Found this 5/1 for sale out on the Oregon coast, and couldn't turn down the chance to have a "real" Lister CS single cylinder - they are getting very, very rare these days.  The person I bought it from has had it for a number of years, and he in turn bought it from the widow of the original owner.  It was used in a shingle factory, where it drove an air compressor which in turn was used to start the "big" Fairbanks-Morse engine for the shop.

It's in good condition overall, with a "Lister/Blackstone Milwaukee Wisconsin" badge.  The flywheels are the kidney-shaped hole variety, which is unusual I think for normal 5/1 engines, but I've seen at least one other video out there that has a 5/1 with the heavy wheels on it instead of the spoked wheels.  Frankly, I like the heavier wheels, myself. 

It's missing some original parts- the fuel tank looks like an add-on, and it's missing the exhaust and intake.  But otherwise in decent condition.  It runs, but I haven't started it yet - I want to clear out the oil, filters, and set up a cooling system before I turn it over.  This will be a two year project (not the duration, but it'll be that long until I can get to it.)  But this is a perfect addition to my 12/2 and SR1.

Directory full of pictures:
  http://www.loligo.com/lister/lister-5-1

I'm looking for rebuild parts, if anyone has them - gaskets, bushings, etc.- I'll do a full tear-down and would like to start squirreling away the parts for that rainy winter project.  Email me at j t o d d at loligo.com if you have components...

JT

I've found an engine in India that I wish to import.  It's not a diesel or other internal-combustion engine - it's a steam engine.  I want to import one of them, but I'm totally clueless about how to go about it.  They have offered to deliver it to Seattle, but of course what is offered in India is rarely what one receives as far as expectations, and I suspect their "shipping" service is somehow far short of what I'll need to actually take possession of the engine.

Has anyone imported just plain vanilla "stuff" from India, meaning having no EPA or other certification requirements?  Farm implements, wicker baskets, etc?  What's the process?

JT

I'd purchased one of the Allmand pulleys a while back when I was working on my (then) 12/2, but now I have a 16/2 with different specs.  I talked to George a few months ago, and I'm sure his pulleys are the best I can get.  However, the pricing made me do one of those cartoon routines where my eyes bounce out of my head on springs.  After that price realization, I figure this gives me a good excuse to become more familiar with the CNC components of my lathe.  :-)

I'm drawing up my own pulley on the ole'  CAD platform here, and I'll try to get my hands on a ductile iron round from one of the local foundries or maybe I'll use a steel round after some experiments with wood or plastic.  However, before I can embark on this adventure of Learning The Hard Way, I've got some questions that perhaps can be answered by the wisdom of the crowds:

1) What are the exact dimensions of a serpentine belt groove configuration?  I mean the depth of the grooves, top-of-groove width, angles of groove, etc.  (see below)  I could guess, but I'd prefer real data instead of squinting-and-measuring.

2) My measurements of the Allmand pulley seem to show that the "outside" diameter of the pulley is measured at the top of the "valleys" on the grooved area.  Anyone disagree?

3) I've got SK bushings as 3/4" per foot of taper.  Right?

SK dimensions:
http://www.maskapulleys.com/propro.htm  (click on "QD bushings" in the menu)

My findings thus far:

The SK bushing and primary hole part were easy, even though I'm learning a bit about this CAD program as I go.  Measure the two holes on the existing pulley (diameter, distance apart) then create two circles with those measurements and create a skinned solid which automatically handles the tapered cone portions (excellent!  no math required.)  Delete this cone shape from the pulley cylinder.  Measure the head offset cut; create cylinder; delete it from the pulley cylinder.  Add chamfers.

Now, the ridges are a little more complex.  It appears (though this is just from careful measurement with inadequate tools) that the grooves are 0.10 deep, the tops of the grooves are 0.035 wide, 0.105 "valley" width at the top (distance between the ridges on the pulley.)

