Greetings from Bristol Connecticut

[Bill Gruby]

My name is Bill Gruby. I stumbled onto this site a few days ago. From what I have seen so far this is a great place to be. I am a retired machinist with 40 + years experience in the trade. My current project in progress (2 years now) is a Lee Hodgeson 18 cylinder radial engine. I guess that's enough for now. Looking forward to seeing more of the great work you people do.

"Bill Gruby"

 

[b.lindsey]

Welcome Bill !! That 18 cyl radial is quite an ambitious project...and would make for a great build thread too. Happy you found HMEM, its a great place to both learn and share.

Regards,

Bill L.

 

[Philjoe5]

Welcome Bill. ;D

A former nutmeg stater (Torrington)
Phil

 

[wareagle]

Bill, welcome to HMEM! Glad to have you on board.

The Ageless 9 cyl. Radial is on my list. I am slowing working up to that point, but it is a daunting commitment for me time wise. One day I will jump into it; after all I can only make one part at a time.

 

[compspecial]

Welcome to the forum Bill, must be great to have all that machining experience but I reckon a twin row radial will need all of it!
Stew

 

[ironman]

And another welcome Bill.

You made the right choice of forums. Lots of talent here as well as good learners. Jump right in. ironman (Ray)

 

[Bill Gruby]

Bill, welcome to HMEM! Glad to have you on board.

The Ageless 9 cyl. Radial is on my list. I am slowing working up to that point, but it is a daunting commitment for me time wise. One day I will jump into it; after all I can only make one part at a time.

Thank you for the warm welcome. If you already have the prints for the nine cyl. or any of the other engine prints Lee offers and have had them for a while make sure you check with Lee before you begin fabrication. The 18 cylinder has had 30 some odd pages added to it. The cam ring cutting process now shows the cutter position every degree around the circumference. Life building one of these monsters is much easier than it was 10 years ago. Yes it's time consuming and sometimes downright boring. It's been 2 years for me and I'm about 60% complete.

"Bill Gruby"

 

[Maryak]

Bill,

Welcome to our forum. wEc1

Best Regards
Bob

 

[krv3000]

HI and welcome jump in and have fun

 

[Tin Falcon]

welcome bill
can we look forward to seeing you at the NEMES Show in two weeks??
Only a couple hour drive for you.

Tin

 

[steamer]

Hi Bill,

That engine is on my "Wish" list....probably will remain there too!.. :big:

Looking forward to seeing it! Welcome!

Dave

 

[Bill Gruby]

Steamer;

I hadn't been to the Ageless Engines site in some time. I see he has not updared the site as to what the plans consist of. The newest set for the 18 cyl. has grown considerably. It is no longer 207 pages, it is 274 pages now. Lee updated mine for me. He is a wonderful and quite knowledgeable person to deal with. I believe the price has remained the same. Go for it.

"Bill Gruby"

 

[Dave G]

Hi Bill, Fairly new here myself but welcome none the less. I built Lee's 9 cylinder radial about ten years ago. Mine doesn't have the diffuser in it but it runs quite well without it. Lee is a great guy to deal with and very supportive. The one thing I did was to make a leakdown checker for the cylinder heads to check valve seal before attaching the jugs to the head. I figured if I had trouble getting the valves to seal I'd be better off finding out while I could still had access to them. My radial sputtered on the second flick of the prop when finished and it only took a little debugging after that. I think it is a good testament to Lee's plans. Looking forward to seeing your radial finished. Dave

 

[Allthumbz]

Hi Bill, new here myself and marveling at all the dynamite projects in this place. Hope one day to be able to attempt some of them.

 

[Bill Gruby]

Letting me loose in here is the same as letting a nine year old loose in a candy factory. He does not know where to start first. There is a lot of talent here.

"Bill Gruby"

 

[enginemaker1]

Welcome Bill

Like to see pics of your radial.

Located in Southbury, Ct

Tom

 

[Nickle]

Welcome Bill,

I'm gonna join the chorus and ask to see some pictures of your radial.

I bet it will make a fantastic noise when you're done.

Cheers,

Nick

 

[BillH]

I used to live in CT, and I always loved aviation. I too would love to see your radial engine!

 

[Bill Gruby]

I used to live in CT, and I always loved aviation. I too would love to see your radial engine!

I see Nelson is also on this forum.
Nelson, I sincerely hope you do not trash this forum like you did the homeshopmachinist forum in an attempt to drive people to your forum.

My computer crashed about 6 months ago. I will see what is on the back up disc. Who is Nelson or don't I want to know?

"Bill Gruby"

 

[BillH]

Bill, sorry for my comment, disregard that part of it. I love radial engines, especially the way they sound. I use to own a Saito 3 cylinder 4 stroke radial engine for a giant scale p47 I was going to build. I later sold it thinking that I could never bring myself to chance it in a crash!