6 Cylinder Radial

[ejcheli]

Was hoping to be done this week but its looking like it will be delayed until next week. Here is what I got done today.

 

[ejcheli]

Very close now, only thing left is to finish the connecting rods and make the cylinder heads. I am certain it will be completed this week. Whether or not I can get it running by the end of the week I don't know, but every single part will be manufactured and I will try to get some pics tomorrow.

 

[ejcheli]

Well here it is. Its not finished as I still need to make the cylinder heads and install the pistons and valves and then I still need to clean up some of the parts as I'm sure some of you will note scratches, grime, and other undesirable things. I just posted these pics to show you guys what its starting to look like.

 

[ejcheli]

Sooo close now. I got all the pistons connected and turned out all the cylinder heads today. Just gotta drill the holes to mount them to the cylinders and finish the valve connecting rods. I'd be done tomorrow but I am touring a Boeing facility so... looks like next week, again.

 

[ejcheli]

Every single part has now been machined. Its time to assemble and see if it runs!

 

[ejcheli]

Its now assembled (1.5 hrs later) and its amazing! It freely turns with no binding issues whatsoever! Now to hook it up to some air and see if it goes...

 

[ejcheli]

Here is a video of me turning it by hand.

http://youtu.be/kinSKJP0A2U

 

[crueby]

SOOOOO close to seeing it go - gotta be some air around somewhere.....

What kind of hoses/connectors are those on the infeeds - have not seen that type before. Looks to be a modular and/or quick disconnect type?

 

[ejcheli]

SOOOOO close to seeing it go - gotta be some air around somewhere.....

What kind of hoses/connectors are those on the infeeds - have not seen that type before. Looks to be a modular and/or quick disconnect type?

There is in fact, at my grandfathers which is where I just was and it RAN!!!

For about 10-20 seconds before it froze up , as the valves on cylinder 1 (master) and 4 (opposite) broke at the first thread on the .125" valve. I sort of expected it because I knew cylinder 4 could bind up if forced, but when I was spinning it by hand it never bound up so I figured it was ok. Guess not.

However, this isn't gonna get me down, if anything I'm stoked because I saw it run! I will turn out two new valves on Monday and in the meanwhile think about how to address the cylinder 4 issue. I believe the master rod broke because when cylinder 4 jammed, it put the master under pressure and snapped... or the master broke and jammed 4 before everything stopped working....thats my theory anyway.

About the air supply,

These are called "push to connect" fittings and they are fantastic, found:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0065RBIMQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

The hose was just some 1/4" OD hose I found here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B04UAIC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20here.

 

[ejcheli]

So upon disassembly, everything is fine except those two valves, which leads me to suspect either A: It was running too fast (~25psi) through it didn't seem so, or B: The master valve rod failed and cyl 4 broke as it seized or vise-versa.

Next test when repaired will be far more cautious, I just didn't expect it to take off the first time air was applied. I stood there in shock for 10 sec or so in awe and then it all came to an end hehe.

 

[crueby]

Great that it took off first try - you must have had a good setup on the valve positions. Mine did not take much pressure to run - you have 2 or 3 pistons pushing all the time with a reasonable size bore, so lots of power is there. If the pistons/valves are a good close fit, it only takes a few pounds to get going. One thing to double check on the valve rods is that they have the ability to rotate on the hub far enough, make sure the corner of the end does not rub on the hub .

Thanks for the link on the fittings - had not seen ones like that before.

Looking forward to a video of it running!

 

[ejcheli]

Thanks for the info and I will get a video as soon as I can!

Also, my plans are now uploaded to the downloads section.

 

[johnmcc69]

Nice job! It look great!

& thanks for sharing the plans!

John

 

[ejcheli]

Thanks!


Well, today I made some more valves, thought I'd figured it out, test ran it at school and it worked for another ten to twenty second run and bound up, then broke. Just cylinder 4 though as I was being careful. I then made another valve and tweaked some more stuff and brought it home to work on it. I spent 3 hours turning this engine to perfection and boy oh boy it spins soooo smooth now! No binding whatsoever!!

There were multiple reasons why it was binding up before but the biggest was probably the fact that the pistons and valves were not lined up with the cylinders. Don't know HOW that even happened as I was sure I had already figured that out. Then there was a slight issue with the valve bushing spinning freely and some rods were slightly binding as crueby mentioned might be happening in a previous post.

Anyway, I would have a video of it running for you all today if I wasn't such a dummy and snapped another valve at home completely by accident. So.... I will be making another valve tomorrow (getting good at that!) and probably a few extra that I'll never need but at this point... I'm not so sure heh.

Eric

 

[crueby]

Mistakes are part of the game - make enough and you will have learned a lot (as long as it is not the same one over and over! :wall.

One other thing to make sure of is to put in a little oil on the pistons/valves - brass parts moving on brass parts can add a lot of friction.

 

[ejcheli]

A learning experience it definitely was!!

I lubed it up and got everything working perfectly today... it runs like a dream!! Had a close call though... I barely caught it but the little set screws that I used as pins for the valve rods were backing themselves out! I have now applied locktite and am proceeding to set up a video of it running... will post later this afternoon.

Eric

 

[ejcheli]

Here is a video of it running!

http://youtu.be/76om16YeguQ

Its short cause I didn't have much time but I will get more eventually. At least anyone interested can see it run now.

Eric

 

[crueby]

Very nice!! Ticks over nice and smooth. th_wav
Congrats!