Hi all,
I was at the steel merchants a while ago and came across an offcut of 5 schedule 80 pipe. I've wanted to make a flywheel out of heavy duty pipe for a while so I bought the offcut.
I managed to make the flywheel although the 5 pipe was at the very limit of what I could handle on my SC4 lathe and 4 dividing head.
Having made the flywheel, I then wanted to incorporate it into an engine. I wanted it to be a twin cylinder but I didn't want to go to the trouble of making a crankshaft. The problem with this is that with piston con rods sweeping across both ends of the flywheel shaft, I couldn't have a power takeoff shaft sticking out. I know most of our engines are only ornamental, but I think that - in theory at least - they should be capable of doing work.
I therefore came up with the cunning plan of machining grooves into the periphery of the crank discs so that - in theory - I can run a belt off them to a shaft which will perform some work.
The engine I ended up with is shown in the photos below. It runs quite slowly and will operate at air pressures down to 3psi.
I have attached a set of drawings and notes if anyone else wants to make one. Mind you, if I was doing it again I would go for some 4 pipe rather than 5.
Regards,
Alan C.
View attachment Drawings.pdf
View attachment Notes.pdf
I was at the steel merchants a while ago and came across an offcut of 5 schedule 80 pipe. I've wanted to make a flywheel out of heavy duty pipe for a while so I bought the offcut.
I managed to make the flywheel although the 5 pipe was at the very limit of what I could handle on my SC4 lathe and 4 dividing head.
Having made the flywheel, I then wanted to incorporate it into an engine. I wanted it to be a twin cylinder but I didn't want to go to the trouble of making a crankshaft. The problem with this is that with piston con rods sweeping across both ends of the flywheel shaft, I couldn't have a power takeoff shaft sticking out. I know most of our engines are only ornamental, but I think that - in theory at least - they should be capable of doing work.
I therefore came up with the cunning plan of machining grooves into the periphery of the crank discs so that - in theory - I can run a belt off them to a shaft which will perform some work.
The engine I ended up with is shown in the photos below. It runs quite slowly and will operate at air pressures down to 3psi.
I have attached a set of drawings and notes if anyone else wants to make one. Mind you, if I was doing it again I would go for some 4 pipe rather than 5.
Regards,
Alan C.
View attachment Drawings.pdf
View attachment Notes.pdf
