News:

"The phone is a remarkably complex, simple device,
and very rarely ever needs repairs, once you fix them." - Dan/Panther

Main Menu

Also "rotary" but heavier

Started by countryman, February 28, 2020, 01:55:22 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

countryman

I must confess looking at spinning wheels and moving rods and levers has always been fascinating for me - that's why I prefer rotary phones over touchtone ones  ;) I remember watching a running stationary engine in a museum as a young guy and from that day on I wanted one. So I could not pass when a barn find appeared nearby.

It's a 1938 6HP Deutz MAH 711 Diesel, complete and spinning free, but it was lacking compression. I pulled the piston, the rings were seized on it. I found new ones, also ground in the valves and cleaned the fuel system.
Today I cranked it up the first time. It requires a self-lighting fuse screwed into the combustion chamber as a starting aid when cold but once warm it starts fairly easy.
Nice toy, not ecologically correct maybe.
By the way, phones are super eco friendly. The internet and anything digital are energy hogs compared to POTS.

Here's a video link to the engine startup: https://youtu.be/ayEi-nWgQuM

CanadianGuy

That is neat! I've taken a liking to the old two stroke Detroit Diesels in recent years. The sound they make is awesome. Also not environmentally friendly, which is why they're fading into obscurity. I would love to get my hands on a small one, probably a 53 series, so I could mess around and maybe have some fun. Great job getting it running again!

twocvbloke

Nice, I'd love to have a vintage diesel engine myself, so simple yet so reliable, no electronics needed to run them, and they can run all day happily, ol' Rudolf really did create a winner with that one, though the fuel was a bit of a problem given he started off with peanut oil or the like, and ultimately people poured petroleum "wastes" into them and found they worked, and ultimately became known as Diesel fuel, but that said, older diesels can drink most oily products anyway, from cooking oils up to used engine oils... :)

Of course these days they're "evil", yet former british government absolutely insisted people bought them because they were seen as greener and more economical in the early 2000s, now those owners are being dragged over the coals for doing so...  ::)

countryman

Quote from: twocvbloke on February 28, 2020, 04:32:00 PM
ol' Rudolf really did create a winner with that one

That's for sure. James Watt came up with the idea, Nikolaus Otto improved it and Rudolf Diesel found the final solution to the problem of combustion engines. Unfortunately he was a perfectionist and could not build the injection system according to his theories.  This and short-term economic problems saddened him so much that he committed suicide by going into the waters of the English Channel in 1913.
The Deutz factory was founded by N. Otto and refused to support R. Diesel's research. Only after his patents expired they used them. Robert Bosch, who brought the spark ignition of Otto engines to the perfection before, also developed a fully satisfying Diesel injection later. My Deutz no. 592,270 still has a Deutz-own injection that was replaced with Bosch equipment on later types.
Deutz numbered all engines continuously. 1-8 were prototypes, 9 was the first engine sold. 1 Million was reached in darkest war time 1944, and records stop then.

andre_janew

I've also heard that the earliest diesel engines burned coal dust.

19and41

Good work!  Have you come up with a task to put it to?
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke

countryman

I keep looking for a suitable generator head...
The engine is missing a belt pulley, the wheels are just flywheels. Also it seems that the main bearings are noisy. These are roller bearings, parts would be available but not easy to install. All in all this project will keep entertaining me for a while :-)