Generator prime mover

Why is everything about money?
This is not a personal attack on you or anyone Pete.
Its just some disheartening to see how we have monetized everything.
I think we take it too far sometimes.

Pete you also said you put it off, but your kids pushed you to do it.
I have noticed that today’s youth is far more interested in putting a dollar value on things and then adding up all their things than just trying to enjoy life.

Example it used to be about the boat and the fishing trip…
Now I listen to the young guys at work talk more about how much the boat cost and what the trip cost than the fishing.
The are hyper consumers of things even though that talk about how everything is an experience.

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Yes, Wallace, the world sure is a different place since the Internet “happened”.
But, just to put things into perspective (and i hope this isn’t tooooo far OT)
My Mom worked for a newspaper back in the 40’s and 50’s. She told me that the goal of the newspaper was to have 20 percent content and 80 percent advertising!
I’m not sure that the internet is all that different today. It simply gave us several years of advertising-free content before it started to replace print media. I guess we got spoiled.

Pete Stanaitis

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Never off topic with me.
I ramble on about all kinds of stuff and I think its healthy.
I used to post on other forums where you could not just talk about stuff like we do here.
Mostly guys with sticks up their bums. ( in other forums )
Around here guys are much more laid back and thoughtful reasonable i notice…

Yes things sure have changed.
I find it hard to keep up sometimes…

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I don;t need to do this, but I found this article while looking for something unrelated.

I was kind of thinking about doing this myself but struggled with a quick way to adapt the threads.
I never checked to see how close they were and never thought simple this could be…

https://www.mytractorforum.com/6245857-post17.html

If your going to drill a jet i have a better way, but it requires a good drill press.
Chuck the jet…
Set up the drill in a vice and carefully line up for the hole.
This will keep you on centre and make the cleanest most accurate holes.

Unless you have a lathe…
Then your laughing because it even easier

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I’ve had to build a new rear engine mount to get the generator to fit back in the cradle.
This is not a big deal just some thick steel plate I am working on.

The governor issue continues to piss me off I want that idle control.
So I am going to modify the OEM arm with an adjuster to give me more than two settings for sensitivity.
I have to think and plan some more but I have to find a way to make the arm work better with the solenoid.
I am not sure why all these parts are short…
Could be just because so many changes have been made.

Onan uses a sensitivity adjustment like this.
And I am gong to copy that.

I started to work out how the new exhaust will work on the gas head.
Its not going o fit with the OEM muffler.
The exhaust port is angled and HUGE.
But I am going to use some 3/4 pipe to fab something
All works in progress.

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The new rear generator mount is ready.
I will put it in and load a photo.
I am pretty happy with this.

Exhaust is coming on soon for the gas head.

I need to fabricate some clips for the dog house cover.

I started to make the adjustable governor sensitivity adjuster, but I am still kind of at a loss for Idle control solenoid.

I am waiting on parts from China and want to do some running tests with the engine in its cradle to see if I have a vibration issue.
I don’t really want to run too much without the air box on.

Just some plate cut to fit with a slight off set.

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I had a thought about recycling the gas mixer from the kohler engine.
Its built into the air cleaner assembly.

If I cut the venturi assembly from this then I just need to buy a demand regulator.
image

Ordered a Chinese air filter box and I am debating now whether to modify the Kohler assembly in its entirety.
While reading up on oil bath filters I come across a lot of rather point conversations.
BUT one of these was about over filling the filter with oil and causing a run away diesel engine.
If you ever have a run away diesel engine a CO2 fire extinguisher will smother the engine and shut it down without destroying it.

That’s a very good reason to have one in the shop.

A more general purpose thing to add is it will snuff out any fire or foul up in any kind of engine without destroying it.
Might be worth an investment for an engine shed.

I also want to show this Ansul system.
This is a wet system, where I work we use a dry one on vehicles.
We also have a Halon system for electrial vaults that I am kind of scared of since they snuf out people as fast as fires…

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Doing a little light welding today.

Do you know the difference between a great weld and an ugly weld.
A grinder HA…
Anyone that ever tells you spending 85 USD to buy a Harbour Freight welder is a waste has never been in a situation where thats all you got…
Yes they do stick steel together never turn your nose up at a tool that does what you need.

So here is the exhaust taking shape for the gas head.
Its a pretty tricky compound angle quite different from the Honda head.
It will require another pass for me to fill in some holes and to light porting to match the head but I am mostly happy with this.

