# Amanco hired man



## fourstroke (Jul 28, 2013)

Hi.
My name is Dougie and I live in Scotland.
 I thought I would share with you guys my progress on the Breisch castings I bought recently
The pics will explain a lot I hope but first some comments about the kit
The castings are very good in general but I have found one or two problems.
First big problem was the base casting, the drawings call for a base to crank centre height of 3 3/8", as supplied my base was shorter than this and after machining left me with a centre height of 3". I will have to reduce the diameter of the flywheels to suit.
The hopper top had a fair bit of pattern shift, you might notice the JB weld filler in some of the pics, nothing insurmountable so here we go.

I set the base casting as true as I could get it and machined the base flat.

After milling a base jig as true as I could I mounted the base casting and set the angles for milling the bearing seats.

Once the bearing caps were finished and attatched to the base the jig was set up against an angle plate and the main bearings were drilled and reamed. The mount for the cylinder was machined to size at the same setting to ensurethe cylinder mount and the crank were at right angles.

I mounted the cylinder casting in the 3 jaw chuck in my lathe and got the bore running as true as I could, it was bored and honed before mounting it on a mandrel to finish the cylinder head mount to size and ensure it was square to the bore.
The cylinder was bolted to the mill table and the mounting flange machined to a close fit in the base casting. I clamped everything together to mill the top of the cylinder casting and the top and sides of the mounting flange to give a register to mark out and drill the holes for the cylinder studs.

The main bearings are made from two pieces of brass soldered together, I rough turned and drilled the bore to 12mm before parting off and reaming to finished size, I then mounted them on a mandrel to finish the outside diameter to size.

The last two pics are the results so far, fitted together to check the fits.

I tried to get the pics seperated by there descriptions but I dont know how to do that on this site, anyway, I hope you enjoy the work so far.
Regards
Dougie


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## Jasonb (Jul 28, 2013)

Looking good so far Dougie, I think I would be inclined to keep the flywheels as large as possible, they should clear once the engine is on a sled or cart.

J


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## Herbiev (Jul 29, 2013)

Looking great Dougie. Thanks for sharing.


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## gbritnell (Jul 29, 2013)

Jason is right. The flywheels will clear a sled or base under the engine so I would also leave them as large as possible. These engines can really use all of the centrifugal weight they can get. 
gbritnell


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## Dr Jo (Jul 30, 2013)

The flywheels stick under the bottom of the base on the original.

Jo


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## Jasonb (Jul 30, 2013)

I think that the camera angle may be making it look that way, here is one on a flat surface






I suppose if you don't want it on a sled or cart you could JB Weld a plate to the bottom of the casting and shape to suit which would just give the required lift.


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## Dr Jo (Jul 30, 2013)

Maybe they fitted different flywheels to these engines. You can see the bottom of the base through the flywheel in this view of the same engine.


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## Rivergypsy (Jul 31, 2013)

Still, a nice oak or teak base never goes amiss ;D


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## JLeatherman (Aug 14, 2013)

My full-size Associated 2 1/2 hp engine (later version of the 2 1/4 hp) had flywheels that would have touched the floor if it wasn't on skids.  I wonder if the flywheels got bigger when they increased the rating to 2 1/2?


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## fourstroke (Aug 17, 2013)

Thanks for all the comments, they are much appreciated
I ave started on the cylinder head but have hit a problem, I'm hoping someone out there might hav come across this before and can help with some advice
The problem is the exhaust support cast into the head, no matter which way I turn it it wont fit in my four jaw chuck to let me cut the valve ports, the exhaust support always gets in the way
I made a support ring to mount it on but that didn't cure the problem totally, I am seriously considering cutting or breaking off the support to let me complete the machining
Before I do this has anyone any solutions?
I should say my chuck is 10" diameter so its not small, is it safe to increase the diameter of the center hole in the chuck? That was another thought
Regards
Dougie


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## Jasonb (Aug 17, 2013)

Dougie, the usual way is to make a fixture to hold the head by holes that are used to mount it to the cylinder. Some people cut clearance into a solid block, I prefer a tooling plate and standoffs.

