Ryobi Conversions
 

Hey NGR1 and flipflop...nice work by both of you.I have seen commercial versions of both your inventions so if you keep it up you will put someone out of business :D
Simple is always good isnt it?
Congrats

Ryobi Conversions
 

Are you guys starting these with an electric starter or hand starting? I have one and it's really hard to start by hand. The spark seems inconsistant. Once it starts, it runs nice. I have the stock mag on it.

Ryobi Conversions
 

A starter makes life much easier,and since the Ryobi is such a low compression design in its stock state a normal 12 volt starter will do the job.Starting is the usual problem of getting it flipped over fast enough to generate a decent spark.Even with an electronic ignition conversion a starter still works best since the CH unit for the Ryobi does not vary the timing at idle.
Starting drill is:Ign on,full choke and throttle,spin til it fires and quits.Then high idle,choke off,spin til it starts....works virtually 100% of the time. :cool:

Ryobi Conversions
 

I found starting by hand near to impossible, and it needed a stroke of luck. A good electronic ignition made it start on the first lazy flip. With the magneto ignition, I used a Kavan electric starter siiting in front of a 12 cell nicad pack, all taped together. The engine started easily with this setup.

Ryobi Conversions
 

What electronic ignition are you guys using?

Ryobi Conversions
 

I used a Falkon, off a ZDZ engine for testing, but liked the magneto ignition better. Despite it's needing a starter and slightly higher idle, the engine ran more powerful with the magneto ignition. I had it propped for slightly above 6500 rpm using a 18x10 prop (Menz)

Ryobi Conversions
 

I have run two with the standard ignition using the stock flywheel shaved on a lathe,and two with CH ignitions.I have been able to hand start with the CH units but not reliably without them.There is a weight saving of about 10 ounces using the CH unit rather than the flywheel and coil.Iuse standard wood 16x8 props and easily exceed 7000 rpm but I have done little modifying or testing.I beleive the first change I would make if I really wanted more power would be to replace the stock ring with a specialty item I keep hearing about and to shave the head for more compression,but I think there is a limit to how much money you put into an engine like this rather than just buy something like an RCS(MOKI) 1.4.
My $C.04 worth....

Ryobi Conversions
 

With that weight saving, did you also count the batteries? My experience was, that the saving was not worth the bother, if you shaved the flywheel well (clean up all around and balance). The difference amounted to a max of 100 grams (3-4 oz). The Falkon beeing lighter than a CH, unless CH utilizes penlights, where I used sub C 1700 mAh nicads, so I need not re-charge during the day.
My feeling was that the engine with the flywheel was overall much more reliable, and the weight difference was not noted in the type of plane.
BTW, with all out tuning, I managed 7000 rpm on that Menz 18x10, which was quite up to par powerwise, with commercially produced engines like the Moki, and a wee bit lower than MVVS. But the Ryobi costing only $50, placed it right on top!
See www.reivers.myweb.nl for the tuning details.

Ryobi Conversions
 

Thanks guys,
I think I'll stick with the magneto ignition and try the electric starter. I haven't used one since my glow fuel days.
JimS