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Listeroid Engines / Finally got around to balancing the beast
« on: October 16, 2012, 02:22:30 PM »
I posted up a while ago about taming the beast and I have finally had the opportunity to work on it, the old thread is here http://listerengine.com/smf/index.php?topic=6409.msg73551#msg73551
Ok so this RNR I built myself a gib key puller and I removed the flywheels from my engine so I could balance them. They were stuck on really good so I had to make up a jig to hold a Toyota jack which pulled the wheel off the shaft.
Here is the gib key puller I made, I welded two bolts onto the tube but I had to run the tap and die over the threads as they got quite tight from welding, I thought I would just give it a go with just the two on there and it worked quite well so I probably will never get around to welding on the third bolt
This is the bracket I built to hold the jack in place, pretty simple just some angle line on one side and a small piece of pipe to sit on the shaft welded on the other side, the jack is then placed on the end and a wire rope sling is made up. I tell you this wheel was stuck on tight, I tell you that jack would probably have preferred jacking up the hilux instead of the flywheel!
Once I got the wheels off I followed these steps.
found the wheel with the heaviest offset weight (found by hanging the bucket from the string), I added weights in order to make the keyway point directly down
I then used the bucket of weights method again to find the new offset weight for this wheel, I weighed the weights with a kitchen scale.
I then got the other wheel and used the bucket method to weigh the offset weight, I then calculated the amount of weight required in order to make it the same as the first wheel
The second wheel didn't sit with the key directly down so I applied the weight (which I got from subtracting wheel 1 - wheel 2) slightly to the higher side in order to make it point down.
I then weighed the offset weight of wheel 2 to make sure it was still the same offset weight as wheel 1
phew once that was all done they were both put back on with their new gib keys ( see my other post about the gib keys http://listerengine.com/smf/index.php?topic=6547.0)
The offset weight of the wheels was then around 1400 grams which is a lot higher than 67% which is apparently the magical figure, so I then added weight to the opposite side of the flywheels in order to bring it back to a more balanced state.
I did all my balancing on a motorbike wheel balancing stand, this worked great, I didn't have the correct size tube but even using this smaller piece it worked just as well, applying only a few grams on the wheel caused it to rotate so it was adequate for what I needed.
The way I did the weights was to cut strips of lead and put them in heat shrink, it makes for a very compact and easy to work with weight although I wish I had a different colour.
The engine is running a lot smoother and quieter now, it still needs a small amount more weight I think but I can experiment with that later, next thing to fix is the governor, I think I am going to build my own electronic governor so will keep people posted.
Unfortunately I don't have any before footage of the engine bouncing around but here is a quick video of it running with a small heater, not sure about how much power is being pulled by the heater, the muffler is still a work in progress. You can see the weights spinning around too.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2JS4E-JVBo[/youtube]
I close the shed just to see how quiet the engine would be.
Cheers
Murray
Ok so this RNR I built myself a gib key puller and I removed the flywheels from my engine so I could balance them. They were stuck on really good so I had to make up a jig to hold a Toyota jack which pulled the wheel off the shaft.
Here is the gib key puller I made, I welded two bolts onto the tube but I had to run the tap and die over the threads as they got quite tight from welding, I thought I would just give it a go with just the two on there and it worked quite well so I probably will never get around to welding on the third bolt
This is the bracket I built to hold the jack in place, pretty simple just some angle line on one side and a small piece of pipe to sit on the shaft welded on the other side, the jack is then placed on the end and a wire rope sling is made up. I tell you this wheel was stuck on tight, I tell you that jack would probably have preferred jacking up the hilux instead of the flywheel!
Once I got the wheels off I followed these steps.
found the wheel with the heaviest offset weight (found by hanging the bucket from the string), I added weights in order to make the keyway point directly down
I then used the bucket of weights method again to find the new offset weight for this wheel, I weighed the weights with a kitchen scale.
I then got the other wheel and used the bucket method to weigh the offset weight, I then calculated the amount of weight required in order to make it the same as the first wheel
The second wheel didn't sit with the key directly down so I applied the weight (which I got from subtracting wheel 1 - wheel 2) slightly to the higher side in order to make it point down.
I then weighed the offset weight of wheel 2 to make sure it was still the same offset weight as wheel 1
phew once that was all done they were both put back on with their new gib keys ( see my other post about the gib keys http://listerengine.com/smf/index.php?topic=6547.0)
The offset weight of the wheels was then around 1400 grams which is a lot higher than 67% which is apparently the magical figure, so I then added weight to the opposite side of the flywheels in order to bring it back to a more balanced state.
I did all my balancing on a motorbike wheel balancing stand, this worked great, I didn't have the correct size tube but even using this smaller piece it worked just as well, applying only a few grams on the wheel caused it to rotate so it was adequate for what I needed.
The way I did the weights was to cut strips of lead and put them in heat shrink, it makes for a very compact and easy to work with weight although I wish I had a different colour.
The engine is running a lot smoother and quieter now, it still needs a small amount more weight I think but I can experiment with that later, next thing to fix is the governor, I think I am going to build my own electronic governor so will keep people posted.
Unfortunately I don't have any before footage of the engine bouncing around but here is a quick video of it running with a small heater, not sure about how much power is being pulled by the heater, the muffler is still a work in progress. You can see the weights spinning around too.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2JS4E-JVBo[/youtube]
I close the shed just to see how quiet the engine would be.
Cheers
Murray