Have a look at how I did it on my 1/2 scale domestic
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist...-stovepipe-build-17470/index3.html#post182016

J


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## fourstroke (Aug 17, 2013)

Thanks Jason
I had thought of something similar but your idea of a flat plate might be better than my idea
The only worry I had about this is I  can only use 5BA or at a push 4BA threads, I was worried they might not be strong enough to hold the head securely, what do you think?
Regards
Dougie


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## Jasonb (Aug 17, 2013)

If you take light cuts you should be OK and any screws you use make then allen headed ones which should be a bit stronger.

Your head is also a lot smaller than the Domestic , that flange is about 4.5" dia

J


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## fourstroke (Aug 26, 2013)

Here is an update and some pictures of the latest progress
Thanks to some good advice and some pictures from Jason B, I managed to get all the machining on the cylinder head carried out
Who would have thunk of reversing the jaws in the 4 jaw chuck....DUH.
The first pics are the set up in my lathe to cut the valve ports and machine the 45* valve faces
The later pics are of the set up to drill the inlet and exhaust passages and the completed head with its valves fitted
One of the pictures is of a VERY long reach spark plug I made, the head is 3/4" thick at the plug boss, I was going to counterbore the head but that would get very close to the exhaust passage so I decided against it. The plug works fine but I might refine it a bit
Finally a big thanks to Jason for the advice
Enjoy and comment
Regards
Dougie


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## rklopp (Aug 26, 2013)

FYI, I use a standard reach commercial spark plug in my Breisch Hired Man. It runs fine, even though the spark electrodes are recessed quite a distance from the head face.


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## Brian Rupnow (Aug 26, 2013)

Dougie--Nice work and good pictures. It looks like you are doing a fine job.---Brian


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## fourstroke (Sep 15, 2013)

Hello everyone
I thought I would post some pictures and details of the progress I have made so far.
The first pic is of the setup I used to drill and tap the exhaust rocker support.
The eagle eyed amongst you might notice the little bit of braze at the base of the support and the brighter looking inlet valve guide.
This was as a result of dropping the head on the floor and snapping it off, no problem I thought, I can braze it back on. My son also pointed out that one of our full size amancos has the exact same repair, so it makes it a bit more authentic.
The new valve guide is as a result of not watching where the oxy acetylene flame was playing on the head. DUH. I managed to melt part of it!!
It wasn't possible to repair so I machined it off and made up a new top half of the guide and fitted it along with a brass bush for the valve stem.
The next pic is the way I held the crank gear to bore it to 1/2" dia and the ones that follow are pictures of the various governor parts and the exhaust rocker showing the setups I used to silver solder the parts together
Anyway, I hope you enjoy
Dougie


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## Brian Rupnow (Sep 15, 2013)

Very elegant. Thanks for the pictures.--Brian Rupnow


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## idahoan (Sep 15, 2013)

Hi Dougie

I have been enjoying the progress on your engine build; too bad about the rocker arm mount. It looks like you were able to recover with out too much trouble.
Your fabrications are great! it is always fun to see how others tackle these challenges.

Thanks for taking the time to document your build.

Dave


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## fourstroke (Sep 18, 2013)

I made some more progress on my engine so I wanted to share some of the pics with you

I also have a question regarding the cylinder head and running the engine on LPG
The last pic in the series is a scan of the head drawing to illustrate what I want to know.

The first pics are of the setup I used to machine the flywheels and cut the keyway, sorry about the shaky pic of the keyway cutter, this was home made a few years ago. The faceplate I bought recently just for this kind of job.
The flywheels were finished on the rotary table to true up the inner faces then a session with the dremel rounded the corners.
I couldn't resist fitting all the parts together to see what shape things were taking and there are a few pics of the work so far.

The last pic relates to my question to anybody out there who might have some experience or advice.

The 4-40 threaded hole I have highlighted is I presume to hold the carb in place, I have altered the design slightly and do not need this to secure the carb.
I would like to try running this engine on propane so my question is this.
 If I drill and tap this space, would I be able to feed propane in here and use the carb just as an air supply to mix with the gas?
Has anybody tried this before?
If you have, please let me know what your results were
Any other comments will be greatly appreciated
Enjoy
Dougie


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## Jasonb (Sep 19, 2013)

I would think you still need some form of carb to create a venturi to draw the gas into the carb. Its not good practice to have the gas bleeding in all the time, better to have a demand regulator which senses the slight drop in pressure due to teh venturi effect and open to let a little gas through.

