Fairbanks Morse R80

[weir-smith]

I have been working on this engine for about a year now making slow but steady progress. The engine is now complete with pistons and turns over quite freely without rings fitted. I am now onto all of the fiddley bits which take all of the time. Note, I CNC cut all of the side covers so any mistakes are at least consistent. The crankcase started life as two solid blocks of aluminium 90% of which went out as swaft. Everything is from bar stock that is , there are no castings involved including the flywheels.

Bruce Weir-Smith
Western Australia

Below is the crankshaft and connecting rods.

Below shows the crankcase completed (in principal)

This photo shows the pistons fitted. the cone top is to allow for the igniters which protrude well into the cylinder.

Below is the cams and camshaft. The cams still have to be pinned onto the shaft.

Below is the setup for CNC cutting out of the cams

Below is an igniter cam (unfinished) which has quite an unusual shape to allow the igniter to work.

Finally, here is the layout of the rocker arms ready for cutting out using CNC.

 

[mfrick]

Hi Bruce Very nice work I would love to build one.

I would like to know where you got the plans for your engine?

Mike

 

[weir-smith]

Mike

The Fairbanks Morse R80 is an interesting engine and I have found ten or so examples on U Tube. Most having been built ten or more years ago.
The original plans and castings were produced by Pacific Model Design back in 2002 so quite a while ago. I had no luck tracking them down an assumed that they were no longer in a existance? There are quite a few sets of castings out there in the "to do" cupboard of modelers and they will have the plans with them. I spent about twelve months trying to track down a set of plans without success. Part of the problem, is if you don't live in the US people are disinclined to respond to your questions. However, there are some people who do which is what makes it all worth while. I had a response from someone who knew someone who also new someone, who was building one but a larger scale. In this round about way, I was able to obtain photos of the well used drawings that were just good enough to allow me to create my own drawings which are metric and designed around machining from bar stock rather than from castings.
My drawings are not full mechanical drawings as I only did what was necessary for me to carry out the machining so they lack complete detail.
I also collected all of the photos I could find from the internet including photos of the full sized engine which have been useful for the detail.

So in summary, in your case I would put out an enquiry to see if someone was willing to provide a set of drawings and you may also score a set of castings (to be so lucky). If you have no success and are determined to build the engine, I am happy to provide you with my metric drawings althoe you will have to do some of the work yourself.
I also have a lot of other info available but it would take me some time to sought it out.

My build has been one of the most interesting I have done so far after forty years or so of building different types of engines. It is not a difficult build just time a patience.

Bruce

 

[deverett]

Mike
You might try and contact Richard Williams who has built one of the PMD engines.
Have a look at FloridaAME Home Page
and go to Gallery, then Multiple cylinder engines, then about half way down on the right hand column you will see his details.
It's a while since I had any contact with him, so you may not get a reply!

Dave
The Emerald Isle

 

[weir-smith]

Dave
Thanks for providing the link for Mike. I can now add the photos to my collection as every one adds some value to the project.

Your knowledge of some of these sites and people is amazing and I value your input.

Bruce
Western Australia

 

[wthomas]

Hi Bruce:
Sorry to hear you had so much trouble finding plans. I have an incomplete set that is missing the last two or three sheets which cover the piping and some
finer details. I do have the two or three sheets of part numbers with the material listed for fitting etc. that I could email you if you send me an email address to
wthomas(at)gfn.org

 

[mfrick]

Hi Bruce:
Sorry to hear you had so much trouble finding plans. I have an incomplete set that is missing the last two or three sheets which cover the piping and some
finer details. I do have the two or three sheets of part numbers with the material listed for fitting etc. that I could email you if you send me an email address to
wthomas(at)gfn.org

Hello Mike Frick here and I am looking for plans for the Fairbank engine I would love to have a copy of the plans. My email address is [email protected]

Mike