johnsmachines

I assembled the engine today.  The flywheel was required to be balanced, but I decided to give the engine a run in its unbalanced state, and was quite amazed to see it start up, hesitatingly at first, but then got into its stride, and ran for 13 minutes.

Quite excited at this point, I spent some time balancing the system.  That required the base to be removed, then multiple holes, 7 in all, drilled in the flywheel, to balance the mechanical components.

Then another run.   14 minutes.  Then another, 19 minutes.  Then the best run at 21 minutes.  Very exciting.

So I took it home, and showed SWMBO.   Hmmm.   But what does it do???  She asks.

It just goes…..   It is like an architectural folly.   Just interesting in its own right.   OK?

So this is what you have been spending your spare time on for the last 2 weeks?   Yes.

A bit of a credibility gap here.

The engine, sitting on a cup of hot water, running at about 100rpm.

Best run…. 21 minutes.