# Simple twin



## SignalFailure (Jan 1, 2008)

Hi all, new member here ;D

Here's my almost completed simple twin - pales into insignificance next to some of the brilliant stuff on here but it's the best I've got just now


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## Davyboy (Jan 1, 2008)

Signal Failure, Welcome to the forum. There is nothing pale about your engine! It's really nice. A sound design, built with materials available, is what I like. If they all looked alike, then it wouldn't be near as interesting. Looking forward to see more of your work.

Davyboy


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## hitandmissman (Jan 1, 2008)

Nothing pale about that. Nice looking engine. I just wish mine would turn out looking that good. Keep it up.


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## Cedge (Jan 1, 2008)

Thats some impressively nice work Signal. Welcome to the forum. 

Steve


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## deere_x475guy (Jan 1, 2008)

Signal great effort and unique design! Did you make your own screws for this? Oh and almost forgot...welcome to the board.


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## rake60 (Jan 1, 2008)

Welcome to HMEM SignalFailure 

Rick


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## Powder keg (Jan 1, 2008)

This is what I like. New guys just starting out, showing off their works of art. No one here cares what level of experience the new posters model is at. In fact I think some enjoy the simpler models because it reminds us all that we all had to start out as a beginner. We all know that every model is our best effort at that time. Every time we build a model we learn something new and that makes our next one even better. I'll post my first engine one of these days and you'll all get a laugh )

SignalFailure, That is a great looking model. I really like it. Your finish is excellent! I imagine that the fits are just as good. You should be proud of what you have done. Thanks for sharing.

Almost forgot, Welcome to the forum:O)

Wes


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## SignalFailure (Jan 1, 2008)

Hey, thanks for the encouragement guys ;D

deere_x475guy, yes the only off-the-shelf bits still to fabricate are the springs and nuts, the rest is 100% from bar stock.

I'm just trying to decide what to do about the steam inlet - I want to make this engine completely 'disassemble-able' i.e. no soldering. Let's see where it goes.....

Paul

I've built a couple of very simple 'wobblers' before (e.g. http://www.artefact-rescue.co.uk/articles/engine2.html) and have a slide valve engine 'in progress' (http://www.artefact-rescue.co.uk/articles/ediary.html) but I haven't done much on that lately (and updated that webpage even less!)

Thanks again for the kind comments.


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## cfellows (Jan 1, 2008)

SignalFailure  said:
			
		

> Hi all, new member here ;D
> 
> Here's my almost completed simple twin - pales into insignificance next to some of the brilliant stuff on here but it's the best I've got just now



SignalFailure,

Welcome to the board. Glad you jumped right in with pictures! Everyone brings something to the table and every picture on this board showed me something I hadn't thought of before. By the way, love your "simple" oscillator. 

Chuck


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## wareagle (Jan 1, 2008)

SignalFailure, welcome to HMEM! Nice looking twin you have there.

Don't worry about what your engine may look like. We are all nuts about this stuff, and see the beauty in all things mechanical whether there is bling or not. Sometimes simple is best!!


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## SignalFailure (Jan 14, 2008)

Finally got it running on <5 psi aquarium pump...

http://www.artefact-rescue.co.uk/video/twinmov.mov


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## deere_x475guy (Jan 14, 2008)

Signal, nice job and looks like it runs great. I picked up an aquarium pump to try to get my Siamese Twin to run on but it was a no go. The pump I picked up was for an 80 gallon with dual feed like yours. What size aquarium was yours sized for? I ended up going with an airbrush pump and it runs fine on that. Mine sits on top of the tv in the shop and I seem to have it running when ever I am just sitting...like now on the puter.))


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## SignalFailure (Jan 14, 2008)

It's for about 500 litres I think... what's that maybe 80-100 gallons?

Have you got more pics of your Siamese Twin for me to look at?

All the best

Paul.


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## JohnS (Jan 14, 2008)

Hi Bob
Interested to hear you found success with an airbrush pump rather than an aquarium pump. I have a compressor in the shop but it sure is a noisy beast and I would like a quieter source of air for running engines indoors. Can you let me have the spec of your airbrush pump so I can look up something similar. Many thanks.
JohnS


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## deere_x475guy (Jan 14, 2008)

SignalFailure  said:
			
		

> It's for about 500 litres I think... what's that maybe 80-100 gallons?
> 
> Have you got more pics of your Siamese Twin for me to look at?
> 
> ...



Hi Paul you will find pics and video of it running in this thread:

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=994.0


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## deere_x475guy (Jan 14, 2008)

JohnS  said:
			
		

> Hi Bob
> Interested to hear you found success with an airbrush pump rather than an aquarium pump. I have a compressor in the shop but it sure is a noisy beast and I would like a quieter source of air for running engines indoors. Can you let me have the spec of your airbrush pump so I can look up something similar. Many thanks.
> JohnS



Hi John I picked it up on sale at Harbor Freight, they are much quieter.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93657

You should see the specs on at the link above.


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## mklotz (Jan 14, 2008)

Another vote for the inexpensive airbrush compressors. I use mine when I lecture on engines at the local middle school because I can talk over it without strain.

If the one you buy is like mine (also from HF), you can directly replace the air line with 3/16" (ID) silicone tubing bought from the aquarium supply. Then, if you standardize all your small engine inlets at 3/16" OD, switching the compressor from engine to engine is very easy.

I bought a small brass valve (the type used for refrigerator water supply lines) at Home Depot and fitted it with 3/16" hose barbs at inlet and outlet. Put this in series with the aquarium tubing near the end that connects to the engine and you'll have a nice throttle valve at hand when you run your baby.

Using these brass valves and hose barbs, I built a 'hexapus' six way manifold. It has a built-in regulator and attaches to our club's big manifold with a quick-connect. That way I can have six engines under power, each with its own throttle, at meets. Something to think about for the future.


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## Powder keg (Jan 14, 2008)

Looks like a good runner. Good job!

Wes


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## JohnS (Jan 15, 2008)

Thanks Bob and Marv. I am sure I will be able to track down something similar here in the UK, will start with ebay !
JohnS


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## SignalFailure (Jan 19, 2008)

Added a write up about this engine here..

Simple twin


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