Measuring a belt, it seems that the "top" of the belt ridges are 0.070 wide, which would mean that when they are riding in the pulley they should be encountering a constriction between the two "walls" of the pulley groove when the valley between the walls gets to something around that width.  The grooves on the belt only seem to be about 0.065 deep, so that means that the grooves on the pulley are deeper than the matching ridges on the belt, which is expected - you'd want to have the constriction be the reason that the ridges don't quite mesh exactly perfectly with the pulley, otherwise you'd be losing that friction point.  So that means that there needs to be a taper on the pulley grooves such that at around 0.060 (depth) the width between the two walls is 0.070.

All this fussing about the groove angles and stuff might actually be a moot point if there is enough surface friction just with straight-cut grooves on the pulley.  But I'll try to be a perfectionist in design, if not construction. :-)

JT

I was at the Maker Faire last weekend in San Mateo, California.  One of the people exhibiting was Jim Mason, who was trying to get a Lister 6/1 running off a wood gasifier.  I didn't see if it got it up and going (had to leave early) but it's an interesting concept.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/10111/2465259587/

There have been other threads here on running Lister-style engines with wood gas.  I'm wondering if anyone has actually had one up and going on biomass gasification, rather than just investigating.  Even a ChangFa would be interesting with real-world tests.

My questions:
  - rumors are that the Listard liners in the original (real Lister) engines don't like the high-hydrogen input.  I don't recall where I heard this, so I'm working on bad memory.  Any comments?

  - what is being used as a filter for tar?

  - what kind of fuels have been attempted?

  - what type of cooling systems have been attempted?

  - what did you do to prevent runaways?

  - pictures?

JT

I have an original Lister 16/2, and I've pulled both gib keys to do some work.  Looking at them, they seem a little worse for wear - some "arching" on the bottom of one of the keys in between the head and where the key goes into the flywheel.  I'd like to get replacements, since I'm already disassembled.

Are these just standard 5/8 gib keys, like  can be found on the McMaster (http://www.mcmaster.com/) website on page 3277?  (well, it's 3277 right now - maybe in the future that will change - just search for "gib keys".)   The reason I ask is that my measurements all seem to be a bit "off" of what I'd expect for a 5/8 key, and I'm wondering if there is some wacky Whitworth sizing of keyways that Lister used.  The numbers are close enough to make me think that it's 5/8, but bending/twisting of the older keys may be throwing my numbers off by a few thousandths.

FWIW: I'm putting 2" clamp-on shaft collars (McMaster item 6435K27 or equivalent) on the outside of the keys, just in case.  For ~$36, it's VERY cheap insurance to keep those keys from flying out of the keyway.  Resolved: Hearing the sharp metallic bonking of a key on concrete is a sound that gets one very agitated in very short order.  As a corrolary: wearing gloves at all times is a very good idea, as it lets you slow a flywheel in a controlled manner.

JT

My new Changfa 195 has a manual-recommended oil type of "HC-11 in summer, or HC-8 in winter".  I can't find the SAE equivalents - can someone validate that this is close to 10W-40 and 10W-30 for me?  Or if not, what should I be using?

And how much? The manual is again missing this data (amazingly.)  I know that I could look on the dipstick as I slowly fill the engine, but... this is silly.  Germans designed this?  Not the manuals, that's for sure - those are purely authoritarian Chinese.

JT

I've got a Marathon Pancake generator head, and I'm wondering if anyone has seen any "pre-built" kits that would convert a direct-drive generator head into something that could be driven with a pulley.   It would have to be a precision-milled ring that would fit onto the outside of the generator and bolt down, and then a shaft and bearing to support the pulley.  I suppose I could get something like that made (my machine shop skills are not quite at that level) but I'd probably end up paying more than I did for the generator.  I was hoping that someone here has seen something that would allow an easy conversion so I can use this generator with my belt-driven smaller engines. (Lister CD)

Something like this is what I have (though of course, not this exact generator).  In my generator, there is only one "end" of the shaft, meaning that there is only a single bearing in the whole generator.  The other end of the shaft is supported by where it bolts to the crank of the engine.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120143515510&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1

JT