Member postings for Brian John

After much fiddling about and trying many things, I have realised that this burner as built cannot be fitted with horizontal adjustment. Any horizontal adjustment would mean raising it higher and even 4mm higher places it too high. I think the vertical adjustment on this is totally superfluous : at its lowest setting is where it is supposed to be so why raise it higher ?

Having ascertained that the burner must be fitted flat to the wooden base, then that means the adjustment wheel must hang over the edge and that means bringing the engine base in closer. The diagrams show the engine base to be right on the edge at the other end but that would mean it would be about 20mm from the burner flame...not very useful ! The engine base must be 18mm from the edge of the larger wooden base and this should put it in the correct place (hopefully). I have had to take the whole thing apart to redrill two more holes so I can shift the engine base.

NOTE 1 : the instructions do not give any measurements for placement of the burner or engine on the wooden base.

NOTE 2 : perhaps reducing the length of the wick nozzle would allow for some vertical adjustment. I might try that if I build another of these engines.

Edited By Brian John on 09/07/2016 09:28:53

Edited By Brian John on 09/07/2016 09:29:52

Edited By Brian John on 09/07/2016 09:33:16

That would be a big help. I have a fairly good idea what I need to do but drawings would help clarify the matter. I am not sure why they have not supplied such a burner with this kit as it really does need to be adjusted in 2 axis.

If it was that easy to pick a lock then people would never lock themselves out of their houses but they do it all the time. It might look easy to pick a lock on youtube but then, playing the violin looks easy too....until you try it.

I got tired of waiting for those replacement parts from Germany. I am not sure what has happened there as they are usually very quick but I have decided to assemble the engine without the slide valves just to see how it all fits together at this point. There is still a slight tight spot between the piston and cylinder but I am hoping this will work itself out ; the two large flywheels provide a lot of inertia and the engine rolls over quite readily.

If anybody is building this engine now then be warned that the diameter of the spigot on the main cylinder (part 20) is given as 20mm but this is too big for the hole in the cylinder bracket (part 19). I had to reduce it down to 19.4mm to get it to fit. Even at this reduced diameter the spigot was still too big for the supplied gasket which had to be trimmed with a scalpel blade in order to fit it between the cylinder and the cylinder bracket.

It does make me wonder why there is a gasket here at all ? Is it to reduce the heat transferring to the cylinder bracket ? I only soft soldered the cylinder bracket ; I think I should have hard soldered it. I will do that when the new parts arrive. The instructions do not say anything about it even though for all other parts they are very specific regarding soft or hard solder being required..

I have not fixed the burner in place yet. I am still thinking how I can install some sort of horizontal adjustment.

Edited By Brian John on 07/07/2016 13:51:54

This guy has put horizontal adjustment on his flame eater burner and I think it is a much better idea. I am hoping to copy that somehow.

**LINK**

I am still waiting for the replacement slide valves to arrive (accident with silver soldering) and the flywheels are being painted now (one more coat of Killrust red). All other parts are now ready for assembly. The diagram on the instructions shows the block on which the engine is mounted to be right at the end of the wooden base but this is not correct as then it would be too far from the burner. I have moved it in a bit but I still have to bring the burner in to meet it. To do this I have had to mount the burner on 4mm barrel washers otherwise the height adjustment wheel would not have sufficient clearance. The original design calls for it to hang over the edge of the wooden base.

I do like the idea of some sort of horizontal adjustment for the meths burner. I am open to suggestions as to how I can do that. I am thinking of two brass U shape rails and the burner can be slid along on this ?

I also do not like the cylinder bracket arrangement which relies on soft solder to support everything. It was pointed out to me earlier that the fillets are not doing much to support the bracket. The brass is not very thick so I am not confident of the strength of this part. I am thinking of making something else out of brass angle which you can see already cut sitting on the wooden base. I have also ordered replacements parts for this so I will experiment a bit when they arrive.

NOTE : shim washers, barrels washers...what is the correct term ? I tried to buy some here in Cairns and nobody even knew what I was talking about so I ended up making them myself.

Edited By Brian John on 03/07/2016 07:48:30

Edited By Brian John on 03/07/2016 07:54:59

All is going well and the bearing lock seems to be holding up. I have experimented with different D piston diameters and found that 12.7mm was very good. As luck would have it, that stainless steel D piston I made up some weeks ago is exacly that diameter so I decided to give it a go. It ran very slowly at about half the speed of the aluminium piston ; I think it is too heavy.

I noticed that the thread is badly rusted out. It has only been sitting in a cardboard box and I have never seen silver steel rust so quickly. Is this something to do with silver steel being in contact with brass which is in contact with stainless steel ?

Edited By Brian John on 30/06/2016 12:11:29

Edited By Brian John on 30/06/2016 12:12:37

I am using these :

**LINK**

I call them roller bearings but they often get called ball bearings on ebay. I have no idea what type of bearings they actually are. They are used in roller skates and in-line skates.