J


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## Brian Rupnow (Sep 19, 2013)

there is a lot of information about running an engine on propane here, including a "demand valve.
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f26/propane-i-c-engines-20266/


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## fourstroke (Sep 19, 2013)

Thanks for the replies
I guess I didnt explain enough of my plans
I have the drawing for the regulator in the last link and was planning to connect that to the gas supply before it was connected to the engine
I am also planning to have the carburetter shown on the plans fitted but wont have any liquid fuel supplied if it is running on lpg but the opotion would be there to switch between fuels
My main queery was to whether anyone thought it would work in this configuration
Thanks again
Dougie


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## Brian Rupnow (Sep 19, 2013)

Dougie--I'm lost now. First, you want to make a normal, standard, gasoline fuel carburetor with a needle valve to run your engine on gasoline. Then you want the option of running it on propane with the demand regulator also. I don't know if the propane line would then hook onto the same inlet that your gasoline originally flowed into or not. I think it does, and that you just have a different needle valve setting to run on propane. Your engine still needs the normal air inlet to pull air in and mix with your propane in the cylinder. You need the oxygen to support combustion. Pure propane won't burn. Maybe someone who knows if that is correct will jump in and set me straight if I have it wrong.----Brian


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## fourstroke (Sep 19, 2013)

Hi Brian
My thoughts were to feed the propane, through a regulator , into the engine via the 4-40 hole that I highlighted in the last pic in the post where I asked this question
I propose to run the engine on lpg drawing only air through the carb with the liquid fuel shut off. This will mix with the lpg coming through the 4-40 hole and suitable pipework
If it is running on gasoline then the fuel would be fed to the carb in the usual way to mix with the air. In this case the lpg would be shut off
I hope this makes things clearer
Dougie


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## Brian Rupnow (Sep 19, 2013)

Doug--Without the plans for that particular engine, I can't say whether you can or not. my gut feeling is probably not.---Brian


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## idahoan (Sep 19, 2013)

Hi Dougie

I think that it would be best to pipe the propane into the same spot as the liquid fuel; If you use the location that you are talking about you will probably have enough vacuum to open the demand valve and pull fuel but no way to meter it. The propane needs to have needle valve control just like the gas would.

You would some how need to match the air flow to what ever non-metered amount of propane the vacuum from the engine pulled in; this in my book would be way to much fuel air mix to run the engine.

My experience has shown that the air/propane ratio in much more touchy than liquid fuel/air mix. If you plan to install a second needle valve to control the flow of propane into the engine, it may work; that is if there is enough vacuum to open the demand regulator.

Dave


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## fourstroke (Nov 3, 2013)

Hi everyone
I thought I better update you on the progress on the engine

As the title suggests it hasnt all gone well and I need some advice

Anyway, I didnt like the idea of fitting a set of auto points to this engine so I have been following a thread on this site about a hall sensor circuit for model engines
I built this and the pics show how I fitted the sensor into the cam gear with means to adjust the firing timing, the gear has been cut in a couple of places, thats because the first set up was done off the cuff and when I put things together the sensor hit the cam so I had to re do stuff

So I put all the parts together, connected up the electronic bits and tried to start the engine, after a couple of spins the dam thing fired, ran for a bit then stopped. A couple of tweeks on the throttle and she was away, I hope the video of it running loads up OK onto the site

After a bit of running I dedcided it would be best to put a little water into the hopper to keep it cool, I ran it dry at first as I wasnt expecting it to run like it did, my son is in the background feeding fuel into the engine

Well this is where the despair comes in and where you guys and gals out there come in with advice

I have hopefully uploaded a video of the situation, with water in the hopper there suddenly appeared a lot of bubbles when turning the engine over and the water level dropped, anyone want to guess where it went?
Yup thats right, into the cylinder.

On dismantling the engine I find I have a pinhole from the bore through to the water jacket. Its tiny, I only found it with a hard look but its there.

