how i made the B.J.Cicada Model Diesel Engine

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Hallo Werowance,

Thank you for your compliments about my B.J.CICADA model diesel engine.
I must say that i do n't have much experience in making model engines.It was one of the 4 engines i made till now.The first engine a Boll Aero 1,8 cc was made during the Winter of 2007.I just started a new project making a model glow engine with a cilinder capacity of 8 cc.It's a one Cilinder long stroke engine again and is a hughe engine.We'll see were this ends.
The material for your Cicada Crankshaft can be LN 24 Steel or EN24 or EN36
or anything in reasonable steel will do.I used a normal kind of mild steel
to make the Cilinder from and it worked great so it's better to choose a kind of steel which is n't to hard because of the reaming/lapping and honing work that later needs to be done.
A good advice be sure that your transfer grove which comes half into the Cilinder stops half way the exhaust port so do n't let the transfer grove go deeper than the exhaust port.The engine will not work or can n't start and run either.
I hope that you can use my advice and if you do need more answers on questions please feel free.

greetings from modelmotor.
 
Thank you, i am shoping for some 1214 steel as suggested by JasonB in my build for the cylinder, hopefully i can source some, 12L is easy to find. finding it without the L is proving to be difficult. i used a grade 5 bolt to make the crank with. pressed in drill rod pin for the rod journal.

I really like your engine. i hope to have a runner by summer time. fingers crossed.
 
Hallo Necchiom,

Thanks for the compliments you gave me.It makes me very happy when people like my engine.It's made without having much experience in model engine making and happily it ran already for 1 1/2 hour.
The engine felt great when i started it for the very first time.I even got a back or misfire from the engine and the propellor hit me over my fingers which was very painfull however it's just a very small model engine with just 1,4 cc cilinder displacement.

greetings modelmotor
 
Hallo Hussien,

Thanks a lot for the compliments you gave me for my 1,4 cc B.J.CICADA model diesel engine.This engine is worth to be built i can tell you.I made a couple of engine parts like the cilinderhead,ventury tube,propdriver from messing bar material which gives the engine a little bit of a classic/vintage look in my opinion.


many greetings from modelmotor.
 
Hallo Werowance,
That 1214 steel quality is a very good one to use for that purpose.I do made a list of materials you can use to make the separate parts from.
I just found a small version from that list so the complete one is laying somewere on my hobbyroom.I will make contact with you when i have found back the complete list with all the materials.You can use a High Torque Bolt mostly available for nearly nothing by a Agriculture repair factory.A Bolt which has a strenghts of 10,9 Nm or higher is ideal to make a Crankshaft from.The Crankpin can be made of Silver Steel which is good enough or when you go for more proffesional work you can take a needle from a needle bearing in the right size and press it at the right place into the Crankweb for example.I can tell you this cicada model engine runs also very good and without many problems if you use a lower class materials .
I will follow the making from your B.J.CICADA model engine on www.homemodelenginemachinist.com You do n't need to have CNC equipment to make this engine so many modellers who like to start making a model engine their own can make this model engine.

many greetings from modelmotor.
 
Hallo Model Engine Friends,

I put a small movie/clip on www.youtube.com made by my daughter Sharon.You can see the movie clip by typing in gerard1modelengine .You can see 4 short movies if you like.The last one made is the movie clip with the tittle "handmade modelengine august 2015".I have already ran this little CiCaDa model diesel engine for more then 2 hours and 15 minutes on which i am very happy of course.I had to run the little CiCada model engine half throttled because of all the noise that it made which could lead to problems with the many neighbours in the surrounding.
I hope you all like to see and hear my little CiCaDa model diesel engine running.

many greetings from modelmotor-Gerard-Europe.
 
Hi Jesse,
I just had a look at the website and saw that Herbie was some much quicker than i was.Sorry for that i hope you have a good plan from the CiCaDa engine now?I can make a copy if still need one so please feel free.
I am busy with a new engine the Boll 49 Model Glow Engine ,but at this time the temperatures in The Netherlands are at a very high level and now it's summertime so model engine making will take place in about a 4 weeks or so metal working will be great to do again that time.
Lots of succes with the making of your CICADA Model Diesel Engine and if you have a question about the engine please feel free of course.

many greetings from modelmotor-Gerard-The Netherlands-Europe.
 
Hi,

Love the engine you built by hand. Very nice.

Well, I've just gotten a 1.5cc diesel engine and I'm cleaning it up before I try to start it. But I've noticed that the contra-piston is really a tight fit at the top of the the cylinder sleeve. I had to use a wooden dowel to tap it out so I could polish the cylinder walls. Is it supposed to be this tight? With a lot of torque, I can push it down witht he compression adjustment screw on the cylinder head, but will normal cylinder pressure fore it back up with I back off on the compression screw?

Thanks.
 
Hallo Armandd,

Thank you for the compliments about my home made model engines.
I read that you have recieved a 1,5 cc model diesel engine.You have some questions about your model diesel engine.First it's better not to polish the cilinderwalls because of the fact that the manufactorer from that engine has done a great job by finding out what the best fit for that cilinderliner and piston is.By polishing those critical engine parts you take away some material and and so the good and proper fit from the piston in the cilinder liner.You do n't have to remove the contra piston out of the cilinder liner there is normally no reason for.By the way did you mark the contra piston and the liner at a sudden point otherwise the contra piston will never put back at exact the same posistion into that cilinder liner which is n't OK to do.
Indeed the compression adjustment screw is to adjust the compression by turning it in or out a little bit each time just a little bit so step by step it's all a question of model engine feeling for the moment the first fire up of the engine can come.
The compression mostly together with the first fire up explosion of the fuel mixture in the combustion head of the cilinder has normally enough power to push up the contra piston a little bit when you equally turn back the compression adjustment screw a little by little.
The starting from model diesel engines is a subject and a matter of feeling and interest of the modeller.You can read much about the subject model diesel engine on the internet so you only have to type in model diesel engine on www.google.com and i am sure when you read a bit through the pages you will find a lot of stuff to read about this type of model engine.On www.youtube.com you can see a couple of my engines running you only have to type in:gerard1modelengine ,but there are also many other model engine makers showing their most fantastic home made model engines.
I hope that you enjoy my home made engines running and i hope that you enjoy your own model engines at most.


Lots of succes from modelmotor-Gerard-The netherlands-Europe.
 

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