# A new engine for fall---



## Brian Rupnow

My heart rate and blood pressure have returned to normal, now that I am completely finished with my version of the Nemett Jaguar. I don't WANT to build anything else until fall.
  Then I want to build a totally new engine that is not a modified version of some one else's design. Oh, it will still have all the standard things, --piston, con rod, crankshaft---you get the idea. 
---I am very interested in the gearless engines, just because of how different they are. I have also learned from Malcolm Stride and whoever (Mr. Webster, I assume) designed the Webster engine. I really like that cantilevered crankshaft design as used in the Lynx and the Webster--it so greatly simplifys the crankshaft manufacturing. There is also the big plus that with a gearless type engine and an "atmospheric" intake valve, no camshaft or camshaft bearings are required.
   I won't build another engine with a wet sump and splash oiling, because it is simply too difficult to keep track of the oil level once the sump is all buttoned up.  I have been doing some research, and in addition to "sealed for life" ball bearings, one can also purchase "sealed for life " needle roller bearings and sleeves. In my mind, these would be almost perfect--sealed ball bearings for the crankshaft and sealed needle roller bearings for the big and little ends of the con rod.
   I probably won't try and use cast iron rings again. I have proven to myself that yes, I can make them, but it is a very "chancy" operation, and even when working at their best, they don't give the compression that a Viton o-ring does.
   I have proven to myself that old style points type ignition is both cheaper and far less susceptible to damage than the new electronic ignitions, but they are bulky and take up a lot of room compared to a magnet and pick-up, so the jury is still out on which I will use.
--I like the hit and miss style of engines, because there is a bit more neat mechanism available to see operating, and the real big plus is that these engines run extremely cool because of the fact that when in "miss" cycle they constantly circulate room temperature air thru the cylinder which keeps it cool. 
--I would use a cast iron cylinder, and possibly a cast iron piston, as this will be a slow revving engine so the inertial weight of the piston won't be that big a deal.
---After designing and building the "Rupnow Engine" and seeing that it wants to levitate at any speed above 50 RPM I will definitely find a way to balance the crankshaft with bolt on weights.
   That all for now. If any of you fellows know of any real nifty "gearless" mechanisms, please let me know. I have plans here for the Philip Duclos style gearless engine, also for the old "star wheel" type as seen on full size hit and miss engines, and the nifty one that Myrickman posted on Modelenginemaker forum. I would be interested in any other gearless designs that I am not aware of.----------------Brian rupnow


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## Niels Abildgaard

Two strokes with and without valves are gearless?


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## BronxFigs

Brian-

I can only imagine what you will come up with given your skills, and your arsenal of design talents using a computer.

I know the Wright Bros. came up with a gearless, hit and miss that used a double track eccentric cam or something.  Now, I can't wait for the cool Autumn.....

Frank


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## Brian Rupnow

The engine will be a 4 stroke, with valves.


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## BronxFigs

Back again.

After posting a comment about the Wright Bros. hit and miss engine, I then visited the Model Engine Maker forum.  Myrickman has explained and modeled the mechanism used by the Wright Bros.  Ingenious!


Frank


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## hedgehog

The gearless evic engine by mr. Bowes comes to mind.  But you have to like electronics a bit


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## Shopguy

Looking forward to your next project.
I think we all learn from work work and lucid explanations.
Thanks for being so very generous with your talents.
Ernie J


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## Brian Rupnow

Philip Duclos designed an engine called the Maverick, which has what appears to be a really unique gearless mechanism on it, that I haven't seen before. There is one picture of it available on the internet, and I can't make out how it works from the picture. I do have "The Shop Wisdom of Philip Duclos" book, but the Maverick isn't in my edition. If anybody can give me some insight into how the mechanism on that engine operates, I would greatly appreciate it.----Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

Star wheel mechanisms and elliptical cam mechanisms both work great on gearless engines full size, but neither of them scale down very well to model engine size.


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## Brian Rupnow

On the Maverick engine, it looks like there may be a tiny star wheel right out at the end of the long rocker arm, just below the valve.
http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/images/Duclos09b.jpg


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## BronxFigs

Brian...

You're right, it is a star/ratchet indexing device much like the Olds.  I used to have the drawings, but now, they are gone.  Nothing new on the Maverick for the 2:1 reduction.


Frank


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## Brian Rupnow

Frank--I was able to find some more complete information on the Maverick, and yes, the starwheel is the same as on the larger engines. I'm not sure how well it worked though, because on one of the two Youtube videos I can find of the Maverick engine running, the fellow has removed the mechanism and put on a regular set of timing gears. The engine does however, have a really unique looking set up to run the hit and miss function. I haven't seen one like that before.


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## Brian Rupnow

I have been doing some more thinking on this engine "to be". Since all of my previous engines have been overhead valve types, or with valves mounted outside the cylinder ala Webster, I think I will try a side valve engine. This has the valves arranged similar to the old flathead Ford engines, with a plain flat cylinder head which has only a sparkplug hole in it, and the valves set off to one side of the cylinder with the stems pointed down toward the crankshaft (or camshaft). A good example of a side valve engine is the Philip Duclos gearless engine. I also have been thinking about ignition points. On all of my other engines they are exposed and stick out like a sore thumb. I am wondering if they couldn't be hidden in a cavity cut into one side of the flywheel similar to the old early Briggs and Stratton engines.


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## BronxFigs

Check: Len Mason's "Mastiff" engine.  I think it's an exposed, side-valve, flathead, 4-cylinder opposed boxer.  I think a few of Edgar Westbury's engines may also be flatheads, also, with side-valves.  You of all people, could easily adapt, or design, some kind of gearless 2:1 reduction mechanism to turn the camshaft.


Frank


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## Brian Rupnow

Now here is something you will find interesting. I have idled the afternoon away modelling the indexer mechanism designed by Philip Duclos for his Gearless engine. I have chosen this one primarily because I know it works. I have watched a half dozen Youtube videos of it. I'm not altogether sure that I will build it, or incorporate it into something of my own design yet, but modelling it gives me a much clearer understanding of how it works. This is activated by a single cam on the crankshaft acting on the roller wheel which shows up in the assembly at the end opposite the "swastica', and the "swastica" shaped part rotates 1/4 of a turn every time the cam comes around. The long part of the arm opposite the weird shaped part comes up every other time and pushed on the stem of the exhaust valve to operate it.


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## Brian Rupnow

This is the really interesting part of the post. A solid model doesn't give you any real idea of size. Without anything to compare the model to, it could be smaller than a grain of rice, or bigger than an elephant. Part of the ridiculous fee $$$ that I pay each year for my Solidworks license gives me access to a databank of models created by other designers. Someone was kind enough to model a human hand. I downloaded it, and measured it to check for size against my own hand, and it is exactly to proper scale.So--to give you some idea of the actual size of this indexer mechanism, here it is, full size, held in the palm of an average man size hand!!!


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## Brian Rupnow

I've got something on the go here. Have decided for the moment to forget about gearless. We're talking air cooled, 4 cycle, two independent gear driven cams---Can't really call them camshafts. All sealed ball bearings on two piece crankshaft. (two on each side) Sealed roller bearings on both ends of con rod (thus the two piece crankshaft). The combustion chamber is totally in the head. The valves set in their own housings which bolt onto the side of the head. I haven't got the tappets nor tappet guides in there yet, nor a carb or exhaust. Heck, I haven't even got fasteners in there yet!! The ignition points will set on the outside of the plate opposite side from the flywheel. May be just an exercise in time killing, but it looks interesting.


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## Brian Rupnow

Someone commented that the length of the exhaust and intake runners would become "dead spots" in regards to fuel burning and exhaust scavenging.--I don't know how big a problem that would be. What is an even greater problem is the fact that it leaves no room for a head bolt, and the added length of the passages will drop the compression ratio below what I want it to be.  I think I will look at this some more, and perhaps try making the combustion chamber and cylinder and head 3 separate pieces with a cast iron liner inside the combustion chamber and cylinder.


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## Brian Rupnow

Okay--We'll put my previous attempt down as  not really feasible---. Try again!! I think this is doable---but that cylinder would be an absolute monster to machine. The only thing I see that isn't really workable in this drawing is that the flange on the bottom of the cylinder will foul any tappets coming up directly under the valve stems. Even though I show the valves seating in the aluminum cylinder, remember, this is just a layout to see if I can get all the pieces into an envelope of the required size. If I did go ahead with this, I would machine valve cages and press/Loctite them into holes in the cylinder in the same position.


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## Brian Rupnow

After having a look at the Val, an engine designed by Brian Fairey, and seeing how his head bolts held the head and the cylinder  to the top of the crankcase, I thought YES---why not!!!  This somewhat lessons the complexity of the cylinder shape, but even more importantly, it opens up a clearance directly below the valves, allowing room for the tappets. Not much room, mind you, but if I followed someones advice about mushroom headed tappets I might be able to make something work here.


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## Brian Rupnow

It may not be impossible to have a side valve engine with dual independent cams machined from barstock, but it's damn difficult!! This configuration looks interesting.


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## Steve J

Brian ,not sure what info is available but Dick Upshur had plans for something similar to this. It was a representation of a palmer zr1 made in Cos Cob Conn. Made around 1925 and it was a marine engine. Called a T head marine engine and it had two cams and a valve on each side of the cylinder. These are supposedly very efficient because the gas charge does not change direction.


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## Brian Rupnow

Thanks Steve. Jason from another forum has suggested staggering the cam gears and making the crank gear longer. That would allow me to pull the valves in closer together and consequently have a smaller overall cylinder width with shorter runners between the valve and the combustion chamber. He also suggested making the crankshaft 3/8" diameter on the end which operates the cam gears, allowing for an overall reduction in gear diameters. Right now, with a 1/2" diameter end on the crankshaft, the gear shown is the smallest gear that will go on a 1/2" shaft, and the cam gears have to be twice that diameter.--Very clever!!! I don't think Dick Upshur is still alive, and I don't really want to pay whoever now owns rights to his drawings for another set of plans.----Brian


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## Steve J

The valves on the t head are on opposite sides of the cylinder. Dont worry about buying plans. look up palmer zr1 marine engine and you probably will get pictures that you can get ideas from.


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## Steve J

just googled Palmer zr1 marine engine. many many pics


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## Goldflash

Hi Brian 
Have a look at the Service Manual for the BSA M20 500 cc side valve 
This shows the cam layout etc and exploded views of the Engine 

http://lamaneta.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Maintenance-Manual-BSA-500-cc-S.V.-Model-M20.pdf


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## Brian Rupnow

Thank you Goldflash.---That will be very helpful.---Brian


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## Goldflash

Indian used a different arrangement 1 cam lobe operating both Inlet and Exhaust valve


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## Brian Rupnow

Still thinking---


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## Brian Rupnow

My mind and computer take me to strange places----


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## Brian Rupnow

Not there yet, but slowly getting all the parts in---


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## Brian Rupnow

I think this could work---The cyan blue backplate would be 3/8" steel with 3 steel stub shafts welded into it. It would attach with 6 bolts and two locating dowels (not shown) to the dark green spacer bar, which is itself bolted and dowelled to the aluminum crankcase. The gears and cams might be machined from bronze or cast iron, something with enough lubricity that they can rotate on the fixed shafts without galling. The con rod has sealed needle bearings in both ends, the dark blue half of the split crankshaft has two sealed ball bearings supporting the end where the flywheel goes. The "follower half" of the split crankshaft would run in bronze bushings. The blue bridge which spans across the top of the aluminum crankcase is the tappet guide, and could be aluminum.


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## Brian Rupnow

Okay!!---I am happy with everything here, and know it will work. The only "grey" area is attaching the valve body to the cylinder and the cylinder to the crankcase.--I haven't spent any time thinking about the flywheel, and I am pretty certain that like the Jaguar/Canadian Cub engine that I just built, this one will need a built in fan for cooling. The exhaust will be simply a screw-in straight pipe, and the carburetor will either be a copy of the Jaguar carb or my version of the George Britnell carb clone.


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## Swifty

Brian, I like your idea of using a follower on the crankshaft to work the gears, the dark blue crankshaft is well supported.

Paul.


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## Brian Rupnow

I gave up on the idea of having a steel backplate with welded in stubshafts. Last night I lay in bed thinking, and I had originally intended to solder the cams onto the face of the gears. This is always a somewhat "iffy" proposition, and as I have said all along, I want to be able to adjust the cam timing independent of the gear teeth. I decided I would be able to do that if I added a hub and set screws to one side of the gears and silver soldered the cams to the 3/8" shaft, while leaving the gears free to rotate into whatever position I wanted them to be in relation to the cam position, then lock them to the shaft with the set screws in the gear hub. This means of course, that the shafts must now be able to rotate. So---I changed the steel plate to an aluminum plate, with two 1" long oilite bronze bushings pressed into the thick part of the plate. The blue circles you see are the heads on the ends of the two cam shafts. They need shallow heads on them to keep then from trying to pull out of the bushings as they revolve. The other end of the camshafts which support the gears and the cams is still cantilevered, but it's only a 7/8" cantilever from the edge of the aluminum plate out to the centerline of the cams, so I don't anticipate any bending. The jockey gear is made from bronze and rotates on a 3/8" steel shoulder bolt which screws into the side of the crank case.


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## Brian Rupnow

We have to get a set of my favourite Chrysler product ignition points mounted somewhere, and since we are in the design phase, I might as well mount them on an adjustable plate so I can adjust the ignition timing while the engine is running. That is easy enough to do by extending the end of the outer crankshaft bushing and bumping up the extended diameter to 5/8". I can then clamp the ignition points mounting plate onto the head of the bushing.


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## Brian Rupnow

Now my engine can breath in and breath out----As you may have already figured out, this will be a "dry sump" engine, with sealed ball and roller bearings on the load bearing side of the crankshaft and in the connecting rod. The non load bearing side of the crankshaft is supported in "oilite" bronze bushings, as are the cam shafts, and gears. They will get a bit of oil from an oilcan when I run the engine. Tomorrow I will decide how I am going to support the engine, and what to do for a flywheel.  I have thought about going to a 7" diameter flywheel with built in "fan-blades" to provide a steady draft of air over the cooling fins on the engine. I will have to model it and see if it looks reasonable or ridiculous.


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## Brian Rupnow

This is the point at which things begin to get a bit----goofy? The engine needs a flywheel. Past experience has proven to me beyond a doubt that the larger diameter a flywheel is, the better the engine will run and idle. Throttle response won't be as quick, because that's a lot of mass to move, but if fast throttle response isn't vitally important, then a large diameter flywheel is the way to go.
 The flywheel shown is 7" diameter, which is about 1" too much in my opinion, to keep the proportions reasonable.----So----Why make the flywheel so big?--Because a second factor I have proven to myself, is that without some kind of airflow over the fins, the engine will rapidly overheat. All you guys who build these small engines with a propeller, like for instance the Nemett series by Malcolm Stride will know how much the air from the prop will cool the engines. I don't like propellers.---Having once, in my jaded past, stuck a finger into a (thankfully small) propeller on a model gas airplane, I HATE propellers. So---What to do?--I need a flywheel anyways, it has to be made from steel (can't afford brass) and I can weld steel. ----By making the flywheel 1" larger in diameter, and drilling 5 holes through the web, I can then make up 5 blades of .125" thick steel and weld them into the holes at a 45 degree angle. This will create lots of air movement, yet the flywheel will have a smooth outer rim in case some poor fool like me inadvertantly touches it.  It will work. In fact, I think it will work very well. The only downside is that it makes the engine look "goofy".


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## Brian Rupnow

*GOOFY???*


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## Brian Rupnow

This is a very good example of engine size comparisons. The engine on the left is patterned after the Nemett Jagauar, an engine having a 7/8" bore and a 3" diameter flywheel. The engine on the right is my new side valve engine with a 1" bore and a 7" diameter flywheel.  The basic engines are very close to the same size. The new engine with the large flywheel has to have the support angle feet extended a long ways so the bottom of the flywheel will clear the table. Of course, I had to add a belt driven fan to the Nemett engine to get it to run cool enough, so it was extra work to make the fan, fan housing, blade, shaft, bushings, etcetera. I like the proportions of the Nemett engine a lot better.--Decisions--decisions---


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## Swifty

The new engine looks like a great design, but I can't help thinking that a lot of the cooling is wasted on the lower 3/4 of the engine.

Paul.


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## Brian Rupnow

As I have said before, I plan on using "sealed" roller (not ball) bearings on both ends of the con rod and "sealed' ball bearings on the load bearing side of the crankshaft. That is why the crank is split into two halves. Since the bearings are filled with grease and "sealed" I shouldn't have to lubricate the rod nor the crankshaft bearings. The more I look at it, the uglier it gets with that big flywheel on it.--I'm not too concerned about the airflow---the airflow hitting against the side of the crankcase will be forced out to the sides and "up and over" the cooling fins. I think I will probably go with a 4" diameter flywheel and a separate fan setting above it. That simplifies the flywheel by an order of magnitude, and I can probably utilize the computer fan/propeller that I bought for the Jaguar and then didn't use, driving it with an o-ring drive belt.--That will also direct more of the air across the cylinder and head.


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## bmac2

Hi Brian
If your into a little sheet metal work to form a shroud you might want to have a look at set up b.lindsey used on his Briggs & Stratton 6S build. 