I hope, and this is your part, that I might recover the situation by coating the inside of the water jacket with fiberglass resin, hoping it will seal the leak. The hole is too far round the cylinder to get at from the outside and too far down the bore to get from the inside, its right at the point where the cylinder wall meets the mounting flange, almost underneath

I just got a message I cant upload video, can anyone tell me how to do it, this is a link created by my pet computer genius 
[ame="http://youtu.be/Rx4vsZP8QKQ"]http://youtu.be/Rx4vsZP8QKQ [/ame]

[ame]http://youtu.be/VMQ8hrHAFZw[/ame]

[ame]http://youtu.be/yX0HcGglSGk[/ame]

Anybody out there with any suggestions please get in touch


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## bobsymack (Nov 3, 2013)

Hi
 If I  were you I would try some chemical metal like devcon rather than fiber glass I have seen this to successfully repair a frost cracked cylinder block or else you could maybe re sleeve it if you have enough meat to bore it out.Hope this may be of help .
Regards Vince


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## Jasonb (Nov 4, 2013)

Take a look at some of the fuel tank repair/lining liquids these are said to seal pin holes in rusted tanks. POR15 is the most likely candidate

http://www.frost.co.uk/por15-basic-car-tank-repair-kit.html


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## fourstroke (Nov 4, 2013)

Thanks guys
The fuel tank sealer looks good but its a bit expensive

The chemical metal might be OK but I cant actually see where the holes are,
 ( I now know there are three) as they are too far round the water jacket

My thoughts today are that I need something thin enough to fill the tiny pinholes. To help with this I plan to put the cylinder under a little vacuum to try to pull the sealer through to the inside of the bore

I am looking for something with the consistency of paint that wont set too fast, the fiberglass resin is probably too quick setting

Superglue has crossed my mind, thin enough to fill the holes then perhaps some epoxy on top

J B weld might be ok but I might need to heat it a little to make it "runny" and that might make it set too fast

Any thoughts

Dougie


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## fourstroke (Nov 24, 2013)

I have managed to seal the pinholes in the cylinder with epoxy and now need some advice on the best fuel to use
I have tried straight unleaded petrol and also a mix of ether and unleaded which works quite well
I have read on this site about the use of coleman fuel, can anybody tell me what this fuel contains and why it is better than normal unleaded
Thanks
Dougie


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## Jasonb (Nov 24, 2013)

Probably easier to read this thread then post it all again.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f16/coleman-fuel-21959/

J


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## idahoan (Nov 24, 2013)

Hi Dougie

I have had good luck with wicking Loctite (290) and primer; you will need to get the pin hole clean some how. Probably by forcing or vacuuming some solvent through the hole then followed by the Loctite primer and after it drys then the Loctite.

Sealing porosities in welds and castings is one of the intended uses for this product. The nice thing is there is no build up of material on the out side like you would have with the other materials.

Dave


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## hotrod (Dec 14, 2013)

The POR 15 should work fine for you problem. In my shop I have resealed oil coolers , carberator brass floats , corroded aluminum carb cases ect .    If you have not used the product my advise is by the small cans, stir don't shake to keep bubble out of the finish and when you reinstall the lid you will have to abuse the lid to remove if any residue was left in the cap to can seal groove. I no longer remove the lids and use a self tapping screw to puncture a hole near the edge and to reseal when finished. It has a long working time and cures to a almost  ceramic hard finish.


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## fourstroke (Nov 9, 2014)

Well, after a long let off when I was restoring  an old Aster engine, an email from Jason B reminded me that this  model needed finishing
I have attached a couple of pictures of the engine painted and on its stand
The ignition is by hall effect using the circuit posted on a thread on this forum, the magnet is mounted in the cam gear
The darker wood on the base are covers for the battery and ignition pcb\coil so that the unit is self contained
I will post a link to a video of it running later
Regards
Dougie


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## fourstroke (Nov 16, 2014)

this is a short video of the engine running, here is the link :    http://youtu.be/XfVuwZjes64?list=UUL9rLbP3w_rfJmAAEB8CHrA
Dougie


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## Jasonb (Nov 16, 2014)

Starts and runs very well Dougie, glad I gave you that bit of encouragement to finish it off.

J


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