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Messages - 2Ton46

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1
Listeroid Engines / Re: I thought I was a bit ......
« on: September 15, 2019, 04:14:29 AM »
Thanks for the compliments. Unfortunately, this is the result of being middle aged and single. Every woman so far has taken one look at the mess and I'm pretty sure I've heard a sonic boom from the velocity they head the other way at least a few times. Maybe instead of a tomato chopper I need a net launcher... ::)

On the bright side its probably cheaper in the long run and better than TV anyhow. On a serious note, most of this has occurred as a way to spend time with my father, he had a cancer scare a few years back but seems to be past it now. We both get some fun out of it all.

If you're new there's a thread or two on here detailing some of the work on the Twin 'Roid and contraptions. Probably a few pages back in the forum by now.

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Listeroid Engines / Re: Excited soon-to-be caretaker.....
« on: June 29, 2019, 03:21:40 AM »
It's always exciting to get one home! Do go through it, it's probably got enough sand inside to build a small castle - and not the kind you get to live in. In no time you'll be enjoying it. My twin is very popular even with people who don't even know what an engine is mainly due to the random stuff I have it powering. Everyone comments on how it chugs along but isn't interrupting their conversation like almost anything "modern" does.

3
Listeroid Engines / It made me smile anyway
« on: February 03, 2019, 03:04:56 AM »
Been some time since I've added an update. The 'Roid is still ticking over great, gets some use nearly every week doing something. Had a couple of things line up and a few gifts over the years that can finally be utilized. So I built the following item for the sheer fun of it. Might be useful at one of our events, time will tell. I suspect it will be a hit with the kids.

A used fan:


Mounted to a cart and setup for PTO operation at appropriate speed:


A round outlet adapter from a wheel I found:


A bit of shielding and sealing of the rectangle to round adapter, hooked on for an initial test run:


A few discharge lights for good measure:


And the giant 20' tall wacky wavy inflatable arm flailing tube man finally has something capable of satisfying his appetite for rushing air, and he remains visible despite any ambient darkness. My camera didn't like his motion combined with the light, he looks much better in person. The power from the lights is also generated from the 'Roid, via the little generator cart I made last year for it, PTO passes through.


Here he is in a daylight run.


Hopefully your 'Roid brings you the joys that mine occasionally does!
 

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Listeroid Engines / Re: Ashwamegh 25/2 : we are CLOSE now !
« on: November 26, 2018, 01:25:13 AM »
Great news! I'm glad it's working out. I know the frustration of getting the response dialed in....and the joy of getting it right is worth the trip!

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Listeroid Engines / Re: Ashwamegh 25/2 :the saga continues
« on: November 23, 2018, 10:05:55 PM »
From my experience BruceM is correct. Also I found that if you can find another spring similar to the one you are using now, and connect it in series with your current spring you will effectively get a longer spring that helps a lot with the issue you have described.  The pulling force of the short springs that many of these come with drops off too rapidly as the length decreases and in my case it was barely stretched to begin with at a proper rpm setting. So that when the speed dropped under load, it would move a little towards open but since the weights were moving slower it would tend to find a new equilibrium at a slower rpm(never opening the rack far enough to get back up to the original set point with the new load). Touching the rack would get you back up to speed and would probably maintain that speed if the load was steady. In other words the supplied spring has a spring rate that is too high, and longer springs of a similar diameter and wire size tend to have a more favorable spring rate for this application.

6
Listeroid Engines / Re: Project Roid
« on: August 13, 2018, 04:24:49 AM »
With all the recent governor spring activity on the forum, I thought I would give a sneak peek at my latest part of the project that is now in the needs to be cleaned up and painted phase. Since I have found a spring solution that gave me a much better speed regulation I decided to tackle something I had planned from the initial start of the project, but never did implement because with the original spring the regulation was all over the place. I have found over the past 6 months that depending on the loads I have connected and even the ground I have the unit parked on (sometimes it still likes to vibrate excessively at certain speeds/loads/ground hardness) I need to tweak the speed set point to suit the conditions for the day. So I decided to fab up a variable speed control for the engine.  This way I can fine tune the speed set point without needing to get out some tools to move the spring hook.  I have also returned to one spring, instead of the two in series as I had been experimenting with.  The response is just slightly less aggressive, but its still a huge improvement over what I had with the old spring and perfectly acceptable for the uses I have. I used some parts I had around and so its a little over built in some areas, but its functional.  The mechanism is calibrated to give a speed range of about 475-675 rpm on the engine, over about 30 turns of the crank handle to give a fine tuning control, but keep it from being able to be carelessly taken far out of the safe operating range.


