The other day on A post someone mentioned how they leaned out the low end just by using A glow driver. Sorry, I can't remember who or what post it was. Anyway, I had to lean out the low end on A Saiot 100 today and decided to give it A try. The idea is that an engine that is fat on the low end has the idle go down as soon as the driver is removed, very true!! You are supposed to remove the driver, if the idle goes down then put the driver back on and lean in the low end screw, remove the driver again, repeat until the idle no longer goes down and the low end is now in tune. Well, what would have taken A lot of time using A Tach and mark one ear took only A couple of minutes today!! I thought I had been taught every way there was to tune an engine but this one takes the cake!!! Just way too easy and worked perfectly. Whoever posted that last week, Thank You Very much. So far last week I learned two great tricks!! One on engines and one on covering. Just goes to show, even an old blind hog can find an acorn once in A while!!

This sounds like a GREAT tip. Thanks!

Yes, that works and has been my prefered way to deal with naughty glows for years. I reccomend it. One comment, you don't use a tach or ear to set low end anyway as you implied. You check throttle transition and let the engine idle for a bit to see if it loads/leans. This 'traditional' test should still be done after resetting the low side via the glow heat trick.

Gray Beard, I've used taking the glow driver off and if it didn't drop rpm when I did, I knew I had it running right. I just never though of using that as a tuning tool though. You learn something every day. I've got an O.S 52 four stroke that has been giving me fits and I finally hit the sweet spot yesterday. I knew I had it because when I took off the glow driver, it didn't drop a beat. If I had though of your procedure, I could have had a week of fun flying.

Don

Sorry, I use my tach and ear to set my idle at the flying and landing rpm for my high/low/kill switch, seems to work pretty well. As stated, I didn't come up with this, I was told about it last week and tried it today, I was asked to post up and let someone know how it worked out. Very well thank you and just too easy. Next plane I use A pumper on I will give it A try and see how it works out. May be A while, next couple of planes in the works are gassers.

Graybeard, I wouldn't mind hearing about the covering trick..

Gray Beard,
I read the same thread (glow driver) that you are referring to, and that was me who asked for the update on how the glow driver idea worked for you. Thank you for posting your results. I am going to try this out next time I fire up my son's Saito 82.

Just one question. When you remove the glow driver and the idle goes down a little, do you kill the engine to make the low end adjustment, and then restart the engine again each time?

I am just a little gun shy around those very fast moving props, and want to keep all my fingers intact.[X(]

Mesaflyer, I think it would depend on the engine and the way it's mounted. I've had my O.S.52 mounted in three different planes, One was upright, on was on it's side, and now it is semi inverted, the head pointd down at 4:30 looking from the cockpit. The O.S 52, as well as some of their other carbs has the high speed and the mix on the same side of the carb. That made it easy to make both adjustments while the engine was running, in both the upright and side mount. The semi inverted is a different animial. You have to make the adjustments from under the plane, so in that case there is no way to make a mix control adjustment when the engine is running. My Magnum 4 strokes have the mix opposite the high speed. With them, if they are upright, you can make the adjustment running, but if it is side mounted, you have to kill the enging between clicks.

One other thing, I have what we used to call a Selectric screwdriver. It was made for working on the old Selectric typewriters. It has a fine tip, that fits the mix control perfectly. It has a shank about 10" long which puts the handle well outside the arc of the prop for anything I fly. Even with that, it is extreamly important that you never get your hand or the screwdriver near the rotating prop. Always stand behind the engine, never reach over the front.

I had this last point driven home the other day when I was tuning up a little Mag 40 GP two stroke. It was part of a collection of stuff I bought a couple years back and it was the first time I had started it. It started right up but when it went full throttle, it ran well for a couple seconds then started slugging down. I was thinking it was running rich, so I clicked it lean a couple clidks and ran it up again. At full RPM, id stopped, spitting prop and spinner. They both flew into the back of my garage and when they bounced away from the wall one went left and the other right. Had I been standing any where near the front of the plane then, one or both would have hit me. Four strokes are more prone to spitting a prob, but even the little Mag 40 showed me it could. Stay to the rear, and if you can't shut down the engine for each adjustment. Never stand in front when running up an engine, or let other people stand in front. Scares me to death watching a guy with a big 1/4 scale reaching over the prop to give the needle a couple clicks. Even the little ones can bite you. I've got a scar on the second knuckle of my right thumb from sticking it into the prop of a little .049 when I was about 14, some 50 years back. It cut it to the bone. Be safe.