It has started to rain in the Nickle City and I am soaked in sweat from the heat.
Got the lawn mowed and did my chores for the wife.
Its Tatra time…

Added photo more refined profile.
I think I did pretty good.
The ports match very close the exhaust being just a little larger in a couple of places.
Where am I going to get a gasket for this???
I guess I need to make that too, not really something high precision or import right now.
I am thinking this exhaust is better candidate for the Sisson choke or I could add a divorced choke spring too this to supplement and take some of the hunting out of a cold start using the existing Honda parts.

I do wish the pipe I chose was 7/8 rather than 3/4 to match the port size a little closer.
But you get what you get…

Other observations today a small oil drip from the engine.
Might have been a lose a bolt or drain plug.
I rechecked and tightened everything we will watch that.

Searching ebay…
Looking at automatic choke parts to improve the performance of the Honda parts.
This is an interesting part from Chrysler.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/MOPAR-CARBURETOR-1960s-1970s-DIVORCED-CHOKE-THERMOSTAT-ASSEMBLY-ORIGINAL/183903331891?hash=item2ad17e2633:g:G4oAAOSwTVNciAVo

I’ve modified this for a Clone once before and was very happy with it.

This is another interesting Kohler part I have seen on mowers.

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If you go back to images previous to post 155 you see the different linkage arms I tried in the governor assembly I was never very happy with.

Today I completed this new fully adjustable with a captive spring hook.
All the parts are a combination of hard and soft solder joints ( So I can make adjustments and changes ).
Now I have full sensitivity control and over a wider range than the original two hole choice Honda gave me.

Added a day later…
I thought about this a lot and maybe I need to add a return spring and drill more holes perhaps even make another adjuster.
But one step at a time…

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Parts installed and now the Idle control seems to work better.
The solenoid can suck in now and it seems to move far enough but the real question is will it work with the engine running and all the parts in play.
Might do a running test this evening or in the morning.

OK.
After sunset I connected up the fuel lines and ran a test.
Things did not go very well.
Could be I need to move the governor arm a clockwise rotation looking down on the machine while at the same time turning the governor fulcrum anti-clockwise.and holding the internal governor arm firmly against the sleeve. ( mouthful of technical jargon eh? )

If at this point the idle control solenoid does not have enough reach to push the governor closed I will have to come up with something new to try.
Maybe I can straighten and extend the arm in it?

I am going to hook up a tachometer and hour meter too.
I need to be careful about over speed, I don;t know how fast this armature can spin before it bird cages and flies apart.

Pesky oil leak is back.
Still can’t figure out exactly where it seeps from, but I am getting annoyed by it.

Aliexpress has sent me a message.
Parts ordered have arrived from China, this means they will be here in about a week I guess…
I once read in France every letter or parcel arrives in 3 days or less in country.
The mail service owns its own trains a track to and rail to ensure it shows up on time.
Your post office in France is also a place you can pay bills, do electronic banking, they provide internet and cell phone service.
And they service makes money…
Canada post could learn a thing or two from them…

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I have been drinking coffee all morning and considering how this should work and why it does not.
I am pretty sure I am missing something.
I never could understand how that governor arm was held straight at the elbow in the first place in normal operation and I still don;t but I added the return spring to keep the elbow straight unless the arm is acted upon by the solenoid.

So today I am going to break this down in steps and work forward from there.
I removed the solenoid from the machine but left the bracket in place.
It occurred to me that they did not need to make these parts separate so maybe this is a place I could shim the solenoid out to extend the reach of the parts and bend that elbow to close the throttle.

But the first step today will be to try and make this new governor arm responsive and get the rpm set and sensitivity right.
Then I will tinker with the shims.

Four hours later I have got the kinks out now and I have everything working sort of.
I still have a slight hunt at 1500 watts and my voltage drops to 107 at 3000 watts.
I doubt I will ever get the hunt to go away but my frequency is steady on between 60 and 59 hz.
Best I ever managed!

The idle control now works too!
I have it shimmed with just two tiny #10 machine screw washers and it works perfect drawing the engine speed down to 1000 rpm and 55V output.

The voltage droop is bothering me.
I have to come up with something to address that.
I think I will try and put the lighting package in and piggy back the power it generates into the exciter circuit and see if I can boost the voltage with more exciter power
I still have power to spare.
I am considering spinning a 40 amp alternator to charge batteries.

