Yeah, in our workshop at work I have a big drill press and an old grinder - both made in New Zealand, from the days when we used to make stuff rather than import it from China and throw it away a year or two later.  Both 50-odd years old, still used every day . . .  I paid $50 for one and $100 for the other

Yeah, and machines such as that Lister were not only designed to have a long service life - they were designed with forethought so that they could be rebuilt to a standard that would give ANOTHER long service life after that

And when folks like Mr 38ac and Mr Dieselgman et al take something to bits and measure all the components and clearances with the aim of sending it back out the shop door to the customer "as good as new" - or probably better - that's kind of an affirmation of the build philosophy of those old engineers of the interbellum era

It's worth commenting that, seventy or eighty years ago, raw materials were really expensive (largely as a result of the labour involved in mining/refining/transport etc), and the manufacturing (done by men who were skilled machinists) was an expensive process.  Now the raw materials are handled in bulk with nary a human being in the process and they are worth almost nothing, the labour of smelting/casting is done in the third world and the wages are in third-world currencies - again worth almost nothing, and assembly is either by robots or by sweat-shop staff who might as well be robots.

That TV may well have cost $20 to produce

Yeah!  What a wonderful project!

In this video you can see the mounting face I was talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECNcxpDrPv4&t=29s

Hey Jake, thanks.  A manual option as well as an auto-timed.  That makes sense

Interesting detail the single/twin flywheel being industrial - vs - agricultural.

Thanks

Guys, I'd really like one of the big slow engines like the 4YHR units or similar - all the old side-shaft units, really.  But I don't fancy my chances of finding one . . . .

I really like the way they're designed to run 24/7

I have been watching a bunch of videos on them - and it looks as if maybe the air starter assemblies are an early casualty when they are decommissioned and then abandoned?

I guess there's some kind of cam assembly that "times" air into the cylinder a couple of degrees after TDC on the power stroke or some such?  But, watching videos, it seemed to me maybe some folks just had a manual valve and were watching the strokes and just giving it a "puff" of air at a couple of hundred PSIs on each power stroke until it picked up running speed . . .

Is that what I have been seeing or have I misinterpreted that?

Those big old slow machines with their external bearings and external lube systems and big rotating governors have a fascination all of their own IMHO

I really like the way the mains and big-ends and piston-and-rod are just "there" to lube or work on etc etc

Cheers

G'day Steve - there's a good chance the engine will out-live you!  Mine is almost eighty years old

Congratulations on what looks like a very good and careful build   

I just looked at the exchange rate.
Geez Your Dollar has gained on ours. Virtually the same now.  Last time I was there for work we had almost a 20% advantage. Not any more.

I wouldn't even know how to get something like that brought in. I can imagine I'd have to go through a shipping brokers and pay all sorts of fees to the ports, customs etc.
Probably be cheaper to bring one in direct from China.
Better wait to see what the next house is like before I add anymore to the 5 ton of " treasure" I am stressing about packing up and moving already.

Yeah just hold your breath for a few more minutes and us folks here with the $NZD will be ahead of the $AUS lol

Sending it is simple - there's effectively a door-to-door process & all you'd have to do at your end would be to pay GST

But it's too expensive to be worthwhile - probably close to $400 door to door

Cheers

Of no interest to you Northern Hemisphere gentlemen, but you never know when someone from NZ is lurking . . .

I have a new, just-out-of-the-crate 5KW ST-type generator (alternator, really)  plus a built-for-the-purpose mount-and adjusters assembly

Was going to put it onto my CS 5/1 but then I got the 10/2 and it'll run a bigger one so now there is plan "B" and the unit is for sale . . .

Expressions of interest welcome . . . .

I imported it from China myself, and I have forgotten the fine details of what it cost but there was:

Purchase $USD650

Shipping & insurance I forget exactly . . . I know there was a $140-odd fee at the shipping warehouse?

Customs stuff added up to another maybe $200-300?  I forget

then there was GST (tax) at 15% of all the above

i think it cost me something like $NZD1400 and I have it advertised locally for $NZD875 . . .

Cheers