Questions

[deadin]

“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
Of cabbages–and kings–

I want to talk about lubrication.
I just completed my 5th engine and each has been a learning experience.
The 1st was the "Pip-Squeek". It runs fine and I learned to not work in steel unless you have to.
2nd was the "Elbow Engine" It doesn't run and I learned to not try something that was above a novice capability.
3rd was Brians Hit-Miss. Great runner! I learned to appreciate good plans. (Also learned that the fiddly-bits of the governor are beyond me at this time.)
4th was Brians Beam Engine. This one taught me that I must be getting better as it ran on the first try. ;D
My 5th (just completed) is the "H-Quad" by Ralph Weidman is the one I want to learn about air engine lubes.
When I first tried to run it, it would start up, run like crazy for 15 seconds or so and then bind up. If I let it set for awhile it would loosen back up and run again. Sounds like a major friction problem to me. It has steel pistons in brass cylinders. The wobbler shafts are brass in aluminum and the crank is steel in a bronze bearing. I'm not sure but I think it's the pistons in the cylinders that are causing the problem. It does seem to be getting better the more it runs, so is this just a matter of "wearing in" or should I be using some sort of lubrication?

Dean

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Deadin---Glad to know that you were able to use my plans, and glad you're enjoying the hobby. Post up some pictures for us please. As far as lubrication is concerned---Give everything on your engine a good liberal dose of any light lubticating oil, squirt some into the airline, and start it up, run up to mid-range speed, and let it run for 2 hours before shutting it off. These little engines need very little in terms of lubrication after the initial "run-in" period. If you can't get it to run longer than 15 minutes, coat everything with lots of oil, hook your variable speed drill up to the crankshaft, and let it run for an hour.----Brian

 

[deadin]

TWO Hours!!!
I guess I'd better learn to balance everything. A couple of them might shake themselves apart in two hours. ;D
As for pictures, I need to get past being happy to just get them to run and need to take a little more care regarding appearance before I post them. I don't want to be too embarrassed. (Besides, I need to learn how to create and post videos. I just got a "web-cam", haven't learned to use it yet.)