Time for a new Horizontal Hit and Miss engine

[Brian Rupnow]

For those of you who thought I could change the pivot points or remove material from the top of the governor weights----there simply is no room to do this. The top side of the governor weights where the pivot pin goes thru is simply a narrow band of material which can not be made any smaller. There is nowhere to move the pivots to. The space for this governor is very restricted. This is the kind of thing that either works the way I have it, or doesn't work at all. It does work, but only at higher rpm than the cam shaft never reaches. That is why I'm changing my design to the crankshaft which spins twice as fast as the camshaft, and has more available room.---Brian

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Bits and pieces, pieces and bits. I decided at the last minutes to use some hex stock I had instead of round brass governor balls. I will probably finish this governor tomorrow.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

As my dear old dad used to say, "No rest for the wicked!!" And I must have been pretty damned wicked because I sure didn't get much set-around time today. But--I have a new governor. There is an amazing amount of work in such a small, uncomplicated thing!!

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Today I modified one flywheel where the new governor weights stick thru the face of the flywheel, and I'm just about to make a test run to select a proper spring. I will post a video of the governor "working". I also spent some of the Rupnow fortune and bought a beautiful little oiler off Ebay. The oiler is very nice, cost about $25 Canadian.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Engine has been torn down---(This only takes about 15 minutes). Crankshaft has been reversed so the starter hub and flywheel goes on the other side where the ignition points are and the long end of the crank now sticks out to receive the modified flywheel and new governor. The roller bearing will be pressed out of the sideplate and a plug welded in to fill the hole. My tig can weld aluminum, and luckily for me the weld will all be hidden behind the flywheel.---if I totally screw up the weld, I have lots of material to make a new sideplate if I have to. I did make a video of the new governor working, but the quality was poor so I'm not going to post it. (The new governor seems to work fine.)

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Today I turned the plug which will be welded into the engine sideplate where the roller bearing used to be, and tapped a 5/16"-18 hole through the center of it. I made up a "special" shoulder bolt which acts as a stationary camshaft, and I was able to build a jig which let me turn the end off the original camshaft and and save the actual cam portion and the gear. The gear/cam got rebored to fit the special shoulder bolt. Now all I have to do is weld that plug in place, and then I can begin reassembling things.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Well Sir!!! That wasn't just a fail. It was an absolutely horrible fail. By the time I had things hot enough to form a puddle and add some aluminum filler rod, the whole damned thing turned into a slush puppy and poured itself down the table. Fortunately, it didn't run off the table and down the top of my boot. (That did actually happen about 55 years ago when I was learning to braze patches onto a 1953 Ford pickup.) No more tig welding for me until I can take a course in basic tig welding. POOP!!!---Tomorrow I will machine a new sideplate to replace the one I melted.

 

[Sparky_SC]

Rough rule of thumb is 1 amp for each thousandth of material thickness without preheating. With a TIG like you have preheating a piece like that is mandatory. If you don't preheat the aluminum will just absorb the heat applied and not puddle until the entire piece is near melting point. Preheating to 350-400 degrees makes a world of difference, you can quickly get a puddle going on thicker pieces. Too late now, the boat has sailed but preheating is standard practice on thicker aluminum pieces. Steel does not conduct the heat away from the arc nearly as fast so the problem does not happen like with aluminum.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

In retrospect--I think part of my mistake was putting in that big 45 degree chamfer on the "plug" as seen in post #286. That would be normal with stick or mig welding. The filler rod would fill up the prepared v-groove and get good penetration into both pieces. I would probably put a lot less heat into the part while welding if I hadn't put that v-groove in there.

 

[Sparky_SC]

In retrospect--I think part of my mistake was putting in that big 45 degree chamfer on the "plug" as seen in post #286. That would be normal with stick or mig welding. The filler rod would fill up the prepared v-groove and get good penetration into both pieces. I would probably put a lot less heat into the part while welding if I hadn't put that v-groove in there.

Deep V grooves with a gap are standard practice TIG welding pipe. Even the best pro tig welder couldn't have done that piece without preheating using a welder limited to 200 amps max.

 

[Sparky_SC]

Here is a hinge knuckle I made for my skid steer. Its 5 pieces total. The largest section is 1-1/2 inches thick. With preheat I did it at about 150amps. Without preheat not a prayer.

 

[pileskis]

Well Sir!!! That wasn't just a fail. It was an absolutely horrible fail. By the time I had things hot enough to form a puddle and add some aluminum filler rod, the whole damned thing turned into a slush puppy and poured itself down the table. Fortunately, it didn't run off the table and down the top of my boot. (That did actually happen about 55 years ago when I was learning to braze patches onto a 1953 Ford pickup.) No more tig welding for me until I can take a course in basic tig welding. POOP!!!---Tomorrow I will machine a new sideplate to replace the one I melted.

Did you have the gas turned on??
Better start making the new piece.......

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Okay, we're back in business. Made a new sideplate this morning. No trauma, everything fits. I have to go out now and pick up some supplies and shuttle a teenage granddaughter from one school to another school. She is taking pictures of sports events at about 5 different local highschools for a yearbook.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

And a very expensive afternoon it turned out to be. I stopped at about 5 different places, picking up taps, bearings, steel rod, etcetera, and the last place I stopped before picking up my granddaughter, my truck wouldn't start. Tried boosting the battery---made no difference. Not even a click click when I tried to engage the starter. Had to get a flatbed tow-tuck to come and load up my truck and take it to the Ford garage. That cost $100.00 Got a ride home, and about an hour later Ford called, truck needs a new starter----$650.00. Bah Humbug!!! My Christmas present to myself!!!

 

[Ghosty]

Brian,
It is always when you need the truck, I have several trips in the next week that i will need my phone for when traveling, it died two days ago, had to buy a new one at $1600, hurts this time of the year.
Cheers
Andrew

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Andrew--I've driven a half ton truck almost all my life, and for the first 50 or 60 years I used it as a truck. The last five years I've driven a truck, but truthfully, the last five years I've hardly carried anything in it. Yes, it's a big ouch to have to pay out $750 unexpected dollars just before Christmas.

 

[Steamchick]

I feel for you Brian. Just when you are on top of things, sometimes "Fate" hits you between the thighs... (Or the wallet). But in this case, no-one got hurt or anything, so "stiff upper lip and Carry on". (As you did with the model).
I'm off to a funeral today... another big C victim. An Engineer who was 12 years chairman of the local Model Engineers...
His models and memory lives on.
Cheers my friend.
K2

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Great progress was made today---Flywheels are remounted, new governor is in place, and new pushrod guide is finished and installed, and half of the new lockout arm has been machined. Tomorrow I hope to make a new pushrod and machine the other half of the new lockout arm. We are having a full grown blizzard outside today---all day. It's a good day to be inside.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Today I am all finished with the governor changes. Luckily, I didn't have to make any changes to the crankshaft nor any of the other engine frame parts. I did machine and add the Farm Boy style governor with sliding sleeve on the crankshaft, a new push rod, and a new push rod guide. The lockout lever also changed. I had to relocate the condenser form the side of the engine to the back of the engine to get some additional flywheel clearance. Since the flywheel with the starter hub switched to the other side of the engine, I had to retime the ignition and the valve timing, but that was a 5 minute job. The engine will now rotate in the opposite direction to what it did before. Now I have to dick about to find the proper spring strong enough to hold the governor counterweights in their "not engaged" condition at low rpm but weak enough to let the governor engage at about 500 rpm. That is always a guessing game until you find the right spring. I hope to start some trial runs this afternoon.---Brian

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Getting some awesome results here. New governor is working fine. Still tuning to find a happy speed, but looks very promising.