7
Listeroid Engines / Re: Ashwamegh 25/2 :the saga continues
« on: August 05, 2018, 10:59:13 PM »
If I'm reading correctly, when you have the larger load on that is pulling down to an unacceptable speed, you are able to touch the rack with your finger and bring it up to speed with that load still applied.  If so, this condition is similar to what I have had going on with my 12/2. 

I've been working at the problem some recently and have gotten a much better response by adding an additional spring in series with the one it came with. In my case, the short spring when adjusted to give my desired rpm, would rapidly loose tension as the rack opened. In fact, it would be pretty much not doing any tension as the rack got to the full open position. This led to the rack not opening as the spring tension would drop off and stop overcoming even the now slowing weights, and would result in a large speed loss when my compressor cycled on that sometimes wouldn't even recover to set point by the time it cycled off again.

By adding in a longer spring I was able to greatly reduce the force dropping off as the rack opened. For experimental purposes I used a piece of wire around the bottom of the oil pump as a temporary and adjustable anchor. As an initial setting I tied the spring in series with the other one, after unhooking it from the peg on the block.  I then pulled the pair tight with the wire until the end of the original spring lined up with the peg again. This gave approximately the same tension on the arm as before, but the force no longer drops off as rapidly (or increases as rapidly) as the arm moves.  This gives a nice steady pull to work against the weights over the whole travel of the rack. The downside is speed adjustment now requires more change in length than before.

Boy what a difference! I've gone from badly over damped to a slightly under damped control situation. Upon startup it will slightly overshoot the speed set point and then settle in as it slows to speed. With no load, it seems to be slightly hunting as the rack is moving around a little, but it doesn't by sound or show up in my cheap tach. With a load, it maintains set point beautifully. Now when the compressor cycles on, the speed drops slightly but its back to set point within a second or two. It's fun to watch the rack open up and then back off slightly again when the compressor cycles on and it recovers the speed and gets back to maintaining rpm with the new load. The rpm change is is now fairly small and is perceptible by ear when the compressor loads...but recovers quickly and sounds more like its not lost speed and recovered but is just thumping a little harder suddenly.  When the compressor unloads, its even quicker to get back to set point as it speeds up with the loss of load and settles back.

8
Listeroid Engines / Re: Project Roid
« on: July 04, 2018, 09:11:02 PM »
Figured I'd share a clip of the setup I had in the yard this past weekend for our annual barbecue. Finally remembered to grab a clip just before I took it all down and headed for the barn after the event was over and cleanup was nearly complete. We have a string of 105 lights around most of the yard that it was powering during the event, as well as working the yard fan in front of a mister and animating the tube man and the air engine. On the day of the event she cranked up at 4:55 am, ran the whole works until noon when we stopped it to address the crowd for a minute and top up the fuel tank. She then ran until a little after 10:00 pm when the last of us decided to move indoors.

https://youtu.be/GxIs-YR-e2E 

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Listeroid Engines / Re: New member
« on: May 05, 2018, 02:25:44 PM »
Welcome Tanman!

As long as your willing to deal with the eccentricities and issues that can and do come with a clone or 'roid, they can indeed be a reliable source of power. If you enjoy working with machinery, they can be a very enjoyable and rewarding project. I'm looking forward to seeing what you end up with.

10
Listeroid Engines / Re: Project Roid
« on: May 05, 2018, 02:11:39 PM »
Made the whole mess a little easier to get in and out of the barn. It now doubles as a train!? This way I only have to make one trip to get it all in. Also built a rack on the back of the engine cart for the driveshafts. Takes about 5 minutes to setup for operation.