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/showthread.php?t=5343&highlight=brigs&page=13


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## Brian Rupnow

Bob--That is a good idea, and it's possible I MAY go in that direction. --Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

I have a few minor logistics to figure out yet, but here is the engine with a 4" diameter flywheel and the 2 15/16" diameter computer fan I bought for a previous engine and then didn't use. As far as I'm concerned, this is a really big improvement over the 7" flywheel/fan.


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## Brian Rupnow

Okay Folks--It's opinion pole time!!! This morning as I was going through the model adding all of the bolt holes, I decided I didn't like those yellow angle end supports. A bit of quick modelling gave me the flat plate base as you see it here to support the engine instead of the angle plates.  Since the engine has a dry sump, I don't have to contain any oil in the crankcase. True, it exposes the spinning crankshaft and con rod, but any-one who sticks their finger in there would pretty well have to do it on purpose. I like this new base better. I want to know what you guys think. Do you like this plate base better or the yellow angles as in previous versions I have posted.


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## Path

Base plate by far .

Pat H.


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## werowance

base plate definately looks great.
just my opinion though.


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## bmac2

Lets make it 3 - 0 for the base plate, nice clean look.

On a side note, (and you brought it up ;D) if were talking appearance as far as the open crank case goes, the _more moving parts you can see the better_. The engine below might be a wonderful engine but being a fully enclosed water cooled engine with nothing moving but the flywheel, its not going to be very interesting to watch run.
Just my 2 cents (plus GST,PST, VAT etc.)


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## Brian Rupnow

Okay--The plate gets it by a mile, from all 4 websites I post on.---A plate it will be!!!


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## Swifty

Glad you decided on the plate, it looks much better.

Paul.


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## Brian Rupnow

For those of you who have been asking about how I will adjust the valve lash on this engine----This is it. The "tappets" will be of 3 piece construction, having an internally tapped bottom that will ride on the cam, an externally threaded top section which rides against the end of the valve, and a lock nut.  The bottom section of the tappet is 5/16" diameter, and is hardened "01" steel. the top portion will also be hardened "01" steel. The internal thread is a #10-24. I left the cylinder head off in this model so you can see that I plan on using pressed in valve cages.----Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

Well Sir!! I think that just about covers it!!! Oh, I've got to so something about a place for my started spud so I can use my variable speed drill as a starter, and probably add a few keyways and bolt holes, but I think the overall design is 99% done. everything on there I have built before on my previous 7 i.c. engines, except for perhaps the adjustable tappets----and that doesn't look like brain surgery. I think this will be a really neat project for a new engine this fall, and as usual I will be posting the engineering drawings fro anyone who wants to join in the fun. I guess my next step will be to make a list of all the bushings and bearings and go have a chat with my bearing supplier.---Brian


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## ShopShoe

Brian,

I bow (very low) to your design experience and many years of building things, but I wonder if more than 24 tpi on your valve adjusters would make fine adjustment easier. I also realize that maybe the courser thread is needed for strength.

Just Wondering,

--ShopShoe


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## Brian Rupnow

ShopShoe---The decision to go with #10-24 thread had a lot more to do with what taps and dies I have available than any sound engineering principles. Either thread will work adequately. It's one of those things that will probably be adjusted once and then never again. Non of these little engines run long enough periods of time to wear down the valve seat and face to the point where they need much lash adjustment after it is first set. Of course, the key factor is to be able to set it the very first time.----Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

I am going to "borrow" the crankshaft design from Malcolm  Stride's "Lynx" engine. The crankshaft will be made up from individual components which will be silver soldered together. However it will remain as two totally separate assemblies. The 1/2" shaft with keyway, the counterweight/web and the 1/2" diameter rod journal will be one assembly. The other end of the crankshaft will be 3/8" diameter and consist of only the shaft and the counterweight/web. This second counterweight/web will have a 1/2" hole reamed through it, which the rod journal will pass completely through, ending flush with the other side of the counterweight/web. The rod journal will be made from "01" water hardening steel, which will be quenched immediately after silver soldering to harden it. Both ends of the full crankshaft will be supported by two bearings, to prevent any potential misalignment. (The crankcase and outboard bearing support will be assembled, doweled, and all bored in one set-up.) This arrangement will allow me to use a sealed roller bearing on the big end of the con-rod. The width between the counterweight/webs when all is assembled is sufficient to allow a .015" thick spacer washer on each side of the con rod bearing.


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## gbritnell

Brian,
If you get the rod journal hot enough to quench and harden it you will have cooked all the life out of the silver solder. If you want a hardened pin you're better off to do it first and press it into the crank cheek. A lot of motorcycle (singles through triples) have assembled cranks. I have rebuilt singles many times. The pin is pressed into one cheek and is set up to press the other cheek on by using a straight edge to get it started square. It's then pressed home and mounted on a fixture so that it can be spun with dial indicators resting on the shafts. To true it up one only needs to clamp one cheek and tap on the other to move it around the rod pin. The assembly is then again indicated. It doesn't take much to true them up. 
O-1 steel is oil hardening. W-1 is water hardening. 
gbritnell


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## Jasonb

Yes, I tend to agree with George, the bright red you need for hardening is a long way above the dull red needed for the solder. There is also the fact that the clearance needed for teh solder to wick into the joint may throw the pin off line.

Its not to hard to press one in, I have done it in the past using my mill vice to keep things nice and square, this ones been upto 8500rpm. If I remember rightly its a 7/32" pin into a 5.5mm hole

J


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## Brian Rupnow

Okay Gentlemen--I defer to your knowledge. I was thinking the same thing last night. I will press the crank together How about if I solder the counterweight/web to the crankshaft , then harden the pin by itself, then press the hardened pin into place in the counterweight web? My webs are not terribly thick.


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## Jasonb

Should be OK doing that. I would solder it up then put it back in the lathe, skim the end and drill/bore the pin hole, that way you can make sure the pin is true to the main shaft even if the web gets soldered a bit out of line.

J


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## Brian Rupnow

This morning I got bored!! Daughter is getting married next week---whole week will be crazy. Customer is squealing like a pig wanting me to come over to his factory and do some design on a new machine, but I can't because I'm waiting for a courier to bring me a new Solidworks disc. A friend wants me to machine some mounts for his new fishing downrigger but I'n waiting on material.---And yesterday I just bought a second house!!!--However, being stuck between all things and unable to do any of them, I decided to machine something this morning.----So---I rooted around in my scrap bin and found a piece of aluminum big enough to make the spacer bar that fits between the backplate and the crankase on my fall project engine.


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## Brian Rupnow

Sent out a list of bearings and bushings for the new engine to my bearing supplier.--Wouldn't you know it----Their system is down!!---I may just go upstairs and drink wine for the rest of the day!!!

REQUEST FOR PRICE AND DELIVERY 
ONESEALED NEEDLE ROLLER BEARING .25 I.D. X 0.478 O.D. X 0.375 LONG #SCE46PP  INA
ONE--- SEALED NEEDLE ROLLER BEARING .375 I.D. X 0.563 O.D. X 0.5 LONG #SCE68PP   INA
TWO SEALED BALL BEARINGS  ½ I.D. X 1.125 O.D. X 0.5 LONG #R1616-2RS    RBI
ONE OILITE BRZ. BUSHING 3/8 I.D. X ½ O.D. X 1/2 LONG
ONE OILITE BRONZE BUSHING  3/8 I.D. X 5/8 O.D. X ¾ LONG
TWOOILITE BRONZE BUSHINGS 3/8 I.D. X ½ O.D. X 1 LONG


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## Brian Rupnow

Damn!!!---And I mean that with all my heart!!! Three weeks ago I called Canadian Bearings and inquired about the sealed needle bearings, their sizes, and the fact that they could be sealed. Got the green light on everything, so went ahead and designed the engine based on that info. Today I sent out a request for quote for all bearings bushings, etcetera on the engine to Canadian Bearings. Just got an answer back----The 1/4" needle bearings I planned on using for the wrist pin  (gudgeon pin) are not available anywhere in North America. The 3/8" needle bearings for the big end are available, but they are no longer selling them as "sealed" bearings. This doesn't totally beat me, because I can still go to a 3/8" needle bearing at the wrist pin--(I do have sufficient room). The only pain in the arse is that now the rod bearings will have to be manually oiled. Oh well, none of this is a deal breaker, but it sure annoys me!!! (All the bearings and bushings including taxes came to about $40 Canadian, including taxes.)


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## bmac2

Brian Rupnow said:


> Sent out a list of bearings and bushings for the new engine to my bearing supplier.--Wouldn't you know it----Their system is down!!---I may just go upstairs and drink wine for the rest of the day!!!
> 
> REQUEST FOR PRICE AND DELIVERY
> ONESEALED NEEDLE ROLLER BEARING .25 I.D. X 0.478 O.D. X 0.375 LONG #SCE46PP INA
> ONE--- SEALED NEEDLE ROLLER BEARING .375 I.D. X 0.563 O.D. X 0.5 LONG #SCE68PP INA
> TWO SEALED BALL BEARINGS ½ I.D. X 1.125 O.D. X 0.5 LONG #R1616-2RS RBI
> ONE OILITE BRZ. BUSHING 3/8 I.D. X ½ O.D. X 1/2 LONG
> ONE OILITE BRONZE BUSHING 3/8 I.D. X 5/8 O.D. X ¾ LONG
> TWOOILITE BRONZE BUSHINGS 3/8 I.D. X ½ O.D. X 1 LONG


 
Hi Brian
Looks like Motion Industries (use to be BC Bearing) has your needle bearings and ball bearings (shown as in stock on the web). And if you have one around, Princess Auto carries a decent stock of oilite bushings.

https://www.motionindustries.com/motion3/jsp/mii/taxonomy/browse/en
http://www.princessauto.com/pal/en


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## Brian Rupnow

So here we have a pair of gears being born!! I had a 7" length of 1144 stress proof steel x 1 3/8" diameter left over from making the crankshaft for the Jaguar/Canadian Cub, and the o.d. of the timing gears for my side valve engine is 1.33 major diameter. I cut the 7" length in half, turned the short end to 5/8" diameter, turned the o.d. to 1.33" diameter, and drilled and reamed the 3/8" bore 2" deep all in one set-up. I then reversed the part in the 3 jaw chuck and turned the other end to 5/8" diameter. Next step will be to set it up in the chuck on my rotary table and make one long gear, then saw it in half in the bandsaw and turn the face of each remaining gear half to the correct length, then cut off the long hub to leave a .343 long hub. Then I will add the set screw holes.


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## Brian Rupnow

bmac2--Thanks. I will give the bearing company a call Monday. There is a Princess Auto in Barrie, but I didn't know they had oilite bronze bushings.---will check it out.---Brian


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## bmac2

I think stock varies from store to store. The one close to me is very heavy in hydraulics. Have a wander through the Surplus section, sometimes it can be a treasure trove for gears of things that have gears. I picked up a cheap (about $15) angle drive off a _God knows what_ with a 30-1 worm gear Im planning on using in a dividing head one day.  Its been over a year, but one day . . . .:noidea: .


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## Brian Rupnow

I got thinking about how I was going to loosen off the gears on the cam-shafts to adjust the cams, and realized that there would be no portion of the shaft (which has the cam fixed to the end of it) available to grab hold of and turn. So---I extended the shafts to extend through the backplate 3/8", and made up a couple of knurled caps to fit over the ends of the shaft and bolt on with a #8 shcs. This will act as a retainer washer to keep the shaft and cam from sliding out of the bushing, and will give me something I can grip to turn the cam and shaft manually when the set screws holding the gear are loosened off. There is no danger of getting my finger sucked down between the knurled rollers, because they both turn the same direction---they don't roll in towards each other.


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## Brian Rupnow

Last night I lay in bed thinking about the crankcase for this engine. It looks kinda neat with that rectangular hole all the way through it.--But I am beginning to think that perhaps it doesn't need that big rectangular hole through it. That big rectangular hole, which would be a bit of a pig to machine, doesn't serve any real purpose that I can see. (except to give access for oiling the big end of the rod with a squirt can)The crankshaft is two piece, and can be inserted through the big round hole in the side for the bearing housing.(I designed the hole to be 0.030" greater in diameter than the largest diameter on the crankshaft.) So, for assembly, the driven side of the crankshaft that eventually has the cam gear mounted on it would be inserted first. Then the con-rod (with piston attached) would have the big end lowered down through the hole in the top of the crankcase, then the main (dark blue) section of crankshaft would be inserted,with the rod journal going through the rod big end bearing and passing on through the reamed hole in the web of the first piece of crankcase--(that hole is just a sliding fit, not an interference fit). Then the bearing housing and bearings would be slid on over the end of the dark blue crankshaft and bolted up to the side of the crankcase. Of course all of this depends on whether or not I can find a sealed needle bearing or not.


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## Brian Rupnow

Unless somebody can convince me otherwise, I am going to build the crankcase as shown, with no rectangular hole running through it. The hole does nothing in terms of running the engine, and the crankcase becomes so incredibly much easier to machine, since all of the material from inside the crankcase can be removed with a boring tool in the lathe, using the 4 jaw chuck. I am still chasing down "sealed fro life needle roller bearings", but even if I can't find them and have to run an oil sump, this should still work.---Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

I went back to Canadian Bearings today and chewed on the salesman for a while about these damned sealed needle bearings. Now it seems that I can get a 1/4" sealed needle bearing x 7/16" long. This will work fine for the wrist pin, because my piston is 1" diameter. I had previously asked for a 3/8" long bearing, and it is NOT available. The 3/8" needle bearing for the con rod big end is only available in an unsealed version, but I can probably find a work-around for that.---One word about needle roller bearings---When I built my Kerzel hit and miss engine, I put a set of needle roller bearings on the crankshaft to make it spin easier. It worked, but they are very noisy little devils. I didn't pack them with grease, just oiled them which may have been a mistake. What I am thinking now is that if I go to the solid crankcase without the rectangular hole all the way through it, the engine might be a lot quieter, in terns of bearing noise.


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## Brian Rupnow

My small mill did not enjoy cutting this 1144 stress proof at all -at all.  This stuff cuts much harder than mild steel or brass. Poor mill was shaking and quivering, and I could tell that I was hurting it. I did cut all the way round, and I did get the right number of teeth, but I think all the shaking and shuddering may have thrown the 3 jaw chuck out of center, as the teeth on one side are deeper than the other, and the tooth form is off. I will center up the 3 jaw on the rotary table and see if I can re-cut this gear and save it. So---A lesson learned here. If you have a small mill and not a full size Bridgeport or equal, you probably shouldn't use 1144 stress proof for gears.


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## Brian Rupnow

It seems the day is saved!!! I tore everything down re-centered the chuck on the rotary table (it was about .008" total runout), then set everything up again, eyeballed to make sure I was cutting in a space, not on a tooth, and went around again--all 30 spaces. Gear now looks good, all teeth are the same height and same shape. I will know better when I get all the gears made and mounted, but I think it's going to be okay.


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## Brian Rupnow

Old age and treachery triumph once again!!! The gear has now been split and finished and mounted on two 3/8" diameter dowels mounted in two reamed holes exactly 1.25" apart (The pitch diameter of the gears)---They mesh perfectly. Hurray for my side!!!


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## Brian Rupnow

This afternoon I cut the 15 tooth crankshaft gear from 3/4" diameter cold rolled steel. The mill liked that!! No quivering and shuddering like when I cut the stress proof 1144. I found a left over piece of grey cast iron and bored it 3/8" through, then press fitted and Loctited  a cold rolled steel arbor tuned to 0.376" diameter into it. It can set in the lathe until tomorrow sometime when I find the time to turn it down to 0.708" diameter, and then I will cut teeth into it on the mill. The crankshaft gear is steel, and will be pinned to the crankshaft with a 0.093" diameter hardened steel pin. The cast iron jockey gear will ride on a 3/8" diameter shoulder bolt.


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## Brian Rupnow

Here is a post from yesterday morning, when I was in Hamilton, Ontario. I couldn't get on the forum from there, as I couldn't remember my password---
So---No machining lately. I started a new contract for an old customer this week, and it's one of those deals where I have to be "On site" to do it. It's kind of fun to go back to work for a while, but it doesn't leave me much energy at the end of the day for machining in my own home shop. My life has been exciting lately, and not in a particularly good way. After setting in the old computer chair at my customers for two days, my back has "gone out" and so I'm living in 4 hour stretches, from pain pill to pain pill. I have had an allergic reaction to a steroid nasal spray, and have tonsilitis as a result. Life sucks when ya get old!!! I m setting on a computer in the Comfort Inn in Hamilton this morning, waiting to walk my daughter down the aisle at one o'clock today at her wedding. Then a reception tonight, where I will have to be cheerful and happy and dance with my dear wife, while secretly hurting like heck and grumpier than a bear with a sore a$$ !!! Ah well, enough whining for now. I am getting really excited about this new engine, and even though the project is slated as "A new engine for fall", fall is fast approaching. I ordered all of the bearings last week, and also purchased all of the aluminum bar stock I will use, along with the cold rolled steel flatbar for the crankshaft webs. I took my gigantic lump of bronze over to the place I buy my aluminum and they are going to saw of a couple of slices for me, one to make a flywheel from and a thinner one to cut "odds and sods" from for accent pieces on the rest of the engine. My 3D cad models are 99% finished, and also most of the mechanical detail drawings. I see someone else standing around the lobby watching me, so they probably want to use this computer. So---wish me luck guys. I will post more when this grand event is over and life returns to normal.----Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

Back home today. Wedding went off without a hitch. The bride was beautiful and I have gained a handsome young son in law. I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. The older I get, the less I sleep in Hotel rooms. I am going to get back to the engine this week and get the jockey gear cut. Once all of the gears are finished I will decide what to make next.---Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

This new contract I'm working at has cut deeply into the time I have for working on this engine. However, I think about it as I lay waiting for sleep at night. On previous engines I have built, the spur gears which run the camshaft are quite noticeably noisy when running with the gear case removed. I'm not concerned with the danger of getting my fingers caught in the gear teeth (I've learned not to stick my fingers into gears---don't ask how). However, with only a minor change to the backplate, I can machine a filler piece to fit into the gap between the backplate and the crankcase which can be easily removed for adjusting the valve timing, but can be easily reinstalled to keep the noise of the gears down to acceptable levels and to retain a bit of grease. I have shown it in the assembly, and pulled out to one side by itself to show what it looks like.


