gas engine test stands
 

any ideas or pics of test stands apreciated

RE: gas engine test stands
 

I had bought this gas engine test stand from a fellow who sells them on Ebay. It is all aluminum and has a easy to replace front plate that you can drill and tap if desired for screws and bolts. It bolts onto whatever table or stand you want to use with it. It works quite well for my purposes.

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...x6_prop_02.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...est_run_01.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...est_run_03.jpg

RE: gas engine test stands
 

Here is a pic of my last test stand. Obviously I prefer to run in an engine in the air where it has better cooling and same loading as it will have for the rest of it's life. Avoids the possibility of it ingesting something ground based as well.

RE: gas engine test stands
 

Neat old Fox twin. I always wanted one of those but never got around to buying one. Heard they were problematic, but then lots of people complained about Foxes.... I like them and have gotten many hours of good use out of them. I still have several. As a matter of fact, though most of my fleet is gas powered now, I have two glow planes left and they both have Fox engines in them. A Mustang with a Fox Eagle .74, and a Twist 40 with an ancient Fox .78 on it. Both run perfect!

The test stand looks very nice, but I make mine with as small a backplate as possible for air "flow through" purposes.

AV8TOR

RE: gas engine test stands
 

very interesting fox twin. IF youve picked up an engine , condition unknown , its probly better to check it out before you
plant it on your plane . great looking stand , i'll have to post pics of mine , its all wood and i think it weighs more
than the quad 100 thats going on it, Mabey!

RE: gas engine test stands
 

Thanks, I am planning on using it in a airplane pretty soon. I had found the rare mate to the Fox Quiet muffler so I can use it on the twin. I hadn't degunked the muffler I found at the time I test ran the engine. Fox made the mufflers with a up or down angle to them, so on the twin I get to use them as a left and a right muffler.

I normally test run all my engines on a test stand before I try using them in a airplane. Some engines tend to vibrate a lot when first run and during the break in process and that can be very hard on the airplane too. I rebuilt a old 1.20 engine a while back and it literally vibrated the test stand apart on me. But after it got some run time, it smoothed out quite a bit and is now in a biplane being flown. The other advantage of a test stand is when you have engine problems. If the engine runs good on the test stand then you know you have a problem in the airplane and not the engine then. A big plus is being able to reach the adjustments more easily so you can at least dial in the engine some before you use it in a airplane. Some engines can be quite a bit out of adjustment and give you a hard time getting them to work OK.

RE: gas engine test stands
 

I agree with that.
I have had no need to use a test stand since my Ohlsson & Rice .29 and Fox .35 control line stunt days and have never ruined an engine. If a person wants to burn gas for the pleasure of hearing engines run on the ground I wouldn't ridicule him for doing so because I like listening to them run also but I don't find it to be necessary for a proper break in.
The pictures below show two flying "test stands" and four engines.