New member

[ottawavalleyboy]

Hi everybody,
I'm a first timer with a weakness for Diesels, I'm waiting on my first Lister to arrive an air cooled 7.5 VA.
This is my first antique engine & I plan on building a small backup electrical l generator with it.

[wrightkiller]

Welcome aboard  mate   

[dieselgman]

Welcome!

Dieselgman

[contaucreek]

Glad you found the place neighbour.

[ottawavalleyboy]

Thanks, I hope the VA gets here soon this looks like a good place to start.

[veggie]

Welcome !
Not many of us Lister owners here in Canuk country.
Looking forward the the pictures and videos 

cheers,
veggie

[Stan]

Listers were manufactured in Dursley England, but shipped all over the world by the bazillions, especially to us colonies.  I found mine sitting in a field after nearly 3 years of asking everyone I could convince to stand still while I described Listers to them.  When I finally asked a long time friend and skiing buddy of mine he said, "yes, I have one sitting in a back field and you can have it for the it's scrap price cause if you don't want it that's exactly where it's going".  When I picked my jaw up off the floor and went immediately to his back field I said I'll take it and phone another buddy with a pickup and we got it to my home within the hour.  That's how I found "Penelope", see my avatar.

 To quote Mulder, "They are out there!"
Stan

[slowspeed]

Hope the VA gets to you safe.
We have a ton of engines in the UK
one of them is my VA
All we need is to get them over the pond

.

[Chris R]

Welcome aboard.
I have a Lister VA running my house as I write. Very good engine. Tend to run on the cool side, but you don't have to worry about pipes, water tanks, pumps etc.
Fire her up and let her run. This one been with me for about 30 of its 40 years.
Chris R

[rleonard]

Welcome OVB. 

I ran my VA yesterday to pump up some air.



Bob

[BruceM]

Great looking setup for pumping air, Bob.  What's the HP and rpm of the VA you're using for your compressor?

How does the sound of the VA compare to a CS?

[rleonard]

Thank you Bruce.
Here is a clip of it in action at the show last summer;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA4FrbyI_CM

You can hear it run compared to the other Listers.  The VA is noisier.  No water to dampen the diesel knock.  The blower arrangement does not significantly contribute to the noise of the engine.

The compressor is a Quincy 320.  RPM range is (min/max) 400/900 and cfm @175 psi is (min/max) 8.3/18.64.  It is backed off to about 600 on the engine and about 350 on the compressor.  It does just fine.  If I needed more air i can speed it up, but I have a 15HP electric in the main shop for the big volume stuff.

Bob

[BruceM]

What a great demo for the show, Bob, I  love your VA powered pneumatic reciprocating powered fan.  The VA is a lovely engine with a laudable service history.

I use my Listeroid CS for either air or AC power for my off grid shop; all the wood working tools are air conversions via Gast vane motors. 

I use the air compressor unloader valves instead of a belt clutch on the compressor (Eaton 5hp rated 3 cylinder, 2 stage unit).  It does work, allowing me to have both generator and compressor belted and selected by remote control from my shop,  but the unloaded air compressor parasitic load is more than I had hoped.   I unbelt the air compressor for laundry/well water pumping day to conserve fuel.

I've thought about adding either some sort of homemade v-belt tensioning "clutch" arrangement via air cylinder, or adding a jack shaft with pneumatic clutch.  For the former arrangement I've been advised that the loose belt sliding on the 19" V belt sheave would probably wear it badly over time.

If you have a suggestion for my compressor issue, please do share it!

[bschwartz]

Bruce, this picture is crude, and the engagement system is hypothetical, but would an idler roller that can be engaged and disengaged somehow be an option?

[rleonard]

The key to making this kind of a clutch work are the belt "loopers"  These are simple pins, guides, or formed metal parts that force the belt to loop over the driving pulley when slack.  There is no contact if done right. 

Dad and I were a Simplicity tractor dealer and I learned this on their equipment.  Their engineers really understood belt drives and made them work well.

Bob