Woo hoo!

[AdeV]

Finally, I ran my engine with the cooling system all plumbed in, with the flexi hose in place to reduce vibration at the tank (I need to fabricate a pipe grip to isolate the last of the vibration at the end of the rubber hose sections).

It's still a bit of a cow to fill up & get rid of all the air, but that's because I've got my filler & vent the wrong way around: I'm filling into the top, and the vent is at the bottom. Doh! I'll move some copper about to fix that next week.

However, once I'd got the system filled up, and the pump running, the hot water was circulating nicely I don't have the main tank plumbed in yet, so it could only cool to air - not particularly useful.

I'll take a few glamour shots tomorrow, it was getting late this evening by the time I'd finally located a fourth jubilee clip in the 1940's... I'm not sure if the engine will thermosyphon, as the water path is quite convoluted with lots of 90 degree elbows. But I don't mind pumping it... I'm using a regular central heating pump now, but the final system may use a mechanical pump driven directly off the engine.

One of the next jobs is to sort out an alternator so I can put a load on the engine before it totally chokes up with carbon!

[veggie]

Congratulations !

Looking forward to seeing the pictures.

Cheers,
Veggie

[AdeV]

Congratulations !

Looking forward to seeing the pictures.

Hmm, I really ought to take some, oughtn't I?

I'll try to get something for tomorrow. Can't do it now, too cold, time to go home & have food... (excuses excuses)

[veggie]

AdeV,

Another reason to get some load on the engine ASAP is so that the rings seat properly.
I have heard that running a new engine too long without load can glaze the cylinder walls and cause excessive slobbering.
Takes much longer to break the engine in once that happens.

Veggie

[AdeV]

Another reason to get some load on the engine ASAP is so that the rings seat properly.
I have heard that running a new engine too long without load can glaze the cylinder walls and cause excessive slobbering.
Takes much longer to break the engine in once that happens.

I think my engine's pretty well run in already, it was built in 1951 & has clearly seen a few hours since then!

Still no photos... I've been busy with the mill & Real Work, dagnabit.

[AdeV]

I finally got around to taking some pictures... Thousands of them, each a few milliseconds apart  I call it "a video"   

[Apogee]

Cool!!!!

Nice shop!

Nice and quiet while running!

Good job!

Steve

[rcavictim]

AdeV,

Nice work.  That engine sure is nice and quiet.

Just a thought.  When you plan the rest of the exhaust pipe to the out of doors it would be a good idea to put a downward slope to the entire horizontal run to keep condensation from pooling back in the engine.  But of course you already know this.

[AdeV]

Steve - thanks It is a nice shop, although it's blimmin' cold in winter. I tried to use the stove yesterday to get a bit of warmth going, but the wind got up & blew the smoke into the building instead.... so I ended up with the roof vents & the door open to try to clear it. Damn wind.

It's also not cheap; but it's worth it.

rca - thanks; it's certainly much MUCH better than when it had the pepper-pot exhaust on. But as you can see, not quite such a compact unit now As this is just my "playing around" setup, the exhaust arrangement is far from final. I am currently planning (sort-of) a self-propelled trolley for it, so I can move it around; in that case I'll put a 180 degree bend between the silencers, so the exhaust will go vertically down, then up. Any condensate should settle in the U-bend.

In the final analysis, when I move abroad, this engine will form the cornerstone of a CHP system, and will thus be in a permanantly fixed location, with a proper permanant exhaust system. Sloping downhill, naturally! Or at least with a water trap & drain in it (which I'll need, as I will have a heat-ex in the exhaust system, and if that ends up leaking the water must go away from the engine, not into it).

[veggie]

Quote....
"I finally got around to taking some pictures... Thousands of them, each a few milliseconds apart, I call it "a video"

Thanks for the "video" ? is that what you called it ?
Amazing how you worked your finger so fast to press the shutter button every few milliseconds 

Nice work.
Runs nice an quiet.

Cheers,
veggie

[k_jab]

AdeV,

Just saw your video - only a year late!

Perhaps you could use the exhaust of the Lister as an ejector to create draft in your workshop stove - like they did on old steam trains.

That would create morre pull and counter the blow back problem with the smoke - plus the Lister exhaust goes neatly out the same flue.



Ken

[AdeV]

Hi Ken,

That's an amusing idea... I never thought of that... if I make the exhaust like a venturi, it should help the fire draw as well

I've just recently taken delivery of an ST-3 generator head, so the next job on the engine is to get that mounted up, turn a pulley, and get some belts...

[k_jab]

Ade,

I guess that the 2" diameter Lister exhaust would entrain a significant amount of flue draught if you mounted it into a section of 6" stove pipe.

Personally, I'd use something like a flue pipe T-piece and have the Lister exhaust coming in from the bottom, and the flue gases coming in from the side arm.  Not sure if this is practical on your fluepipe arrangement. Just so long as the Lister exhaust is pointing straight up the flue pipe.

You might find that you get too much draught - and have to fit a flue damper below the ejector T.  Either way, it gets rid of the Lister exhaust, and the flue pipe will dull the note of the Lister, should noise be an issue where you are.


Ken

[AdeV]

Hi Ken,

We're OK with noise & smoke - there's a motorway not far away, the back of the building looks out over the council tip (via a road & a disused dock).... eee, it's grim up north.

Anyway, the good news is, I landed a pulley when I went to see the JP4, and today I've ordered a pair of V-belts (figured I'd get the original sized B105 belts, so if I do restore this back to start-o-matic style, I've already got the belts) and a taper bush to fit the pulley to the alternator shaft. So... fingers crossed, I may be as little as a couple of weeks from a working generator!

It's only taken 2 years 

I suppose I was distracted with other toys 

[AdeV]

A bit of drillin' and tappin' today, results in a combined pulley/ring gear:





I guess the ring gear is attached to what you'd call a flex-plate; it came off a Vauxhall Senator engine, and was originally attached to a fluid flywheel & from there to an auto gearbox. It was actually quite a task to get everything lined up perfectly, luckily, having the lathe & the milling machine complete with rotary table basically made it easy - just a bit time consuming.

All I have to do now is cut a keyway in the ring gear, so it will all fix onto the chinese gen head nicely. Then there's the frame that'll hold the alternator to finish off, and once that's done, it just needs mounting up. I have everything I need now - incuding a fuel tank in metallic British Racing Green (in my defence, Halfords didn't have any Mid Brunswick Green in a rattle can...).

More tomorrow, I hope.