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## Brian Rupnow

Today was bearing day. All of the bearings I had ordered for my side valve engine came today---with a surprise!!! The bearings in the foreground are two 1/2" sealed ball bearings for the main crankshaft side, the needle bearings for both ends of the con rod, two oilite bronze bushings 3/8" i.d. x 1" long for the camshafts, and  one 3/8" i.d. oilite bushing x 1/2" long and one 3/8" i.d. x 5/8"  for the follower half of the crankshaft. So----what are all those bushings in the background?? Well, what I didn't know was that Canadian Bearings have changed their policy and many of these bushings are available in minimum lots of 5 or 10 pieces!!!  I didn't squeal too loudly, because everything only cost a total of $45.32, and there are probably enough left over bushings to last me for the rest of my life!!


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## Brian Rupnow

Tonight I finished the last gear for this engine. It is the jockey gear, the one which fits between the crankshaft gear and the two large camshaft gears. The two large camshaft gears do not mesh with each other, only with the jockey gear. The jockey gear is not driven by a shaft, but sets free to rotate on a 3/8" diameter shoulder bolt. I chose to make it from cast iron, as that will have self lubricating capabilities, and I have read that cast iron spur gears running on steel gears are quieter than steel gears running on each other. I'm not sure if that is true, but if it is, that will be a bonus. The gentleman who supplied the aluminum material for this job is supposed to be finished slicing off two lengths of bronze from my 50 pound bronze weight tomorrow---a thick one for the flywheel, and a thinner one to make various trim pieces from (I'm thinking the tappet guide bar, at least.) I have not torn down my rotary table set-up in the mill yet, as I want to put in a piece of plain mild steel and cut a gear tooth in it with my #4 cutter.---That's the one that gave me so much trouble cutting the 1144 stress proof material for the cam gears.  If the cutter is dull or damaged, I would rather know now so I can order a replacement, rather than find out the cutter is bad the next time I go to use it.


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## Brian Rupnow

So here we have it, gentlemen- The material (or at least most of it) for my new engine. The thick slab of bronze is destined to become a flywheel. The thin piece will become trim pieces such as the tappet guide. The steel flatbar in two different thicknesses will become crankshaft webs. the large aluminum block will become the crankcase, the two smaller blocks will become combustion chamber immediately below the cylinder head and the backplate. I have enough round steel stock on hand to make the crankshaft from. I have yet to purchase the cast iron for the cylinder and the piece of aluminum which will become the baseplate. My supplier with the giant size self feeding bandsaw charges me $10 per slice through the bronze, so I think the total price came to around $35.00 for material.


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## Brian Rupnow

Mystery Solved----Kind of---I chucked up a piece of cold rolled round stock in my rotary table/3 jaw chuck, put the #4 gearcutter back in the mill, and took a full depth 0.090" cut. The gearcutter was shrieking at a "normal" speed for this kind of work, and I was again getting sparks off the cutter. ---And that was WITH cutting oil.  A close examination of the cut cold rolled shows material being "extruded" around the sides and end of the cutter path. I have concluded that the gear cutter was duller than a hoe!!! It probably wasn't the fault of the 1144 stress proof material after all. Some ham-handed bugger who uses my mill MAY have run the cutter up against a hardened jaw on the 3 jaw chuck the last time the cutter was used and put away. I don't recall doing it, but I am the only person who ever works in my little home machine shop.:wall::wall: Anyways, a quick phone call to Travers in South Carolina, and I am $60 poorer and a new cutter is coming UPS.---Brian


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## johnny1320

Hey Brian have you checked out KBC tools there is one in Mississauga, they have both high and lower quality tools and equipment. And prices are responsible


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## petertha

johnny1320 said:


> Hey Brian have you checked out KBC tools there is one in Mississauga...



I was going to suggest exact same & additionally - you are a brave man to ship UPS to Canada (unless they have some special arrangement like Amazon dot com). An envelope of air can cost you $40 in UPS 'processing fees' over & above shipping, Gst, Pst, Bendoverformore-t etc.

Travers has a CDN distributorship too do they not?
http://www.traverscanadacatalogs.com/

Anyway, here is KBC cutter screen grab & links
http://www.kbctools.com/can/main.cfm


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## johnny1320

KBC is great I order everything on line then go pick it up, they will ship too.


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## Brian Rupnow

One burning question remained--On the cast iron cylinder, due to very close clearances and constraints, I ended up with a #5-40 tapped hole 0.079" off the side of the cast iron part. I wasn't sure if I could do that or not without the thread breaking out thru the face. This set-up answers my question, and it's an answer I didn't want to hear. There is still enough thread in the cast iron to hold sufficiently, but it looks crappy. My next stunt will be to drill and tap the hole .188 back from the edge, and then machine material away until I have my .079" edge to center distance and see what that looks like.


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## Brian Rupnow

And the short answer is---that doesn't work either!! The thread still breaks thru. This is going to call for a small design change on the affected drawings.--Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

Okay!!! At 0.095" edge distance, we are golden!!! No break out of the threads thru the side at that edge distance. I will write that on my wall of "things to remember" and make the slight design change to my drawings.---Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

And so it begins---Once I had the outsides of the block milled to size, I set it up in the 4 jaw chuck and drilled a hole all the way through, and reamed it to 7/16" diameter. I then proceeded to use a series of drills to go part way through the block, until I topped out a at my 1" Silver and Demmings drill. Then it was boring to the proper depth and diameter. That finished hole that goes all the way thru will eventually be reamed to 0.5" for a bushing, but since I want to "align-bore" all of the plates together to get the bores all in exact alignment, that 7/16" reamed hole will act as a set-up hole when I get to that point.


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## bmac2

Ok. I see chips flying. Another Rupnow build has commenced.  I have my chair pulled up and the coffee is on.
good luck and godspeed


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## Brian Rupnow

I just about got caught!!! I finished up the two main bores in the crankcase, and just as I was finishing the hole thru the top for the con rod and cylinder base, I began wondering if I had checked for side clearance on the rod where it comes thru the hole in the top of the crankcase. I opened up the 3D cad model to take a look, and it's a good thing I did. What I had forgotten was that the big end of the con rod actually extends beyond the crankshaft web/counterweight, and there would have been a big time interference. I had to set the crank case back up in the 4 jaw (I hate that) and relieve a center path all around to clear the con rod big end. I took a couple of pictures while things were still set up to try and show the additional path I had to create. The original bore I had put in would have cleared the crankshaft web/counterweights with .030" radial clearance, but not the con rod big end.


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## Brian Rupnow

I will post a download to all of the drawings for this engine as .pdf files for  those who would like to build it. I used to post the drawings as I was building the parts, but experience has shown me that I "tweak" the drawings so much as I go along to show what actually is made in metal, that I would have to repost the same drawing 3 or even 4 times. This drives everyone a bit mad, and there is too much chance of people not saving the newest "revision" and making bad parts. I am always thrilled when people build one of my engines, but it is a much safer thing to wait until I have a running engine with all of the drawings up to date before I post the link. I do enjoy the comentary and hearing the opinions of other folks as I work my way through a project, so please don't be shy. Stop and say Hi---It lets me know that people are interested and following the thread.---Brian


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## Looper7

Hi Brian, I've always enjoyed following along your journey


Jeff


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## Cogsy

I'm a fan of all your builds Brian and I'll be following along eagerly. I'm sure I'll build another of your engines at some point, but my next project will take quite a while.


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## Swifty

You always surprise me Brian with your ability to design and build so many engines, I'm following along with great interest.

Paul.


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## Brian Rupnow

Well, if you squint your eyes real hard, and look at it just the right way, it's beginning to look like an engine.At least all the big parts bolt together.---That's a good start.!!!---Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

Things are going together remarkably well, so far. I had a bit of problem with gear mesh between the crank gear and the jockey gear, but I am sure its something that a bit of a run in with carborundum paste will fix quickly.Probably the next thing I build will be the large bearing support which registers and bolts to the large hole in the side of the crank case.---Brian


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## bmac2

Looking good Brian and coming together fast.
I like your drawing its sure easy to tell the WORKING copy from the FILE copy.
Keep up the good work


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## Brian Rupnow

So---what do you do with sticky gears??---Well, if you live at my house you find a way to "unsticky" them. There are a host of different reasons that gear trains can be sticky---some can be fixed without setting the gears back up in the rotary table/mill and recutting them, and some can't. If the shaft centers for the shafts supporting the gears are not drilled the correct distance apart, well, you're toast. Nothing can fix that except maybe, if you are very very lucky you can SOMETIMES take a very small cut off the o.d. of the gears, to prevent the tip of the tooth on one gear from bottoming out on the root of the other gear, if the holes are drilled a few thou too close together. If the holes are too far apart, the gears will work, but will be noisy. If ya don't believe me, you can ask Chuck Fellows about that one. Sometimes gears are sticky even when the shaft centers are drilled "Right on". That can be put down to the tooth form being off a little bit, or a bit of spring in the arbor when the gears are being cut. Sometimes it seems to be just plain orneryness (if that's a word). About half the time, the gears I cut run together perfectly. The other half the time---well---If I can get the gears to turn at all (meaning they aren't locked up solid with each other). I cover the faces with a bit of 300 to 400 grit carborundum paste and put some power to them. Not for long, and not too fast, because that stuff cuts fast, and we don't want gears with pointy teeth!!! I recommend a rotating speed of about 300 rpm, and a time of about 15 minutes. If they aren't "unstickied" by then, run them in reverse for the same amount of time. The carborundum paste works very well, and once you can turn the gears freely by hand, take everything apart and wash everything really well with Varsol or a similar solvent. If you are still not 100% happy with the way they mesh, then cover everything with a good slather of grease, set them up with a power source, and let them run for an hour or two. The set-up in my attached picture shows the engine I am building with all 4 gears in place, covered with grease, and running in my milling machine. They turn very freely now, and should give trouble free service when I get the engine finished. The crankshaft gear is cut from cold rolled steel, the jockey gear is cut from cast iron, and the two large gears for the cams are cut from 1144 stress proof material. As I said in an earlier post, spur gears can be very noisy when running on a small engine with no gear cover. The gear cover serves two functions, one being to keep a good supply of grease around the gears, and another equally important reason is to keep the sound of the gears meshing contained.


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## Brian Rupnow

Today I'm going to start out making this part. If all goes well, I may even get to the base plate.


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## Brian Rupnow

Today I'm going to start out making this part. If all goes well, I may even get to the base plate.


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## Brian Rupnow

After initially turning one end of the 2 1/2" diameter aluminum to size, I tried to cut the 6" length down in my little 14" bandsaw, but it kept grabbing and wanting to rotate in my hands. So---I walked it out to the main garage, where I keep my old monster power hacksaw that I built almost 40 years ago. It is self feeding and will saw anything up to a 5" diameter billet. It seldom gets used anymore, but on a job like this it earns it's keep!!!
Today I'm going to start out making this part. If all goes well, I may even get to the base plate.


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## Brian Rupnow

Well, that's my good (machining) deed for this morning. Now on to more mundane things like mowing the lawn. We've had so much rain this summer the damn lawn is growing like it was still June!!!


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## Brian Rupnow

And yes, I do occasionally resort to "crude lashups"----Especially when my main Kurt clone vice lacks just that tiny little bit of opening wide enough to hold the part I want to work on. Why all the layout dye?---I just felt like painting for a change!!!


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## Brian Rupnow

And here we have it with the "poll approved' baseplate. In the rear view you can see the two 3/16" diameter alignment pins which fit into holes reamed thru all 3 pieces which bolt together to maintain alignment. You can also see the rear crankshaft bushing which extends 3/8" out past the backplate for my ignition point mounting plate to register on, to give me variable timing while the engine is running. The 3/8" shaft setting in the bushing is just a long piece of 3/8" rod used for a temporary alignment rod for the bushings.


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## Brian Rupnow

So far, on this build, I have been making great speed machining the comparatively "easy" parts. I consider the hardest parts will probably be the cylinder and the combustion chamber, so I'm shying away from them so far. I guess that before I go much farther, I better have a crankshaft. It is a two piece crankshaft, which I haven't made before, with a primary half and a follower half. The fact that it is two piece lets me run a con rod with a needle bearing in the big end, which is not split.


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## Brian Rupnow

Nothing of real importance machined in the last two days. I moved my son and his family from a rented townhouse into the house I bought two weeks ago. My Gawd!!! I never realized you could collect so much junk after living in a townhouse for ten years. He only had to move about 1/4 mile, so I moved him with my little Ford Ranger, and he had a friend to help with the heavy lifting. I think it took about 16 trips, but we got everything moved between 8 in the morning and four in the afternoon, except the barbecue, which we forgot. Went back and got it this morning. The new house currently looks like a disaster area, but him and his wife can sort that out this week coming. The kids will be able to start in their new schools on Tuesday. I had good intentions of starting work on the crankshaft, but this afternoon I'm too pooped to participate.


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## Swifty

I've helped the kids move a couple of times, the  first time was with a 7x4 trailer, well after that experience, I paid for the hire of a large truck with hydraulic tailgate every other time, it was so much easier.

Paul.


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## Cogsy

I've just closed my furniture removals business after 8+ years and I can tell you it's a lot easier to hire professionals than doing it yourself. Having said that, I hate to move myself (all that packing and unpacking), I've lived in my 3 bed, 1 bath house with my wife and 4 kids for 15 years and I have no intention of moving.

The engine is looking great Brian and I realise it's way too late to make changes, but I have a suggestion to include in your next project - design and cut your own *helical* gears. I just finished researching it and thanks to Chuck Fellows' fixture design, it's not as difficult as it sounds.


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## Brian Rupnow

This type of crankshaft, where only one half bears the load from the connecting rod, and the other half simply follows the arc of the first half to drive the ignition points is something entirely new to me. I think that as suggested, the entire crankshaft will be press fit together with no pins or welds. I have found by experimentation that a .002" interference gives a really hard press fit, as hard a fit as I am capable of achieving with my equipment. The only "slip fit" will be where the con rod journal enters the web of the "follower half" of the crankshaft. The con rod journal itself will be hardened to 50-55 Rockwell c so the con rod needle bearings running directly on it will not chew up the surface. In order to get the holes in exactly the same locations in both crankshaft webs, I plan on mig welding the two bars from which the webs will be cut together, then drilling and reaming the holes with undersize reamers while they are clamped to the milling machine table with toe clamps (with a 1/2" piece of sacrificial aluminum between them and the mill table) to ensure that the axis of the holes are 100% square to the face of the bars. I don't trust my vice for this rather critical operation. I will have the thinner of the two bars, which forms the web of the follower crankshaft on top of the stack, so that I can run the undersize rod journal reamer thru both bars, then without changing my set-up run the clearance reamer thru the topmost bar only.--(Picture to follow). I think that in order to ensure that the pushed in shaft sets square to the plates, I will push the shafts thru the flatbar about 1/2", then trim the excess shaft sticking out the far side with my lathe.


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## Brian Rupnow

I seem to get more reactions to my posts when I post the actual in progress drawings of the pieces I am making even though these drawings may change somewhat as the pieces are actually made. For that reason I am going to post the drawings marked as "preliminary" purely for interest sake for the remainder of this project. I do not recommend that anyone save these drawings, but instead wait until the end of the project when I will post a download link to all of the corrected drawings.--I will begin by posting drawings of the parts which have already been made.-Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

The gears---


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## Brian Rupnow

Here you can see my crankshaft web layout on one of the cold rolled steel bars. (There is one extra arc on there that shouldn't be---I had the compass set wrong) I won't be machining from that layout. It is only a visual reference. I will use the edge finder and the dials on the mill table to locate and drill/ream all the holes. You can also see a short bit of mig weld holding the two bars together. There is another weld the same size on the far side. I will drill both bars at the same time, then separate them and trim them, then press them onto their respective shafts and finish the o.d. in the lathe. It will be an interrupted cut, but i don't see any good way to avoid that.


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## Brian Rupnow

Hmmmmmmm---The best laid plans of mice and men----I reamed the holes in my web plates with my 0.4985"  reamer. I then went to press the 5.0005 drill rod into place. It was su7pposed to be a .002" interference fit. It didn't exactly fall through, but it sure as heck didn't press. So much for my "all press fitted" crankshaft. That will now be amended to "My silver soldered crankshaft!!!"


