Ransome Mill engine weighted flywheel?

[Andrew EntwistleParticipant @andrewentwistle]

Hi,

I have just started construction of the Hemingway Ransome Mill engine and when setting up the flywheel on a faceplate I noticed that there is quite a runout on the inside diameter of the rim with respect to the rim outer, groove and the hub. I wonder is this intentional to provide balance weight against the reciprocating action? There is no mention of this in the drawings or in the ME construction article from 2001.

Andrew.

[Andrew EntwistleParticipant @andrewentwistle]

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I don't think it is designed to be balanced.

Its usual to set the INSIDE of a cast flywheels rim to run true as that is the hardest part to clean up and then machine the rim and bore to suit, in a bad case the outside of the hub may also want a quick pass to clean that surface up. At least thats the way I always set them up.

J

[Andrew EntwistleParticipant @andrewentwistle]

Thanks Jason, it is reassuring to hear that the eccentricity is not likely to be to do with balancing – because I have already machined the inside of the rim true to a profile using a silver steel form tool and the rotary table! I think this approach was unavoidable because the inside was simply not round. I did a quick calculation of the mass of the eccentric material removed as around 20g which only represents about 4% of the rim mass of the 7" flywheel.

Andrew.

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