New Member

[Mem10]

Hello Everyone,
Over the years I watched my Dad invent many things but his life’s dream was to build a model Rotary Engine. However, time was never on his side to take on the project. I guess that and our interest in RC Biplanes piqued the same curiosity in me. When I saw Les Chenery’s 1/5 scale Gnome Engine I knew that was the one.
Over the years I have done Foundry work laying up cope and drags for my Dad. I’ve also worked as an Electrician and Machinist for 40+ years and have my own Machine shop in my home garage. I’m also fairly good at Heliarc Welding so I think I have the skills necessary.
I am encouraged by you folks and I hope you can help me locate the fellow who sells the casting for the 1/5 Gnome Engine. I believe he is listed here as Methusela1. I believe his name is: Andrew. Again, thank you for letting me join your group.

 

[GreenTwin]

I think the member here is methuselah1.

Seems like the crankcase would be relatively easy to cast in aluminum, with "relatively" being related to how familiar you are with metal casting, and how much foundry equipment you have.

Welcome and good luck.

.

 

[Mem10]

Im just not sure if a sand cast crankcase would be too porous. I’m not really set up for Investment Casting with the lost wax process.

 

[bluejets]

We do sand casting from timber patterns all the time with no problems.
Internet is full of useful information on how to do it correctly.

 

[SmithDoor]

Hello Everyone,
Over the years I watched my Dad invent many things but his life’s dream was to build a model Rotary Engine. However, time was never on his side to take on the project. I guess that and our interest in RC Biplanes piqued the same curiosity in me. When I saw Les Chenery’s 1/5 scale Gnome Engine I knew that was the one.
Over the years I have done Foundry work laying up cope and drags for my Dad. I’ve also worked as an Electrician and Machinist for 40+ years and have my own Machine shop in my home garage. I’m also fairly good at Heliarc Welding so I think I have the skills necessary.
I am encouraged by you folks and I hope you can help me locate the fellow who sells the casting for the 1/5 Gnome Engine. I believe he is listed here as Methusela1. I believe his name is: Andrew. Again, thank you for letting me join your group.

Welcome to the group

Dave

 

[bluejets]

Advice from me would be, as this is your first engine, start with something simple like the Simple Simon single cylinder engine I included here some time back.
It might feel to you like it is "below you" but believe me, you will have enough to do there to keep you going for a while.
Plus you will learn some things as you go along and primarily not loose interest due to the length of what lies in front of you on the project.

https://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/threads/engine-design-basic-questions.35230/#post-397017

My version is here.... a little smokie but I fully expected that due to only the one ring.


Details video here........

 

[awake]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Apprentice707]

Welcome to this awesome group Mem 10

Regards

B

 

[Shelton]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Mem10]

Advice from me would be, as this is your first engine, start with something simple like the Simple Simon single cylinder engine I included here some time back.
It might feel to you like it is "below you" but believe me, you will have enough to do there to keep you going for a while.
Plus you will learn some things as you go along and primarily not loose interest due to the length of what lies in front of you on the project.

https://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/threads/engine-design-basic-questions.35230/#post-397017

My version is here.... a little smokie but I fully expected that due to only the one ring.


Details video here........

We do sand casting from timber patterns all the time with no problems.
Internet is full of useful information on how to do it correctly.

Do you know if any member that might be willing to fabricate just the gears for the 1/5 scale Gnome engine? I’ve done some fairly intricate machining but have never made gears that small before. Not sure I have the necessary set ups to mill them. Anyone?

 

[awake]

Can you give the specific size of the gears, either in module (metric) or DP (imperial)? Without that information, it is hard to know if we have the tooling to produce the gears.

 

[Mem10]

Can you give the specific size of the gears, either in module (metric) or DP (imperial)? Without that information, it is hard to know if we have the tooling to produce the gears.

I will probably want two sets of the listed gears (1 set for spares).

Gear #1.) 1.623 diameter x 0.156 thickness
72 Teeth 48 D.P.
0.875 hole

Gear#2.) 3(ea). 0.569 diameter x 0.170 thick
24 Teeth x 48 D.P.
0.156 hole

Gear#3.) 0.444 diameter x 0.156 thick
16 Teeth x 48 D.P.
0.156 hole
Note: #2 and #3 are listed as Muffet gears. I assume that is a British Gear Maker but I do not have a catalog to look these up.

So to be clear. I would want two of #1 gear, six of #2 and two of #3 as listed.

 

[awake]

Thanks for the additional information. Unfortunately, I do not have 48DP gear cutters. The last time I checked, they were on the pricey side. By contrast, .5 module cutters were not too expensive - that would be a little smaller than the 48DP, so would require some re-design if you went that route. Note that you can find very inexpensive .5 module gears in plastic on Amazon or other sources - but of course, that not only would require a redesign of the gear placement but also the question of whether or not plastic would work. What material do you need the gears to be?

 

[Mem10]

Thanks for the additional information. Unfortunately, I do not have 48DP gear cutters. The last time I checked, they were on the pricey side. By contrast, .5 module cutters were not too expensive - that would be a little smaller than the 48DP, so would require some re-design if you went that route. Note that you can find very inexpensive .5 module gears in plastic on Amazon or other sources - but of course, that not only would require a redesign of the gear placement but also the question of whether or not plastic would work. What material do you need the gears to be?

Found what I needed online. Thank you for the idea. Hopefully they will work just fine.
Regards,
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