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## Brian Rupnow

Just as I was all set up to start silver soldering, my wife called about some emergency connected with the new house. Seems that 3 year old grandson had managed to lock and close a bunch of doors that there were apparently no keys to unlock!!!--After dashing across town and applying my dormant burglary skills (which mostly involved beating on the locksets with my 3 pound hammer till the guts all fell out of the locksets) I got to thinking-----I really didn't want to solder the crankshaft. I wanted it all pressed together. Then I got to thinking, I have a lot of 5/8" cold rolled shaft ends about 10" long that some kind soul from Toronto or Orangeville brought me a couple of years ago. The simplest thing in the world would be to turn new crankshaft ends (They are only about 3" long) and bump up the end diameter to whatever size will be a hard press fit in the holes I reamed in the webs. I THINK I know why the reamed holes are larger than they were supposed to be.---Hindsight being 20/20, I think I was running the reamer too fast and that made it cut oversize. I know that the drill rod I have just re-measured is exactly 0.500, not the .5005 that I was expecting it to be, and it is a somewhat loose sliding fit in the reamed holes. This leads me to believe that if I make up a new crankshaft end that is 0.500 diameter for all of its length except the last 3/8" which I hold at .503" diameter, I should ultimately end up with what I wanted---all press fitted together. The follower end will be turned to 3/8" over its full length, again, except for the last 5/16" where I will hold the 0.503" diameter.  This is holding things to closer tolerances than I am used to working to, but it will give me what I wanted.


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## Brian Rupnow

It has been a rather upside down afternoon for me, and in all the excitement I forgot to post a couple of "in process" shots of the crankshaft webs. The shot where the two bars are clamped on the milling machine bed show the shaft holes being drilled and reamed, and the holes drilled which will give the 1/4" radius in the inside corners. The second shot shows where the  excess material has been milled away, and both parts are almost completely separated from the parent stock. The next step, if I ever get there, is to press the webs onto the crankshaft ends, set them up in the lathe, and turn the outer diameter of the plates to the finished dimension.


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## Brian Rupnow

IT WORKED!!!!!  0.503" was just the ticket. It was all I could do with my big nasty old mechanics vice to bring the shaft all the way thru the web, and then with a hollow socket backing the web up, about 3/8" more. Then I set it up in the lathe, cut the stub end off that was sticking thru, and finish machined the outer diameter of the web. Tomorrow will do the same to the follower half of the crankshaft.


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## Brian Rupnow

So--Ladies and Gentlemen--Here we have it!! My very first, two piece pressed together crankshaft. One picture shows the two pieces separated with the needle bearing for the big end of the con rod laying between them. The second picture shows the two piece crankshaft assembled with the needle roller bearing setting in its place. Each end of the crankshaft is supported by two bearings or bushings. The force from the con rod is totally transmitted through the 3/8" thick web plate to the large side of the crankshaft. The"free" end of the con rod journal engages with a slip fit hole in the other web and drives the smaller diameter side of the crankshaft, which operates the timing gears and the ignition points.


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## Brian Rupnow

So, here's a view "Down the hole" as it were. The crankshaft fits in nicely, nothing rubs or scrapes when rotated through 360 degrees. There is one tight spot in the rotation, but it's only a minor tight spot which I'm sure will wear away once the engine is ran for a few minutes. There are supposed to be spacer rings incorporated into the crankshaft, just behind each web, but I'm going to wait until I have the cylinder, piston, and rod in place to determine their final thickness.


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## Brian Rupnow

And now, since I have the material setting right here on the corner of my desk, I think I will machine some bronze.


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## petertha

Nice work Brian. Question on your SW drawings showing involute gear tooth form, do you have a trick to draw them for given size? Or downloaded accompanying 3D part from gear supplier or..?


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## Brian Rupnow

Petertha--Go to this website. You can select whatever type of gear you need, download a 2D cad model, and extrude it to whatever depth/thickness you need.---Brian
http://www.rushgears.com/Gear_Types/spurGears.php


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## Brian Rupnow

No machining today. I did however work 8 hours in a design office across town, rush home, gobble supper, drive to new house, install 3 smoke/carbon monoxide detectors, put new locksets (without keyholes) on two doors, measured up the partially rotten deck for new planks as required, and remove one door and bring it home to trim the top so it will close properly and install a cat door. Now I'm going to drink my herbal tea and go to bed!!!


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## Brian Rupnow

Had time for a "quicky" before I left the house this morning.---No, not that kind of "Quicky" ya dirty buggers!!! I finished and installed the tappet guide, in bronze. The corners aren't mitered yet, as I thought it best to bolt all the mating pieces together and miter them all at the same time so the corners line up nice.


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## Brian Rupnow

Making a 4" diameter flywheel from a 6" diameter slab of bronze x 1 3/8" thick may be cheap---(I got the bronze for nothing), but it sure isn't easy!!! That's a lot of cutting on my old "push as you go" 14" jet bandsaw!! I have a good center punch mark  where I anchored one leg of the compass that drew the 4 1/8" circle, and I will use that center punch mark for setting up in my 4 jaw chuck in the lathe to turn the  flywheel.


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## Brian Rupnow

Slowly the flywheel is taking shape. I centered it in my lathe 4 jaw chuck around the center punch hole that I mentioned in a previous post, then turned most of the outer diameter (except the part held by the jaws) and drilled and reamed the center hole and the two large counterbores and faced the exposed side. My 3 jaw chuck will hold up to a 4 1/8" diameter piece with the reversed jaws in it, and the flywheel was now 4" diameter on the machined outer diameter, so I changed chucks, flipped the flywheel around, and carved away the material to leave the 2" diameter spigot as shown in the picture. I still have to take my evil trepanning tool and put the recessed annulus in the exposed side, and then add the 3 tapped holes to hold the starter ring and put in a keyway and set screws. I an very busy with other things right now, so I just do a bit of machining whenever I can fit it in.(And if I have any energy left!!!!)


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## bmac2

Its looking good Brian, I have my chair pulled up and the coffee on.
I see on the news Ontario was getting some severe weather again. Did you get any out your way?


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## Brian Rupnow

bmac2---Thanks for stopping by and saying Hi. When I get to this stage of a build, and people don't have much to say, I always start to wonder if I'm posting in a vacuum and nobody is looking. I'm just getting to the exciting part now. Next up will be the two piece cylinder.-- We had a really vicious rainstorm here for about 20 minutes, but no damage at my place. We had a few tornados touch down in nearby areas, but once you get out of the towns here, there isn't much but bush, so the only homes lost belonged to the bears and the deer.-Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

Cowabunga!!! I like that!! And that is the last easy part finished for a while. I want to see what this thing looks like with a cylinder on it.


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## Brian Rupnow

I just had to share this, because I know all you old grandpa types like me will love it. This shot was taken last week as the girls were heading back to school for 2014. Brennen is too young for school, but he wanted to be in the picture. Wife and I just got back from our first "overnighter" with all 3 grandkids. Drove 185 Km up to Bancroft to see my 94 year old mother and wish her a happy birthday. There is always a certain amount of trepidation when taking a grandkid away overnight for his/her very first time, but Brennen was a trooper and probably slept better than I did. "Little Grandma" was happy to see Bren, as the last time she seen him he was a new born.


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## SixSixSevenSeven

Brian Rupnow said:


> bmac2---Thanks for stopping by and saying Hi. When I get to this stage of a build, and people don't have much to say, I always start to wonder if I'm posting in a vacuum and nobody is looking. I'm just getting to the exciting part now. Next up will be the two piece cylinder.-- We had a really vicious rainstorm here for about 20 minutes, but no damage at my place. We had a few tornados touch down in nearby areas, but once you get out of the towns here, there isn't much but bush, so the only homes lost belonged to the bears and the deer.-Brian



Something I saw on an RC forum.
"Don't judge a build thread by its replies but its view count"

If the views keep going up then there are clearly folk interested


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## Brian Rupnow

This is going to be---well--tricky. There is no great science in the cylinder itself, other than having to hold my breath for minutes at a time while I plunge cut the 3/8" deep grooves with my .093" wide HSS parting off tool. The tricky bit will be in machining the three different levels of "flat" without breaking any fins in the process. I am told not to use cutting fluid when machining cast iron. Any good advice would be well appreciated before I get too deeply into this.---Brian


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## Swifty

Brian, I always stayed away from cutting fluids when machining cast iron, apart from some tapping oil when threading holes. I think that it may be something to do with the way cast iron machines into grains, it would get a bit messy with coolant, possibly turning into a lapping paste. CNC machining with high pressure coolant is probably ok

Paul.


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## Brian Rupnow

Paul--As I understand it, grey pearlitic cast iron has a high graphite content, and as a consequence it is self lubricating. That is why it is popular for use in engine blocks and cylinder liners. Of course, this explains why you don't NEED coolant/lubrication when machining it, but it doesn't explain WHY you shouldn't use lubrication/coolant when machining it. I just googled it, and the Sandvic website confirmed what I thought about not needing lubricant, but it didn't say anything about not being supposed to use lubricant. On a deep plunge cut like the fins require, I would think that the use of lubricant would help flush out chips and keep the tool from grabbing and/or binding, but I don't know for sure.


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## Swifty

Maybe another problem with cast iron and coolant is that it may "soak" up some coolant due to the grain structure.

Paul.


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## Brian Rupnow

I just did a bit more internet searching on why NOT to use cutting fluid/lubricant with cast iron. Someone who writes machining articles has said that using coolant when machining cast iron causes localized hard spots in the cast iron. I'm not sure I really believe that but ---Hey---I seen it on the internet!!--It must be true!!!!
Edit---The book was Milling by Stan Bray and to quote 'the one rule to remember above all when machining it (CI) is not to use cutting lubricants; their use will cause the area around the machining to become so hard that it is no longer possible to work on it.'


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## Brian Rupnow

Made a mistake. Kissed a snake. How many cooling fins did I make??--Well okay, maybe you're not into skipping rhymes!!! However, if you are paying attention, you will see that I have one more cooling fin on there than the drawing calls for. To make it even worse, the top 3 cooling fins are skinny little devils, while the bottom 3 are full size. I have absolutely no excuse for it, other than encroaching old age and gross incompetence. By the time I noticed that the first cooling fin down from the top was too skinny, I had already advanced the tool .040" into the work, and there was no good way to hide it or cover it up. I'm still a bit baffled as to exactly what happened, but somewhere in there, the math let me down. At any rate, I have convinced myself that since this is a prototype, it really doesn't matter that much. The cylinder will still function just as well with one extra cooling fin. Everything seems to bolt together okay, although I did have to use a ball end hex wrench to tighten up the bolts holding the cylinder to the crankcase.---Probably would have had to do that even without the extra cooling fin. And for my next amazing stunt---I will be making the combustion chamber that mounts on top of the cylinder.---And, Oh yeah---I machined the cylinder dry, and there was absolutely no binding, galling, or ``scare the crap out of me cut off tool breaking.


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## Brian Rupnow

This is the part I will build next. I will probably mess with the cooling fin spacing a bit so it matches my miss-machined cylinder cooling fins.


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## gunna

Call it a design feature, Brian. Maybe it needs different cooling nearer the head?

Ian.


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## Swifty

Don't beat yourself up too much Brian, it certainly still looks OK. If you hadn't mentioned it, no one may have noticed. 

Paul.


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## Brian Rupnow

Yeah gunna--I like that. There is more heat at the top of the cylinder, so the fins have to be thinner there to dissipate more heat. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!---Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

I don't post a lot of "in process" shots anymore, but tonight I thought I would put up a shot of the beginning of the aluminum combustion chamber. I have marked out the outer profile, bored the 1" through hole, and the 1.160" diameter counterbore. You can see the cylinder setting on the end of the work. When I bore holes to a critical fit, I do a lot of "try it and see if it fits yet" with the mating pieces. After a summer of engineering work avoidance, some of my customers are calling me up and asking to have their projects worked on "Right Now", and if I ignore these folks they find someone else and I never hear from them again. Between the engineering work and work fixing up the house I bought, I am sometimes hard pressed to find a bit of time to machine my own stuff.


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## Swifty

It's a real bummer when work gets in the way of your hobby, but I guess the money will allow you to buy a few special things.

Paul.


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## SixSixSevenSeven

Brian Rupnow said:


> Yeah gunna--I like that. There is more heat at the top of the cylinder, so the fins have to be thinner there to dissipate more heat. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!---Brian



I'm normally more into electronics and software than machining, but reminds me of a classic quote: "Its not a bug, its a feature"


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## Brian Rupnow

I still have some fin cutting and finessing to do, but this is getting quite exciting!!! I have to buy some material to make a fixture to mount this combustion chamber in the 3 jaw chuck on my rotary table to let me cut the cooling slot that runs around the perimeter. There is a lot of work in this part, but I am pleased with how it is turning out.


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## Brian Rupnow

For those of you who wondered about the fixture I would make to cut the groove in the combustion chamber and to round the curved side of it, here is how I am going to do it. I found a suitable piece of 2" round aluminum and bored it for a hard press fit of a 3/4" crs shaft. I then set it up in the lath and turned a spigot on the face to be a precision fit into the 1" bore side of the combustion chamber. I then drilled and tapped five #5-40 holes in it and bolted the combustion chamber to it, using bolt holes which were already in the combustion chamber. The third picture shows it set up in my milling machine with a 0.093" slitting saw mounted in the spindle arbor. In order to take a quick picture, I put the slitting saw arbor in my 3 jaw chuck. In reality, it will be mounted in a collet held in the mill spindle by the drawbar.


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## Brian Rupnow

I get a great sense of accomplishment (and sometimes astonishment) when everything actually bolts together, and all of those random lumps of steel and aluminum begin to look like an engine. Today I have reached that point. The combustion chamber turned out great, and my experience with the .093 slitting saw was a success. The two yellow pencils indicate where the valves and tappets are going to be.Although there are many different directions I could jump in right now, I am anxious to see what the "overall" engine is going to look like, so I think I will machine the cylinder head next.


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## Brian Rupnow

This will be my weekend chore----


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## Brian Rupnow

Now I know what I DON'T want to be when I grow up!!!---A cooling fin slot cutter!! The .093" slitting saw works amazingly well, but at 0.100" depth of cut, thats 4 passes per fin-slot x 11 slots = One heck of a lot of cranking on a manual mill. The sparkplug is a 1/4"-32 Rimfire plug from Roy Sholl. I didn't get too crazy finishing the bit of combustion chamber inside the head. It will work just as well the way I have it as it would polished.--In fact, it might work even better. I am really pleased with the way the engine is looking.---Brian


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## Swifty

Nice work on the head, when I saw your drawing I thought you made life difficult with the tapered combustion profile, but it came out well. Am I allowed to ask about the 3 elongated bolt holes on the valve end?

Paul.


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## Brian Rupnow

Sharp eyes, Swifty!!  I made a mistake in the placement of the 3 tapped holes in the combustion chamber, and didn't notice it. Then when I made the cylinder head to the drawing, the bolts wouldn't screw into the combustion chamber. It wasn't out by very much, so I "stretched" the holes. ---Didn't even have to stretch the counterbores, it was that close.


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## Brian Rupnow

It's a bit late in the game to be figuring this out, but just for the heck of it I  ran a quick calculation to see what the compression ratio on this engine was going to be. Without taking the heads of the valves into consideration, the compression ratio is a whopping 4.8:1----------That is about what I had figured it would be, but it's nice when the math confirms it.


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## Swifty

Brian, when stretching bolt down holes, metric cap screws are great. The shoulder on the cap head is very wide compared to imperial screws. In the old days, when we used imperial screws, I loathed 5/16" BSW cap screws, the head shoulder was so small compared to the shank that when we stretched holes it was very dicey.

Often near the end of a working day, I would follow up with the employees as to the progress they were making on the work, more often than not (much to their embarrassment) I would spot mistakes straight away, still, so long as it didn't impact the finished item it was ok.

Paul.


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## Brian Rupnow

I hate it when I design the part correctly, make the drawing correctly, then mis-read my own drawing and machine the part wrong!!!


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## Brian Rupnow

Todays offering to the machining Gods is a piston. Granted, its a rather strange looking piston, and I have never built one like this before, but remember, we are in the wonderful world of prototype here. The top section of the piston extends up beyond the split between the combustion chamber and the cylinder, so we don't want it to contact the wall of the combustion chamber in that area. Additionally, there is more "hogging out" of material in the rod end of the cylinder than is usual. That is to accommodate the 1/4" sealed needle roller bearing, which is the smallest size I was able to buy. I'm not even certain a needle roller bearing is going to give us any great benefit there in terms of reducing friction, because the rod only swings in a small arc, not a full rotation.
I have to contact the manufacturers of the needle bearings on Monday, as I remember reading somewhere that needle bearings are made deliberately oversize, both on the outer diameter and on the inner diameter. They are intended to be press fitted into a housing, with a hard enough press fit to reduce the bore to the correct size.--That could be quite a trick, when they are going into an aluminum rod with only a thin band of material enclosing the bearings.


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## Brian Rupnow

I was getting ahead of myself!! Before I make the piston I have to lap the cylinder bore. Before I lap the cylinder bore I have to figure out a gasket to go between the cylinder and the combustion chamber and permanently lock them together. Before I do that I might as well make the valve cages and install them. So---These are the valve cages, which act not only as a seat for the valve to close against, but also as a guide for the valve stem. People have made these valve cages from many different materials, but I find that brass seems to work well, and an added advantage is that the brass cage, being softer than the steel valve, will "conform" to the shape of the valve face after the engine has been run for a short period of time, providing an excellent seal for compression.--And--If you do happen to screw up a valve seat, then you only have to replace this small item, not an entire cylinder head or whatever it is pressed into.