Don

Bingo, go on down to Tips and techniques and pull up the thread titled New Monocote Techniques then take A look at the vid. I don't use Mono on any of my own planes, I can't be bothered working with the stuff, I use Ultracote. However, I do use mono on some trim because mono has A lot more colors to choose from. well, that and I have A bunch of it doing nothing in my shop for years and years. That and they even have some color match in spray paint. By the way, I invented this method. OK, I just read about it myself but that's almost as good as inventing it. [8D]
Don, I did not kill the engine but in this case the engine was mounted upright, it's A Golden Knight, ask any 13 year old and they will tell you A GK must be mounted upright so everyone can see you have one. The low end screw is/was very easy to get at, I had A small hole drilled into the side of the fuse to rest the screw driver on too. I also have some very long shank drivers but in this case it wasn't needed, there is A lot of room between the prop and my fingers.
If for any reason it bothers you then by all means kill the engine, it's your fingers so do it anyway you like. I have been known to drag A knuckle across the back of the prop on my SK engines and that smarts!!! I won't even tell you how close I was to the prop when setting the needles on my Brison gasser but I got tired of fooling with it. Not sure I would ever do that again but no one has ever said I was the brightest bulb in the box.[&:]
Try this method with the driver, it worked great and was fast and easy.
Gene

GrayBeard. Thanks for the kind words. I was the one who put it in the post you mentioned. I have done it that way for years. I only wish now I could give credit to the man that showed me. I just can't remember who it was.

David

It would be a shame to cover up a good looking engine like that one.


I did that at the field Thursday helping a guy tune his new OS 46 two stroke. Man that prop is close. Get your attention doesn't it.[:@]

Don

Dave, something that easy/good should be shared, it just worked out very well. I hope Bingo likes that mono thread too.

I am going to give it a try, but more than likely will just shut the engine off. Might take a little while, but I'm in no hurry, and I already have enough scars. Don't need any from this hobby. Thanks again

Graybeard, great tip! My instructor sets the low end up first by doing exactly what you did with the glow starter. Next, he then blips the throttle up and if it stumbles he leans it a tad more until the stumbling goes away (his method of fine tuning). DG

Gray Beard and daveopam,
Finally got back out to the field today. Tuned my OS 55 using the glow stick technique. Worked like a charm. The low end response was kinda mushy, now it's nice and crisp. Thanks for sharing this! Next week, I'm going to check out my Saito 82.

I would like to get some feed back from someone with A pumper or maybe A YS and see how it works for them. I only have one YS going at this time and it's perfect already so no reason to fool with it and my pumpers are down waiting on airplane repairs, that could take A while. Just wondering. It was daveopam that I got the tip from or I would have never thought of it at all, I have been doing it the same old way for years, nothing wrong with the way I was taught but this is just easier. So far I have only used it on A couple of OS two strokes and A couple of Saitos. Saito really sets there low ends fat for break in.

The idle going down when removing a glow driver is not always a sign of the low end needing re-adjusting. Many times it's just a sign that the old plug needs replaced with a new one.

I had an inverted Saito that would drop idle RPM when I removed the glow starter, regardless of low speed needle setting and glow plug. However, the glow on/glow off technique does work well for my upright mounted 2 and 4-strokes.

Talk about perfect timing!

Thank you fro this post, I missed the first one..

I have an OS .46FX that will be getting a complete retune when the O-ring arrives for the low speed needle valve, and I was wondering how I was gonna figure it out!

This will also help when I break in and tune the K&B .61 I have later this month.