Originally Posted by
BrightGarden
Yes, and considering that there is a seller on eBay with one each of the Miller, Norvel, and Sullivan starters at $60 apiece, there are easy alternatives. I tried the Miller and it didn't have enough oomph for a TD .051. As discussed, the weakest link to me in successful and consistent starting of Cox engines is in the glow. The power and the glow head have to be there, and they are so often the most questionable link in the chain. Once you clear that up, you remove doubt about the glow status. Then you can figure out if the engine is in good condition, if it isn't starting. Lately, I have had to replace about 75% of the delrin "carb" bodies on .09 TDs and .049/.051 TDs, from UV, chemical, cosmic, or spiritual deterioration - whatever factors that causes them to become brittle and crack. Resetting pistons is the next factor - some used engines I have gotten lately produce a tactile and audible click as you rotate them through. Knock that fix out of the way. Gooped up NVA? Pretty simple to degoop that with the wire bristle/pin, heat, alcohol. At least with TDs, after that you should have a pretty good engine that should pop of by hand starting - at least on warm, not hot or cold, days. The prettiest engines don't always run the best, either!
Attaching a shot of my latest acquisition - diesel, not glow, though.
I would seriously suggest there is something wrong with your Miller-or your battery-if it struggles on a TD051! I've had two for well over 20 years-one hand held the other set up for starter box use with a foot switch for starting F1J models-and never encountered issues even with the F1J engines. Admittedly mine were both purchased brand new-and second hand starters have often suffered from hard use and neglect!
I own and have used the following 1/2A starters: Astroflite,, Miller, Norvel, Sullivan Hornet and a homemade-so I have plenty of personal experience to make direct comparisons: the Miller is by far the best of the bunch FOR 1/2A and smaller use-if you need to tackle slightly larger engines up to .10 or .12 say-then the Sullivan Hornet is the best choice-but of course at the other end of the scale-the 010 and 020s-it is a bit bulky. I cannot recommend the Norvel starter at all-I found it to be both rough in operation and poorly made, while the Astroflite is fairly rough in operation but durable. Arguably the best (for the original posters purpose) would have been the Globee 'Stinger' self contained unit-but these are decades out of production-and even if you could source a second hand one on Ebay (and they are rare even there!) you might well have difficulty getting the appropriate replacement batteries for it-which
AFAIK were 2V Gates style gel cells-probably 3 in series going by the length of the handle.
ChrisM
'ffkiwi'