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## Brian Rupnow

Hmmmm---Everything I do has consequences--- I had to go out this morning to buy some brass to make valve cages out of. While I was out and about, I got thinking about the 0.197" diameter on the cages. Started thinking, that if I found out after the fact that the .197" diameter was too large to fit into a spring comfortably, there was no way to change it after it was pressed and Loctited into place. So---I stopped at the tool shop and bought a .197" diameter drill. Then I stopped at my fastener supplier and dug around in his spring collection. I ended up buying a pair of springs "INDUS0615125" They are a tight fit onto a .197" drill. Consequently, I will reduce that diameter on the cage drawing to .193" diameter. In the picture that is a .193" diameter drill setting inside the spring, and it fits well with no binding. The spring is wound from .023" diameter wire, has a pitch of .090 between the coils, and each spring is approximately 2" long, free length, but they will be cut down to a shorter length when I install them.


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## Brian Rupnow

So now we have a pair of valve cages installed. The first picture shows one of the semi-completed valve cages laying beside the cylinder, with the "pusher tool' that I use in my mechanics vice for pushing the cages into place. The valve seat is not cut yet in that picture, and the hole which lets fuel or exhaust enter/exit from the cages are not yet drilled.


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## Brian Rupnow

In these two pictures you can see the underside of the valve cages in one shot, and the top of the cylinder and valve cages in the other. In the shot showing the top of the cylinder, you can see my "George Britnell valve seat cutting tool". The seats are cut in that picture, but are hard to see because they are very small. They are cut by hand---no power tool involved.


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## Brian Rupnow

After letting the Loctite set up for a couple of hours on the pressed in valve cages (.0015" interference fit) I drilled the connecting holes thru from the carburetor and exhaust mounting surface to the center of the valve cages. Now my engine will be able to breath in and breath out-----------


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## Brian Rupnow

Sometime to day I hope to visit one of my suppliers and pick up some suitable head gasket material and some high temp sealing compound for the two bolts that have their heads exposed in the combustion chamber. I don't want to hone/lap the cylinder until after I have permanently locked the cast iron cylinder and the valve body (which I have been mistakenly been referring too as the "combustion chamber") together. In the meantime, I have just rattled off a quick detail of the valve. I see some people make valves out of stainless steel and other exotic materials, however I have always used just plain old garden variety cold rolled steel and never has a valve fail.


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## Brian Rupnow

And in case you are a bit confused about how this valve business goes together, here is a cross section thru the valves, cages, tappets, cams, etcetera.


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## Brian Rupnow

Oh Heck--While I'm setting here waiting for a call back about gasket material, I may as well put up a drawing of the valve keeper.


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## Brian Rupnow

We have valves and valve keepers!!! I had to order some gasket material and some extreme high temperature sealant and it won't be in until tomorrow, so in the interest of keeping things moving, I machined the valves and the keepers today. The valve on the right is open .080" which is the rise on the cam shaft, and the valve on the left is completely closed. Unlike an automobile engine, these valves set up a bit from the flat surface, even when they are closed.


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## Brian Rupnow

If you guys remember back to when I made the crankshaft, there is a .563" diameter spacer ring on the back side of the web on each half of the crankshaft. This web is in there to maintain some clearance between the revolving crank web and the inside of the crankcase, as well as to locate the crankshaft so it doesn't float back and forth in the crankcase as the engine is running, making a clatter. Due to accumulated tolerances when machining, the thickness of this spacer ring invariably ends up either too thick or too thin. I have made it a separate piece Loctited into place on the crankshaft and here is why. Since my crankshaft is a two piece and comes apart in the center, I can make up this "setting master" fixture, insert the large end into the cylinder, and let the small end hang down into the crankcase and put the crankshaft "throw" through the 3/8" reamed hole. The small end at 0.531" is exactly the width I want between the webs of the crankshafts. Then a bit of careful measuring done by sliding each end of the crankshaft to its extreme travel in both directions should let me know exactly how thick these spacer rings should be made.


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## Brian Rupnow

Here is a picture of the Setting Tool in place. The cylinder fits over it and locates into the counterbore in top of the crankcase. I have made it and installed it and the results are about what I expected. Although the design calls for a 1/16" thick spacer on each side of the crankshaft to prevent endplay, in reality there is virtually no endplay in the driving side of the crankshaft, but it is still free to rotate. The other end of the crankshaft, the "follower" end will require a 1/32" spacer. Why the big difference from the design.--Well, mainly because of "stack up" of tolerances. There are a lot of pieces fitting together to give this theoretical 1/16" spacer on each side. Although I could have held all of my tolerances much closer when machining the parts, I doubt that I could ever had everything come out as a perfect match for the drawing. The 0.531" wide setting master will allow for a 1/2" wide connecting rod and a 1/64" brass or teflon spacer on each side of it between the webs.


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## Brian Rupnow

Today I'm just tidying up loose ends, so decided to machine the starter collar. This bolts onto the brass flywheel and lets me use my variable speed drill as a starter.


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## Brian Rupnow

So now the engine has a starter ring. If I ever get finished to the point where I want to start it, the ring will be waiting for me.---On to more interesting things like pistons tomorrow. (I hope!!)


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## Brian Rupnow

Somebody messed up, and my gasket material never got ordered. Now it's ordered and won't be here until Monday or Tuesday. This doesn't cause a huge problem, because I'm up to my armpits in "real" work right now and have no time to play machinist. This drawing is an  interesting part. I have made it before. It mounts a set of my favorite Chrysler product ignition points, and clamps onto the extended head of a crankshaft support bushing. By loosening off the clamp bolt, I can manually adjust the ignition timing while the engine is running. This is no big thing once the engine is all set up and running at its optimum timing, but it sure is a nice thing to have when first starting the engine and "setting up". I used this when I built the Odds and Ends hit and miss engine designed by Philip Duclos, and it really is a handy thing to have on the engine.


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## Brian Rupnow

Now I have enough work to keep me going until the gasket material arrives. There is a big chain of consequence attached to the lack of gasket material. I can not permanently attach what I have been calling the "combustion chamber" to the cast iron cylinder until I have a ring of gasket material to insert between them to prevent loss of compression. I can't hone nor lap the cylinder/combustion chamber until they are permanently attached to each other. I can't make the piston until I am finished the lapping and honing. I'm sure there will be enough work in this con rod and the points mounting bracket to keep me going until the gasket arrives next week.


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## gus

Plan to build this engine 2015. Too many lazy bones in Gus and meanwhile doing other min projects and will
run Nemett-Lynx Engine when I get back from the 43rd Japan Honey Moon with my ''better half''.

This engine will be require some new skills and old skills upgraded.

Looks like Gus is building one engine p.a. Five years from now I have ten engines.


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## Brian Rupnow

Gus--Glad to see that you looked in and said Hi. I was wondering where you've been!!! I hope you live in good health until you are 100 years old. It will take that long to build all the engines that you like.---Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

Here we have the con-rod layout. I don't work to the layout lines, but they let me know if I have turned the dials on my mill one too many times when I am actually machining it. I don't trust my mill vice to hold this perfectly flat while working on it. I will put a sacrificial plate underneath it and use hold down bolts in the tee slots to hold it flat on my mill table while drilling and boring all the holes. Two critical holes for the bearings at each end which will have to be bored, and 4 drilled holes to form the radii where the straight sides blend into the round ends.


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## bmac2

Brian Rupnow said:


> Now I know what I DON'T want to be when I grow up!!!---A cooling fin slot cutter!! The .093" slitting saw works amazingly well, but at 0.100" depth of cut, thats 4 passes per fin-slot x 11 slots = One heck of a lot of cranking on a manual mill. The sparkplug is a 1/4"-32 Rimfire plug from Roy Sholl. I didn't get too crazy finishing the bit of combustion chamber inside the head. It will work just as well the way I have it as it would polished.--In fact, it might work even better. I am really pleased with the way the engine is looking.---Brian


 
Hi Brian finally getting a chance to catch up here. I remember reading in an Edgar Westbury article (might have been on the Whippet) that with side valve engine you want turbulence in the top of the head to promote better air fuel mixing. So youre right and it is better than if it was polished.


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## Cogsy

Engine is looking fantastic as usual Brian (maybe better than usual even). 




Brian Rupnow said:


> I will put a sacrificial plate underneath it and use hold down bolts in the tee slots to hold it flat on my mill table while drilling and boring all the holes. http://s307.photobucket.com/user/Br...upnow016/CONRODLAYOUT004_zps7db3bc96.jpg.html





I'm curious, do you flatten the sacrificial plate at all before you use it? I ask because I will need to use a plate like this shortly and I'm wondering if the flatness of purchased plate is 'good enough' or I need to prep my scrap before I destroy it.


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## Brian Rupnow

Cogsy--I never flatten sacrificial plate. It is plenty flat as purchased.---Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

That went well!! The machining was pretty straightforward stuff. I did learn one new thing today. When you order this type of bearing, the outer diameter comes in at .0005" to .001" oversize so that they can be pressed into a hole made by a standard reamer. For 49 years now I have been putting a note on machining drawings "Bore for light press fit of .562" nominal o.d. bearing (or bushing).--I never actually realized that there wasn't some magic formulae or set of undersized reamers involved to do this. As you can see in the picture, the 1/4"small end bearing is sealed with rubber seal lips. I was unable to buy a sealed 3/8" i.d. needle bearing----anywhere, for the big end. I guess this means that I will be running some oil in the crankcase after all.


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## Brian Rupnow

bmac---As an old hot-rodder, I am well aquainted with the practice of "porting and polishing" the intake runners on flathead ford engines to give the engine more speed. Then in the 1980's Hotrod Magazine published an article showing that based on dynamometer tests, polishing the intake runners was actually detrimental to the engines performance. It seems that the rough cast surface of the intake runners created turbulence in the airflow, keeping the droplets of gasoline (it isn't really a vapour) suspended in the airflow, far better than a polished surface did, thus giving better engine performance.---Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

By Golly, Miss Molly---I must be doing something right!!! Along with all the other things I had to do this weekend, I managed to carve out enough time to make the con rod AND the ignition points mounting block. I decided at the last minute not to put the raised boss on that is shown on the drawing. The head of the bushing it clamps to only extends 3/8" past the aluminum backplate, so that is the thickness I finished the points mounting block at. I used a scrap of bronze, just to balance the bronze flywheel aesthetically. The points mount up perfectly, and all it need there now is an ignition cam to finish that bit off. The #5 capscrew sticking out horizontally is where the handle will screw into, to adjust the timing.


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## Brian Rupnow

Time for one last "Quicky" before I shut down for the day. The all important ignition cam. This cam serves a dual role in life. It opens/closes the ignition points, but also acts as a shaft collar to prevent any axial movement of the driven crankshaft in its bushings.


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## Brian Rupnow

The ignition cam is machined and installed. For any newbees following these posts, this kind of ignition cam holds the points open most of the time. They only close when the flat, which is about 3/8" long pass under the rubbing block on the ignition points. This gives enough time to charge the primary windings on the ignition coil, and when the points open again as the cam revolves, that is when the spark occurs.---Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

This is a piece of high temperature gasket paper from McMaster Carr, 15" square x 1/32" thick.  I don't know if you can see the price on the paper laying beside it or not, but it cost me $58.56--That means it is going to have to last me for the rest of my LIFE!!! The gasket only cost $36, but the tax and shipping brought it up to the total price.If I turn the gasket material over, it says Garlock Extreme Temp 9850 on it. The second picture show the temperature sensing laser aimed gun that I bought from Travers Tools. It senses temperature from -4F to 999 degrees F. Right now I don't have anything to test it on except the wall, myself, and various light bulbs. My skin temperature is 92.9 degrees, the wall is 68.2 degrees,  one of those curly flourescent bulbs in my office is 108 degrees, a 40 watt incandescent bulb is 135 degrees, and a 60 watt incandescent bulb is 143 degrees.


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## Brian Rupnow

The cast iron cylinder and the aluminum valve body (which I have been mistakenly calling the combustion chamber) are now permanently and forever locked together with a ring of super duper heat resistant gasket material and some high temperature gasket goo.--That's not to say I couldn't take them apart, but I don't want to. I want to treat the two items as a single component now, hone them together, lap them together, and then make my piston to suit the bore.


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## Brian Rupnow

Not much machining accomplished today. I'm a bit overwhelmed by 'real' work right now, plus making a wooden cabinet to hide an ugly wall mounted 100 amp electrical service at my son's house. I did manage to steal 20 minutes out of the day to hone the cylinder/valve chamber with my 3 stone brake hone, and to lap it using a piece of 1" aluminum round bar and first #400, then #600 carborundum paste.  Sometime in the next few days, I will use the other end of the 1" aluminum round stock which is not polluted with embedded carborundum paste to make a piston. Good Heavens!!! If I get a piston made, then I am getting awfully close to a finished engine. Oh yeah, I forgot---I still have tappets to make.---Brian


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## gus

Now in Fukuoka,Japan----a not so crowded city. Though not speaking a word of Japanese, I can move around by underground train.
Take it easy. Most of us have the same problem with the last item to make amd complete engine.
Might  to revive the nearly lost art of making WW-1 and WW-2  copper cladded outerhead gasket. I can still still buy asbestos gasket here in Singapore below the counter.
Will track your engine post here in Japan.  Take care.


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## Brian Rupnow

I haven't had a very "machiney" week due to other obligations. I hope to make a piston sometime today, and I have realized that due to adding the 1/32" gasket between the valve chamber and the cylinder body, I will have to make the piston 1/32" taller between the gudgeon pin and the top surface, in order for it to come even with top of the "deck" when at top dead center.


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## Brian Rupnow

Hey Hey!!! we got a piston!!! That's two things accomplished today. Machined a piston and got a haircut. Damn, I'm a good looking fellow when I get a haircut.--Look just like Elvis---sorta---


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## Brian Rupnow

I'm very pleased to announce that with rod and piston installed and all gaskets in place, the crankshaft does indeed go "round and round". No matter how much fancy 3D cad modelling I do and how many calculations I make, this is always the moment of truth for me. I actually had one little heart stopper---the crankshaft wouldn't make a full 360 degree rotation when I first assembled everything. I took out the bolts that hold the cylinder to the crankcase one by one, but it wasn't that. Then I pulled the head off----and discovered that the top of the piston actually comes up about .013" higher than the top of the deck. That would have been okay, I have .060" clearance milled into the head.---But--I had cut the gasket hole a bit small, and the piston was hanging up on the gasket material. A bit of very careful exacto knife work to trim the gasket, and that fixed things. A big sigh of relief----Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

Jeez, we're really coming down to the wire here folks.The two knurled items in this post will be what allows me to grip the ends of the camshafts and rotate them by hand after loosening of the set-screws in the timing gears to adjust the cam timing. They also limit the axial movement of the camshafts in their bushings. They will be bolted and Loctited to the ends of the camshafts.


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## Brian Rupnow

These are the parts I've been saving until last, for two reasons. First reason is that 95% of the engine has to be built before their is a place for them to go, and the second reason (the real reason) is that I'm not sure how I am going to make them. The method outlined by Malcolm Stride in his Bobcat/jaguar/Lynx series works very well, but involves an awful lot of mill cranking. The second method which I believe Chuck Fellows made a video of and involves doing them in a rotary table on the mil looks a lot simpler, but I'm not certain about being able to hold the accuracy with the Chuck Fellows method.


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## Brian Rupnow

So--What did I do wrong? I just used the cam-calc program http://modelenginenews.org/design/CamTable.html to create this cam profile. My inputs were --cam angle=120 degrees--valve lift 0.080"--flank radius =.640" --base radius =0.240" --engine rpm 3000, and 2 degree angular increments. It created a profile that dishes in rather than out like it is supposed to be. I am not sure I have laid it out correctly but I think I have.


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## Brian Rupnow

And just for interests sake, that generates a nose radius of a whopping great .1815" . I'm sure I must be doing something wrong. Maybe the calculator doesn't like such a slow engine speed. The only really major difference between the inputs for this cam and the one Malcolm Stride generated for his Bobcat and Jaguar engines was that he used an engine speed of 5000 rpm for his inputs, and his cam profile turned out like one would expect a cam to look like.


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## Brian Rupnow

I must be doing something wrong in my layout. I just reran the cam-calc program using a 5000 rpm input and it spit out exactly the same numbers as for a 3000 rpm input. The output for both 3000 rpm and 5000 rpm inputs  is also telling me that the nose radius will be .080" which I expected it to be. I'm doing something wrong in my layout. I just have to figure out what it is.


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## Brian Rupnow

Okay--I'm sorted out. I have figured out that my layout was incorrect. I am currently working on a 3D cad model which will give me the proper profile when finished, but it's not quick nor easy. I have to create a solid, then rotate it and machine away portions of it exactly as I would in the machining process. I will post the profile when I get it finished.---Brian


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## dsage

<edit>. I see you have it sorted out but perhaps you can comment on my notes below - to refresh my memory and to help others use CamCalc.

Hi Brian:

The RPM value in CamCalc has no effect on the profile (as you found out) except that you can analyze the dynamics of the finished cam from a table of acceleration per degree of rotation etc. I'm not sure where that table of results is output so it's a moot point.
I can't run Camcalc here on Win8. It generates a security error of some sort that I can't get past. 
In any case. What are your assumptions about the numbers that CamCalc puts out?
From my feeble memory, I believe the numbers are depth of cut figures. The smallest numbers (nearing zero) are for the nose of the cam and the depth of cut numbers get larger as you progress around the cam. Zero degrees being the nose of the cam and 180 being the largest depth of cut and across from the nose. I believe it also only outputs number for 180 deg of rotation and you have to repeat the numbers in the reverse order for the other half of the lobe.
I also seem to remember you have to do some subtraction for every angular step to get the number to actually work with. But I could be wrong. I haven't used it in a long while but I believe this is the case. See if that line of thinking helps. Hopefully I haven't steered you wrong.

