TWIN CYLINDER TITAN

[Brian Rupnow]

My good wife bought me an "engine book" for Christmas this year "The Engines of Doug Kelley" from Village Press Publications. This book has four excellent engine designs in it, including a twin cylinder horizontal engine, the "Titan". I have spent the last 3 or 4 days modeling the "Titan" in 3D Solidworks software. I increased the bore from 0.9" to 1" but kept the stroke the same. I went from two individual cylinder heads to a single cylinder head which covers both cylinders. I am terribly sick of winter and wanted to design something, and this engine gave me the chance. It is water cooled and requires building a small circulating pump, which I haven't modelled yet. I have other projects on the go here, but took a break from them to design this one. I have numerous other single cylinder horizontal engines, but this will be my first twin, if I build it.----Brian

 

[ShopShoe]

Brian,

I like this one a lot. I can almost hear it running in my head. Lots of motions to watch and wonder.....

Excuse my kibitzing, but I do feel that it needs a belt pulley on the shaft as it might power some of your mechanical toys in a display.

--ShopShoe

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Shopshoe---Thanks for commenting. You will notice that the crankshaft extends a small bit beyond the flywheel on one side. My plan was to make up a pulley, bore it for the crankshaft diameter, and bolt it to the spokes on one side of the flywheel.---Brian

 

[cheepo45]

That's a good looking motor.
Looks like a great project.
Scott

 

[Brian Rupnow]

I just used one of my software features to check and see how many individual components there were. Without counting springs or bolts, there are 141 individual pieces. That should keep me off the streets until we get some warm weather here.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Does anyone have a source for 10-40 thread sparkplugs in Canada or USA? I just contacted Viper in USA and they want $35 each for their plugs. Add in shipping and the exchange on the Canadian dollar and I'm paying $100 for two sparkplugs. That's a bit steep, even for the Rupnow fortune!!---Brian

 

[Fidlstyks]

Does anyone have a source for 10-40 thread sparkplugs in Canada or USA? I just contacted Viper in USA and they want $35 each for their plugs. Add in shipping and the exchange on the Canadian dollar and I'm paying $100 for two sparkplugs. That's a bit steep, even for the Rupnow fortune!!---Brian

I make my own. Cold rolled steel, Solid teflon, drillrod for the electrode.
I turn the teflon, with larger small ring fitted on the inside and I spin - like the outside like a flare, so it seals.
Temperature of a plug is contolled by how thin the electrode is, so I grind it thin. I jump the elclectrode to plug base. No loop, just the electrode.
Some times I make them 1/4-32, so a customber can buy a replacement. I make most of them 5/16-28 or 3/8-24.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Fidlstyks---I may have to build my own sparkplugs just to keep my costs under control. I was able to find the dimensions of a Viper Z3 sparkplug, and I have built my own sparkplugs before. If you have a detail drawing of the plugs you make, post it up here, otherwise I will design from scratch.----Brian

 

[Brian Rupnow]

So---Where have I been?--I've been working my buns off in the shop. I am creating the Rupnow-Titan engine, and it's been a lot of work. I just finished the cylinder head today. There are only ten pieces here, but they are not all simple pieces. I've even learned a couple of new machining tricks. I am going with electronic ignition. The two Viper Rimfire sparkplugs are going to cost over $100 Canada dollars, so I may make my own sparkplugs. Follow along, this may be my last engine before we get our Canadian summer.

 

[Sparky_SC]

I was hoping to see the prior ones sorted out and running before another try.