Here’s an update about what’s going on in the 2010 season. The integral is pictured here with a new undercarriage which was violently torn off minutes after the picture was taken.
The Integral is the best flying plane I’ve seen. I just love how it presents itself in the air and the color scheme is brilliant. The CDI engine is really easy to operate and is very fuel efficient. It’s also one less thing to charge before I go flying since there’s no glow driver involved.. I typically charge about 600 mAh after four flights in the combined RX and ignition battery pack. At the annual Løten F3A cup I experimented with my own blend of fuel with 10% oil. That definitely did not work well, it overheated in both rounds and stopped. After a forced landing the undercarriage mount was badly damaged and is currently being repaired. I have changed to the taller ZN landing gear that is used in their electric models like the Xigris. It looks really nice and gives better prop clearance so that I can run 19 inch props if I want to. I have had some hysteresis problems with the throttle servo which gives an unreliable idle so I’m changing the throttle servo position and will be using the Futaba 9650 servo.
150 km/h into a wall of grass. Integral does not approve.
While the Integral is undergoing undercarriage surgery I have flown and trimmed the Lorenz Laser. It hasn’t flown since I broke an undercarriage leg last year and now has a stronger, lighter undercarriage and it’s converted to Futaba 2,4 ghz. Trimming it with the new radio and receiver should have been uneventful but it was rather terrifying when the elevator horn broke. Nothing raises your pulse like seeing your elevator flapping freely in an untrimmed plane. To top it off, a wheel fell just when I was touching down. I got some applause from rolling out perfectly with one wheel and one elevator. Every dog has it’s day! Upon inspection, the other elevator horn was fractured and broke off with a light twist. A light surgical procedure involving 5-minute epoxy later, the Laser flew two trim flights and one P-11 schedule successfully.
I have swapped the lovely little T8 Futaba radio for it’s bigger brother, the T12FG. It offers more programming ease with it’s larger screen and also has logical switches which I find very helpful for switching flight mode from normal to snap roll using stick positions. I also have a flight mode called “IGN ON” which powers on the ignition. It’s a non-standard flight mode which means the radio gives and alarm if switched on when the ignition switch is on. I have installed a 2800 mAh Robbe Li-Ion battery and updated it to firmware 2.1. It’s a superb radio but sadly it lacks the trim position reset feature and the superior ergonomics of the T8. And I really miss the backlit display, it’s almost impossible to see the screen in poor lighting conditions. It’s always nice to have an excuse to upgrade your radio if something better comes along…
December 29, 2009 – 22:59
Everytime I go to the field someone has a “faulty” engine – one that won’t start, or that dies in flight or on takeoff for some reason. Or at least they think they do. Fact is, it’s hardly ever the engine. People say the wildest things: “The whole setup is gone” (meaning cylinder and piston) “the bearings are busted”, “this damned engine is just crap”, “I heard [any brand engine]s are just crap”, “the engine was full of metal shavings when I opened it up for inspection” yada yada yada…
Hear this:
- 8 times out of 10 it’s the fuel. Too much, too little or just not the right kind
- 1 time out of 10 it’s the plug. (Which means it’s not an O.S. plug, or it’s a very old and worn O.S. plug)
- 1 time out of 10 it’s the pilot (That would be you)
That’s 10 out of 10. My guess is, about 1 time in a hundred, something in the engine itself might actually be broken. In 20+ years of glow engine flying, that’s happened to me just once.
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A tuned pipe can increase engine power dramatically while at the same time reducing noise. Sounds too good to be true, but it requires a good setup and a pipe that matches your engine. You’ll also have to take into account that fuel consumption will be a lot higher.
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November 15, 2009 – 19:14
This is a series of general advice on engines describing my experiences. These posts are intended for those who still think about engines as a complete mystery -things I wish someone had told me before I had to spend the time to find out for myself. (YS mechanics and engine doctors already know this.)
I thought I knew everything there was to know about glow engines, and then I got my hands on a pumped O.S. Hanno Special and a Webra .80 LS with pumps. My experiences with these engines helped me a lot when I installed perry pumps on my bigger pattern engines later.
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November 10, 2009 – 12:11
I’ve gotten to a point where I feel comfortable giving general advice on engines so I’ll write a series of posts describing my experiences. This series is intended for those who still think about engines as a complete mystery. These are my experiences and they are all things I wish someone had told me before I had to spend the time to find out for myself. (YS mechanics and engine doctors already know this.)
Part one is about bog-standard two strokes: un-pumped and uncomplicated. Read More »
I have finished installing a Perry pump in the standard (unpumped) O.S 200 FS that will power my new Laser F3A model. As you can see the pump is hung on to the engine mount, adding minimal weight and is a compact installation that I’m very happy with.
The fuel line that pressure feed the pump is routed through the engine mount, as straight and short route as possible. The tap is a 4mm pressure tap. Tapping the crankcase is tricky- there is no clearing on the inside and the cast backplate is VERY thin. I did my best so I hope it’ll hold. The crankcase is in fact already tapped on this engine. Not visible, but just above my pressure tap is a cast hole that has a pressure feed going into the carburettor. No Idea why, but I hope there’s enough pressure left for the pump…
The whole assembly including pipe. The Hatori header requires some work to fit this engine. The exhaust port is deeper than on the 200 EFI so I needed to cut a big spacer from a plumbers copper joint in order to be able to tighten the header nut. I also had to drill and tap the top to accept the screw from the header fastener. Presumeable this fastener is to prevent the header from cracking from soft-mount vibration.
