PIP 3 Cylinder Radial

[michael-au]

I have been working on a 3 cylinder radial for a few months, this is where I am upto at the moment
Had a carpel tunnel op so taking it easy for a while

I will add more photos of parts and setups

 

[michael-au]

The first part I started on was the crankcase, I turned the inside profile first and then the outside profile was machined on my small cnc lathe, all the holes were machined on the cnc mill

 

[michael-au]

Machined the crankshaft, tricky part of this is it has a gear machined into it, never done this before
Before I could machine the gear I had to make a gear cutter, never made a gear cutter before either

 

[michael-au]

This is the gear cutter used on the crankshaft
Profile was CNC machined on the mill

 

[danallen]

Looks good so far. I looked long and hard at a set of Pip plans and finally decided to build an Edwards 5 cylinder instead. I didn't like the crankcase induction system and I wanted whatever I built to be spark ignition. The Edwards looked to be a better choice. We shall see.

 

[petertha]

and I wanted whatever I built to be spark ignition.

The OP's post #1 parts layout looks to include spark plugs, not glow plugs. Which was going to be my question to @michael-au anyways - if indeed spark, what is the plan for ignition system? Nice parts btw!

 

[Jasonb]

Off to a good start

PIP was featured in Model Engine Builder mag, over three issues if I remember rightly. Digital back issues still available quite reasonably priced

 

[GreenTwin]

Impressive work !

.

 

[Basil]

Very nice work!

 

[michael-au]

This is the diffuser it is driven by a pin in the crankshaft and this will also drive the distributor through a gear box
This might answer some questions that danallen and petertha had about ignition
I plan to use a hall effect sensor for the spark ignition

 

[michael-au]

The distributor and gearbox is my own design as others mentioned this was originally designed as a glow plug engine, that would be the reason the intake is through the crankcase to lubricate the bearings
I think if the through the crankcase intake doesn't work very well it would not be to hard to plug the intake hole and change it so it goes straight through the intake valves.

This is the gearbox I came up with to drive a distributor

 

[michael-au]

Finishing the crank shaft, I made jig to hold the shaft in the three jaw chuck and turned the small end






Then I machined the counterweight that is silver soldered on



The counterweight is pined and then silver soldered

 

[michael-au]

Bearing retainer is to house the rear crankshaft bearing and also to secure the ring gear in place
The part was turned on the lathe and then finished in the mill

 

[michael-au]

To machine the cam I made a fixture plate so that I could machine one side and them flip it over and machine the other side

 

[michael-au]

Slave rods were machined on a fixture plate so they could be flipped and the grove machined on the other side

 

[michael-au]

Machining the master rod, the larger hole is threaded and the bronze bearing the goes in it is threaded also, it has to be made this way because the bearing is screwed in to the rod after it is installed in the engine and on to the crankshaft, because there is no way you can get it on the crankshaft with the bearing installed in the rod first
The bronze bearing is locked in place by the slave rod pins, these pins are also threaded and screw into the master rod

 

[michael-au]

Cam gears were cut on the cnc mill,
I did not make the ring gear

 

[timo_gross]

Cam gears were cut on the cnc mill,
I did not make the ring gear


View attachment 156587View attachment 156588View attachment 156589View attachment 156590

View attachment 156591

Impressive things we see here. How did you get the ring gear?

 

[michael-au]

Impressive things we see here. How did you get the ring gear?

I purchased the ring gear for a place in the UK
I just had to machine to the right diameter and thickness then drill the holes
The other gears I cut my self

 

[michael-au]

Valve Cages were machined and treaded on the cnc lathe, then trans fired to the cnc mill to drill the two holes in the top
There is a tool that fits over the valve cage and in to the two holes so they can be screwed into the cylinder