Chuky in progress

Thought I would make an engine and I liked the Chucky that Jason did recently. My work so far.

David

You look to be off to a good start.

Made the chimney and the spindle support bracket silver soldered ok.

David

Just got a lump of cast iron for the cylinder so I shall be starting mine over the Easter hols.

Made a start on a few more bits for Chucky Flywheel, crankshaft and cam. Do I need to balance the flywheel?

David

Hi David,

Flywheel looks well made, does it need balancing?

Assuming you have a reamed hole in the centre, why not make a small length of shaft lightly centre drilled at both ends, slide it through the hole and set it up between centres on the M type. If there is a grub screw in the flywheel lock it on the shaft. Just spinning the wheel will give you an immediate indication of whether it is out of balance which I would say is unlikely.

Just my thoughts David, I'm up early this morning, you may get a better answer later in the day!

Keep posting David, I like this engine a lot

Did not bother to balance mine.

If you are really worried why not try it in a few positions to balance out the piston/conrod.

Getting nearer to completion I haven't tried to run it yet as I have to make the wooden base and I am a bit worried about the shutter valve on the outside. Has it got to be an airtight seal as I can get a feeler between it and body.

David

The best way to see if things are working correctly is to gently turn the engine over in a clockwise direction looking at the shutter face, as the piston goes down you should hear the noise from the valve opening, if your shutter is too lose then the air will come out that way rather than through the valve, it should take very little effort to turn the engine this way.

If you now turn it anticlockwise there should be a lot of resistance as the piston rises as the valve and shutter should be closed.

If that snot clear let me know and I'll take a short video.

A slight bend in the shutter rod will push it further against the face but go gently as you don't want more friction than needed.

Engine is looking good so far.

J

CHUKY LIVES !!!!! I have it running today it just needs a base turning. I didn't realise that it runs very hot and until it gets up to a certain temperature it wont work.

David

Well done George.

It may well run sooner once it has settled in a bit. At first mine took quite a few flicks of the flywheel before it started to warm up and would then start to run. The last time I ran it the first flick blew the flame out so moved the burner away slightly and it was up and running on the next turn of the flywheel.

As you say it gets quite hot but again with time you should be able to turn the flame down a bit which helps keep the temp down.

Nice one George.

It's a fun project.

Rod

Finally Finished the flame licker.

David

Looks great George, I like the red base it sets off the darker cylinder well.