RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

Well, today I replaced the Y connector with another one and plugged the 250 ma battery directly into the R700 receiver. I started the 33cc homelite and did a range check. The same problem as before.[:@] Near or far , all I got was severe glitching, the throttle servo being the worse.

Just for heck of it I installed my trusty 3 year old JR 600 receiver into the Hawk. I pulled the battery out of the new Tx and installed it into my Quattro radio. (The old Quattro 4-channel has flown 6 planes and was retired to my 31cc Ryobi powered "snow boat"). I used the battery/switch combo that was already in the plane for a range check.

I got a good range check with the engine running so I decided to fly the plane. I flew the plane for 20 minutes and all was normal. :D I guess the new R700 receiver is bad and needs replacement.

The 33cc homelite ran excellent as usual and has been very reliable.[sm=thumbup.gif]

Ron

RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

Congratulations on finding your problem. These things can be a lesson in patience. I hope you now have many hours of good flying. You deserve it.
Cvan

RE: RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

Ron,

That sucks that a new receiver is giving problems[sm=angry.gif]. It worked before, so maybe some vibration got to it?[sm=spinnyeyes.gif] I've gradually put all Hitec receivers in my planes. They seem to be more glitch-proof for me.

...glad you finally figured it out! :D

Jim

RE: RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

Yeah, I think vibration shook something loose on this particular Rx. It was wrapped with 1/4" foam and secured with rubber bands. I'll buy another Rx and use extra padding. If that does not do the trick I'll go with another brand of radio.

Thanks,

Ron

RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

Tmoth4:
What type of tooling are you using to shape the G10 with? I ordered some 1/4" to mount my Homelite 33cc. I believe you said that it would dull your band saw blade. I was thinking of trying a Zip wheel on a 4 1/2" grinder. The draw back to this is the amount of heat that may be generated. Do standard high speed drill bits work on this material? At what RPM? I'm trying to cut down on the R&D time.
Thanks for your help!

RE: RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

Cvan,

I had no problems with it dulling the drills. I have the drill press at a fairly slow speed, 751 rpm right now, and it drilled really nice. The blade in my bandsaw is a regular wood cutting blade. I wonder if a hacksaw type blade would work better. If you got the glass-filled board (yellowish-green) it is harder than the brown stuff, which cuts easier.

I used a Permagrit file to do the final hand shaping. It worked great![sm=thumbup.gif]

Jim

RE: 33cc homelite
 

Thanks for the info. I may try a power hacksaw blade in a Sabre saw and see how that works if I can't find a metal blade for my bandsaw. I ordered the blue G-10 as the sales lady said it would go with the color of her eyes.[&:]
I know you would have had to hear the conversation to believe it but that is the way it went. Actually it is suppose to be the same stuff as the yellow-green stuff.
Thanks again!
Cvan

RE: 33cc homelite
 

in regards to bandsaw blades. saw outfits make up blades to fit your saw. they will cut fine on aluminum and light steel. i got a metal blade for my saw at Lowes. good luck

RE: 33cc homelite
 

Yaaay!!:D I got the first one running! I used 50:1 mix this time and it's a little warmer outside, about 45*. Had a little trouble at first, then I turned the prop so it's 90* to the magnets and it started. I let it run for a while and then tried a couple of hot starts...choked it to stop it and it restarted (choke open) with only a few sharp flips.[sm=thumbup.gif] I'm waiting for it to cool off and then I'm going to mount the other one and try it.

RE: 33cc homelite
 

All right, Jim ! [sm=thumbup.gif]

Make sure the Work Mate is tied down good, with two 33cc homelites attached it might try to take-off! [X(]

What's that white stuff on the ground?

Ron

RE: 33cc homelite
 

YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS!![:'(]

I have to do a little mods to the Hangar 9 aluminum mounts, then I can mount them both and run them together. I will have to put my foot on the workmate!

I tried the second Homelite 33 and it started just as easy as the first one...YaaaY!![sm=lol.gif]
Jim

RE: 33cc homelite
 

He, He, yeah, I know what it is, the 4' snow drift in the front yard has almost melted away....;) Thats a cool pic of you and the running homelite conversion, I hope your neighbors are not drawing a bead on you right now....

I'll try to hand start my homelite tomorrow, I'm like you, the less crap I have to tote around, the better. Gas conversions are great, are'nt they?

Did the flywheels seem to run true and fairly smooth? I'm still flattered that you tried my drill press technique...

