Longest project ever

josodl1953 · Dec 2, 2017

This story is not about a complicated, sophisticated or big project.It is just about a build that I started some 39 years ago and left it unfinished in a box for many,many years. Being interested in IC engines from my childhood, I got my first model engine some 50 years ago. I got it from a schoolfriend, a 1 cc E.D. baby diesel . It was incomplete, and I managed to get the missing parts: intake rotor, carburettor and cylinder head. It was a sensation when I got it running for the first time - in our kitchen. My mother didn't like it. Over the years, I got involved in C/L flying and IC race boating which I have been doing for about 40 years. In 1977, I got myself a small Sherline mini lathe and a year later I thought it would be nice to build myself an engine .At that time, my parents liven in the southeastern part of the country anjd I went there for the weekend every month.It was an small town wtih no much going on there so I had a lot of time to make some sketches of the engine, a opposed twin.

I started off with crankcase, crankshaft, conrods, pistons and cylinders.But after that , my attention was drawn to other things such as marriage, having children, buying a home, the works...
So, a few years ago I started R/C flying, and after getting my model flying license , the idea arose to build the Edwards Radial 5 in a downsized version.
About the same time, I got my brother's lathe, a nice Austrian built Emco Compact 8. We have been in model race boating but he quit in 1982 and the Emco had been sitting idle since then. Despite attempts from me to "relocate"the lathe to my home he was reluctant to do so because he wanted to keep it "just in case ". But he had to leave his flat temporarely because it was to be renovated so he said" Come and get it" and so I did..
So, before starting the Edwards project it was time to get rid of som loose ends from the past so at last the opposed twin project was completed. Cylinder heads and the complete valve train were made , as well as the necessary piping. In my vast collection of model engines and parts I found a homemade carburettor( I forgot for what I made it ) and so at last the project was finished.

josodl1953 · Dec 2, 2017

Of course there is almost no footage from the build. I found an old black and white picture of the machining of the conrod big end and that's about it.

To illustrate the parts I made a picture of all parts and a brief summary how they are made.

1. Crankcase made of rectangular tubing withe solderd in front and rear panels.
2. Conrods made of drill rod witn hard soldered brass small end and split big end, end cap fastened with two 2 mm Allen screws.
3.Bearing housings made from alu bar stock with two ball bearings in the front
and one in the rear housing.
4.Crankshaft, shaft and crankpins made from drill rod, crankwebs from mild steel. All hard soldered, then machined, then shaft material between crankwebs cut away.
5. Camshaft made form a bicycle pedal shaft, annealed, machined and the hardened again.
6. Cam housing machined from bar stock with miniature ball bearings.
7.valve springs are from a pneumatic valve
8.Cam gears purchased from the German Maedler company
9.Cylinder machined from nodular cast iron.
10.Pistons are made from cast aluminium, from a unused test bar
11.Cylinder head made from bar stock, with pressed in valve seats and brass valve guides.
12.Rocker brackets and rockers made from bar stock.
13.Intake and exhaust tubing from aluminium tube with soldered-on flanges
14.Carburettor made from alu bar stock with a brass rotor.
15. Pushrods(not shown) made from carbon tubing with hardene steel tips.

For lubrication I use 2-stroke model engine fuel. Like almost all commercial 4-stroke model engines lubrication should be done by blow-by of oil but to be on the safe side I fitted an oil tank on top.

Now the mail purpose of this build was to have an engine that runs ( if only once..) so the main question is: does it run?

Yes it does.. eventually.. watch the video on https://youtu.be/U3OF3YMUXEQ

Enjoy!

Jos

Failure is always an option Mythbusters