Five hours after that…
I decided to pull the cover off the back and look over things.
One row of brushes is not riding on the slip ring correctly.
Just ever so slight hanging off to the side.
The other set is fine.
I think I am going to make some shims next to slide the complete brush rigging over just enough to centre everything.
I also notice some slight streaking and contamination from oil.
Probably assembled by a guy with dirty hands…
There are some faint streaks in the slip rings from wear, nothing critical but they will increase the voltage drop across the brushes… ALL these things together might raise my voltage a measurable amount…

So I am going to cut down a come stone in the morning at work ( ruin hack saw blade in the process )
and glue the little pieces to a stick I can reach in and stone this machine with.
I am going to make some shims for the rigging too.
( I might just cut down some phenolic or glasstick and glue it one the composite base of the rigging… Seems like the most reasonable way to do this… maybe I have some thick Nomex or Mylar sheet I could layer… I don’t know but I guess you guy will see what comes next in the next series of photos )
I want to find a small oil cap to run in parallel to the AC to see if this will boost the output voltage a little .

Why the cap?
Well I have no field control but I want more excitation to increase the field strength and induce a high output voltage.
Well some of you are familiar with induction generators, they only work if you supply reactive power to them.
Well a Synchronous machine also will behave a little like that as well.
in fact if you power factor leads on an syncro machine you have to reduce excitation to keep the voltage in check.
I am going to try make this work in my favour…
In this image you can see how power flows real watts out of the machine and reactive power drawn from the line ( or in my case pretend there is a capacitor not a line and pretend the machine is synchronous )

image

For those that want to see the math…
Here is a vector diagram and the capacitor will cause a slight leading power factor and the blue line is the induced voltage.
In a lagging situation you can see how this will cause more sagging voltage ( math eh ?)

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So if I am to clean these com bars and slip rings I need to use a finishing stone.
But the stones I have are Way too big so I cut some slices off one and used some Urethane adhesive to glue it to a stick.
Back in the day it was quite common to buy these, I am nto sure they are so easy to get today.

This is about he size of tooth brush, but it turns out this is even to large to reach into the machine and clean so I will have to make one thats about 50% smaller tomorrow…

Found an old capacitor 6 mfd.
That’s a good place to start my field excitation and power factor test.

Yes you can still buy this kind of stuff.
But its not sitting on a shelf like the old days
http://martindaleco.com/pdfs/Abrasives/Diamond_D_Catalog.pdf

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New fuel cut off solenoid arrived today and I made some smaller stones that will actually reach
Just waiting now for the air filter to run it longer and try and work out some of the kinks.

I need to make some choices now how wire things up like the Idle control and this solenoid ( fuel cut off for use when switching from liquid fuel to gas )

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Stoning, and adjustments to the brush rigging seems to have improved things.
I put a proper tachometer on and them readjusted my speed and sensitivity.

I now have 127 volts no load at 61 hz and 115 volts at 59 hz and 23 amps load.
Quite except able!.
The frequency setting on my old meter seems to be less that trustful in these things however.
From no load to near full load I am reading a difference of around 50 to 75 RPM
There may be room for more adjustment to tighten that up.

The Chinese air filter assemble was damaged on delivery but I was able to make one out of pieces total cost 8 dollars with Aliexpress refund.

My PC has failed.
I will be scarce for a while, no one is here at work yet so I took this opportunity make a post.
But it might he a while before I am regular again.

Take it easy fellows.

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Wallace, I was able to do quite a lot on DOW with a smart phone, on wifi. If that is available, local public library may have a system available.

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I have no other digital devices no phone ect.
Just a Voip phone that needs the computer

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Im back.
With the new air filter things are different and I used up all the adjustment in my original linkage partrs.
Stability has improved and its time to order some gaskets and test the second head and to some fuel burn comparisons…

Bad tooth pulled today.
Much pain keeping it shirt

Still in holding pattern
more news to come.
Mouth is getting better.

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Hello Jeff, Hello Wallace. it takes a little while for me to show up in this post, but i am here now, thanks for your loud speaking of the thanks in this post. yes, WSEPO is my brand and we have both aliexpress store and offical site( under improvement and decoration). i am wishing to be a little helpful to anyone who are looking for small engine parts for Honda clones, china models, predator engines etc. thanks for getting me showed here. Kim

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Kim,
Welcome to the driveonwood.com forum.
I am sure you have much advice to give, and can learn something about how these engines can be used on wood / charcoal gas! :grin:
This website seems to be yours. Is that correct?
https://www.wsepo.com/

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Kim,

Thanks for the information. Shipping looks good for small items. For large items, like one of your nice engines, the cost of shipping is more than the engine.

Best regards,
Jeff

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