Here's a couple pics of my front yard after our last big snowstorm. This storm blew through weeks ago and with the recent warm weather the snow is almost gone. [8D]

RE: RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

It was only about 7pm when I ran the second one (and everybody's got their windows closed now anyway) so it wasn't a problem with the neighbors.

We didn't get as much snow as you but the ground has been covered for at least a month. It got up to 50 yesterday and today wasn't too bad but tomorrow we might see snow again![:@]

The flywheels seemed to run pretty smooth and the engines didn't seem to vibrate that much at all. Your grinding technique worked great! [sm=thumbup.gif]I did it slightly different though. I stuck the sandpaper to a piece of wood with spray adhesive and held it under just one side of the flywheel. It seemed to work a little better for me that way. It took a little while but it sure beat cutting the fins with a hacksaw and trying to file them all even! I also did the sandpaper /drillpress thing on the flywheels of two 25cc engines that I had done before the old way, just to level them out better. The flywheels sure come out neat...almost professional looking!

Tomorrow I'm going to work on the mounts and hopefully get them both running together. I'll definitely post a picture of that![sm=lol.gif]

Jim

RE: 33cc homelite
 

Jim,

Do you have any tips on hand starting the 33cc homelite? Did you position the prop 90 deg. to the magnets for better leverage when you flip the prop? How much did you choke the carb,etc.? Sorry for all the questions, I would like to hand start mine and any info would give me a head start tomorrow.

Thanks,
Ron

RE: 33cc homelite
 

I don't know if it's the leverage or if the magnets pass through at the right part of the "flip". It takes a hard, quick flip with a follow-through. The magnets have to pass the coil fast to get a spark.

Here's the procedure I used:

1. Put your thumb over the carb with the choke closed and flip the prop (not hard) until the gas line just fills.

2. Flip a couple more times with thumb still on the carb.

3. If you have a kill switch, put it to the run position.

4. Take your thumb off and, with the choke still closed, flip hard until it fires once.

5. Open the choke to the halfway click and flip until it starts.

6. Open the choke all the way.

If it doesn't start go back to step 2.

I hope I remembered everything. This is the procedure I use on all my gas engines, including the Zenoahs, and it works 90% of the time. Once in a while I choke them too much, flood it, and I have to pull the plug and dry it out.

A couple more things...I always start them with the throttle at idle or slightly fast idle. Don't forget to stake your plane down or have someone hold it. A couple of times I forgot and had the throttle servo reversed on a plane and it started at full throttle...scared the heck out of me and I was glad someone was holding it![sm=surprised.gif]

Good luck tomorrow. I hope it works.

Jim

Here's how the magnets are in relation to the prop:

RE: 33cc homelite
 

Well, my homelite won't hand start no matter what I try.

I even fired it up with the drill and checked the carb adjustments. I ran the motor till it was fully warmed up and killed it. I then set the throttle to just above the idle position and flipped away. Nothing, not even a pop.

I then removed the spark plug and grounded it to the engine. I could not get the plug to fire when the prop was flipped by hand. I got plenty of yellow sparks though, when using the drill to spin the flywheel. Apparently the Ryobi flywheel and Phelon ignition are not going to work for hand starts. (I want nice fat "blue" sparks).

I sent the flywheel that came with the saw out to have it cut down by a machinist. When it comes back I'll fit it to the engine and see if I get an improvement in the ignition system. Before I bolt it on I'll compare it to the "drill press" prepped Ryobi flywheel that I had vibration problems with. I remember seeing some large magnets at the home improvement center a while back. I am going to make a balancer to check the flywheels to see how they compare.

Jim, you bring up a good point about tying the plane down and starting the engine at an idle. I started my Ryobi once and I forgot to set the throttle to idle, it fired up at WOT and scared the crap out of me. Now, I double check the throttle position before starting any engine! Thanks for taking the time to share your engine starting tips.

Ron

RE: RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

Ron,

Sorry you couldn't get it to start by hand. A couple of days ago when I couldn't get mine to start I took the plug out and clamped the engine in the vise in the basement to check the spark and found I had to flip it really hard to get a spark...but it did spark. The prop has to be in the 12 o'clock position when it approaches compression.

I was hoping to hear you were able to start it by hand...maybe when it's warmer outside.

Jim

RE: RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

I tried out some different sparkplugs, just for a spark test on the homelite. Unfortunately I could not get them to fire by hand flipping. Oh well, no big deal.

