Good plans for a "modern" single cylinder?

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Hi apullin,

Running a belt to drive the camshaft is a good idea. A couple engines I've seen had a hub with a slip pully on the cam. It had two slots for bolts 180 degrees apart so the cam could be degreed to the crank. The hub was threaded for the bolts and the slip pully had the slots to adjust degree. The Gates site is a good place to learn about belts and pullys involving loads and sizing.

Kenny
 
How shall I put it ...?... I'm sure I can make a OK engine if I have access to the right tools. Given more time I'm sure I can improve it to be a good engine, but there's quite a step from there to a great engine (reliability, performance etc.) - the scale do of cause depends on the expectations and demands. I'll be very happy with first pop on my first engine, but knowing myself, I know that soon after, it's not enough and I'll rise the bar for what I expect from my own projects. In the Japanese motorcycle industry there's a saying about the brands and there racing efforts : Yamaha - Win sunday => sell Monday, Suzuki - Race what we sell, Kawasaki - Rich boys racing (MC division is like 1% of a very big company), Honda = NASA ~ The most advanced solutions to the problem.

I'm not a Honda man, but I certainly respect them and it will cost millions to create and develop an engine similar to any Honda model.

Until a few years ago, just about every lawn mover sold here in Denmark had a Brigs & Stratton engine and they are from 175 to 350 cc up where I said it will make a difference - but you talk about making a 35 - 50 cc engine - make the piston and conrod light enough, a decent balanced crank and you'll have no problems - a Honda CD 50 never made any vibration you could feel.

Create the vacuum by welding a 4-6 mm. inside diameter tube perpendicular to the exhaustheader, at least 20cm. from the head (for heat reasons) connect the oneway valve with a silicone tube - voila.

Best wishes
Per
 
Many teams publish basic numbers. You have put quite a bit of thought into this already. Obviously there are some unknowns that have you concerned. Visiting the team sites would address many. Like cog belt drive being very common for cams. Teams post the data because they know making everything come together is much harder than having the data. One of the engines I've seen had a very large "something" on the crankcase. I can only guess it had something to do with crankcase ventilation, but it was huge.

Your understanding of how CNC is used is very basic. I certainly doubt you can run one or even a few cylinder liners and expect the sort of tolerance you think you'll achieve. If you are very familiar with the machine, the tooling, the material, etc., you might get a part that's pretty close. The kind of tolerances you're talking about require an expert operator to achieve. My father runs setup and production on CNC lathes, using softer material and much smaller parts, and has to chase the machine to get a 25 micron tolerance. One comment, you won't be honing the liner until it's installed in the block unless you can be assured the block is as round as you want the finished cylinder to be or the liner is stout enough that it won't distort.

Nemett has a tube connected to the head. Fluctuation of crankcase pressure forces some oil to the top. You could get creative and check valves in a few locations to assist the flow. Most of the Eco engines seem to have open top ends. For the short time they run, lubrication can be handled a variety of ways. On vibration, I think most is due to single cylinder torque.

You really should just get on with a design. You'll find, much as I did, making everything fit to meet design goals will be the hard part. These engines run ridiculous compression ratios. Valve timing, valve clearance, valve lift, valve angles, piston and combustion chamber shape, etc., will all interact in the final outcome of the design.

Cost, won't be out of line. If you have access to machines that can handle the sizes of parts involved, costs will be mainly tooling and fixtures. Grinding cams could be tricky. If you plan on using something other than a simple cast iron ring, a stock ring for a production engine can be very inexpensive, or a custom faced ring might be hundreds if not thousands. Checking to see what parts are available and basing the bore around that might be well worth the investment in time. Similar to the wrist pin bearing. Most <35CC engines use an 8mm wrist pin and corresponding needle bearing, maybe 6USD for both. Stray from that and you'll at least have to make a wrist pin, harden, grind, etc.

It's a great project to be involved in. Sometimes I think about going to college to get in on one of these. Good luck.

Greg
 
I agree with Greg here. Get on with the design...that takes more time than most people realize.

Lots willl get sorted then. Pick a direction and keep moving.

Dave
 
A prof was was just today goading me into making a carbon-carbon composite block, cylinder, piston, and conrod.... phew, now that would be pretty challenging and expensive ...


Yes....and ask him to pitch in during the layups too...see if he changes his mind. ::)

Dave
 

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