Hi,
I'm having some trouble tuning this FTL 52cc gas engine. It will start with hand flips...eventually... But my arm about falls off with all of the flipping. I was at the Mack Hodges fly-in back in early spring and Sam let me borrow his "big starter". Looked like something he made. At the time, I was just interested in getting my engine to start. Now, i'd like to either make something similar or use a drill.

Current thoughts:

Use a drill - I've got an 18v Black and Decker drill that I think has plenty of torque and RPM to turn this puppy over. I bought a large cone and rubber insert at my LHS and was thinking about using a 1/4 20 bolt and lock nut to chuck into my drill. Thoughts? I've read mixed reviews about using a drill as a starter, but i've also seen many people do it with success.

Cost about $25

Use more voltage on my glow starter - I've got a hobbico 12v 90 Torque Master starter that i use with my glow engines. I've actually used it on the gasser too, but it just barely falls short of turning the prop over. I can pop it with my hand and get it turning pretty fast using the starter. Question, would adding more voltage (say 14v-24v) ruin the starter?

Cost of the extra battery

Buy a 24v starter - I really hate to do this. 1. It costs $100 for a 24v sullivan. 2. I've heard they don't have much more torque than my existing starter. Club member has one and it won't turn over his Zenoah 62.

Cost $100


Could anyone give me some advice for an electric starter for a gasser? Thanks in advance!

Check out PacificAeroModels, they have starters that will start up to a 150cc motor. I have the 24V starter and it will turn my Evo58 with no effort at all. I think sullivan makes a starter for large gas motors (it's not the 24v starter your thinkin about, bigger it takes 2 hands to hold it)

Thanks for the quick reply. I checked out PacificAeroModels, but their cheapest "super starter" is still $99. Looks cool, but i'd prefer a cheaper solution. If i have to, i'll break down and buy that. I just hate to do that since i'll be hand starting once i can get it tuned right.

I think thats the sullivan I was talking about, just modified
Nice set-up w8ye

That's Mac Hodges' starter he used on his ZDZ engines on the B-29.My Miller is not set up that way

Tune the motor properly you won't need the starter.

I have the Miller starter, don't use it much, but when I do it's usually someone else's engine. I like your setup w8ye.

Read my post #4 here:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_88...tm.htm#8888450

Then post #10 here:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_89...tm.htm#8951160

Uhg... tune it while it's running? Sheesh... i knicked my thumb on a glow engine trying to set the low needle while it was running. Hate to see what would happen with this thing....

Alas...that's probably why the engine is not tuned well though. Hard to get as precise as you did in your post w/o it running i guess. I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

They don't call me Stumps for nothing.

Actually you're a little farther away than with a nitro engine, but becarefull. With a pistion port engine the carb's right up there in the propwash so it will tune a little differently with the cowl on and off due to the propwash blowing the fuel air mix that backs out the carb away.

My carb sticks out past the cowl anyhow, so that shouldn't be a problem. Easier to get to the needles with the cowl off (even though i've cut a hole underneath).

Sky

I use a Craftsman 19.2 volt cordless drill, attached the cone from a torq master that had went bad. I have a zenoah G 62 and havn't convereted to the electonic ignition. Maybe someday, however this seems to work fine for me.

Hey baja,
Thanks for the post! That's great news! So you don't have any problems when the engine kicks over? Doesn't hurt the drill to spin up for a second? Obviously i'd remove it ASAP, but i would invision there may be a split second of spin up from the engine.

The cheapest solution is to just use more voltage on your existing starter. Going up to 15 v would probably solve your problem. At least I would try it. I use 24v on a starter rated for 12. I also have the miller attachment.

Amperage capacity of the battery helps too.

The cheap strip switch will weld itself together very quickly.

I used a Dewalt 14v drill for a couple years starting a ZDZ 50. Works great. You need a large cone and insert then drill out the attatchment hole for a 3/8" bolt. I quickly wore out smaller bolts. Cut the head off the bolt for the drill to clamp the smooth shaft. Clamping on the threads will cause the chuck to dig in and let the cone come loose. You don't want that to happen while starting a motor. Couple lock nuts and yer done.
Your drill spins about 1600 rpm and the engine will idle about there too so no problems overspining the drill.

Question for you soarrich...

I checked the timing on the engine. The plug fires twice on my engine. Once when the magnet first reaches the sensor and then another time when it leaves the sensor. The second time (as the magnet leaves the sensor) appears to be exactly where it needs to be (30* from TDC). Is the first spark OK where it is, or should i adjust the sensor so that the first spark is at 30* from TDC?

You are only interested in the spark where the magnet leaves the sensor in the normal running rotation of the engine

Thanks W8ye!

Been using a Ryobi 18V drill for a couple of years now with no trouble. Started everything from little 40 size glow to 100cc with it. When I first started using it some folks told me it wouldn't turn the glow motors over fast enough. It does, they start fine. Then with the mag Zenoah's it wouldn't turn fast enough. Again, it does. I don't need it very often but it also starts my DL50 just fine. It was cheap too since I already had it for home projects.

I think you have a defective sensor. I've never seen one fire when the magnet comes up to the sensor. I've only seen them fire once as the magnet comes out from under the sensor.

I think he was moving the crank slow and cautious and noticed that the ignition would trigger on either side of the magnet when the magnet exited from under the sensor?

Sky, getting back to your post from earlier, I have an aluminum spinner, it just starts to slip when the engine pops and i pull back, I usually start on our saftey benches at the field the key is to have someone holding the plane against the forward stops on the bench, Its a real easy set up to use, a few of the guys with the electroic ingintions have borrowed it while they are trying to tune their engines, a lot easier then a sore arm.

Excellent! I'm going to give it a shot this afternoon. If it works, it will save me some much needed $$. Thanks for the info baja! I don't want to disassemble my starter, so i'm going to go the route of the hex bolt and lock nuts. Doing this would mean i stick the threaded end of the bolt in the drill chuck. Do you think I should use my grinder on the theaded side and semi-fabricate a hex shaft like a bit? I'm worried the threaded end alone will slip in the chuck.