It's Alive!!

[Swarf Rat]

A surprising smile of satisfaction warmed my cheeks as the little wobbler accelerated from the initial nudge under power from a small airbrush compresser. It felt much better than I expected. I think I may be hooked on this engine building stuff. It's a pitiful sight, really - stains of solder from joints done and undone too many times, clamped to a rough scrap of plywood as a test bed. It's my version of the Fizz-Whizz double acting wobbler from the john-tom site. I made a built-up crank/axle with a proper conrod big end instead of the bent music wire. I'd like to make a vehicle for this engine to power, but I don't care for the looks of the Fizz-Whizz car.

I've been lurking here for a few weeks reading the tips on engine building and I felt compelled to register and thank yall for the guidance and confidence to make this engine build a success. I think this is an impressive forum and I wonder if I'll be able to contribute to the body of knowledge.

I have an Atlas 6-18 lathe, used and abused. I've made a few repair parts for my son's cars and some home appliances. I've done a little bit of pellet pistol smithing. "Real machining" always seemed just outside my reach and I rarely got the intended dimensions and surface finish at the same time. The tips I've read on this board and tried in my shop have made a noticeable improvement in my machining capability.

Daughter has my camera, she says she'll bring it back when she visits us at Easter.

Bruce

 

[kustomkb]

Welcome,

And congratulations. A good feeling for sure!

Good pre-emptive strike on the camera details. Because we do like to see.

 

[ironman]

Hey Bruce, welcxome to the gathering. ironman

 

[user 1493]

Hi Bruce,

Congratulations! Try the EZ build that is available for download on this site. It exposes you to a different valving system.

Once again, Congratulations.

Jack

 

[GailInNM]

Bruce,
Congratulations on a runner and welcome to HMEM.
Gail in NM

 

[PaulG]

Welcome Bruce

Paul

 

[rudydubya]

Welcome, Bruce. Congratulations on your runner. wEc1

Rudy

 

[b.lindsey]

Welcome Bruce,

Will be looking forward to the pics come Easter

Bill

 

[rake60]

Welcome to HMEM Bruce.

Looking forward to the success pictures here as well.

Rick

 

[Maryak]

Bruce,

Welcome to our forum. wEc1

Best Regards
Bob

 

[Philjoe5]

Welcome Bruce. Congratulations on your first runner. :bow: Looking forward to your pictures. Any plans for build #2?

Cheers,
Phil

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Welcome Bruce.
I too am looking forward to the pictures.

 

[Swarf Rat]

Thank yall for the warm welcome, this is one of the friendliest boards I've encountered.

The little engine is addicting to run and it's getting better as it loosens up. It will sometimes self-start when I start the compressor. Something I noticed that I haven't seen mentioned - the cylinder pivot and axel are not rigidly fixed to each other and the timing balance of the ports at each end can be "adjusted" by flexing the thin plywood they're both temporarily mounted on. Manually flexing the board with thumb pressure affects engine speed and I wonder if this "feature" can be used to reliably throttle the wobbler. I flex the board one way and it noticably speeds up and when I flex it the other way I can bring it down to an idle or even stop it.

Jack, thanks for the pointer to the EZ. I was wondering what engine might be my next "victim" and that looks like a good candidate. I'll have to check my stock and toolage. Actually, I have plenty of time to decide and prepare because I need to replace the head gasket in my car.

 

[steamer]

Welcome Bruce!

Dave