Sage

This would be a fine place to put in a plug for my Gcam program used to grind cams for those equipped with a CNC mill. But I digress.


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## dsage

PS>

 Brian:
 I believe CamCalc also outputs a minimum lifter diameter. Be sure to heed this minimum and even add a bit to it else the edge of your lifter will dig into the cam. as it rotates. This lifter diameter will  then need to be checked for clearance in your engine.

 Sage


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## Brian Rupnow

This was a battle royal, but I got it sussed out. The end result is happy!!! The cam profile generated by using all of the inputs for machining from CamCalc is a VERY VERY close match to what I had originally designed. I feel confident that if I use the generated numbers when actually machining my cams, I will end up with the result I was after.


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## Brian Rupnow

dsage--Thank you for your interest and input. Camcalc calls for a minimum lifter diameter of .296", and my tappets are going to be 0.3125" diameter.---And that was more good luck than good management.


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## Brian Rupnow

Yowzahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!


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## bmac2

Hi Brian, The little beast is looking good. Glad to see you got the cams sorted out. For what its worth I used the method Chuck shows in that video when I did the cam on my Webster and it went pretty fast and easy.


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## Brian Rupnow

I have had a crazy busy week, and haven't had a chance to play machinist very much. I did come home last night from the factory where I've been consulting for a couple of weeks, and got a good start on the tappets. I figure that if I have to set the rotary table up on the mill to do the cam anyways, I might as well cut the hex shapes on the tappets, which are being made from 1/2" 01 drill-rod. I hope to get the cams done this weekend as well. You are probably right about the shape of the cams not being all that critical. They are very "not critical" if using a follower wheel on the tappet, but for a flat bottomed tappet, if you don't get the curve right on the cam flank, they will 'slap' the bottom of the tappet on every revolution.----At least that's what the books say.-----Brian


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## Cogsy

I'm glad to hear you're back at it Brian - I look for your progress every day and I was beginning to wonder if you'd gotten sick or something.

As far as Chuck's cam cutting method, I used it on my Rupnow build and the cam it produced certainly looked the part, complete with nice curve on the cam flank. I could be wrong, but you may be able to roughly calculate the curve you get depending on the diameter you have your boring head set to cut. The larger you have it set the 'gentler' the curve.


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## Brian Rupnow

This morning I made the tappets from drill rod, which is a "water hardening steel". The machining went reasonably well, until I realized that I had tapped the wrong end of the larger diameter which rides on the cam!!! After remaking the large ends and getting it right the second time around, I carefully fit everything, then took the pieces out to my big garage for hardening. I heated the pieces one at a time with my oxy acetylene torch until they were bright orange, then tipped them into a can of water. I hoped that I wouldn't get much heat distortion which would have buggered up either the internal or external threads, but I must have lived right this week, because everything went back together fine. The outer diameter of one of the large parts may have grown a little, as it was a tight fit into the bronze guide block and I had to set it up in the lathe and polish it a tiny bit with some 280 grit paper. I decided at the last moment to use mild steel #10-24 locknuts, because it was less work, and I figured when used as a jam nut the mild steel would grip better and not back off while the engine was running. In the picture, one valve is open and one is closed, but the cams are still not made. That will be tomorrows job. The blob of stuff on top of the left hand tappet is some oil I had used when assembling things and then forgot to wipe off before taking the picture.


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## Brian Rupnow

We have a cam!!! Actually, we have two cams, once I get them parted off. Everything went very well, and the profile looks perfect. I took a cut every two degrees of rotation in the rotary table. This leaves only microscopic ridging, which will clean up very easily with a fine diamond file. However, no matter how you do the math, that is 180 trips back and forth with the manual table. My right shoulder will be sore tomorrow from crank turning. Old dogs do learn new tricks---this time after the profile was cut, I left the cam in the rotary table set-up and continued taking cuts every two degrees until I had completed the full 360 degrees. This is an excellent method of making cams, but it is tedious. Tomorrow I will dress things a bit with the fine diamond file and part the cams of from the parent stock. Then they will be flame hardened and quenched, then silver soldered to their individual camshafts.


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## Brian Rupnow

Okay--Experiment completed. I had a bit of left over 1/2" drill rod. It cuts very easily with a file. I flame hardened and quenched one end, put it in the lathe to hold it, and tried to cut it with a file. Couldn't cut it at all. Harder than the devil's horn!!! I set it up in a vice and silver soldered a small bit of 3/16 mild steel shaft to the end of it, let it air cool, and again set it up in the lathe. The file now once again cuts the drill rod very easily. The heat of silver soldering "unhardens" the hardened drill rod. ---Something worth remembering!!!


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## Swifty

Brian, I was worried about that when you said that you were going to solder on the hardened cams, the hardened part will anneal with the heat. You may be better off using loctite or having a slight redesign where you can have a shoulder on the cam to allow for a set screw.

Paul.


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## Brian Rupnow

AAARRRRGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!---Giant headslap for me!!! I cross drilled the cams, hardened the cams, cross drilled the cold rolled camshafts, made up .093" cold rolled cross pins----and trial fitted everything. Was being REALLY careful with the cams. Slathered everything with Loctite, dropped the cam into place, aligned the cross drilled holes, and as I pushed the .093 pin into place by hand, encountered some resistance. Took it out to the anvil and CAREFULLY tapped the pin all the way thru.--And then---just as I thought I had won---I heard a little "crack"!!! OH POOP!!!!!


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## Brian Rupnow

They were supposed to BOTH look like the one on the left----Honest!!! The cross pin is mild steel and will get filed down until the surface is an exact match for the hardened cam surface. And everything is coated with #638 Loctite.


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## dsage

Ahh yes. you've forgotten the other half of the process of hardening steel. The annealing phase (to make it less hard). Clean up the hardened steel nice and bright and then re-heat it slowly until the metal turns straw coloured 200C / 400 F (preferably done in a hot kitchen oven) hold it for 10 minutes or so and then cool it slowly. It won't be so brittle then.

 Also another tip for fastening the cams to the gear shafts. If you want accurate valve timing keep in mind that unless you have very fine gears you might find it difficult to get the timing you require by simply indexing the gears a tooth at a time. The gears will have a few degrees rotation between the teeth making it difficult to get exact timing.
 You should mesh the gears turn the cams to get the exact timing you want, temporarily hold them in place and then drill and pin them.

 Sage


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## Brian Rupnow

dsage--This whole process of hardening metal is relatively new to me. Although I have known about it in theory from an engineering viewpoint, it is only in the last 5 years since I started building small engines that I have practical experience with it. On one level, I knew that the cams would be glass hard without annealing, and like glass would shatter if overstressed. Knowing it and actually having it happen aren't quite the same. I will remember it now--clearly---until I die. as far as the cam timing is concerned--the gears are not keyed to the shafts. I will have infinite adjustability for cam timing with this design.---Brian.


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## dsage

Good stuff Brian. I figured you had the timing worked out but I wasn't sure how. 
Google annealing steel colours (or similar words). Or better yet Machinery's handbook. Lots of information to be found on the various colours / temperatures and what hardness they result in and the typical uses for such hardness. i.e. tools, knife blades etc. Most of the hardest grades can be reached with a kitchen oven. An oven is recommended for even heating and ability to holding the temperature for the required time.

Cams look good. If you have the time, I'd be interested in how the resultant cam agrees with your expected. Set up the cam lobe in your rotary just like you had it when you made it. Use a pad on the end of your dial indicator the same diameter as your lifter. Turn the rotary around to the base circle and place the pad down on a feeler gauge of the lash you expect to use.
Set the dial indicator to zero and the rotary axis to zero. Take some measurements every 5deg or so noting where the cam starts to move the indicator and the maximum lift. Double the degrees (to get crank degrees) and adjust the lift measurements according to your lifter ratio and analyze your results.
I know it doesn't really matter. Almost any cam will work. But I've found it to be an interesting experiment and worth the time to actually understand the cam manufacture vs actual results.
Do both cams once they are indexed to each other for even more understanding. Armed with this info and adjustability you have a test bed for testing engine performance (ease of starting, smoothness of idle, maximum speed etc).

Sage


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## abcmorgan

Sent from my iPhone using Model Engines


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## Brian Rupnow

I have been so overwhelmed with "busy" in the rest of my life, that I haven't had time to devote to this engine lately. I did manage to steal two hours yesterday evening to remake and harden the cam which was broken and assemble the cams, camshaft, gears, and tappets and tappet guide. This engine is getting very close to being a runner. During the rush leading up to having the top end of the engine finished, I forgot to lap the valves into their seats. Fortunately, I can easily access the valve stems to grip them with a finger chuck when the cylinder is removed from the engine, so that shouldn't be a problem. I am very pleased at how well the gear/cam/tappet train seems to work, so have attached a short video of them in operation.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIe3SpxavaA&feature=youtu.be[/ame]


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## Brian Rupnow

I haven't abandoned ship--Just been very busy. This afternoon I made up the knurled adjuster knobs that fit on the ends of the camshafts, but then found out I was out of #8 socket head capscrews of the correct length. I stuck two in the place that the much shorter ones will go in when I get them. On the right you can see the true meaning of "Make it up as you go." I forgot to lap the valves, and cut the long piece of parent metal off that I generally use for a handle when lapping the valves and seats together. So---I made up a pair of extended 1/4" "handles", counterbored them 1/8" to suit the valve stems, and cross drilled them together with a 1mm (.039") drill for a drive pin to connect them. The valves needed to be cross drilled anyways, so it kills two birds with one stone. I will lap the valves tomorrow and start the final assembly of everything.


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## werowance

Looking very good Brian. Sort of late in my reply on the cam but would like to hear more about the heat treat process. I was trying to learn color hardening from"Machine shop projects" but could never understand if after the draw to straw or whatever color if you should quench again or lay it to the side and let it air cool on its on

That said on some knives I found quench after heat treat worked better but still question if that's the right thing or not

Any way your engine is looking good so hears a blue thumbs up&#128077;


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## Brian Rupnow

Werowance--I am far from being "expert" on hardening steel, but here is my take. I don't even try to get involved in case hardening because that requires a heat treat oven and I don't have one. I work with either oil-hardening or water hardening steel, commonly sold as "drill rod". My local supplier sells the water hardening type of steel. Both of these "drill rod" type steels are "soft" when you buy them. Of course, "soft" is a relative term. I find then to be a bit harder than common cold rolled steel, but they are still quite machineable with HSS tooling---they don't require any carbide to cut them. I machine to whatever finished shape I want--don't leave any material on for "polishing" after the fact. I heat the pieces with my oxy acetylene torch until they are a bright orange colour--This is hotter than red--hot to the point where if I played the torch on them 2 seconds longer they might start to melt (this is kind of a subjective thing). Then I tip them into a bucket of room temperature water. Thats it!!! They come out of the water harder than glass, and quite brittle. Most of the time, this brittleness doesn't really affect whatever I am using the part for, so I just use them in that state. HOWEVER--I found by experiment that if the hardened parts are then reheated to a temperature high enough to silver solder them, they lose that hardness. I am told by people with more experience than myself that if you can find a way of heating the hardened parts to some mid range heat (I don't know what it is), hold them at that heat for 10 minutes, then let them cool gradually, they will retain most of their hardness but not be so brittle. This process is called "Drawing back". I have never done that part of the hardening process. There--Now you know as much as I do.--Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

This morning I got up early and lapped both of the valves into the seats. I first lapped them with 400 grit carborundum paste, then after a good cleaning, lapped them again with 600 grit. Everybody seems to do this a different way. In an earlier post you will see the "handles" that I attached to the valve stems. (Normally I leave the parent material from which the valves are cut long enough to be a "handle" and then cut it off after lapping is completed). The valve seat and valve face are coated with the carborundum paste (it doesn't take very much) and then the "handle" is gripped between my thumb and finger and revolved back and forth while pulling the valve into the seat. I do this ten times back and forth, then lift the valve off the seat,rotate it a quarter turn, and then repeat. I do this a total of ten times.  Never use a power tool to do this. This is a job for "finger twiddling" only. After a thorough cleaning of both valves and seat areas, the valve springs and brass keepers were installed and the .039" cross pins installed. This as a job that always makes me wish for a third arm and hand, but I manage with the two I have. I am now at the point where I can't really go any further until I can buy a tube of Molycote grease tomorrow for the big end needle bearing. (Do you suppose turkey grease would work?--It's thanksgiving here today.) The valves open and close very nicely, which is always pleasing to see. I hear my wife up now preparing a feast for hoards of children and grand children, so being a firm believer in self preservation I had better get upstairs out of my machine shop and help her.--All you other Canadians following this thread---Happy Thanksgiving!!!---Brian


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## dsage

Brian et. al.

See post 209 and 211 where I explained how to temper steel after hardening.

1. Clean the crud off of it from hardening process so it's bright and shiney
2. Stick the part in your kitchen oven at 400 degF until the part is thoroughly heated (infrared temp meter or thermocouple) and let it bake for at least 10 minutes once the temp is reached. It should turn some sort of yellow-ish colour. Be aware that metal parts take quite a while to heat through. If you have a bright light in your oven you can see the colours change.

3. Let it cool slowly.

As for heating the metal in the hardening process use your torch and heat the part enough for it to become non-magnetic (touch a magnet on it every few seconds - when it doesn't stick any more you're at the right temperature). Don't heat it anywhere near where it's going to melt. Bright orange should do it (subjective of course). Hold the whole part at that temperature for a couple of minutes. These are rough guidelines for small parts only.

RSVP 

Sage


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## Brian Rupnow

dsage--I've only done that once--While my wife was away. Did it to set the temper in some small coil springs I had wound. Wife came home next day and immediately said "What's that smell!!! You weren't cooking something in MY oven were you??---and it all went downhill from there---


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## Swifty

For oil hardening silver steel / drill rod, the specified tempering temperature is 180 - 200 C, (you will have to do your own conversion for deg F), this temperature is easily achieved with a normal kitchen oven, just watch out for the wife.

Paul.


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## Brian Rupnow

I've heard it said that "Close only counts in horse-shoes and hand grenades." There is one other place that it counts, and that is clearance where the con rod exits a round hole in the bottom of the cylinder. I showed lots of clearance in my 3D cad model when I took a section view thru the center of the engine, but in the case of a rectangular cross section rod exiting thru a round hole in the bottom of the cylinder, it doesn't tell the whole story. If you look at the edge of the con rod, about at the center, you will see how much clearance I DIDN'T have. I thought I felt some resistance when I first rotated the assembled engine by hand, but it was stiff and I was able to get a full rotation after working the crankshaft back and forth a bit rotationaly.  I will file a radius on the corners of the con rod, and that will take care of things. There is no moral to this story, other than the fact that building one of these small engines always has a few surprises in the process. Laying in the picture with the con rod and piston is the newly machined and hardened wrist pin.


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## Brian Rupnow

I am down to the point in my parts making where all that is left is the carburetor, exhaust pipe, and the cooling fan system. I still have a lot of bronze laying around, so decided to make this part today, just because it's do different. Alas, it is not going to happen. Whatever it is about bronze, if the bandsaw blade has any wear on it at all, it simply won't cut bronze. A new blade, it cuts fine.  A slightly used blade, and it just isn't going to happen. The blade still cuts aluminum and steel with no problem but not the bronze. My metal supplier who has a big industrial size self feeding bandsaw and cuts the slices of the 5 or 6" diameter " bronze billet" I have says the same thing about his saw. I would switch to aluminum for the part, but I have to be able to silver solder the fan shroud to it.---Darn!!!


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## dsage

Oops see next post

Sage


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## dsage

Brian:

Try brass instead. Although your application does not require any particular strength I have been told that silver soldering bronze does not result in a structurally sound joint because of the small percentage of lead in the bronze. A friend has been researching silver soldering of bronze for a locomotive he is building and has destructively tested a lot of joints and has found them to not to be very strong. The silver solder apparently breaks away from the bronze at the joint.
I've seen a lot of postings on forums saying silver soldering of bronze is acceptable but he has researched it and has found otherwise. I can't substantiate his claims.
I guess this would be a topic for another thread so let's not dewll on it here. I just mentioned it because perhaps not being able to use your bronze is a blessing in disguise.

 <edit> 660 bronze is the most popular around here and it is one of the bronzes that does not silver solder well (has up to 8% lead). That's why I mention it. On the other hand apparently phosphor bronze solders well.



I can't wait to see this engine run. It's a very interesting design - as usual.

Sage


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## canadianhorsepower

. I would switch to aluminum for the part said:


> [/URL]



Hey Brian if I can make any sugestion, try this product for aluminium soldering Ive used it many time and it works exellent. The first thing I tested was to aluminium sheets together and then tried to take them apart
weel the Alu sheared apart before the solder let go

http://www.princessauto.com/pal/en/Soldering-Guns/Aluminum-Solder-Paste/8141483.p


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## RonGinger

> Try brass instead. Although your application does not require any  particular strength I have been told that silver soldering bronze does  not result in a structurally sound joint because of the small percentage  of lead in the bronze.



That is very interesting. In boiler work  they always say to use bronze for the fittings, not brass, because the brass will de-zink. So are we at risk of our silver soldered fittings parting away from the copper boiler? Bronze has always been used for boiler work.


