Electric Starter System for Model Engines

[a41capt]

Do not let your neighbors or relatives know that your labour is free.
So you are your own employee, not your own boss .
Please open up a new thread when you start making pulleys, it will be very interesting.

Amen to that. I responded to a request to make a part for a table saw miter gauge in a Reddit group, and although it was only a couple hour job, I made the mistake of telling the person that he could pay shipping and whatever he thought was fair for my time. He sent me the $7.50 shipping cost and that was it. While the materials were in my shop and on-hand so I wasn’t out of pocket for that, he must’ve decided that a home shop machinist’s time is irrelevant…

He did say that the work looked “amazing” and was a “perfect fit”, but I learned my lesson and won’t ever offer up that someone can pay me what they think is fair. A couple pro machine shop folks responding to his request quoted over $100 for the part. Oh well, live and learn and free work is only for myself, family, and the closest of friends from now on.

John W

 

[Petet Fernell]

Hi Brian - thanks for the shout out.
Your solution looks good.
For info - I managed to find a geared motor on eBay. I've pinned the following description to my video explaining what I later did........

I decided to replace my starter motor with a geared version. This motor was suggested by Terry S (a fellow model engineer also building a JH v-twin) and can currently be found on eBay UK by searching for '3 bolt electric starter motor 50cc'. It cost less than £13 delivered! I made a bracket using 40mm angle iron with slots in the top for bolting to my aluminium base. The slots allow of belt tension adjustment. I kept the 48 tooth pulley on the engine end as it needs to be large enough for the sprag bearing. I put a 21 tooth pulley on the motor end using grub screws and epoxy resin to fix it. I also needed a larger belt 500mm long. This gets the rpm down to around 850. It works a treat! The only problem I encountered was the current draw. The original motor used less than 20A. The replacement blew that. I replaced with 25A and it blew that as well. So I ended up replacing the motor circuit 12AWG wiring with with 10AWG and using a 30A fuse. Fortunately the relay is rated at 30A. Very happy with the result and it's far quieter than my geabox version.