Wooden Engine/Generator frame

[vdubnut62]

Ouch! Really sorry about that guys. I should have given more information at the beginning.
Ron

[veggie]

vdubnut62 ,

I mounted my Changfa 195 on 4X4 runners with 4X4 cross braces before I built the metal frame.
It worked great.
The Changfa's have little vibration, so that's not a concern.
With your larger Changfa, perhaps 4X6's would be more appropriate.
I would not hesitate to mount your Changfa on a well built wooden base.

cheers,
veggie

[vdubnut62]

Well here is the mock up of the Frankenstein's monster.
Doggone thing is going to weigh close to 900 lbs, the white oak 4x10's aren't exactly light either. The crosspieces will be pinned in place with 4 inch and a half by eight inch oak dowels each after final alignment. The hopper and fuel tank is going to come off and be replaced with a radiator and boat tank for now.
Then I'll see what happens!(breaks)
Ron

[Geno]

I don't think that frame will break. I've got a lot more experience working with wood than steel and use it wherever I can.

Thanks, Geno

[BruceM]

That looks like the kind of marine wood engine mount that I've seen last more than 50 years.

Nice job, Ron.

[rbodell]

Has anyone built a wooden frame for a genset? How did it work for you? I am planning a ladder type  frame from 4"x10" white oak beams.
It will be bolted glued and dowelled together and lined with heavy angle iron under the engine and generator.
Just trolling for ideas.
Ron

To start with let me point out that my engine came well balanced and wouldn't move on a concrete floor not even bolted down. The more out of balance it is, the more it will take to hold it down.

My engine room floor is clay. I first buried two railroad ties level with the  surface of the ground. I them bolted the engine to two 4x8's and lag bolted the 4x8's to the railroad ties. You can not even feel it standing rite next to the engine and after 3 years it has not moved a bit.

[vdubnut62]

Just a quick update, I got really lazy and decided not to dowel the frame together. Too much work turning inch and a half oak dowels, plus problems with the through bolts in the way, so I lag bolted it together with half inch by eight inch long lags. After I drilled holes and lubed the lags, then had to run them in with a 1/2 inch impact, they'll hold, I have no doubt. Now with everything aligned and snugged up,
NOTHING moves .  The whole thing just sets there like it is bolted to the Earth's crust. I can feel/hear the hammering through my feet and the house kind of vibrates when I run it in the garage on the concrete. It's going to be permanently mounted in a shed about 50 feet away from the house, and I'll prob put a rubber mat under it.  I need to varnish all the wood framing too. Now I'm waiting on instrumentation, amps, volt and freq meters, (got the freq meters today) got the hour meter yesterday. Gotta find a subpanel and a transfer switch, whee!, it's starting to come together!

[rcavictim]

vw,

Can you explain the in-line coupler you are using? Perhaps post a close up picture?  I see the original V-belt pulley and am confused.  Did you incorporate that part into a DIY coupler?

[vdubnut62]

Well, it's kinda convoluted, but here goes.......
this is the end of a V-8 Mercedes drive shaft that I "liberated" from a scrap yard. (pic 1)

This is the rubber biscuit from the same. (pic 2)

And this is how I put it all together. (pic 3)
Please don't look at my welding, it resembles piles of chicken poop!
The end of the cutoff driveshaft was a very snug fit on the flywheel bolt of the engine, after a little trimming and persuasion from a BFH
adjustable.(big freakin hammer)
I chucked up the vee pulley asembly and bored the inside to smooth it up, then turned a steel ring to fit the ID of the pulley and the OD of the piece of the driveshaft. Then I  just indicated everything in tacked it in place unbolted it and welded everything up solid.
The rubber biscuit is bolted to the end of the driveshaft piece and then to the aluminum adapter that I made to fit a standard taper bushing on the generator shaft.
Now I still have the Vbelt pulley available for future use and I can machine a serpentine groove in the OD of the aluminum adapter if I need it later.
In retrospect, if I had known about it then, this would have been a hell of a lot simpler.

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