My brother hosted a party at his place just down the road last weekend with a bunch of folks he works with, and it was a warm and wind still day. Perfect for the yard fan I said. Pulled the train down the road, set everything up and fenced it off to keep em out of the moving bits. The setup was a hit, everyone loved the fan and the noise level still allows for conversations.

11
Listeroid Engines / Re: Project Roid
« on: April 07, 2018, 03:56:43 AM »
You're welcome. That little pneumatic engine has provided way more fun than the 3 hours it took to make. In fact, I think I'm going to paint it so it looks pretty. I might even consider making another one. The C-channel steel used to make it is so rusty you can see through it in places, hopefully it doesn't fall apart too soon.  It garnered a lot of comments last weekend at the party. It might not be a very efficient use of power, but its quite interesting to watch and will chuff happily along at about 65 rpm with a very pleasing rhythm. The wacky wavy arm-flailing inflatable tube man and his fan was a gift from a friend and is very much appreciated and is also pretty fun to watch.

12
Listeroid Engines / Re: NEW Listeroid issue
« on: April 07, 2018, 03:23:21 AM »
My 12/2 has had some intermittent slobber on both cylinders. Just when I thought it had cleared up it would come back, over about 25 hours or so.  It seems to have settled in now, especially after I upped the load with the compressor tied to it on the last few runs.  Mine also likes to pull in oil around the valve stems, and this may contribute some slobber especially with a light load. With a heavier load, it sometimes smokes a little until the oil level on the head drops enough to slow the oil flow. Hopefully the valves will go as is for the rest of the season and then when the weather cools off again I'll be doing a proper valve job.

13
Listeroid Engines / Re: Project Roid
« on: April 03, 2018, 03:49:12 AM »
Had a small event at the Farm here over the weekend, and figured it would be an ideal time to get out the 'Roid and put it to some use, even if it was solely entertainment. Ended up with it powering quite a Rube Goldberg setup, but it was a hit. Had it connected to a small fan for a wacky wavy inflatable tube man near the gate, and then the yard and shop fans for a breeze near the tables, and the air compressor to power a small pneumatic engine. The little Hatz power unit was used as an idler for the belting. It could also double as a starter for the 'Roid, but it complains about the mass that it has to accelerate to accomplish the task mainly due to the light construction of the unit not the engine itself. It also could be used to power part of the display, but not all of it, as it makes about half of the power of the 'Roid. As a side note, that little Hatz seems like it could be made into a neat little generator set, especially if setup to operate around its peak efficiency rpm ~2300. It would probably still be able to handle about a 3KW load at that speed.

I'm thinking that pneumatic engine will be great for an ice cream / frozen adult beverage maker. It doesn't turn too fast but makes a lot of torque. I made it out of some spare parts and scrap metal along with a cylinder. Somehow I managed to get the cam pretty close only with an angle grinder and a hacksaw. Here is a short video and a photo for your enjoyment.

https://youtu.be/Np8qGj_jTTI


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Listeroid Engines / Re: Project Roid
« on: March 11, 2018, 10:45:57 PM »
Finally had some decent weather over a few days when I had time, so I did some painting.  Everything is looking much better. Went with a low gloss black for the frame and some accents, and then decided to use some paint I had around. Settled on metallic blue for the belt pulley and driveshaft, and '40's chevrolet engine gray for the v belt pulleys, and the exposed areas of the engine shaft that aren't used for the crank handle. No paint on the area for the crank handle so it continues to function.  Then added some yellow to some fan blades (the metallic blue on the others, kinda tricks the eyes to make a green to match the engine when in operation lol) and put a spiral around the driveshaft with it. Looking pretty sharp.  Also painted the Compressor frame and clutch assembly, mostly low gloss black. Also in keeping with the theme, put some red and silver together for a spiral on the unpainted driveline I had.

The lighting wasn't that great today, but it looks good in action.


Yesterday with driveline drying for the red coat.  Forgot to get one after the red went on but the lighting is a bit better for the rest. Just a few touchups and I'll consider it successfully painted.


Here is a closeup of the compressor nearly done with the painting after re assembly.

15
Listeroid Engines / Re: NEW Listeroid
« on: March 11, 2018, 02:29:59 AM »
Sounds like a fun project. Looking forward to reading about the progress.

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