Anybody ever use an aluminum lovejoy coupling with a Changfa to direct drive an st head?
How did it work out? Is aluminum strong enough to take the hammering?
Ron
What size Changfa? I know the larger Changfa's from S195 and up need a good size coupling of at least a 40 hp rating. The reason is the power stroke of a large single cylinder. I do have a coupling that I have in mind. It is designed for 1, 2 and 3 cylinder engines. I will post it later tonight.
Henry
Ron
You can get a nice lovejoy coupler half attached to a adapter to fit your engine from George at utterpower.com. It will bolt to your flywheel and they work great. It will save you a lot of time and trouble if you get one already made up and ready to bolt on.
flywheel
Hello Ron,
I believe you have an 1100. Personaly I would not trust the lovejoy you posted. It is way to small. And steel would be a much better choice.
Henry
Hello Flywheel,
That looks like the way to go if you are going to run a lovejoy. Any idea what the rating is.
Henry
Ron
I'm not certain what the rating is and I know they are made in different sizes. I believe this one is 150 size iirc, it 3.75" od. Lovejoy site may have hp ratings on their couplers.
flywheel
Hey, anybody wanna buy an aluminum lovejoy coupler? Cheap? ::)
Ron
Thanks for the input everyone, I am grateful for the help.
Flywheel, I have seen the adapter that George sells, I think Randy Allmand actually makes them. I believe they are machined from a
VW brake rotor. That's what I had in mind, but I was going to machine my own, and use the aluminum lovejoy half directly bolted to it.
Oh well, now for Plan "B".
Ron.
vdub, i used a lovejoy about 6" dia. on a 2 cyl lister running@ 1800 driving 10k st w/mixed results. when running @rated speed w/no load, it hamers and vibrates. when even lightly loaded, its dead smooth. alighnment is on point and frame ridgitity is not an issue. imo, the cushioning element is to close to the centre line of rotation. i am in the process of fabbing a plate to mount on gen shaft to hold 4 rubber isolators out near the rim of the flywheel. blink
Belt drive ?
Veggie
That aluminum coupler will definitely will not stand up to the abrupt accel/decel pulses of a diesel single. 10 years ago I had one of those couplers on a Ducati 11 horse and it lasted less than an hour before blowing the motor side ears off.
Personally, I would rather have a heavy cloth wrapped B series v belt on large cast pulleys than any fancy lovejoy type coupler. Think big on the pulleys, 12 inch cast pulleys will add a great kick to your flywheel for starting refrigerators and other capacitor start motor loads. Large pulleys don't slip, absorb power pulses, and have very low losses. Plus you can run any RPM you want. Run your engine on the torque peak for maximum efficiency.
TimSR2
Quote from: hwew on November 06, 2009, 11:36:38 AM
What size Changfa? I know the larger Changfa's from S195 and up need a good size coupling of at least a 40 hp rating. The reason is the power stroke of a large single cylinder. I do have a coupling that I have in mind. It is designed for 1, 2 and 3 cylinder engines. I will post it later tonight.
Henry
Well guys this is what I wanted to post yesterday. I found this early this week.
http://www.guardiancouplings.com/productline/superflex.htm
They claim it is designed for 1,2, 3 and 4 cylinder engines.
They claim it can hold up to our application.
I copied this description:
SUPERFLEX
Super Elastic Coupling
The Guardian SUPERFLEX Coupling consists of two cast iron (GGG40) hubs, a super elastic flexible rubber element of 55° shore "A" hardness, and bolts with self locking nuts required for assembly.
The rubber elements are provided with an outer metallic band that is to be removed after mounting. This allows the rubber to expand from its original pre-stressed condition. As a result of this, the allowable torsional load of the rubber element is influenced favorably, i.e., a lower tensile stress and a higher permissible vibratory torque load.
The SUPERFLEX Coupling has been used world-wide on a variety of applications including light towers, gen-sets, compressors, welding sets and other construction machinery with large driven inertias.
With a service factor of 2.7 I was looking at the SF-16.
Henry
Check out the Lovejoy Saga Couplings.
http://www.lovejoy-inc.com/uploadedFiles/Catalogs/sp.pdf
I need to look into these.
Henry
Wow! That's a lot of options. Ya"ll are really doing your homework here. Ok just to start, I detest Vee-belts! For me they are an
absolute last resort. I know the are indispensable, cheap, and set up correctly they work great, personally I don't like 'em.
