First Engine Start
 

In about 30-40 years. As I have posted in a few threads, I am a returning RC Pilot. I started the journey in June last year hoping to fly by October. Well, things just get in the way.

But, today I got to start my OS engine. It went well with a few minor problems. I couldn't figure out fuel flow direction on fuel filter so I had to open it up. Spinner came off on first start attempt. Flooded engine. Had to check for hydro lock. Didn't know the glow igniter had a twist to lock feature. took a while to figure how to get it off. Just minor stuff.

Then the the engine started and I went thru the run in procedure for a full tank. It sure felt good. The fuel smell brought back memories. Hope to have a plane in the air next week. Then the more difficult starts.

I made a simple engine test stand and also a temporary fueling station.

Welcome back to the passion ET (and don't forget to phone home:)) May your olfactory nerves never be deprived of the sweet smell of burning glow fuel agine for such a long time.

Looks like an AX and you could not have made a better choice. will be looking forward to your continuing adventure.

John:cool:

Y'know, its the weirdest thing. I've run into people at the field who dread or pooh pooh the awefullness of those messy glow engines. I love it. When I come home, the g/f smells the castor and it reminds her of her grandfathers machine shop. I've had a great time, who cares, life is good when you come home smelling of castor. I love it.

Welcome back !

I have one area of concern, though. To me, it looks like you have gas fuel line for your glow test rig. If the others concur, you may want to swap out the fuel line.

Thanks Tom, good catch. You are correct this fuel line is for gas and diesel. I will replace it with glow fuel line. The reason for the gas line is I purchased a gas engine before the glow engine. Never gave thought to the fuel line. This has been a learning and re-learning experience. The info on this forum has been very helpful.


John you are correct. It is an OS .55 AX. OS is the only engine I have ever used. I now have a Valley View gas engine for a second plane. My plans sort of changed along the way. So I now have two planes. The glow is about ready to go and the gas for later. What have I gotten into!!!!!!

Ya good catch by TomC, I did not even notice the Tygon but I think no worries for what you are doing. Yup plans in this hobby sport are continually changing for most of us and that is part of what makes it so intriguing. Those who only fly one airplane for even year after year are the ones that always seem to loose interest and eventually drift on. But this hobby/sport is so broad and varied that in reality no one can do it all and that is what keeps the passion going for even a lifetime:cool:

Sorry for the preachy paragraph but to answer your question about what have you gotten into? Well two airplanes is only just a start, Lets see my 2.4 receiver count is around 56 and I have almost no spares in the drawer.

John

You may already know this, but glow drivers are by far the most common cause of prop strike injuries. Always reach around the engine to get the glow driver off, never over it. And always do it the same way with the same hand so that muscle memory keeps you safe. Actually, it's smart to establish an entire starting procedure from the moment you attach the fuel line to the moment you take the glow driver off. Don't work on your engine when you are frustrated, tired, or distracted either. Don't get in a hurry; the glow driver can sit up there for the entire duration of the engine run if need be. And if it falls off, never grab for it even if the engine is not running (muscle memory again). Hitting the ground won't hurt it. Then when you are to the point of flying, establish a procedure for carrying out your plane to the flightline along with your transmitter. That can become quite the juggling act if you aren't on top of it.

The smell of glow exhaust pouring out of my O S engine always brings back memories of my childhood experiences. Having a set method of doing things will pay off with fewer injuries.

Frank

John, i am with you. I am working with the receiver that came with the radio. I am thinking of getting a second for the second plane. I cannot see changing receivers from plane to plane.

Jester - countilaw thanks for the heads up on safety and procedures. I am always thinking safety and think through a procedure for doing things. For this engine run I stood back from the engine and thought where to place my equipment and how to go about doing the run up. This engine required a fuel tank run going from 4 cycle to 2 cycle, 10 seconds each. I didn't want my hand close to the running engine so long and so often. I used the black rubber hose connected to the needle valve to do the procedure. You can see it in the picture. I marked it to indicated start position. I used the mark to see where the 2-4 cycle changed over. Just a reference.

I am a solo worker so I need to be extra very careful. I am building a 20x20x10' storage building. I have framed it and installed the trusses by myself. Lots of thought about procedure and safety went into the project. I made a truss support stand to help me. You can just see the base, with wheels, in the second picture, fuel filling station. I'll be using that wood to make an engine starting table. I may do a before- after thread if it comes out ok.

Welcome back to the hobby ET. I took a 10 year break from the hobby and got back into it in about 2008 and it has all been very enjoyable. I just got into gassers a few months ago and I feel like a beginner again, also being very careful as the consequences of injury are much greater with the stronger engines. Still learning even today as I put a new prop on the engine and then realized the compression point was at a dangerous starting position. So.... Loosen it up and get it right. Always pays to be careful and think things through. Good luck with the re-entry!

Thanks thailazer. I've been reading the forums and learning a lot. Relearning what I used to know and lots of the new. As for the gas engine it will be totally new. I am adding a kill switch as in your installation. The propping thread had a link for that safety starter. Link Is dead but not too difficult to make one. Not sure how practical it may be but giving it thought. I like building and making things.

I will echo the welcomes to the addiction. I can't even imagine not doing this madness any more. Speaking of feeling like a noobie again, I just recently got into electric stuff (just being stubborn to stay out of it for so long) and that is a totally new ball game. What you need to know about batteries, motors and ESCs is mind boggling. And now there is gas to think about. Since gas engines have come so far in technology and down so much in price and they are offering smaller ones, it is the only sensible way to go if you like wet power. But I sure do like the smell of glow fuel burning. Decisions, decisions------

Actually, I find gassers to be easier to deal with than glow engines. They stay in tune and are easier to hand start than glow engines are. And they are so much cleaner.

