Hello all

Great forum with lots of info.

I just have a few questions about R/C gas engines and available parts. To start with I am a complete amature and am not intending on constructing an R/C vehicle , only using the components in an unrelated small scale project I am working on , so my questions may seem imature. Im just gonna jump right to is so thanks for any help in advance.

Are there small scale torque converters available for the gas engines.

How long can the motors operate without overheating under minimal loads.( Hypotheticly if you had unlimited fuel , on a perfectly smooth level surface , how long could you "putt" around without risk of damaging the engine?)

Also how reliable is the typical gas R/C motor? If taken care of and not abused and kept clean are they dependable?

And are there engines that run on regular or high octane unleaded gas.

( If it helps any I would like to use the smallest I.C.E as possible to turn a stepper motor or set of stepper motors(small electric motors) to generate a small useable amount af A/C current, eventualy building a lightweight portable power source)

I'm confused, are you talking about nitro engines or 2 stroke gas engines that use regular pump gas and 2 cycle oil.

Definitely talking about petrol engines by the sound of it. As for your question, why not just buy a generator? Got everything in there- alternator, built in fuel tank, handle/chassis and power connectors. Not quite portable, but carrying round a 23cc and fuel tank is not quite portable (or safe)

Reliability should be in 1000's of hours, as long as using correct mix and not overheating. Generators are static and they last ages, but model engines are designed with moving air as well as the cooling fan (next to pull start) in mind. Compare temp. of RC petrol plane engine temp with the propwash to the same engine, but in static car.

A "motor" is a not a petrol engine btw..a motor is electric.

I'm not usually one to nit pick, but I saw this and had to check to see if you were correct. As you can see from the Webster's Dictionary, a motor can be internal combustion or electric.

mo·tor ( P ) Pronunciation Key (mtr)
n.
1. Something, such as a machine or an engine, that produces or imparts motion.
2. A device that converts any form of energy into mechanical energy, especially an internal-combustion engine or an arrangement of coils and magnets that converts electric current into mechanical power.
3. A motor vehicle, especially an automobile: “It was a night of lovers. All along the highway... motors were parked and dim figures were clasped in revery” (Sinclair Lewis).

bah humbug. No-one calls a combustion engine a motor, not in the UK at least. A more accurate description of the "thing" that makes your car go...

engine [Show phonetics]
noun [C]
1 a machine that uses the energy from liquid fuel or steam to produce movement:
a jet engine
a car engine
My car's been having engine trouble recently.

Don't get me started on "gas" unless your car runs on gaseous form (ie gas oxygen, methane) then the stuff used in cars is not gas, well only the stuff that evapourates.

/counter nitpick on
It is correct to call a gasoline powered engine a motor. Engines are a subset of motors, just like electric and rocket motors are both subsets of motors.
Analogy:
The term vehicle instead of motor. You can call a car, a truck, or a plane a vehicle. Just because you might not commonly call a plane a vehicle, doesn't mean it isn't one.

A glow or gas engine fits the definition of motor, so they are correctly called motors. Less accurate, yes. Not incorrect. Practically interchangable terms here in north america.



On to "gas"....

Gas is short for gasoline, which in the uk, i believe is commonly called 'petrol', short for petroleum.

pe·tro·le·um n.

A thick, flammable, yellow-to-black mixture of gaseous, liquid, and solid hydrocarbons that occurs naturally beneath the earth's surface, can be separated into fractions including natural gas, gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, fuel and lubricating oils, paraffin wax, and asphalt and is used as raw material for a wide variety of derivative products.


gas·o·line n.

A volatile mixture of flammable liquid hydrocarbons derived chiefly from crude petroleum and used principally as a fuel for internal-combustion engines.


Looks like the term 'gas' is probably the more correct term. Although when both parties know what is being referred to, correctness is irrelevant.

And to use your trick of using the word gas to describe the state of matter.... internal combustion engines burn their fuel in a gaseous form. In the fuel tank and lines, fuel is in liquid form. The carb converts the fuel to a gaseous form while mixing it with air. Regardless of the fuel used, the motor is burning 'gas'


fun fun,
I hope i don't regret this.

if im not mistaken, you are refering to nitro, or glow engines in this statement. these engines are very available with plenty of spare parts to boot. however, they may be a bit pricy for your project.
i dont believe i've ever seen a "torque converter" for these engines, but we do use centrifigal clutchs. basicly just 2 lil shoes in a bell housing held together with a spring and mounted to the flywheel.
our lil 2-strokes are not made to run with no load, the tolerances are too close, however, under normal loads, and perfectly tuned, you could burn 2 maybe 3 gallons before needing a rebuild.
yes, there are. they are also 2-stroke for the most part, but i would guess that they may be more reliable and durable. you could find a cheaper GAS 2-stroke out of an old weed-eater though.
the smallest internal combustion engine i've seen is a Cox Tee-Dee .010 cubic inches. these engines are in the price range of about $35.00 US.

Look at the Zeonoah engines and their clones.

They run on regular petrol/gasoline (95 RON unleaded recomended) mixed with oil at a mixture of 25 parts petro to 1 part oil.

If you want to have it running for a very long time with minimal load, then look at the lover powered variants, like the G23LH and GZ25N
http://www.davesmotors.com/store/product346.html
http://www.davesmotors.com/store/product1031.html

If memory serves me right, I have seen Light Weight Generators powered by both of these.
They are blower cooled and should have a run time of several hundred hours, before needing service.