day I asked goodwife to check and see if the Visa had been charged.---It had. Carburetors were supposed to arrive today, but nothing showed up here. I called Ebay, and they had no record of a sale being made in my name. After pounding my head for a while, goodwife said "Did you talk to Ebay American or to Ebay Canadian"? Uh, no--I didn't know there was an Ebay Canadian. So, I chased down a phone number in Canada and called it. Got a very nice young lady who found a record of the sale (Hurray!!) and she said they would arrive here on the 30th of Sept. Then she said that since I bought them as a guest instead of logging in to Ebay, I wouldn't receive a confirmation nor a tracking number. I asked her what part of Canada she was in, and was told "Florida". Wait!! What?? I called Ebay Canada, how come I got someone in Florida? She told me "That's how the system works." I'm not getting older, I'm going insane!!! Florida in Canada. Aw Jeez, I shouldn't have got out of bed this morning!!!
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:Lol:
Well, be glad you are not in Florida at the moment or you might be evacuating the area in front of the latest hurricane.
Reminds me of a couple years ago when I was waiting for a package from Europe, and was having trouble with the tracking. I talked with the clerk at the local post office, who was able to look it up for me. She said, "Oh, here it is. It made it in to New York City, then moved on to Jamaica..." My jaw hit the floor, and "WHAT?" :rant: came out when the jaw came back up. She laughed, and told me the post office next to the airport customs was in the TOWN of Jamaica! :hammerbash: Had package in a couple days from then.
Hmmm, google Maps shows a Florida in Ontario Province about 200 miles north of you. Wonder if they supply reindeer to Santa as well as phone support for Ebay? :Lol:
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I had to look that one up. Yes, there is a Florida in northern Ontario. I never knew that, and I've spent quite a bit of time in the north. Closest I've ever been is to Cochrane, Ontario.
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Brian, I believe you also have a Cornwall in Canada. We have one in the UK, it's where I live.
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We were settled mainly by Scots, Irish, and Englishmen. We have many, many towns and cities named after cities in the United Kingdom.
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Yayyyyy--My new carburetors showed up in my mail today!!! They look awesome on the engine. I have never built anything before with dual carburetors. Tomorrow I will make up some linkage and gas lines, and say a prayer to the small engine gods and maybe I'll have a runner.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/2056/byvj11.jpg)
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They look great. Here's to some Vroooms! :cheers:
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They look good on this Engine Brian :ThumbsUp:
It will be easier for you, if you take a small wire and bend it, so it can be used as a link between both Throtles - just saying ;)
I hope to hear good news about a running Engine soon :cheers:
Per
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YES!!!--Engine is up and running on it's own. Both cylinders are firing, and both carbs are pulling up fuel from a Tee just at the discharge side of the fuel tank. Should have a video up sometime soon.
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Great News :whoohoo:
Looking forward to the video :cheers:
Per
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And yes kiddies, we have a runner. Obviously I have some tuning to do, but this is very heartening. I have a strange arrangement of linkages on the carbs, temporarily, but thats because that is the setting where it runs best right now. I will post a better video when I get the final tuning sorted.---Brian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A63S3eyvdEA
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Congratulations, Brian! This has been a long time in coming :ThumbsUp: :popcorn:
Kim
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Fantastic!! :whoohoo:
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Not long after taking that video I wanted to change the sparkplug on the right bank, as it seemed to be misfiring. I took the old plug out, put new plug in, tightened it just a bit---and the top twisted off the sparkplug leaving the threaded section still screwed into the brass head. Oh Poop!!! Checked my easy outs, and didn't have the right size. On Monday I'll buy the right size Easy out, but to be truthful I've never had much luck with easy-outs. I may have to take the head off and try to get the threaded section of plug out. There is a ton of work in making one of those heads.
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The lord loves me!!! I modified a nasty old Easy-out that was bent all out of shape, and the broken off spark-plug end come out easy peasy. I have never liked Easy-outs, and have never had much luck using them, but today it worked like a charm. I didn't even have to take the cylinder head off the engine. I started to silver solder some brass/bronze parts together to make a decent looking spring return bracket for my throttle linkage, and couldn't get enough heat out of my oxy acetylene rig to make the solder flow. My oxy acetylene rig is only about 50 years old, and has served me well, but the regulators are frozen at a low pressure setting, and turning them higher doesn't change the strength nor size of my torch flame. New oxy acetylene rigs seem to cost between $500 to $600 dollars here in Ontario, but you can buy replacement regulator sets for about $75 each, and I need two.---Will talk to my welding suppliers tomorrow about it.
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Well, that wasn't too horribly painful. New tank of argon for the tig welder, $60, New tank of acetylene--$50, New hoses and fittings for oxy-acetylene rig $45, new acetylene regulator--$125, Hazardous material charge $10 and $35 tax. Grand total of $306.59. I'm back in business again, and I did get the silver solder to flow on that joint I was working on yesterday. Some of that material was 3/16" thick, so it took a lot of heat to get things to flow.
