Hi Ade.  I can't imagine that many folks would think information on 80-year-old machinery is something that should have restricted circulation?

What do we have to lose by sharing?

Something searchable would have value, as  far as I can see

I don't know what I have to contribute?  But I have many years of old-fashioned sub-editing skills.  I can probably turn something badly-written or a terrible copy/paste job into deathless prose lol

I'll be interested to see what folks have to say

Thanks very much Hugh.
I was thinking about automating my starting process with a couple of DC linear actuators and an Arduino controller.
I was particularly interested in the timing of the compression release on a Startomatic. However, I cannot use the same starting sequence as an SOM since my starter will not overcome compression from a dead stop.
It has no trouble once the wheels are rotating, but the initial inertia combined with compression is too much.
So my plan would be to .... Open the rack ... allow say 5 seconds for the wheels to spin up ... then allow compression.
During shutdown the actuator would move to the decompress mode ready for the next start.

Some sort of rpm or generator output sensor would be used to confirm a successful start.




Oh.... so your SOM is not working ....  that must make you very angry.      In fact I bet you want to get rid of that thing.
I offer to drive from one province over and remove that malfunctioning SOM machine for you. No charge to cart it away.
Now .... where did I put my ferry schedule 

Hey Veggie, Hugh and others

I don't know if this setup or its parts could make a contribution?  I bought it a while back.  I believe it to be a SOM unit re-housed in a more modern (maybe '70s) cabinet by a local electrical shop.  It was starting a Lister generator on a remote station here in NZ well into the '90s.  I bought it from a retired engineer who worked on the station at one time

Check out the pics if you like?  If you look carefully I think there are some "spares" in there too - coils?  I don't know if SOM bits are common across models - but I'm sure some of you guys will know

Cheers

Owenga we're almost neigbours.  Do you know about the Lister Spares chap in Oz?  Just google oldtimer engines.  Very helpful chap.  Never a problem posting stuff to NZ for me.  I've got the bottom end of an old 3/1 in the yard - been sitting for a while so might be rusted solid - but if you get stuck I could see if the cam would come out?  Cheers

FWIW there are 3/1s for sale here quite often - plus the odd 6/1 from time to time

For example:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1528801347310136

https://www.trademe.co.nz/business-farming-industry/industrial/engines-motors/diesel/listing-2849252389.htm?rsqid=f0929d9a0eca4b5894d871b65e3436af-001

https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=2844592528

I wouldn't like to speculate on the do-ability of exporting/shipping/importing . . . . but

I'm going to have another go at finding a home for these before they end up as scrap - they seem too good for that to my eye

I attach some images including a spec sheet and a sheet which referances the BRYCE code numbers stamped on the injectors and the code numbers on the spec sheet

Pictures show dimensions clearly

These are four large injectors still sealed in plastic and shipping boxes which look to me to have come back from some sort of factory rebuild process and to have sat on a shelf as spares ever since

I think they will have been in a large marine engine or similar engine driving a generator - possibly in a municipal or hospital backup supply type of operation

The numbers suggest they may be from a large POLAR-type multi-cylinder two-stroke engine

Because there is four of them, and because they're in excellent shape - it seemed to me perhaps that someone playing with a large engine for which he did not have an injector might consider it worthwhile to machine an adaptor to fit one of these to his application - and then have some spares as well

So excuse me while I have posted them here again - it seems to me it would be a waste to bin them; and perhaps someone here knows of someone working with a large engine who may benefit from them.  Thanks

Hi yes. Thanks for the link

We’re on the same page with that stuff really. I had thought of a heavy bronze block with a drilling & an element to control temp and a “Dositron” type peristaltic pump . . .

Where I’m at at the moment is the burner is in my shed at a site some 400Ks from home & I’m only there occasional weekends & holidays, and the homebuilt solar is erratic - so I don’t want to build anything needing external electrical input at the moment - perhaps later

But what I also have is several tonnes of a completely consistent oil product of identical viscosity & makeup - a by-product of my work - so that may give me a head-start on metering?  With luck

It also seemed to me that if I could run a burner as an add-on to the door of my wood-stove - then if there’s s carbon accumulation in the firebox & flue - a good firewood burn might clean it out?  Although that might be wishful thinking

I guess what it boils down to is that I’m 63 and relatively broke - so I’m looking for a solution to keep my shed warm in coming winters using the resources I have such as that waste oil & my current access to a basic workshop and my own very basic engineering skills

I guess we’ll see

Thanks for the advice - appreciated

Fwiw I reckon they are effectively just a wide-open chimney/draft with a burner stuck on the bottom; and getting the burner to run OK is maybe about air flow & a way to instantly turn a drip of oil to flammable vapour?  Because Mk3, with that 4” stainless steel bend, once that stainless started to glow red it just roared & ran away like an old diesel burning its sump oil - scary & not good inside a building

I’m not blind to their shortcomings though. It’s like cooking sausages in a pan - you have to be there and be ready to tweak & tinker or you’ll have them charred on the outside & pink in the middle. The best analogy might be a petrol engine with a wide-open throttle & no carb & trying to keep it running by dripping gas into the intake tract lol