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## Brian Rupnow

Luc--Thank you for the link. dsage--I was going to use the bronze because I have it available. Now I'm not so sure. For one thing, it will cost me $40 or 450 to buy a new band saw blade to cut what I have. A piece of 3" square brass x 1/2" thick wouldn't cost that much.---and with questions about the silver soldering, perhaps I will buy some brass.---Brian


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## dsage

The problem is there are all kinds of Bronzes out there. The ones that contain a high(er) percentage lead are apparently the problem. 660 contains as much as 8%. Perhaps the boiler fittings are something different. Probably castings (which may or may not be a different alloy)
I didn't do the research or the testing. I'm just reporting what I heard from a fellow model engineering club member who did a lot of testing and found the silver solder (under destructive testing) would break away from the base material presumably because the lead keeps the silver solder from bonding properly. Personally I would have chocked it up to improper heating of the base material but he says he was following up on data he had researched with tests of his own.
The biggest problem is that he could not find any bronze with low lead readily available anywhere. He found a supplier in the UK that had something called "gun metal" (whatever that is) that is apparently low(er) or no lead.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just don't build any bridges of bronze (or anything else critical). I certainly wouldn't worry about you radiator support.

Now brazing is a whole different story and apparently ok. Isn't it brazing that you do on boilers?? 

Re: de-zinking. That is a problem that mostly occurs from over heating the metal (in temperature and/or time). The bottom line is that there is more to joining metals than putting a torch to them and melting some metal on the surface.

Another better known (and similar) issue is WELDING 12L14 free machining steel. Great to work with but should never be trusted after welding. But I digress....

Continue on Brian. I've diverted this excellent build thread enough.

Sage


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## Brian Rupnow

dsage---Worry not!! I bought a piece of brass today for $12, big enough to make what I need.----Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

Now here is something a little different. I really didn't like the look of the exhaust pipe running out of the engine on an angle, and the carb being mounted on an angle, but I had to design it that way so the exhaust wouldn't interfere with the carburetor. Today I was down at Partsource, an automotive supply store, and seen a rack of steel 90 degree and 180 degree bend steel tubes for automatic transmission repairs. For a couple of bucks, I thought "Hey---If that worked out, I could run the exhaust straight out from the engine and mount the carburetor at 90 degrees." I can't bend anything on that sharp a radius without kinking it badly. That tube measures 3/8" o.d. and has a .028" thick wall. I will keep you posted on this and let you know if it works out.---Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

For reasons far more complex than I want to go into (but mainly involving how little material was left beside the counterbored bolt holes), I have went to a total redesign of this part. I don't do this terribly often, but since it is almost the last major part, and because it will be made of brass now instead of bronze, I have redesigned it. I finished the last of my "drop in" engineering design contracts this morning, so hope to complete this part and possibly the fan tomorrow.


----------



## Brian Rupnow

If the engine runs, I can guarantee that it will run cool. The white plastic fan is out of  some computer hardware. I am not crazy about the color of it, (I may paint it) but at least the pitch on the blades is correct. I realize that the curvature of the blades would make it more efficient if it was going to turn counterclockwise, but it still puts out a good column of air if turned clockwise (I set all my engines up to turn clockwise.) That is because I use my variable speed drill as a starter, and if I run it counterclockwise the chuck loosens off. I still have to find some thin wall tubing of the correct diameter to solder onto my fan support to act as a fan shroud as per the 3D cad model seen at the early stages of this thread.--those little fans will really chop up fingers.


----------



## Brian Rupnow

I think I may try my Chuck Fellows carburetor on this engine. It works great on the Webster. I will make a more complicated larger carburetor if I have to, but I already have the Chuck Fellows carb, and if I use it I can come straight out of the engine ports with both exhaust and carb and not have any interference.--Speaking of exhaust---I kind of like this. You can do nifty things with a piece of 1/2" diameter brass and a 1/16" slitting saw!!!---


----------



## Brian Rupnow

Cross your fingers for me guys. It's pretty well all over but the final assembly. I am pleased with the way my intake and exhaust manifold turned out, and my Chuck Fellows carburetor looks real proud setting up there. Yes, I will be bevelling the corners on the tappet guide, gear backplate and fan support just like the solid model, but I thought I would wait until I had everything assembled and do it "in place". All I have left to fabricate is the fan shroud, and I MIGHT do that before I try to start the engine---but I am just as anxious to see this thing run as you are!!!---


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## canadianhorsepower

Good looking Brian,

 Just carefful with the sound wave of your exaust
 not killing the sound wave in your carb:fan:

 they are almost the same lenght and the biggest part of
 your exaust is close to your carb and might cause an air lock

 cheers
 Luc


----------



## Brian Rupnow

As I began my final assembly of the engine, a thought occurred to me. The displacement of this engine is quite large in relation to the volume inside the crankcase. I am breaking new ground here (for me anyways) and I thought it MIGHT need a crankcase vent. It might not, too, but now is the time to put one in, while I can still pull the engine all apart and flush it out before I put the rod and piston back in. If I don't need one, that's fine, it won't do any harm and didn't cost any money. If it does need one, at least it's in there.----Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

After a full day of final assembly, individual cam timing, ignition timing, adding a new set of points and condenser, adjusting valve lash, and making a starter spud to fit this particular engine, I am just about ready to Rock and Roll. Has it got compression?--Hard to tell. It's a brand new engine, and it's too stiff to tell if I have compression or not when turning it over by hand. Tomorrow should tell me more---


----------



## Brian Rupnow

Engine does have reasonable compression for a new engine that has never yet fired. I hooked it up with a v-belt to my 1800 rpm electric motor with a 1:2 ratio so it was turning at 900 rpm+/- for about 10 minutes without the sparkplug in it, to loosen it up a bit. I then put the sparkplug back in and turned the engine over with my variable speed drill. I had coated everything with oil, and as I turned it over, I seen ripples in the oil racing away from the sparkplug. Closer investigation shows that I need to machine the counterbore that the sparkplug sets in about .020" deeper to get below a cooling fin groove. That will be my first chore in the morning---Pull the head and machine the sparkplug seat a tiny bit to get a good seal at the plug. I will borrow a gas tank from one of my other engines.


----------



## Cogsy

Darn -I'm off to the bush for a few days so I won't get to see it run til I get back. I hope it starts nice and easy for you.


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## Brian Rupnow

It's been a GREAT morning here. I got up and borrowed the gas tank off my Odds and Ends hit and miss engine, did a little machining on the cylinder head sparkplug seat, hooked up the battery, and AWAY WE WENT!! I have lots of clean up and finessing to do, but we have a runner!!!!--Brian
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np2N5ZxtKuo&feature=youtu.be[/ame]


----------



## GailInNM

Great way to start the day Brian. Congratulations.
Thm:Thm:
Gail in NM


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## Brian Rupnow

As a matter of interest, I took my new laser aimed temperature sensing gun out to the garage after the engine had been running for 15 minutes at a mid range speed. The top of the cylinder head was 180 degrees F at the base of the cooling fins, and 150 degrees F at the tip of the fins. The exhaust pipe at 150 degrees half way down its length, but 195 degrees F right where it exits the engine.


----------



## Brian Rupnow

Here is a video taken from the other side of the engine, and a video in which the Chuck Fellows carburetor gets an honourable mention. The crankcase vent doesn't seem to have any effect on the way the engine runs, whether it is open or blocked.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4w1-NEzby0&feature=youtu.be[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJRQ2FaaMoM&feature=youtu.be[/ame]


----------



## Swifty

Congratulations Brian, another well designed and made engine.

Paul.


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## Brian Rupnow

Thank you guys. Sometime within the week, I will be posting a link to a download of all the updated drawings as .pdf files. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see someone else build my engine.---Brian


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## gus

Congrats!!!!!! Brian.

From faraway Singapore.


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## canadianhorsepower

Congrats!!!!!! Brian.Thm:Thm:
Nice work


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## nowramfg

Congratulations Brian, another very good build.


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## Brian Rupnow

After I went to bed last night, I realized that during the excitement of the first run, I had forgotten to put gaskets between the intake/exhaust flanges and the valve body. The exhaust gasket is not terribly important, but without an intake gasket it's a wonder that the engine run at all. I will start today getting all of the drawings ready for download.


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## RonGinger

A great job, and very well documented as usual.

Why did you make the two cam shafts and gears instead of rotating the cylinder 90 degrees and having one long camshaft, like the old Briggs and Strattons? I suppose a valid answer is simply because you wanted to do it that way, but it seems more complicated this way.


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## Brian Rupnow

I have uploaded about 40 drawings to filefactory.com. If you click on the attached link, you should be able to download then free. They are in pdf format, so you won't need any engineering software to open them. Somebody please let me know if this works okay and lets you download them with no hassle. If anybody finds errors in the drawings, let me know about that please.---Brian
http://www.filefactory.com/file/1dkn3uxr9xbx/RUPNOW ENGINE-2.zip


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## dsage

Wow !!
Great engine Brian. It runs very smooth. No missing sputtering etc.
If you should make another video perhaps you can demonstrate how slow it will run. It seems to have enough power and flywheel mass to run slow.
It amazes me how you can go from an idea, through drawings to a finished engine in only a few months. And carry on regular work too.

I have a couple of questions:
I guess you decided against using the nice pipes bends for transmissions shown a few posts back. I think it looks good like it is with intake and exhaust coming straight out. (nice and compact)

I will re-iterate Ron's question from a few posts ago. Why not a single camshaft. Other than the obvious answer - because you wanted to do it this way. And that's an acceptable answer.
(one should never ask why in the model engineering hobby  

A question to all. How do you tell which way a fan is supposed to rotate. The one you are using Brian seems to have wing shaped blades (blades thick on one edge thin on the other)which perhaps are optimized to work better in one direction. In my mind I say the thin edge should lead because it might cut the air better but then there's the wing shape which might somehow improve flow if the thick edge leads.
Inquiring minds want to know.

 Thanks for sharing Brian

 Sage


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## bmac2

Wow Brian! The things I miss when youre away for a couple of days! Another great job, and a very well documented build. That engine is running sweet. 
Congratulations on another runner woohoo1
The download works fine only one or two sports popups, and the drawings look great. Thank you once again, thats a ton of work. Ive been using CAD in one form or another since my first AT computer (Generic CAD) but being self-taught most of my drawings look like pure gibberish to anyone but me. To create professional drawings that are meaningful to other people is an art in itself. I know you do this for a living so it must come as second nature for you but I can truly respect the amount of work that goes into them.
Question . . . If you design one more engine, dont you have to wright a book?scratch.gif


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## Brian Rupnow

Very timely question dsage--I made up gaskets for the intake and exhaust flanges (I had forgotten to make them) and after a bit of tuning this morning, I got out my spanking new digital tachometer. This gave me pause, because at first it wouldn't work. Then I tested the batteries that came with it from the factory, and two of them were stone dead. After replacing two of the batteries and warming the engine up, I found that its lowest consistent idle was at about 800 rpm. It would idle lower, but then it faltered and threatened to stall. On the high speed end, it topped out at a whopping 1950 rpm. This is really about what I expected from the cam I designed. This is more of an "industrial" engine that likes a steady speed without wide rpm range fluctuations. It is really happy at about 1200 rpm, and would run all day at that speed without faltering. The heavy flywheel gives a good steady run, with a slow throttle response due to its mass. This engine is almost the exact opposite of the Canadian Cub (Malcolm Stride's Jaguar engine wearing Canadian clothes). I went to separate camshafts so I could set the cam timing of exhaust and intake totally independent of each other.--You simply can not do that with a one piece camshaft. On the question of cooling fans---I wanted a fan with a pitch which would push air over the cooling fins, rather than pull it, when rotated clockwise. (All of my engines are set up to turn clockwise). Unfortunately, the only fan I could find in the correct size range was designed to rotate counter-clockwise, thus the curvature (dished shape) of the blades. However---That doesn't mean they won't blow in the opposite direction if rotated clockwise. They just won't blow as efficiently. I don't need a whole lot of airflow---just enough to keep a steady flow of air over the cooling fins, to move the heat away. As for writing a book---I have had two of my engines published in "The Home Shop Machinist" magazine. I may see about publishing this one, because it is a very unique engine and seems to run very well.---Brian


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## canadianhorsepower

dsage said:


> Wow !!
> 
> A question to all. How do you tell which way a fan is supposed to rotate. The one you are using Brian seems to have wing shaped blades (blades thick on one edge thin on the other)which perhaps are optimized to work better in one direction. Inquiring minds want to know.
> 
> Sage



The direction of the fan is to your discretion. You could have a push fan
the one we usualy have in a cooling fan at home or a pulling fan that is what we are using over the stove set up. 

The way of action is pretty simple, you can relate the picture in your mind as a ice cream cup, the proper direction you would store air in the cup and throw it away(EI you would take cold air and throw it to the engine (push fan)or take hot air and take it away from the engine( pull fan)

In Brian's a second groove offset from the first one and twisting the oring around to create a "8" shape and it would be in the right direction:fan: this would reverse the fan roration

cheers


----------



## Brian Rupnow

A little bit of the reasoning in using a fan to "push" air over the cooling fins, rather than to "pull" it away from the fins.  Right now, as things are, it wouldn't really matter which way the fan rotated, and it probably would move more air if it ran counterclockwise because of the cupped shape of the blades. The big difference comes when I put the shroud around the fan. The shroud does more than keep my fat fingers out of the fan blades. It concentrates the column of moving air and makes it more dense, and directs it in a "column" over the cooling fins, rather than dispersing it in a shallow cone over a much larger area. There are more sophisticated ways of explaining this air column effect, but it gets into an entire science of air-flow that I know only a small part of. ---Brian


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## toolznthings

Hi Brian,

Do you have to sign up to the site where your drawings are posted to down load ?

Thanks !
From another Brian


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## gus

Same question . Do we have to sign up. 
No worry Gus is live and kicking.Itching to build your new engine.


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## dsage

I didn't have to sign up. Although it was quite a gauntlet of confusing pop-ups. I suspect all red hearings to get you to sign up.
When I chose the "fast download" option I was taken somewhere that I didn't understand like a full page ad. So then I chose the slow download and it worked. Although it fiddled around for quite a while apparently preparing the download before it presented a "download now" box.
All in all not a pleasant experience but mission (eventually) accomplished. There must be a better alternative.

Sage


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## canadianhorsepower

. There are more sophisticated ways of explaining this air column effect said:
			
		

> Thanks of letting your fans understanding the proper operation of both
> different fan style
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Luc


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## Brian Rupnow

No, you don't have to sign up to get the download. Select the "slow download" option---it isn't slow.---Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

The engine runs well, but the gears are---ahh----noisy. I knew that they would be. They mesh well, and operate very smoothly now that I have an hours running on the engine. However, experience with other engines I have built sort of forewarned me that the open gearing would make a fairly noticeable "whirring" noise as the machine ran. That is why I made provision for an enclosure to go around the gears. An enclosure will cut down the noise quite a bit,  will act as a containment for grease around the gears, and will provide some measure of safety (although I doubt I would have stuck my fingers in there anyways.)


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## werowance

Congratulations,  its a beauty.  nice sound and nice to watch.

Great Job / Work.


Bryan


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## Brian Rupnow

Thanks Bryan--Fabrication of the timing gear enclosure went very quickly with no problems. i did have to split it to get it on, as I had indicated on the drawing. The only problem I ran into is that I don't have any bolts long enough to bolt things together. I had to order a minimum quantity of one hundred #5-40 socket head cap screws x 1 1/4" long to get the 6 I need. That will probably last me for the rest of my natural life!!!


----------



## Brian Rupnow

When Ringo sang the song "It don't come easy" I'm sure he must have been thinking about something like this fan shroud!!! The only tube/pipe I could find slightly larger than my 3" diameter fan was a piece of schedule #40  3" nominal diameter steel pipe. It has a 3 1/16" inside diameter. I don't like working with pipe in the lathe.--It's nasty stuff to hold if you don't have a bull nose live center for the tailstock (I don't) and it has a propensity for jumping out of a 3 jaw chuck and rocketing around the room. This forced me to take .002" deep  very light cuts until I had things close to the outside diameter that I wanted to end up with. The wall is still a little thicker than I would have liked, but it was just getting too scary.  I have had a slight change of plan----I was going to silver solder it to the fan support bracket but that would have given me no adjustability at all. I have come up with a rather novel solution for bolting it to the fan bracket instead, giving me a bit of wiggle room if it ends up interfering with the tips of the fan blade anywhere.


----------



## ShopShoe

Brian,

I know, it's done. What is the O.D. of your fan?  Could you use a piece of propane cylinder? (As in hand-held torch.)

--ShopShoe


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## Brian Rupnow

Going boldly where no man has gone be----Well, you get the idea.--Fan shroud is coming together nicely. At the last minute I decided to make the small pieces silver soldered to the steel hoop from brass. My reasoning--If I have to slot the holes with an end mill to move things around for fan clearance, the brass cuts easier. As you can see in the picture, the soldering job called for a couple of strange little "fixtures" to ensure that everything ended up where I wanted it to be. Now to ensure that the steel hoop will be concentric and clear the tips of the fan blades, I wrapped the fan with masking tape until I had .030" thickness of masking tape. Slid the hoop over that (snug fit) and will mark thru the brass ferrules welded to the hoop with a transfer punch to locate the holes I will tap in the fan stand.


----------



## Brian Rupnow

Shopshoe--there are probably about a hundred different things that I COULD have done. The pipe solution came to mind because I knew that the i.d. of that size of pipe was 3 1/16" and wouldn't need any machining inside.