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And---TA-DA---We have a throttle return spring and bracket added.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7UCiAurSao
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Great news on all accounts :ThumbsUp:
Those prices you paid for the Weld and Solder Equipment would be cheap her in DK if it was in US$ - but I'm guessing that it was CAN$ - so even better ....
Per
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Per-to give you an idea of what things cost here--I bought two Traxxas carburetors from the USA for thirty five dollars each. By the time I paid for them, the difference in our dollars, the shipping and the tax, I paid $130 Canadian. So when I see something for sale in USA I know it will just about cost me double the advertised price to buy it.---Brian
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And now, it's time to go all scientific. The engine runs, but it doesn't run the way I like it to. The left hand cylinder runs like a champ, the right hand cylinder runs some of the time. Some of the time, it doesn't run. and when it doesn't run, it puts so much drag on the left hand cylinder that it stalls out under the load of carrying the non firing cylinder. Generally I use a degree wheel to set the valve timing, and lay the sparkplug out on the cylinder head so I can manually crank the engine over and watch to see when the spark occurs relative to the piston position. Somehow, that doesn't seem to be working for the right hand cylinder.---So, tomorrow I will once again get my degree wheel out and set the valve timing on the right hand cylinder. (The engine has a camshaft for each cylinder bank). Then I will pull the cylinder head off and put a dial indicator on the piston so I can set the spark timing up to occur exactly when the piston is at top dead center. The right cylinder has good compression, and the engine has "loosened up" considerably from running. I have tried a couple of different sparkplugs in that cylinder, and it makes no difference. Other folks have had better results with this style of engine, so I don't think that the problem has anything to do with the engine design.
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Just so you know---I have saved all my drawing files for this engine as .pdf files, and they are now for sale for $25 Canadian funds. I sold the first set today and will be happy to see someone else build this beautiful engine. I have been very busy with "other stuff" since Christmas. This engine runs, and if I can get my tired old arse in gear I hope to do some more fine tuning on it. If you are interested in purchasing a complete set of detail drawings and assembly drawings and material specs, contact me at brianrupnow@gmail.com
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This is the v-twin configured engine that I built last year. I was never totally happy with the way it ran, but ill health and work for money has kept me from spending much time on it. I decided that since this engine was basically two separate engines running on a common crankshaft that I would remove one cylinder, piston, and con rod and tune one engine to run satisfactorily, then set up the other engine. I had made the cylinder heads from brass, which was very pretty, but almost immediately pulled the threads out of the sparkplug holes.--Lesson learned--Make heads from mild steel or aluminum in future!!! You can not buy a 5/16" threaded sparkplug, so this meant that I had to make two sparkplugs of my own with 5/16" threads and re-tap the cylinder heads for the next larger thread, which was 5/16". Today I finally got around this morning to running this engine as a single cylinder, and I am quite pleased with the results. Next step will be to reinstall the cylinder, piston, and con rod for the other half of the engine and get the engine running as a twin.---Brian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iacMzVEj24g
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Sorry to hear that you have been poorly - and I hope that your post indicates that you are feeling well again.
It appears to be idling with a steady beat :ThumbsUp: + you posted this video -> I assume that you are happy with the result so far too :cheers:
Per
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After a half days work, I have the second cylinder firing consistently. The engine is very stiff, and I haven't been able to get the engine to run on only the second cylinder alone, but it is very close. Keep in mind, I haven't changed anything from the original design except for the spark and cam timing. I think that this is the point where I oil everything up really well and drive the engine with an electric motor on my work-bench out in the main garage until all the "stiff spots" are worn in and the engine doesn't have to fight with internal friction.
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Great to see you back in the shop again Brian! :ThumbsUp:
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YESS!!!--I just ran the other side cylinder on it's own!! Haven't got it down to a fine idle yet, but it really wails at mid throttle. I'm having issues getting a funky exhaust valve cam set in exactly the right spot, but this is very heartening.
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Always nice to have success - great to hear for us too :cheers:
Per
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Okay--I've used up all of my good will for the day. I actually did have that cylinder firing on it's own, running the engine this morning. I have been making minor adjustments ever since, and if anything, I've made it worse. Tomorrow is a new day, and hopefully I will have better success tomorrow.---Brian
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When all else fails---we get a bit more scientific. This picture shows me adjusting the intake cam so that the intake valve actually begins to open 15 degrees before top dead center.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/1428/0RjNqt.jpg)
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Faith is good - but Controll is better ...!
Per
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Brian,
Okay--I've used up all of my good will for the day.
Sorry Brian I had to chuckle at this line, although I think we have had a point where we felt this. We're on vacation this week and can only communicate when we have wifi, seems wrong. You do seem to be making good progress though.
