I was having some piping problems lately. First, after pain in my chhest, they found out at the hospital that my coronary arteries were a bit clogged up, not severely, just bit. This problem was solved by installing two stents, a job of three-quarters of an hour, amazing what they can do. Next day I went home and after a week's rest or so I went on with the intake tubes of the Edwards. I tried bending of brass tube (after heating up to make it soft) withe a home made tube bender but the first attempts were, well, less then satsifactory , to say the least. It was important to me to maintain the inner diameter of the tubing to get maximum power out of the engine, bearing in mind that , if all goes well, this engine will be used on a R/C plane. The brass being difficult to bend, I changed to aluminium tubing. This material being easier to bend, it also contributes to weight reduction togetyher with alu intake flanges ( with an extension, to be fitted with epoxy).
The first attempt withe alu tubing, filled with sand, gave a better result but still not good.
Some wrinkles on the inside of the 115 degree bend developed which is not good for optimal gas flow. Also I found it hard to get the tube bent in the right shape. So, I made dummy intake pipe frome 3 mm wire. With this dummy, I made a sturdy fitting jig so that I could bend the tube is shape avoiding putting stress on precious engine parts.
Filling the the tube with molten lead prior to bending gave, at last, the required result.
So, another job done. The to-do-list is getting shorter and shorter.....
I love it when a plan comes together.....John "Hannibal"Smith --- The A-Team