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## Brian Rupnow

So, there we are!! Painted up pretty and done like dinner!! Nothing rubs nor scrubs, nor interferes, but a business card won't fit into the gap between the flywheel and the bottom of the fan shroud.--But it does clear. And that, my friends, was the very last part I had to build for this engine. I have to wait a couple of days for my long bolts to come in that hold the timing gear covers in place, but that's it. I will post one more video before I'm done, showing the engine running at its slowest and fastest speeds because someone has requested it, but other than that, I'm finished. This has been a long thread, as I knew it would become when I started it in July, but it's been fun and interesting. I encourage anyone out there who has at least a couple of i.c. engines "under their belt" to build this engine. ---Brian


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## Swifty

Thanks very much for all the posts Brian, it's a great looking engine.

Paul.


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## toolznthings

Thanks so much for your hard work and the drawings for your latest engine !

Brian


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## dsage

A wonderful looking and running engine. I like the looks better when the gears are enclosed even though it hides the interesting bits. Makes the engine look like it's ready to install in something.
 Fantastic work.

 Thanks Brian
 Sage


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## Brian Rupnow

Liar Liar--Pants on fire---I said I wasn't going to post anymore but---I have never really liked the base I made for this engine. Oh, it was a lot better than the long angles that I had first proposed, but somehow it never looked--uhh---industrial enough for me. so--Today being free time, and having a bit of 3/4" aluminum left over, I made a new base. I like it much better.


----------



## Brian Rupnow

As Bugs Bunny would have said----That's all folks. Thanks for following.---Brian
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mQeqhapvJo&feature=youtu.be[/ame]


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## ShopShoe

Brian,

That's great and sounds great. It looks like the Chuck Fellows Carb. is working very well with excellent control. I like steady running at about the speed you're running: Don't like high-revvers so much.

Thanks for sharing your work all the way through. I have followed it every day.

--ShopShoe


----------



## Path

Brian ...

Thanks for another great engine .

Pat H


----------



## Brian Rupnow

Shopshoe--Thank you for being a loyal follower. Pat--I haven't heard from you in ages. Did you ever finish your build of the original Rupnow engine?---Brian


----------



## Path

Brian ...

Unfortunately, I'm stalled and haven't done anything on it since my last update.

 It's just that I'm so busy with customers that by the time I get a break I'm beat and or have family obligations. I even hired a part time helper to do some of the work. Every time I think I going to be able to slow down someone needs something yesterday.
Although this is a good thing it is taking a toll on this old body.

But the Rupnow engine is on the shelf in sight as a reminder that as soon as I can I will get back to it and get her done. 

Later,

Pat H


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## Brian Rupnow

Judging by the number of downloads I have had for the plans of this engine, someone, somewhere , is going to build it. I am going ahead with a gas tank bracket and gas tank for it, so will post them as "supplementary drawings" to the main download package. The bracket is located right in the center of the engine block, and the underside of the bracket is 1" below the top of the block. This will place the top of the tank about 1/8" below the center of the carburetor.


----------



## Brian Rupnow

I spent all of yesterday fighting "gas tank wars". What should have been a very simple and straightforeward silver soldering job left me frustrated. All of the joints looked good, but when I put a rubber tube on the outlet spigot, then put the tank underwater and blew into the tube, I got a stream of bubbles coming out of the one end. I resoldered it twice, with the same result each time. Finally I set the whole tank up in the lathe and drilled/bored the leaking end completely away, made a new brass end  insert and silver soldered it again before I went to bed. As of right now it doesn't leak, as per the "blow test" but I haven't filed away the excess silver solder either. I am waiting for my wife to get up before I start any power equipment in my shop, but I sincerely hope that when I get my last solder joint "cosmeticized" that I don't see any more bubbles!!


----------



## werowance

thats a good looking engine,  i was one of the people who voted for the angled base but after seeing the new flat base i agree it looks more the part for your engine.  it runs so well in the video.  great job.


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## Brian Rupnow

I used a piece of my bronze stockpile to carve out a gas tank mount. I set it up to have a 1 1/4" i.d. and chose a 6" long 1" pipe nipple which has an o.d. of 1 5/16" to make the tank from. The pipe is galvanized, but that doesn't matter, because when I turn the o.d. down to 1 1/4", the galvanized will be all machined away. I also picked up a brass 1/2" pipe nipple to become the gas tank filler spout. I could have bought the 6" long pipe nipple in brass, but it would have cost $21 as opposed to the $3 I paid for the galvanized steel one.


----------



## Brian Rupnow

Here we are machining the o.d. of the pipe in my lathe, after cutting the threaded ends off. I don't like machining with something sticking out of the jaws that far, but the "thru the spindle" hole in my lathe is only 1 3/16" and the o.d. of the pipe was 1 5/16". So---Take light cuts and hold your breath a lot, being ready at all times to "Duck and cover". Once I got the o.d. turned to a finished diameter, I pulled out my seldom used steady rest and set it up to counterbore the ends of the pipe for brass end caps.
I used a piece of my bronze stockpile to carve out a gas tank mount. I set it up to have a 1 1/4" i.d. and chose a 6" long 1" pipe nipple which has an o.d. of 1 5/16" to make the tank from. The pipe is galvanized, but that doesn't matter, because when I turn the o.d. down to 1 1/4", the galvanized will be all machined away. I also picked up a brass 1/2" pipe nipple to become the gas tank filler spout. I could have bought the 6" long pipe nipple in brass, but it would have cost $21 as opposed to the $3 I paid for the galvanized steel one.


----------



## Brian Rupnow

And finally, after an absolute bear of a time getting one of the soldered in ends to be leak-tight, we have a custom fitted gas tank.


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## Looper7

Looking nice Brian can't believe how fast you can put one of these together


Jeff


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## gus

I like the fuel tank and mounting. Will be very rigid and no flexing.The more I look at your new engine,the more I want to build it. Just cannot resist. Building a good engine.


(Day Four. Trying to improve sparks.)


----------



## Brian Rupnow

I have been asked by a  machining magazine to present an article on this engine for publication. As a consequence of this, I have had to put together an "overview" drawing of the engine with the maximum envelope dimensions and information about bore, stroke, etcetera. This morning I took the time to add the gas tank and a couple of minor components that were not shown previously. The build of this engine is finished, but since I have never actually posted this final information, I am attaching it to the end of the build thread.---Brian


----------



## ShopShoe

Congratulations on "being published" Brian.

--ShopShoe


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## johnmcc69

Congratulations definitely in order. Great job Brian! Keep us posted to what publication this will appear in.

John


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## bazmak

Sorry to butt into this thread brian but tried to email you regarding drgs
for the horiz twin drgs but my email keeps being returned my email address 
is  [email protected]. Regards Barry


----------



## Brian Rupnow

Okay Baz--Emailed them out this morning.---Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

Has anybody had a problem downloading the plans from the web hosting site I use, filefactory.com? I have a chap in Wisconsin who says it is not possible for him to download them. I don't now if there is something wrong at the download site of if it is a security setting on his computer.--Brian


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## Cogsy

I just downloaded it no problems at all Brian. Now I've just got to find the time to build the thing!


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## dsage

I also downloaded it fine but IMHO I think it's a confusing process fraught with misleading information and traps . Don't use the FAST download option. It took me to a trap of advertising. Also in the SLOW download it dicks around for quite a while apparently "putting the download together" but then you actually have to use another download button which is slightly down the page to get it to actually transfer.

 Brian: I wouldn't use this site again. There must be another one out there that's less confusing. Is there some reason you don't use the actual download space provided on HMEM? (other than anything you put up there is out of your control and becomes the property of HMEM).

 Since you are so prolific may I suggest you pay a few bucks per year for some hosted file space of your own that you can create a link to. I get unlimited file space with my website and the cost is minimal. This way I create a link, my info is under my control and I can cut it off anytime.

 Sage


----------



## Brian Rupnow

dsage--I am going to have to find a different site to upload my drawings to --there is just too much horse #### involved with the site I am currently using. The reason I don't upload them here is that I post on four different machining/modelling sites, and I want the downloads to be available to all of them. I don't make any money from posting these plans, so I try to use free sites, but it seems to be becoming more and more difficult to find a free site that is not over-ran by spam-ware and misleading advertisements.---Brian


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## dsage

Brian:

 That's a good reason to not post them here. I hadn't thought.
 There are lots of web hosting companies out there. I use Netfirms.com but I'm sure you've seen ads for places like GoDaddy etc. I get unlimited space for a webpage - which you may be so inclined to produce - or you could just use it as on-line storage. I have davesage.ca 
  Your "stuff" would then be linked to a web name of your choice maybe BrianRupnow.ca  or even BrianRupnow.com  is available 
 Believe it or not davesage.com was already taken. Who'd have thought.
 Any way the whole thing is only $12 CAD per year (on a three year term).
 One good thing is you'll have control over what is available. The second you remove it from your server it's gone to the world.
 I guess there's other ways of doing it but that's what I did.

 Dave Sage


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## bazmak

Hi brian sorry to butt in again but dont know how to send private messages
I have not recieved any plans so assume a problem somewhere
Regards Barry


----------



## bouch

I was able to download from that filefactory site, but I agree it was a major PITA.  Not to mention there seemed to be two copies of the identical files; same name, same size, uploaded within a day of each other.  Are they indeed different?

Is there a "general assembly" drawing as well?

One unrelated question, that you might have answered elsewhere..  What CAD software do you use?  Drawings look quite nice to me.


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## Brian Rupnow

Bouch--I just downloaded from the filefactory site myself to see how much trouble it was. I selected "slow download" and other than having to listen to an audio of some fool trying to sell something, the download went perfectly and took about 15 seconds. In the download, you are only interested in the pdf files--NOT the folder. The assembly or 'General Arrangement' is titled "Side Valve Assembly--Solid Crankcase". ---I use Solidworks as my CAD package. The drawings SHOULD look nice. I've been doing this for 49 years.---Brian


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## Cogsy

As I posted earlier, I managed the download fine but I agree it was a pain. I too used the slow download option but I had to hit the download button twice on 2 different pages, wait for a 30 second timer and then it downloaded. It also popped up a second window with advertising. It seems user experiences can vary on that site.


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## Brian Rupnow

Hooray for my side!!! Just as I was about to go bonkers from terminal boredom, I got a call ten minutes ago for some design engineering work starting tomorrow. I have been thinking about using my new engine to run a lighting plant, using an old bicycle generator, the kind with the friction wheel that ran off the front or rear tire. Dearie me!!!---Time has moved on in the last 55 years since I had a bicycle. I went into 3 bike shops and Canadian tire asking about generators for bicycles, and they all looked at me as if I had two heads. Apparently now, if you want a light on your bicycle, you use batteries and LED's. I see many of these generators (also called dynamos) on ebay but I don't totally trust buying used electrical things from people I don't know in places I have never been to. I will pursue this a bit more though, because I would like to have my new engine power something.---Brian


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## Cogsy

I get excited when you get bored Brian - never know what contraption you're going to come up with! Seriously though, one day I would like to build the Rupnow V8


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## canadianhorsepower

Brian Rupnow said:


> , using an old bicycle generator, the kind with the friction wheel that ran off the front or rear tire.
> Brian


 
 Brian just go to Princess Auto and get a small DC motor
 and spin it with your motor and you have a Dynamo


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## Brian Rupnow

A very kind gentleman from Michigan who built my Muley style Sawmill and exhibits it at shows around USA has just "volunteered" me a bicycle generator. It will be sent here by snail mail (I assume) and then we will go about building a "lighting plant" for my newest engine to run.---Brian


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## dsage

Hi Brian:

If you have an old Stepper motor around they make really good generators. Multiple outputs too which you can join together with diodes or use separately. Lots of them cheap at Princess Auto or Active Surplus. Lots of different sizes to suit as well. Then doll it up with a casing to like a vintage generator.

Sage


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## Brian Rupnow

Perhaps a bicycle dynamo requires more energy than a small engine puts out, or perhaps it's just that I have bad google-foo. I have done numerous web searches looking for a bicycle dynamo driven by a small engine to make a "lighting plant", but there really is very little out there showing others doing it successfully. I did find one video of somebody with a Namod steam engine hooked to one, and he was getting voltage across a Voltmeter, but not actually running anything. My latest engine with a 1" bore seems to have considerably more power than any of my model steam engines. It hits it's power band at about 1500 rpm, and my home grown math tells me that the bike dynamo's like to spin at around 3000 to be quite efficient in terms of lighting a bright white light. It will be interesting. I will probably rig something up "temporarily" to see if it is going to work at all. If it does, then I will probably put some more time into the project and start a separate thread on it.---Brian


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## dsage

No comment on the stepper motor (or previous DC motor) ideas?

 Sage


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## Brian Rupnow

Okay--Comment as called for. I don't have a stepper motor. Neither do I have a small automotive d.c. motor. I have no doubt that people are absolutely correct in what they are telling me about them. I have seen working demonstrations of them on Youtube and various other forums. I have not seen somebody do this with a bicycle dynamo, and I wonder if it can be done. Someone has given me a bicycle dynamo, and it is currently in the mail on the way to my house. I appreciate that so many folks have posted about d.c. motors and steppers, but I really have no desire to recreate work that has been done before and proven many times over. That does not mean I am unappreciative of the posts people have put up for me, to "help out". Thank you to everyone for being helpful.  I may not be successful in what I plan to do, and if not, I will post for everyone to see. if I am successful, then I will post about that.----Brian


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## canadianhorsepower

FYI Dynamo and miniature engine has been done. Cheers

 [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cpEv-3epJI[/ame]


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## Brian Rupnow

Thank you for that, Luc. I would guess that the engine shown is about the same size as mine. It didn't appear to be working too hard to light the light.---Hate the look of that snow though.--That's what my yard looks like now!!!---Brian


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## canadianhorsepower

Brian Rupnow said:


> Thank you for that, Luc. I would guess that the engine shown is about the same size as mine. It didn't appear to be working too hard to light the light.---Hate the look of that snow though.--That's what my yard looks like now!!!---Brian



 Yes if there is something I think it's smaller then yours but the good thing is that it's a four stroke and not reving at 10k rpm.

 and my lawn is turning white also :wall:

 cheers


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## Cogsy

After seeing the video I do think you'll be able to drive the dynamo with your engine. The engine in the video is an aero RC engine that was probably running 5-10% nitromethane in the fuel, so it may have been working a bit harder than it appeared, but certainly wasn't struggling. 

Looking back, I wonder how much of the drag in turning the dynamo with the bicycle wheel was because we didn't have it adjusted properly and it was digging in to the wheel and effectively putting the brakes on? After seeing the drive system this guy was using, I suspect quite a lot!

And to prove the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence - that snow looks like paradise to me...


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## Brian Rupnow

A huge THANK YOU to Jim Dunmyer out of Michigan for "volunteering" me a bicycle generator (dynamo). I have a few preliminary tests to do tomorrow, and if my side-valve engine has enough  grunt to drive it, I will start a new thread on my "Lighting Plant".


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## Brian Rupnow

I never got my picture on the cover of "Rolling stone" but I did get one of my engines on the cover of an internationally famous machining magazine!!!


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## stevehuckss396

You deserve it!  Great work.


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## Cogsy

Very cool!


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## dsage

Good work.

Feels good eh !

Sage


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## stackerjack

I read, in detail, the article on the Lynx engine and have actually bought all the bits to make one. Then I decided a twin, horizontally opposed one might be a good idea.
Yesterday I had a good look at the instruction manual for a Saito 100T.
This uses a single throw crank, which seems to involve a lot less work than the usual two-throw crank.
The firing order dictates that you get two power strokes followed by two exhaust strokes, which might sound better, who know. I haven't run it yet.
Could this idea be incorporated into a Lynx Twin?
Jack


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## Brian Rupnow

stackerjack said:


> I read, in detail, the article on the Lynx engine and have actually bought all the bits to make one. Then I decided a twin, horizontally opposed one might be a good idea.
> Yesterday I had a good look at the instruction manual for a Saito 100T.
> This uses a single throw crank, which seems to involve a lot less work than the usual two-throw crank.
> The firing order dictates that you get two power strokes followed by two exhaust strokes, which might sound better, who know. I haven't run it yet.
> Could this idea be incorporated into a Lynx Twin?
> Jack


Jack--If you have an idea for a new engine, why don't you start a new thread on it. This thread is about a flathead engine that I designed, not a Lynx. The lynx was designed by Malcolm Stride in Great Britain.---Brian


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## Brian Rupnow

What a rush!! I just got this video from Dick in Ohio.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjF51Zd7HbQ[/ame]


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## tms6401

Brian, what a wonderful testament to your design prowess. That Ohio engine is a beauty and it runs very well.

I have tried to download the plans, but the link seems to be no good ... is there another one?

Tom


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## Brian Rupnow

tms6401 said:


> Brian, what a wonderful testament to your design prowess. That Ohio engine is a beauty and it runs very well.
> 
> I have tried to download the plans, but the link seems to be no good ... is there another one?
> 
> Tom


Tom--the engine has been published in this Novembers issue of the Home shop Machinist. Any files I currently have are out of date.


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## tms6401

Brian Rupnow said:


> Tom--the engine has been published in this Novembers issue of the Home shop Machinist. Any files I currently have are out of date.



Thanks Brian


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## ShopShoe

Congratulations to Dick in Ohio. I like the "traditional" design. Just goes to prove a good design can be interpreted differently and still be great.

Thanks again Brian for making designs for the community.

--ShopShoe


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