What did you do today (2015)

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Just returned from Elvington what a great bunch of lads and lasses and have details of the regulations regarding speed attempts.

I remember hearing Granddad Mike Grainger above many years ago on a Kawasaki in torrential rain doing a record at 220mph now he is a great deal quicker.

This chap Eric Patterson has many Bonneville records on a Brough Superior and this Vincent.

**LINK**

**LINK**

Sorry to ruin the next photo but what a machine.

Eric told me the Bonneville salt ruins every thing especially whilst in storage waiting for the machine to be returned to the UK

 

Edited By Windy on 21/07/2015 16:45:31

Edited By Windy on 21/07/2015 16:46:57

Edited By Windy on 21/07/2015 16:50:26

Edited By Windy on 21/07/2015 16:56:57

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

That Viscount does look good !!

A few pictures of some others, here

MichaelG.

[Swarf, Mostly!Participant @swarfmostly]

Posted by Windy on 20/07/2015 13:06:15:

SNIP

This one (in front) rather reminds me of the Allard in which the Librarian used to arrive each morning at EMI's plant at Feltham, Middlesex. Back in the sixties, that is. (Naming no names!)

Her husband was a much-published motor sport photographer. (Still naming no names!)

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

[john carruthersParticipant @johncarruthers46255]

Today I made a little flycutter and proved by deliberate empirical experiment that you get a better finish if the cutter is the right way round

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

This one (in front) rather reminds me of the Allard in which the Librarian used to arrive each morning at EMI's plant at Feltham, Middlesex. Back in the sixties, that is. (Naming no names!)

Her husband was a much-published motor sport photographer. (Still naming no names!)

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

I think its a road converted D-type.

Neil

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, well not today but Sunday afternoon just gone, there was a Forties Weekend in King's Lynn **LINK** but I've only now had time to post a couple or three photos. So I went into King' Lynn to have a look at the replica MK805, which took over 25 years to complete.

There were a few cars of the period also on display, but another attraction was the original Corporal Jones' butchers' van that was used in the BBC's TV series of Dad's Army.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 21/07/2015 20:01:18

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

On the subject of record breakers:-

Bluebird K3 was at the Thames Trad Boat Rally in Henley last Weekend.

Apparently it was found in pieces and completely rebuilt, a fast (ish) run was scheduled with appropriate dispensation regarding exceeding the usual Thames speed limit.

I was there on Saturday, unfortunately a start line failure of some sort prevented the run from occurring, but the engine (s) did sound wonderful when run up earlier..

I do not know if the Sunday run happened or not.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by V8Eng on 21/07/2015 22:30:43:

On the subject of record breakers:-

Bluebird K3 was at the Thames Trad Boat Rally in Henley last Weekend.

.

… and the car ran at Pendine Sands, today

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 21/07/2015 22:35:47:

Posted by V8Eng on 21/07/2015 22:30:43:

On the subject of record breakers:-

Bluebird K3 was at the Thames Trad Boat Rally in Henley last Weekend.

.

… and the car ran at Pendine Sands, today

Yes just seen that on the News, brilliant efforts all round!

Edited By V8Eng on 21/07/2015 22:44:38

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

I am preparing to start my 200 cc flat twin that I built many years ago. It needed a new propellor as the one that was on the engine was as much good as a chocolate fire guard, from new the centre hole was about 1/4" off centre from the centre line of the blades. I could only find a 38" x 10 pitch prop as the old guy that used to make them is no longer about. First off the new prop was thinner than the original by about 1/4" so I had to make a spacer to fit behind the prop, with that done I opened up the centre hole to suit the drive flange boss and drilled the six smaller holes for the pressure plate that fits behind the prop nut. Once this was done I fitted the prop.

I then checked the timing, the engine uses an old CH Electronics twin lead ignition system and it runs from a 4.5 volt NiCad battery the spark this thing produces is really healthy so I don't think there will be any ignition problems I set the ignition to 15 degrees BTDC. I then fitted a new fuel tank to the test frame so that everything was ready apart from my starter motor.

Tonight I thought I would get the starter sorted out. It is from a Ford Cougar and has a reduction gear on it so it should produce a fair amount of torque. I threw out the Rover V-8 starter that I used when I first built the engine during a house move thinking I wouldn't use it again, even with a reduction gear of about 5-1 it struggled to get the engine to turn over compression, especially if the battery was a bit low. I removed the starter pinion and drilled a cross hole in the shaft to take a drive pin so that it can engage with the prop nut.