Hi!
And get rid of that rubber extention you have on the high speed needle, it might destroy the valve seat inside the carb due to vibration

Welcome back to the madness! We measure how much fun we have had by the number off bugs and grass stuck on the plane in the goop!

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2062581 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2062582

I just wanted to note that all the AX's come with a three inch length of flex cable that inserts into the needle valve to provide an extension and without the problems noted by Jaka. Even has a nice thumb wheel for the other end. I find this very nice and I normally leave them full length on all my AX's and I have a bunch. This is especially appreciated on some of my multi engine airplanes.

The pictures above are a .35 AX engine.

John

Ah!!! Vibration. Never thought of vibration and the rubber hose. I did hold the hose straight during the engine run so vibration should have been minimal. Still have to think about these things. I did balance the prop. It is something I did not do when I used to fly. Learned about it here. Lots to learn on this forum. Thanks.

John, thanks for posting the photos. My engine did come with the needle valve extension. I thought it was for airplanes with engine cowls. I will install it and give it a try. My old OS had a straight needle valve bringing you close to the prop. This engine has the angled needle valve which is better. The extension will make it much better and safer. Thanks.

My plane is just about ready to fly. Learning the computer radio and all its programming was probably my most difficult task. Totally different from my old plain 6 channel radio. Once completed, I plan to setup the plane in the living room and go throught the control for a good while. Learn to do things without looking at the radio.

the included extension has low mass so does not cause problems compared to a heavy tube. Use locktight on those set screws!
Because little brass knobs are hard to find in the grass...don't ask how I know!:rolleyes:

Regarding the set screws ET on the OS included extensions do remember the set screw is a metric size both in the needle valve and the included knurled thumb wheel and its quite small I cannot off hand the size, remember these won't work if you use the wrong tool .

I think I have around 18 various AX's I use them a lot and in particular on the multi engine airplanes up to four engines (Did a sixer one time also but it finally died) and of course for the reason Ozmo indicated above, I have never had any problem with vibration affecting the needles, This is one of major reasons I like these engines so much and that is the ability to run long needle extensions.

I have never used any kind of locktight though simply because I wanted the flexabilty to make changes easily but I have never had the cable fall out of the needle valve or the knurled wheel 's fall out perhaps because I used the right tool and properly tightened them.

John

The long home made piano wire extensions will cause a problem but the good old cable wire never has. My kingdom for one of those adjustable saw horses, I keep looking for one at a garage sale.

Well I have the needle valve extension installed. I did find that the hex nut was MM, 1.5MM. I thought about using locktite but went without. I changed out the fuel tubing to glow so engine is set to go. I just need to check and set the idle. Looks like it will be a rain event this week in Texas. Will need to wait for that flight trial. Time for double n triple checking things.


GB the sawhorse is an original Black & Decker Workmate. I cannot remember when I bought it. It has to be 25-30 years old. I am a tool n equipment nut. Thus the reason for building a storage building. Move storage n little used tools n equipment to the storage building n open up space in the main workshop. Can't Wait !!!


I do have a question using a prop nut. I can't remember how I used it in the past. The engine came with a prop washer. So, do I install prop, washer then prop nut? Or is it prop then prop nut?

If the tank height is right, needle settings are not too critical on glow engines. I guess I should add that with the correct prop size also, because it you overload the engine ( like OS is prone to do for noise reasons), they are much harder to needle.

I have flown airplanes with the needle valve inside the cowl, where the only way to adjust it was to shut off the engine so I could reach the needle from the front between the cowl and spinner. Once you get the engine broke in, the high speed needle setting rarely need more than one or two clicks day to day, and the idle need never needs adjustment. So I'm not a fan of extensions on a needle.

I've been working hard for that first flight. Visiting grand daughter wanted to see plane fly. Conditions not too good for flying. I still needed to give it a try. Mowed the runway. It was wet n muddy not good. I cut it as low as I could without getting stuck. I decided against the full size starting table and built a mini table. This worked good with my small trailer. I could work on the plane on the trailer, transport plane all set up. Worked good.

Runway was the pits. Grass too high and still wet. I could not cut runway long enough. I had to use almost full power just to get it moving. First attempt, airplane did not lift off ran into the tall grass flipped and broke prop. Second attempt I positioned it a bit farther back for more runway. This attempt airplane was ready to rotate. But, it hit some grass that turned it across the runway. I kept the power up but again hit the tall grass and came to a stop. I needed 30-40 more feet. Airplane could not get to flying speed. No damage on second attempt but gave up for the day. I needed a drier, longer and shorter grass runway. Need to wait some more.

On on the bright side, I had not actively flown since late 70's or early 80's. I did have a short intro flight last June. The plane is a tail dragger and I was able to keep it straight down the runway on both attempts. As it bounced trying to fly the airplane did not give any indications of bad flying tendencies. I just needed a bit more speed.

I have to to let the runway dry and cut it shorter and longer. We've had 6" of rain since January 1st. Now waiting will wear on me. First flight still ahead.

Those wheels are probably too small for a grass runway that's any rougher than a putting green. If you'll move up to a 3" wheel, I think you'll find the plane ground handles much better on your runway and there will be no bad effects from them in flight.

Nice Plane!
I have taught a few new guys on Coroplast planes. Do store the wings on something that won't induce a warp.
( storage rack must be parallel ) Don't ask:mad: how I leaned!
I think that is a perfect trainer.
Is it the Debonair?
I was buddy boxing a student on a Deb and the Bass Pro hot air balloon came by our field. Both the student and I were watching the balloon. Debonair flew into the big oaks at the end of our field. It made quite a racket but fell to the ground. It required a drizzle of CA down the yardstick spar to reattach the coro...That was all it needed to fly again!