Team Build - I'll try a different approach.....

[charlesfitton]

I need direction as to the perfect engine to fill this requirement....

In two days , Myself and another tech teacher are going to try to start a club at the secondary school where we teach.

I have total access to the machine shop.
9 lathes
4 v mills
1 horiz mill.

Adequate tooling, and what isn't covered by budget I can purloin, I'll pay for.

We have several reasons for this club...

We're interested,
We want the kids interested in the hobby and the trade, and
We want to foster interest in the machine shop as many of these are being gutted by the school boards (you can do it all on line instead...)

So we have the option to build engines ( the first sets anyway ) on an assembly line basis. For the rest of this school year the shop isn't scheduled for anything that will interfere with the setups.

We're planning a half hour a few days a week before school. if we can get (and keep) the kids interested.

We'll sneak in the shop skills like measurement, filing, set-up, and layout as we go along, And after a few set projects we will let the advanced ones select their own projects.

Can the collective wisdom reccommend a design which we can use for this project?

Many Thanks.

 

[rleete]

Go with the newbie engine developed by the members here.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=6259.0

 

[stevehuckss396]

Take a look at the HOSC engine in the file section. It has less than 10 parts and if you come even close to the drawing, it will run.

I have drawn the plans for a 2X size and it has been built and run. 2 inch flywheel, base is about 3 inch square. Decent size for the beginner. I can send the plans.

 

[Deanofid]

Hi Charles;

That's a good thing you're working on here, getting young people involved in real stuff before they are all convinced they just have to push a button to get something done.

The project that Rleete linked to was done up with first timers in mind. Most everything on it can be cut as a basic shape from stock materials, only needing a small amount of machining to finish up the stock.

Check out Steve's suggestion too, and be sure to look through the downloads section. Look at the left column on the forum page, select "Menu", and then click on "Downloads and uploads".

You might also check a search engine for "bar stock wobbler" or "bar stock oscillator". A very simple engine type that lends itself to fairly quick construction, and they run well without needing NASA type tolerances.

Best of luck!

Dean

 

[rake60]

Since you have more lathes available than other machines, I have been
looking for a design that involves more turning than milling.

I'll keep searching my archives here.

Rick

 

[user 1493]

The River Queen Open Column Launch Engine has more lathe work than mill work. It could be jazzed up by beading the columns. It is small enough that the material costs could be kept low.

 

[Philjoe5]

Here's a link to a model engine built by a group of students:

http://npmccabe.tripod.com/45engine.htm

Cheers,
Phil

 

[kf2qd]

I uploaded some plans a while back for a .60 2-stroke model airplane type engine built out of 2 inch blocks of aluminum, a cast iron sleeve and a steel crankshaft. It was designed for a lab project for a machine tool practice lab I taught to green-horns while I myself was also a student. They could be completed in about 45 hours of lab time. (as one -offs, not a production problem) Most of the work was done in a 4 jaw chuck on a lathe, with some (or all) work on the crankcase done on the mill. (actually I made a fixture to hold the crankcase cube on the rotary table and machined some of them entirely on the mill) The lab had 10 lathes and 2 Bridgeports.