The starter is fitted with a roller clutch so that on over run it disengages. I realised that the roller clutch was acting in the wrong direction for my engine so I spent all night figuring out how to get it to activate the other way round. This was done by turning the reduction gear around, however the clutch housing then fouled the pinion so I had to machine some of it away to give clearance. This took a long time but eventually I got it all back together. With it all back together I connected it to the battery and it whirred into life, unfortunately it rotates in the wrong direction. I thought, no problem, just swap the wires over to reverse the direction but this isn't the case.

Unless I can change the direction of rotation easily I can see me having to use two gears to enable it to rotate the prop in a clockwise direction.

Is it possible to change rotation of the motor easily?

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Bob,

Swap the field coil wires over.

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

I'm not sure if there is enough spare wire there to be able to do that but I will investigate.

[JAParticipant @ja]

Bob

"Is it possible to change rotation of the motor easily?"

Does the engine have an oil pump? If so, think!

JA

[Four stroke FredParticipant @fourstrokefred]

At the end of last week the S&M tractor was stripped down for a repaint and check out. I am now using an oil and petrol proof spray paint as this is a more durable finish. While the paint was drying and needing to resist the temptation to fiddle with it I decided to make some patterns for the scale model FN 4 cylinder engine. I did start to make drawings but as there were many compound curves I decided I would make the patterns and compare them with the full size engine. I used a form shape tool ( looks like a row of needles in a frame) which was then pressed against the engine. The shape was then copied onto some paper and reduced to the required scale on the photocopier. The photographs show the patterns in the making. The unfinished cylinder has 40 pieces of wood in its construction! I have yet to design and make the core boxes. Looking forward to another good day in the workshop tomorrow.

George (Bundaberg)

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

JA. not sure what you mean bout the oil pump. I presume you think I want to change the direction of rotation of the engine. I actually want the starter motor that I am trying to adapt as a Hucks type starter to turn in the correct direction.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Just a quick heads up, Cromwell are offering 6 carbide milling cutters from Swiss Tech. for £26.99 in this months news letter. They are 2 flute and come at:-3,4,5,6,8 and 10mm.They have 3 flute and 4 flute but correspondingly dearer.

Clive

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

John,

when you say swap the field coil wires over I am not to sure how to do this. The starter is from a negative earth system (DC). the positive wire comes into the motor from the solenoid. It splits into two and feeds into the stator there are two wires each at 180 degrees to the positive inlets that come from the stator to the armature via the brushes. I presume to change direction I would have to swap the two wires that are currently going to the stator windings with the two wires that come from the brushes?

I would have posted a picture but I am about to head off to the north east after lunch and just haven't time. I will respond to any replies later today, if I have internet access (Most likely).

[JAParticipant @ja]

Bob

Apologies. I misunderstood you last sentence.

There is a story from the days of piston aircraft engines – A small company was asked to design and develop a single cylinder aircraft auxiliary engine. Since their chief engine had worked at Bristol Engines he decided it was to be a sleeve valve engine. When it came to the first run it it would not start for love or money. Finally someone looked at the drawings and realized that the ports in the sleeve were the wrong way round Therefore all that was needed was to run the engine backwards. Over night the magneto was repositioned, so that it ran in the correct direction, and the ignition was re-timed. Next day the engine started immediately only to stop with a horrible screech about fifteen seconds later.

JA

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

JA,

I am used to engines with both reciprocating oil pumps such, as used in Triumph motorcycles among others and gear pumps. I probably wouldn't have thought of the consequences of reversing the direction of rotation of a four stroke engine without altering the gear pump.

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Fred,

that looks like a nice piece of work on the FN moulds. I look forward to seeing further progress.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Bob, On the starter motor, sounds OK but a picture later would be nice.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Yesterday actually.

Took a little 4" table belonging to a friend and fitted a stepper motor to it.

It is only a cheap table and very basic in the build up but it's all he has.

So a bit of hammering, bodging, no welding for once and a tad of common sense and we get this.

Came out better than I thought it would on backlash give the crudeness of it. Think he'll be quite happy with it.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Remember the stereo loco pic a while ago?

Stereophotography is a passionm of Brian May and when he visited Nasa recently he fiddle with some pluto images to make this:

Right click and 'view image' then zoom in and out to get a comfortable viewing size.

Details here:

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/rock-starastrophysicist-dr-brian-may-goes-backstage-with-new-horizons

Neil

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Neil, not seeing "view image" in my right click menu. Is that an Apple / IE / Firefox thing? Running W7 / Chrome here…

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

Hi John,

just about to leave but have taken three or four pictures of the motor innards and I will try to post them tonight if I get a good enough internet signal.

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