Art
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Be aware that where you have the DTI will indicate when the pushrod starts to move and not the valve as any lash will not show on the indicator
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Jason--I agree, but that's the method that I use. I'm not having a lot of success here, so may have to try something else.---Brian
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Jason B was correct. The set up shown in the previous picture was incorrect. I do not want the "valve lash clearance" to be measured in this set up. This is re-do of the last picture posted. Note that the end of the dial indicator is resting on the end of the rocker arm, which is resting on the end of the valve. Doing it this way eliminates the movement that the rocker arm makes before it contacts the end of the valve stem, due to the valve lash. (gap between push-rod and adjuster at end of the rocker arm.) Next task will be to reset the ignition cam, and then I should be able to start the engine and run it on this single cylinder.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/3347/b5uH13.jpg)
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I haven't ran off with the gypsies. I've been very busy with other things and doing "design work for pay" so I can afford my hobby. I reassembled the right side cylinder and it is running. I did make one change to the aluminum camshaft support so that it gave me better access to the cams, to tighten the set screws in each cam so as to set the correct cam timing. I've learned something there---If a engine component has to be repositioned and the set screws tightened in two or three different places to get it right, then a #5 set screw is too small. Actually, not the set screw itself, but the tiny 1/16" hex wrench hole. It takes very little to round the corners on the set screw hex and very little to round off the corners on the wrench.--Live and learn!!! You will see in the picture that I have made a second flywheel from steel and bolted it in place, in addition to the brass flywheel. This may be a temporary thing, until I get the engine running the way I want it to, or I may have to leave it in place. Nothing more to report at this time, but sooner or later I will get the engine running on both cylinders and post a video.---Brian
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/6799/z18JQy.jpg)
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Today I have a little story to tell. It's a rather interesting story. When I first built this engine, I had a couple of very fast, very good runs with it. I knew at that time that with some finessing, the engine would be a good runner, and it would be safe to sell plan sets for it. I like my engines to run slowly---in fact, the slower the better, as far as I'm concerned. I could never persuade this engine to run slowly, and for the last few weeks I've been struggling to find out why. When I make my cams and lifters, I make them from 01 tool steel, heat to red hot with oxy acetylene torch, and drop them into a can of motor oil. This thru-hardens them, and since they never see a lot of "shock" loading, I don't bother to re-heat them and draw them back to a softer state. The model of the cam which I have attached has a 5/16" bore (To give you an idea of overall size) and four drilled and tapped #5-40 holes around the shaft to lock the cam in place on the shaft. The ONLY reason to have four holes is that when I time my engines there is limited access to the set screws, and having a tapped hole every 90 degrees guarantees that I will be able to reach at least one of them to tighten the cam in place on the camshaft. Today I disassembled one of the camshaft supports, and removed the camshaft, to get a better look at what was actually happening. The threads were put into the cams before they were hardened. For some reason, and I don't really know why, the threaded holes were "closing up" near the bore. I found that when I had the camshaft removed, a set screw would thread into the holes in the cam like they were supposed to, but when fully tightened, they weren't locking the cams onto the camshaft like I thought they were.--the screws were binding up in the tapped holes and putting very little locking pressure on the shaft!!! Of course, this would initially let the engine start and run, and then the cams would slip on the cam shaft and throw the engine out of time. I have some very good #5 taps, and when I ran the tap thru the previously threaded holes, the tap would try and lock up in the hole before it broke thru into the bore of the cam. As I said, they are very good taps, and with a bit of light cutting oil and some serious butt clenching, I was able to run the taps all the way thru into the bore of the cams. Now the set screws will go in full depth and bear against the camshaft to lock the cams in place. This is probably my fault. I should have ran the taps thru the tapped holes immediately after hardening the cams.---Brian
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/8564/1UB28E.jpg)
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Nice detective work! :popcorn: :popcorn:
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I agree with Chris ... Well Found!
:cheers:
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The time has come, the walrus said---To take another look at this engine. It has never ran successfully. I've had it running on the right hand cylinder, I've had it running on the left hand cylinder, and I've briefly had it running on both cylinders, long enough to take a video of it. I was very pleased to see, today, that my gearbelt pulley with the one way clutch will fit on this engine. I'm going to make a couple of different "feet" for the engine so it can be bolted to my starter table, and then do my very best to get the darned thing running on both cylinders properly.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/6969/tpEwZw.jpg)
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Great, that should help to get both cylinders playing well with each other.
:popcorn: :popcorn:
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Today seen a good start on making new "support feet" for the engine on my lathe faceplate. I have to do this in order to bolt the engine down to my new "starter table". If I was smart instead of good looking I would have cut most of the material away on my bandsaw and just cleaned up the hole on my lathe. Of course I never thought of that until I had everything set up ready to bore---headslap!!! My largest diameter drill is 1" o.d. and the hole ends up at 4.00" diameter. You might say that I had a very "boring" time tonight after supper.
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/2854/psevBS.jpg)
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And, after much kicking and squealing, (by me) the engine now has new support feet so it can be mounted on my starter table. NOTE---They are not sanded and prettified yet. They are made and they are installed and they fit. I still have a bit of work to do on them, but today was spent finishing the machining and installing them. The old feet I took off are setting beside the engine. I have a bottle of Christmas Baileys Irish cream whiskey upstairs, and five minutes after I finish this post I am going to see if it tastes as good as I think it will.----Brian
(https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/2613/owuPrC.jpg)
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:cheers: