Philp Duclos "Victorian" IC engine Project

[Cedge]

Guys...
I really appreciate the encouragement and the kind words. The last post ended with a couple of teases, like the flywheel blank and tank test placement. The flywheel has come a ways since then. I modified the 5 spoke instructions given in one of the Duclos articles to make it a 6 spoke version. This took a little rejiggering of hole sizes and placements, as well as the radii of the spoke curves, but nothing brain stretching about it.

The project kept getting delayed by family matters, including an 8 hour middle of the night round trip drive to retrieve my son and his broken arm from a wilderness camp in the Great Smokey Mountains. Nicholas is doing fine and seems to ignore the pain as if it were nothing. I finally got back on course late yesterday and made up for some lost time.

The photos below show the flywheel just after it was mounted for testing the wedge lock which secures it to the shaft. This is basically a cone that has been split at 90° so the 2-56 screws can force it to squeeze the crank shaft. Quite an effective way to mount a flywheel. All the hand filing work is now done, but the flywheel will see quite a bit of hand polishing yet, before the job is done.

I think I'm on the right track with the engine, but will be visiting a local model IC engine guy tomorrow, just to let him critique the project so far. Not having messed with IC engines, I'd like to be sure I'm on track for a runner.

For those who are curious about making curved spoked flywheels, I posted a write up back in October on the subject. You can check it out at http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=3169.0

Steve

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Beautiful beautiful. Still can't get over the governor.
Thanks for the link to the curved spoke flywheel. Very interesting.

 

[cfellows]

Boy oh Boy oh Boy! What a pretty engine. Splendid work, Cedge!

Chuck

 

[Cedge]

Thanks Chuck and Zee...

I've been a bit busy with the project and the photos suffered for it. I'll try to do a bit better as I go along. With the flywheel only needing a bit of polishing, I moved on to the redesigning the cam linkage, which is one of the gizmos that makes all the other goodies work together. It's job is to hold the exhaust valve open until the RPMs drop enough to require another power stroke. At that time it allows the exhaust valve to close, creating enough vacuum to draw fresh fuel into the cylinder chamber.

The original design called for a single rod which slid within a pair of brackets attached to the outer wall of the cylinder. Since I'm in for a penny, I figured to go for a pound and add a bit of complexity to the visual aspect of the linkage. It still operates just as the original design would, but with a little variation on the look of the mechanism.

Two more small parts will still have to be made to complete this section of the build.

Here you can see the cam roller which runs inside the spoked gear. It is made of hardened drill rod to allow it to take the pnishment of beating against the slope of the cam lobe, also located inside the gear ring.

From there I made a quick jump over to the carb, while I sorted out how I wanted to go about completing the linkage assembly. The carb is a simple aspiration type which atomizes gasoline while mixing it with air in the proper ratio for efficient burning. This one does it by use of a tiny #60 drill hole and a darning needle for metering the flow of fuel.

The hard part was drilling a #60 hole 5/8 inch to mate up with the needle's location. Luckily, I had access to a sensitive drill chuck which made things a bit easier to control. Remember.... #60 is the smallest drill in the standard drill index many of us have and brass has a tendency to grab a bit and either break it off in the work piece or drag it deeper into the material than wanted.

Thje length was dicated by Duclos to allow the fuel droplets and air to have time to mix well before entering the combustion chamber. The ball cut and the wide flare on the end were added as a bit of whimsy.

The next direction, while still cogitating the linkage's last steps, was to tackle the exhaust section. Duclos had a nice design and I almost went with it, had I not attended a large show where hundreds of hit and miss engines were on display. After seeing the variety of different styles, I came up with something original, while keeping to totally functional as a muffler. Unfortunately, I did not get any photos before I press fitted the top into the canister.

The exhaust brass stack was the reason for the redesign. I simply wanted to have the vertical stack in hopes that this engine might be capable of blowing the classic smoke rings that hit and miss engines are famous for.

Here you can see all the items together. The little engine is becoming rather complex looking, but I enjoy all the wonkiness of exposed mechanical devices, so this one suits my tastes just fine.

I'm sorry for the longer dleays in posting these photos, but these small parts often take more time than the larger more dramatic pieces. Hang in there and I'll post more in a few days. There are still about a dozen pieces to build and fit, so the saga continues, even if at a somewhat slower pace.

Steve

 

[Maryak]

Steve,

Very very nice work. :bow: :bow:

Best Regards
Bob

 

[gbritnell]

Steve,
Excellent, excellent work!
gbritnell

 

[90LX_Notch]

Steve,

What a piece of eye candy! That is beautiful.

Bob

 

[b.lindsey]

Simply beautiful Steve, thanks for all the great pics too. By the way, did you make it up to Denton?

Regards,
Bill

 

[DavesWimshurst]

Outstanding work Steve,
And thanks for the anamorphic views of your shop. :
Dave

 

[4156df]

Steve,
Beautiful work. You're both an artist and a craftsman.
Dennis

 

[bearcar1]

OH My GOD th_confused0052

That has got to be one of, the most, gorgeous pieces of artwork I have seen in a long, long while. Fantastic. I to hope that it will blow the smoke rings for you. Just incredible, the workmanship and artistic flourishes you have labored hard for.

BC1
Jim

 

[PhillyVa]

Steve,

You've made a very interesting engine....No a :bow: Masterpiece :bow: The lines and look keeps the eye moving around...just a wonderful piece of work.

Regards

Philly

 

[rleete]

Just let us know ahead of time when it will be finished. No sense getting anything done that month, as it's a sure PotM winner.

 

[vlmarshall]

Just let us know ahead of time when it will be finished. No sense getting anything done that month, as it's a sure PotM winner.

You're not kidding, there. ;D :bow:

 

[rake60]

Beautiful craftsmanship Steve! :bow:

Rick

 

[Cedge]

Guys...
I want to take a moment to say a few words of thanks for all the kind words and the amazing amount of moral support I've received during this project. If it seems I'm sometimes a bit slow to respond to some of the kudos, it's basically because I'm at a loss for words with which to respond. I've found it a humbling experience, as well as a source of inspiration, to push me to try to do the best work that I'm capable of doing. To hear such high praise from the likes of some of the members on the boards is both exciting, a bit startling.... and yes sometimes even a bit embarrassing.... as a relative new comer to the hobby.

We all know there are other boards on line where rivalry jealousy or a persona desire to be top dog sometimes leads to even the best of projects being put down in order to achieve some sort of unstated agenda. I've yet to see any of these evils rear its ugly head here. The chance for sharing this project has really made what is already been a whole lot of fun, even more so. If I've missed thanking you as an individual, please take this as my attempt to remedy my oversight. I'm in truly awe of the people who make up this board and our sister forum for the friendly atmosphere we've all managed to foster here.

Steve

 

[ariz]

chapeau :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:

fantastic work!


and because english isn't my native language and often I can't find the words I wish to use, I borrow the words of Cedge about this board: I agree totally with him!

thank you all

 

[Cedge]

I promise I haven't abandoned you guys on this project. I've been working my way past a couple of small engineering problems, mostly dealing with lack of room, before I can advance to the next stage. Between designing my own feedwater pump and making it fit the rear shaft and coming up with a usable check valve design that I like, I'm spending more time erasing pencil lines than cutting metal. The feedwater system will probably warrant its own thread before all is said and done.

With a bit of luck I might be able to get some fresh photos up this weekend. There have been some small advances but none worthy in and of themselves to earn a post.

Patience... its still happening.

Steve

 

[bearcar1]

Steve, there is nothing in this world more satisfying than the looks of a beautiful engine such as the one you are in the midst of battle with. Whenever I see this header I jump right on that message to see that artistry unfold. Today sadly there are no new developments , however the prospect of other similar threads is something that I am looking forward to. You and this engine most certainly do deserve all of the support that has been shown. :bow:

BC1
Jim

 

[Cedge]

BC....
Sorry about that.....LOL. I guess I still have a bit of a missed engagement between posting this stuff and realizing the truth of so many people reading it. I'll refrain from posting false alarms from here on out.

As I said earlier, most of what I've been doing was small steps which were taking up more time than expected. This posting documents some of them.

The modified linkage for controlling the cam and flywheel assembly changed quite a few of the dimensions given on the plans. This required making few adjustments along the way. The photo below shows the foot which opens the exhaust valve during the engine's freewheeling mode. This action is what makes a hit and miss engine "miss". With the exhaust valve held open it can't deliver any compression.

That odd silver ball on the front of the cam was not there for decoration only. It served as a pivot point for the catch arm that holds the valve foot down. This piece was supposed to be installed much earlier in the build, but I didn't like the original design which called for a piece of 1/8 inch flat bar. Once the foot was installed, I had to come up with a custom arm to fit the new linkage. This photo shows what I came up with.

If you look closely you'll see a small rod has been added to the slide linkage This rod is the remains of a broken cobalt drill bit and is where the arm catches the linkage when the gear cam is activated... assuming the governor is at full extension. As a side note.... you might want to know that drill rod (silver steel) and cobalt do not solder very well at all....so green Loctite was used to secure the joint.

Here is the completed linkage assembly. For the curious, take a little time to study the relationships between all the components and the operational sequence of the little engine will begin to reveal itself.

With the front side of the engine completed, that free swinging end of the crank shaft needed attention. The plan is to mount a small water pump behind the engine body and drive it with an eccentric mounted on the shaft. In order to accomplish this, the shaft had to be stabilized. A place to mount the pump was also on the list of things needed. The bushing was installed and the face of the piece was turned to "fit" the large opening in the rear of the base. This will let me use it to mount he pump as things progress.

While it doesn't look like much of a step, this piece had me sweating a bit. When a shaft is supported at two points, as this one has been until now, you have little chance of binding. When that same shaft is supported at 3 points, things can begin to bind in a hurry. Even a slight misalignment will cause problems. The large hole in the base is centered at 1.812 inches from the bottom of the body. This is also the location of the hole center in the front support where the points are located.

Since the body is contoured and lacking any abundance of reference points I had added one the plans never called for. That small flat spot you see in the photo below was a god send. I was able to us it to help square the work piece when it had to be put back in the mill vise. More than once it saved my bacon and is now one of the tricks that is being used regularly on other projects.

By using the flat spot, a DTI and my now much beloved DRO, I was able to nail the 1.812 inch measurement perfectly and mill the slots for the plate into the round body at exactly the right place.

The photo below shows the pump in its early stages. The bore is 5/16 with a 3/4 inch stroke. The plunger has been made and fitted with its o ring and the water hammer chamber is fitted. You'll see flat spots on the upper section which I mentioned above. Since the area will be removed when the pump gets its end cap, they won't interfere with anything. The simply make it easy to keep things square.

Here is what it all looks like at the moment. The mock up fuel tank is about to be replaced with the real deal and the round mounting plate and wooden plinth are almost ready for final finish and the pump build is well under way. The ignition system should be here next week and hopefully the first test firing will also be made before next weekend. Lots of little items to finish tying down and still more polishing to be done, but the project is quickly coming to completion. Keep those fingers crossed that the darned thing will run....LOL

Steve