Tune up or whatever

johnreid · Tune up or whatever

I noticed last night that the shaft or flywheel was not turning every time the piston made a stroke on my Wilesco D10. After a short while the Crank Disk came off of the end of the Shaft! Things went everywhere. I reassembled it, but in the act of doing so I bent the shaft. After a long time with pliers and such I do believe that I straightened it and I think that the Disk is pressed on (it seems odd that it presses on as this would make changing the flywheel out difficult, has anyone here done this on a D10?
To bring up the point of this, I added washers between the Grooved Pulley and the support and with just the right thickness of washers, this thing now runs like a sewing machine ( at least that is the sound it makes ) I am suddenly seeing how this engine could drive something that creates some resistance, whereas beforehand I was thinking it would not be able to do much.
I know that you all know this already, but boy does it make a huge difference when things are adjusted just right.
I could be nuts, but it seems to run longer too, I timed a run earlier today at almost 20 minutes and I think I was getting about 10 or 12 before, however that could be due to the amount of water, how well the Esbit was burning, etc.
Cant wait to get my Mamod and see how it runs in comparison now.

tmuir

Of an engine hasn't been run for a while it will take a few runs to get it up to its true potential again.
I bought an Se3 that was in very bad shape, the pistons were stiff in the cylinders. On the first run it just chugged along, now after several runs it just about takes off.

johnreid

I bought this on Ebay, the fuel tray was still shiny and new, I honestly think it was unused. I have been messing with it for a little over a week now and am now seeing that little things make a big difference. IT ran out of the box, but to be honest I was a little disappointed at at poorly it seemed to run. Now I see that it required some tinkering with to perform properly. In fact that part flying off sure could have been disastrous, but I was running it outdoors, I sure can imagine the mess that it could have made indoors.

tmuir

Yes they can be hazardous.
Just ask MM who was running in one of his loco on blocks with a meths burner when it jumped off the blocks, shot across the table and landed on the floor in a ball of meths flames, it actually burnt the paint off his loco.

johnreid

tmuir

I live in a wood house on the top of a hill in the forest so I'm always very careful when I fire my engines. I like my engines but I like my house more.

Cranko

Go Careful guys, Any indoor exhibition we stage only allows electric engines to be run or the bigger gear on compressed air

johnreid

LOL my Air Compressor is so loud I would go deaf.

Wallace

Hi John.

To quote you:

To bring up the point of this, I added washers between the Grooved Pulley and the support and with just the right thickness of washers, this thing now runs like a sewing machine ( at least that is the sound it makes ) I am suddenly seeing how this engine could drive something that creates some resistance, whereas beforehand I was thinking it would not be able to do much.

Interesting you say that. I can't remember where I read it, maybe on a meccano site, but it said the use of washers like in the situation you used them drastically reduces friction. Ever since reading it I made sure all my mamods had them, and I have to agree it made a difference

oldstuff

A good point John. Most engines I've handled at least benefitted from
a tune-up or tweaking. Some even needed it in order to run at all!