Sshire
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2011
- Messages
- 935
- Reaction score
- 267
Amidst getting engines tuned and ready for Cabin Fever next week, I've gotten my Bill Reichart design Siamese Bee I/C engine to the point where it needs piston rings. I'd read about Otto Small Engines in Elkton MD as a good place for small rings and since it's only an hour away...FIELD TRIP!
Once off I95 and through Elkton proper, I'm driving through country roads until the GPS told me I was there. No signs, no parking lot, no indication. After driving up and down the same quarter mile a few times, I called Otto. Dave answered, said there is no sign but just drive up the gravel road next to the bridge.
Looked like a house with a few small buildings and one large metal building.
Dave came out of the house. What a treat. He probably knows more about pistons, rings and IC in general, that it was a real learning experience.
The large building is a combination shop, storage facility and had many old engines and machines. Dave rescued a 1920's vintage Otto engine that had been running a (IIRC) hosiery mill in Maryland. An amazing place.
A long discussion followed which included properties of 6061 aluminum and why it may not be the best choice for my pistons, a way to file the ports in the cylinder lining at an angle to minimize the rings catching, pros and cons of pinning the ring in place, how the content of various ingredients in aluminum alloys changes both the physical properties and how it machines.
What a great day. It turned out that he is making a big run of rings for a compressor valve parts company that are exactly the size I needed so I'll be able to get them shortly.
When I go back to get them I'll take pictures.
stan
Once off I95 and through Elkton proper, I'm driving through country roads until the GPS told me I was there. No signs, no parking lot, no indication. After driving up and down the same quarter mile a few times, I called Otto. Dave answered, said there is no sign but just drive up the gravel road next to the bridge.
Looked like a house with a few small buildings and one large metal building.
Dave came out of the house. What a treat. He probably knows more about pistons, rings and IC in general, that it was a real learning experience.
The large building is a combination shop, storage facility and had many old engines and machines. Dave rescued a 1920's vintage Otto engine that had been running a (IIRC) hosiery mill in Maryland. An amazing place.
A long discussion followed which included properties of 6061 aluminum and why it may not be the best choice for my pistons, a way to file the ports in the cylinder lining at an angle to minimize the rings catching, pros and cons of pinning the ring in place, how the content of various ingredients in aluminum alloys changes both the physical properties and how it machines.
What a great day. It turned out that he is making a big run of rings for a compressor valve parts company that are exactly the size I needed so I'll be able to get them shortly.
When I go back to get them I'll take pictures.
stan