Here is the specifications for the 8609 retaining compound. My bottle says fix time is 30 minutes but the website says 10 minutes...I would say about 30 seconds so be careful !

http://www.chemtools.com.au/product/adhesives-threadlockers/retaining-compounds/general-purpose-2/

Edited By Brian John on 29/06/2016 08:37:18

I use this tool on my small optimum lathe and it works well. The height has to be exact so you may have to experiment with some shims but when it is set up correctly it will whip right through brass and aluminium  with no problems. I have even cut stainless steel with it.

**LINK**

I bought an extra blade : one I keep with its original flat edge for recess cuts and the other one I put a sharp edge on it for parting off.

Edited By Brian John on 29/06/2016 08:21:09

I am that chap...listen to Hopper ! The C0 is way too small. Buy the Sieg C2 or C3 (or their equivalent size in other brands) otherwise you will soon run into limitations as to what you can do on a smaller machine.

Edited By Brian John on 29/06/2016 08:13:34

I tried the engine with four roller bearings (two per side) and it was no better. It seemed like a good idea last night but I don't know why I thought that !

I purchased some bearing retaining compound (Chemtools 8609 from Coles Air Tools) . It only took a very small amount. It says fixture in 30 minutes and full cure in 24 hours but it gripped in about 10 seconds. It was a good thing I had the correct position marked and that I did not have to adjust it afterwards ; that would not have been possible. I cleaned all the surfaces of oil using methylated spirits prior to using the bearing lock so I am confident that it should hold.

I think this has solved my problem but I will run it a few more times before I declare it a success.

Could I have used Loctite (222 or 263) thread locker for this ?

Michael : I probably forget to zero my digital callipers before measuring ; either way it is NOT 6.0mm. Your idea of using bearing lock is a good idea but I want to see if I can avoid using it for now. I think there are things to be learnt here.

Minitech supply my silver steel and I don't think they give a specification but I will check with them tomorrow.

I might try fitting two sets of roller bearings in each bearing support. There is enough room to do that. I have no idea why that should be any better...just a hunch !

But in case nothing else works, I will buy some bearing lock tomorrow morning

NOTE : I have just tested a new 12.9mm piston and it goes like the clappers. ID of the cylinder is14.5mm. No more testing required on this point.

Edited By Brian John on 28/06/2016 14:58:47

Edited By Brian John on 28/06/2016 14:59:46

I will use bearing lock as a last resort but I should not need it. My 6mm ground silver steel is all 5.94/5.95mm. Is this correct ?

I have got this engine running well now by making adjustments to the D.piston diameter ; further experiments with piston diameter should result in more improvements. It will now run for longer than 20 minutes but the crankshaft keeps slipping sideways in the bearings causing the flywheel and crank arms to rub on the bearing supports. I did not have this problem with the first engine I built but I do not know the diameter of the crankshaft in that one.

I have found it is better to solder the brass collar first in case excess solder has to be removed. The end cap can then be soldered on with the hot cap in an inverted position. Also, I can machine off most of the brass end cap until it is almost parallel with the stainless steel tube and I can then place it all the way into the lathe chuck so that I can machine the underside of the brass collar again if need be. See the photo for the end results.

But I have another problem with the bearings. The silver steel rod I am using all seems to be a bit undersized at 5.93mm and this is a loose fit in the roller bearings. This is allowing the axle/crank to move sideways and the flywheel rubs on the brass frame causing the engine to stop. I have tried a number of things but nothing is working. I have used these roller bearings in the bearings supports before with no problem so I am not sure what is going wrong here. It is a standard item with the Beng's kits. Perhaps the previous axle was slightly larger in diameter. There is not much between too big and too small !

Any suggestions would be welcome ? I thought 6mm ground silver steel was supposed to actually be 6.0mm ...mine is all 5.93mm ?

Edited By Brian John on 26/06/2016 15:07:07

Edited By Brian John on 26/06/2016 15:09:51

Edited By Brian John on 26/06/2016 15:11:39

Well, I did it and now the engine does not work at all. My goodness...these things are fickle ! I will make up another hot cap but I will use the thin walled stainless steel tubing from now on as I know that works.

Ian : This has been very successful. The engine ran for the full 20 minutes of the meths burner ; I am surprised at the difference. Tomorrow I will reduce the diameter along the whole length of the cylinder. I am not sure why I didn't think of this myself...it is much easier then using a boring bar to reduce the wall thickness from the inside !

Jason, I had something similar in mind (my idea was much more complicated) but I was not sure if it would work. I will give that a go tomorrow.

NOTE : I am not keen on filing it off by hand (yet), as that could damage the flat surface on the underside of the collar.

Michael W : what do you mean by ''studding'' ?

Edited By Brian John on 23/06/2016 10:17:37

Edited By Brian John on 23/06/2016 10:20:30

I have reduced the diameter over about 1/2 of the length : from 15.7mm down to 15.2mm. It was no problem to do this as I put a small centre hole in the end of each hot cap I make before I solder it onto the tube. I was surprised at what a good finish I got on the stainless steel (0.1mm cuts). This was not even on auto feed. I wish I could get such a good finish on brass !

NOTE : I have not tried it out yet.

I did post a photo...it was there last night !

It is hard solder. It might be easier to bin it and make a new one but I am interested to know if this can be done.

Edited By Brian John on 23/06/2016 02:03:38