Now, the Guardian and the Lovejoy Saga connectors, hmmm, they look suspiciously like a Mercedes rubber U-joint.
And they hold better that a hundred horsepower. Now that definite has do-it-yourself possibilities! A complete driveshaft at Pull-A-Part goes for under $20.
Any comments?
Ron
I believe the 1993 240 volvo uses them also I need to crawl under my 240 to check it out.
Henry
Well I could not resist. I looked under the 1993 240 Volvo 5 spd std. and they do have a nice system that looks like it will work. I know it it is origional and the Volvo has over 260,000 miles.
Henry
Yes! Go Henry! I love it, just what I need, encouragement for yet another one of my hare-brained schemes. Ah yes! My Evil Plan is starting to come together!
Well you got me thinking anyway. I know when that happens, because I start smelling smoke.
Well I am not going to take apart my volvo and use the parts for my project. The 1993 volvo iwith a 5 spd very rare to find.
But what can be done is find a rubber section that is commonly used in cars and machine a plate to mount on engine of choice. And machine another plate to accept SK bushings.
Time to run an add for a good reliable Machinest.
Henry
Quote from: vdubnut62 on November 08, 2009, 07:00:30 AM
Yes! Go Henry! I love it, just what I need, encouragement for yet another one of my hare-brained schemes. Ah yes! My Evil Plan is starting to come together!
Well you got me thinking anyway. I know when that happens, because I start smelling smoke.
I just thought of somthing.
Can the the flex couplings flex sideways? Before we start building something with them we need to check and see if they do.
Henry
Why sure they can flex sideways Henry. Look under that Volvo again and see if the drive shaft is perfectly straight and in alignment with the tranny and rear diff. Remember, the diff moves up and down with the suspension unless it's IRS, I have never owned a Volvo.
These things must work pretty well, they are used by Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, Cadillac, and probably a bunch more people that I haven't stumbled over. Below are the operating specs from the Lovejoy site for the Saga coupler. I would think that the automotive application would probably tolerate a little more permanent mis-alignment.
No End thrust in misalignment position
· Absorbs misalignment and shock
· No axial reaction force to damage or accelerate wear in system bearings
· Accepts constant angular misalignment of up to 3º
· Parallel tolerance of 0.060 (1.5mm), while reaction force remains low
· Lateral softness without complication, or sacrifice of performance or durability
· Natural rubber can operate in temperatures from -60 to +200ºF (-51º to 93ºC).
Ron
Ok guys here is what I came up with, the parts are from a V-8 Mercedes so I doubt that the "Mighty Xing Dong" will have very much
luck in pushing the mechanical limits of the coupler. I have to locate a 6" steel slug to machine the generator half from. I'll keep you posted!
Ron
Ron
It appears to me that your coupler is a long way out from the flywheel. The farther out it is the harder it will be to have it run true without any wobble (think vibration).
Have you considered using a belt around the flywheel? Another option would be a drive adapter from George at www.utterpower.com , they work great and have a coupler half attached.
flywheel
I did think about a serpentine belt around the flywheel, but then I would have to have a pulley custom made that would be huge. the engine is rated at 2000 rpm, the generator head is an 1800 rpm head, and the flywheel rim is 16 3/4 inches in diameter!
George Breckenridge of Utterpower fame will hook you up with Randy Allmand and he will build a custom direct drive setup for you that mates to a
Lovejoy coupler. I decided to go with a rubber donut type primarily because of the damping effect of the rubber ring, and I wanted to be able to say that I "made it myself".
And yes, the coupler IS too far out from the flywheel, I just stuck it in there for my own satisfaction and to see how difficult it's going to be to center up. The pulley will be indicated in on the lathe, bored to size, then a insert pressed and welded in, and then the insert bored to size to fit the driveshaft, which will also be welded. That will leave the vee grooves available for future use driving a compressor and alternator.
The generator half will use an SK type bushing so it will not vibrate loose, instead of set screws like a lovejoy coupler.
Anyway that's the plan.
Ron
Here is the setup on the "Great Walla Walla Xing Dong" for my home built coupling, now it's waiting for sandblasting, welding and paint.
I have plenty of slack in the OEM pulley to indicate everything in, it's within .010 just stuck together.
Turns out that I scored a big chunk of some really tough aluminum alloy, so that's what the generator end is going to be made of. I have a great big pile of aluminum swarf already, and its a gittin' bigger!
Ron.