Member postings for kevin laxon

I would be very tempted to speak to the likes of Chester or Warco & such like as they all sold  clones of your machine.Kevin

Edited By kevin laxon on 18/09/2023 17:29:10

Noel, I had a leak on a wilesco roller & like you it turned out to be a poor solder joint between the boiler & sight glass housing, nothing to suggest being run dry, it took very little heat to dismantle the parts so I felt it was just soft solder & used good old leaded solder to make the repair, its been no problems since & fire many times.

If staying with conventional points/condenser ignition but using a twin outlet lost spark coil make sure you DONT get a coil for for electronic ignition, the resistance of the low tension side is much lower & you will almost certainly find if the engine stops with the points closed then the points will pass so much current they will glow red, if you cant find anything suitable then you could try fitting a ballast resistor in series with the coil but this will give you a weaker spark.

Michael,Mark & Bernard,as far as I can see the days of a model engineering society actually promoting model engineering seem to be long gone in preference for nothing more than public train running for financial reward, I for one miss the organised talks & club nights when like minded people had the chance to exchange knowledge & have a general friendly chat over a cuppa & biscuit. I also had good times running loco's on private members days with several friends, there was just one person that would turn up almost every time & announce "should we run for the public".needless to say I left the society.

Noel, being a well advanced engine of its day are different thickness head gaskets available relevant to piston protrusion above the block, you are probably aware this is standard practice today, I also am not convinced you have a problem with 400psi but clearly the odd cylinder is in trouble,can you measure the amount of valve travel before contacting the piston crown at tdc for good & bad cylinder this vould prove conrod length is correct before major work, I am fairly certain I can remember others struggling with the engines in that creature around 25/30 years ago.

assuming this has suddenly happened & it was ok after its rebuild then has it hydrauliced & bent a conrod, also does it use swirl flaps in the inlet manifold, does it have hydraulic adjusting cam followers, if it has pressed on cam lobes has one moved, is it breathing if so could be a ring, more info is really needed.

I dought it will be a fuse ,I would think it will be either tailgate wiring or possibly moisture failing that it could be a Can Bus fault between the control ECU & slave unit in the boot,I would personally start by disconecting the battery for 10 mins then re-connecting(at your risk) & dont leave the keys in the car at the time & you may need a radio code !!.

p.s. there may be a given procedure for this in the handbook.

Edited By kevin laxon on 31/01/2022 10:16:40

I think the root depth of the groove should be 1/16th giving 10 thou clearance under the ring.

I have always been of the opinion that Soldering is with temperatures below 450c & above 450c is Brazing.

If  the motor rateing is 750watt or less then a 3A fuse should be fine especially as its a variable speed machine & starts at low speed.

Edited By kevin laxon on 16/11/2021 18:09:34

I had the job of repairing a Mamod roller boiler years ago where the solder had failed & let the inserts turn,the entire boiler appeared to be brass as did the insert's,all joints were soft soldered, one think that struck me was the entire internal surface of the boiler was tinned,I can only assume to stop the Brass coming into contact with water & hence prevent dezincification,could this be the case??.

I agree with others,check the motor capacitor,you will probably have to remove a plate from the base & dont be supprised if it has bulged or even exploded.

some doors have rf transmitters bottom & top for end sensing,these normally have fairly well hidden AA batteries in units on the inside of the door,it may well be that the batteries need replacing hence no end of travel sensing,has to be worth a look!!.

As far as I can tell: Red +ve,Black -ve & Violet is control voltage so will probably be PWM signal for variable speed or less likely variable dc again to change speed,I would think these are specificly designed to be controlled by the heating & ventilation ECU,incorrectly connecting this will allmost certainly destroy internal control electronics so tread carefully & make sure of connections before you try them.

Sorry I do not know this engine but have found a video of one running on youtube,20° sounds plenty enough advance I would of thought half that would be good enough to start with or maybe even less,are the contacts on the Crank or cam?? & at what point does the spark occur at the moment.Kevin

Frank your spark should not be just before the inlet valve opens,it should be one complete flywheel revolution after that point this is assuming the ignition contacts are running from the cam gear.a bit more information on the type of engine would be helpfull.Kevin.

A friend has made several hit & miss open crank barn engine's,we have found the one's that jump about as a rule of thumb don't have the couterweights on the inside of the flywheel rim 180° from the crank pin,some also have the flywheel lightened inline with the crank pin,I know of the centaur but have had no dealings with one,hopefully others will know more.

after altering the wiring you must activate the switch & then switch the power feed off & back on to confirm it resets,using the power feed & output the wrong way round will cause the contactor to pull in as soon as power is applied.

there should be alink wire from pin 5 to either 1 or 3,there should be a schematic on the side of the relay.Kevin.