With the drill spinning the prop at various speeds I grounded each plug to the engine:

Champion RCJ6Y---------gap .020, original plug that came with saw, Yellow/ orange spark.
Bosch RO 645---------gap .020, same type of plug, shorter center electode than above, nice blue spark.
Champion RDJ7Y-------gap .020, fits Ryobi 31cc, blue spark.
Champion DJ7Y--------gap .020, same as above without the "R", really nice hot blue spark, the best of the lot.
Bosch RO 091--------gap .028, came out of Mcculoch 33cc saw equipped with "Solid State Ignition", blue spark.

I ran the Champion RCJ6Y and the Bosch RO 645 in the Homelite 33cc, and both seem to work fine. Unfortunately the radio interference is back when the engine is running. [:@] Somehow this engine is leaking out interference and it's driving me nuts.[sm=confused.gif] I've always assumed an "R" in the spark plug # denotes "Resistor".

Ron

RE: RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

A while back I forgot to mention that you need to wait until there's cloudy night with no moon to ever see a spark out of a Phelon. They do seem to run the engines OK after you get one going though.

Enjoy your engines,
Jim w8ye

RE: RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

Yeah, w8ye, I did the spark test out in the "hanger", it is fairly dark in there with no lights on.:D I have a good Walbro flywheel from a Ryobi, but no ignition module for a homelite. Time to start srounging for one.;)

Ron

RE: RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

JimW8ye,

I have a few questions.

Does it matter if the spark is blue or yellow?[sm=rolleyes.gif] I noticed that the Homelite 25cc engines I have (with the Walbro ign.) give a blue spark and don't need to be flipped as fast. The 33s out of the chainsaws (with Phelon) need to be flipped a lot harder and faster and give a yellow spark, but once they're running they're fine.

I wonder if the need for a faster turn on the chainsaw motor is a safety thing so they can't be started accidentally (in a saw)?[sm=rolleyes.gif]

Also, the RDJ6Y and the RDJ7Y look the same. What's the difference?

Jim

RE: RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

Hey Ron. Sorry I couldn't catch your Rec. problem earlier this week. Was at work, but I had one doing just about what yours was and turned out to be a bad Xtal or was loose in the socket. So far I have the 25 cc and the 30 cc along with a few quadra's and after reading back over the thread here I will have to go out and get a few of these 33 cc bandits before the sale is off here at our home depot. It would be nice if we could get them cranking with a blue spark like the 25/30 cc homies. Later Hooker53

RE: RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

Thanks hooker53 for the reply,

I'll get it figured out, one way or another...[sm=devious.gif] I have no complaints about the 33cc bandit saw motor, it runs great and has been 100% reliable. Today I tested different spark plugs with the same flywheel/ignition module and I got plenty of blue spark with most all the plugs except the one that came with the saw originally. (It still runs good with this plug).

I'll buy another Champion RCJ6Y tomorrow and try it. I'll also come up with a way to shield the plug wire and boot better. Who knows, maybe my JR equipment is not up to snuff when used with the gassers.

I want to buy another Homelite Bandit before they go off sale too. My Home Depot also had 99$ poulans but I don't remember what cc the engines were.

Jim, I do believe a blue spark is better, just don't tell my 33cc Homelite engine, it does'nt know any better!:D Also, from what I've seen today, spark plugs are not created equal...

Ron

RE: RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

I did a little more radio testing today. I installed the R700 receiver in my Sig LT-25 thats powered by an OS .25FX glow engine. Using the XF631 Tx for guidance I managed to get one flight in b-4 the sun went down. It flew great, no glitching at all for the entire flight.

I live approx. 5 miles from Montana Rail Link's biggest switching yard and they use "Remote Control" on their switching engines, I wish I could blame them for my problems. (Probably not the same as "radio control"?).

Earlier today I laid out the R700 receiver with 4 servos and a battery plugged in next to the hawk to try and create some interference. With the radio on and the spark plug grounded to the head I spun the engine at approx. 2000 rpm with the drill. No servo glitching at all. Even with the Rx ant. end wrapped around the homelites plug wire all I got was minor servo" twitching".

When I get time I'll put the 33cc homelite back in the Stinson Reliant and see if the problem persists.

Ron

RE: RE: RE: RE: 33cc homelite
 

Ron,

I got the 33cc engines mounted to the Hangar 9 mounts. I had to do a little modifying but I think they're going to work great. On the left mount I had to cut away some of the web to go around the exhaust opening and muffler. The right one was OK the way it was. Hopefully tomorrow, if it's not too cold I'm going to try running them both at the same time.[sm=lol.gif]

Jim

P.S. I hope you get your gitch problem figured out. It sure is a puzzle![sm=spinnyeyes.gif]