Boiler Tube Roller Question

Two things:

Ya, a tube roller would do it, but a prosser (like an exhaust pipe expander) would also. The best way is the proper socket expander.

The icing issue is best handled with air preheat. Preheat duct to the carb intake to draw air over the cooling fins on the cylinder.

snipped-for-privacy@beatricene.com wrote:

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Question: I the images you have is that a board taped and bolted to what was/ is a lawn mower blade? I assume you n eeded to have "something" on the crank so it wold work right, but I really question the safety of swinging a piece of wood like this.......you know the old saying $hit happens.........I would look for a cast iron flywheel as odds are it has an aluminum flywheel, and also get rid of that blade / board setup and use a disk or perhaps a flywheel from a treadmill if its inertia that this motor needs for your test purpose.

Other than that, its a pretty neat idea, but a kit is gonna have to be pretty cheap as you can buy a consumer grade 3 to 3.5 hp B & S ort Tech engine pretty darn cheap anymore........that is already a horizontal style.

You may have problems finding a small tube expander, but I think they are made but they as well as the larger ones are pretty pricey. Perhaps making a tool to swedge the steel tube outwards to expand its inside diameter would work better, but its still going to need a good seal so perhaps a boot made of hose or such over the joint will be needed. Just a tiny air leak and they don't really work all that well.... I stilldoubt you will get sufficient heat transfer in really cold conditions to elimiate your icing conditions, but you never know. Neat idea anyhow........I give it a 8.5 on the ingenuity scale! Visit my website:

Go to a heavy truck/equipment overhaul place & see if you can find some large ball bearings in their trash box ---some electric motors go this big too--Press a 3/4" ball down into your tube,then knock it out---If I remember right you get a few thou oversize!!

I'm swinging a piece of pallet wood and it's duct-taped to keep it from exploding. My first one did. Noticed I didn't stand in the path of the swinging piece of wood due to the angle of the photos. This was outside behind where I work and situated "just-so" so that if it blow again, the pieces would fly elsewhere. I didn't have to have a load on it but wanted at least a little something to make the engine work. My test with the wood is over anyway. I'm looking for a minibike project to mount this engine too. It's surprising how few parts are involved in the conversion. I can easily beat the price of a new B&S horizontal shaft engine which let's face it - in the used market, is harder to come by than old vertical shaft engines.

The kit would have to be cheap yes - at the very least, I can sell plans on ebay. I've heard so many people down-play the idea of converting an engine but it's funny - people will buy a kit thinking it will save them money over buying a new engine. In some cases it will and other cases it won't. The fact that I've proven it can be done answered tons of questions I had. Just tell me I can't do it and then watch me go to work. :-)

I've found plenty of them - just didn't know if they would work or not.

RTV and a hammer. Worse comes to worse - a couple slits and a hose clamp. :-)

I agree but better than nothing. If the engine was being used hard and throttled up and down, it would probably produce the heat needed to prevent icing. The stock setup though just uses an o-ring in the carb that the intake tube presses into - probably not much thermal transfer there anyway.

Thanks for the comments!

Erin

Hey that's a pretty cool idea! I'll give that serious consideration - definiltey cheaper than a boiler roller. Although, if I make a ton of kits, I'll need something a bit faster than that. :-) It takes a good amount of expansion to do 3/4" O.D. to 3/4" I.D. - generally the thickness of the tube determins the difficulty level.

Erin

Greetings Erin, If you have a lathe this will work. Probably. It works on brass. Anyway, mount a bearing that's 1/2" to 5/8" O.D. on the end of a 1/2 square steel rod. Put the tube in the collet in your lathe and mount the bearing assembly in the tool post. Spin the tube and touch the bearing to the inside so that it starts spinning. Pull it out of the tube and use the cross slide to move the bearing out. Then just force it into the tube and it will expand. The radius on the outer race of the bearing will make a nice transition from the new dia. to the old. I've done this on 1" O.D. 1/16" wall brass tube. It moved surprisingly easy. I imagine that steel or aluminum tube will work also. If using

Will the splash oiling work properly in the horz. position and how do you plan on changing the oil when the engine is mounted to something permanently that can't be tipped over to get the oil out.?

Bernd

If it is metal tubing you might be able to expand a one of item by freezing water inside or using a mandrel and a hammer like a snarling iron on the inside. A bolt with the head filed round would be the tool to make. Pound on the shaft of the bolt to transfer the force to the head inside the tube working around the inside. Might involve a bit of annealing too. If the tubing is some kind of rubber or plastic try dipping in in boiling water and opening a pair of needlenose pliers inside.