Have you ever primed the engine, connected the glow driver, flipped the prop only to have the &%¤%¤##%!! engine lock up, backfire, toss the glow clip, loosen the prop nut and generally misbehave? Of course you have. This is something we all live with. With 2-strokes ist just annoying but with 4-strokes it can be lethal. So when a friend of mine said he would make a glow driver that would end my troubles I was first in line. And what I received blew me away – this is THE mother of all glow drivers. I thought I was getting something homemade but this is a professional product. It’s called the Auto 4C Glow-Pro and is handmade by Audun Thinn and Sverre Johannesen, both seasoned pilots who know the demands of trying to start a psychotic 4-stroke while the judges are timing you.
To start with, it has an extremely rugged aluminum case that feels as solid as it is. On the inside theres a print plate with all the electronics (and lots of it!) plus tree LEDs, two dials for adjusting timing and current and the on/off switch. Standard power is a 3-cell 2400 NiCd battery but you can fit just about any battery in there, even up to four cells. Typically you can recycle your old receiver batteries should have have some lying around ( I know I do). It will run on anything from 2 to 6 volts and any type of battery including LiIon and A123. It has 4mm banana plug out for the glow clip, and a 2,1mm plug for charging. This is the same as the plug you use to charge your transmitter so there’s no need to make a new plug.
Here’s how it works: Connect the glow clip, and the yellow LED glows to signal a good plug connection (no need to light the plug just to check if it works!). Then press the start button, spin the engine with the starter and the glow driver will delay the power to the plug as indicated by the green and red LEDs, giving the engine a soft start AFTER it has started spinning. Presto! No more burned plugs, backfiring engines and shamefully missed rounds in F3A. The timing and glow heat can be adjusted to suit your engine using the potmeters that you access from the front (covered by rubber seals to prevent dirt inside the case). Once set, you do not need to adjust them again. There is also an option to have it fitted with a buzzer at extra cost. The buzzer signals the end of the timing, it beeps when you start, when the timer is ready and signals glow power is on with a constant tone. I do recommend that since you often watch the prop and not the glow driver when you start. The buzzer
And the best part is: This limited production item is for sale. Get yours today! You will not be sorry. Contact Audun Thinn at audun.thinn@ingenium.no if you want to buy one. They have a limited number already produced but they will also make to order. The price is 1295,- NOK plus shipping. That includes a fully charged battery and the glow driver as shown in the picture.
The glow driver has been tested by all the top Norwegian and Swedish F3A pilots flying YS (and amateur-me with my OS 1.60) so we know it works – don’t take my word for it, buy one for yourself.
I got 2 flights with the Laser yesterday. I spent some time tuning it again, only to find it was still rich at idle and now even lean at full throttle. After landing and making adjustments again I had two nice flights (one in pouring rain!) trying the N-09 schedule again. It really is a very nice schedule to fly and very well laid out so that the combinations are exciting to fly. I think the engine still has some potential and I suspect my pipe length is not optimal for the 18x10PN prop. I will try the 17×12 prop again to see what difference that makes in performance. I’m glad the plane is out of the workshop and ready for action. Sadly I won’t be competing until next season but now my A (laser) and B models (Saphir) are trimmed and ready.
Here’s the updated plumbing on the 160 with the Perry pump installed. Pretty straightforward, so with hindsight I guess there was nothing to worry about but I’m also glad I’ve got experience of running it without a pump. Since the picture was taken I have added a Sullivan Crap-trap fuel filter between the tank and the pump. I replaced some fuel lines and made them more accessible, plugged the pressure tap in the pipe and routed the vent line to come out of the belly just behind the cowl. The tank has been repositioned on a new tank tray and the throttle servo moved forward for a straighter linkage.
It all worked very well, the engine ran happily at 7800 RPM with more to go on an APC 18×10 PN prop and idling at 2000 RPM (1500 possible but shaking a lot!). Initially I was not able to figure out the idle, I didn’t count on having to turn the low-speed needle a full two turns in, but that did the trick, the pump really does deliver great amounts of fuel and both needles required considerable adjustment to run with the new setup. So now all I have to do is fly.
Interestingly I had a bad case of hysteresis with the throttle setup. Idling at 1500 or so RPM, I ran it at full throttle and then it returned to 2500 when the throttle was retarded, giving a difference of 1000 RPM. I guess it’s a risk we take with soft-mounted engines. I have a digital servo on the throttle but that does not help – the servo will hold but the engine shakes in the other end, pulling the linkage and increasing the carb opening. I’ve even had a case of a plastic link jumping off an idling engine, it came to full power and there was nothing I could do to stop it. The plane roared into a fence, breaking a wing and barely missing my leg. Since then I respectfully and carefully install linkages in my models. But hysteresis is a big problem. I’d love to hear from readers who have experience (and perhaps solutions?) with this. Leave a comment and we can have a discussion.
In order to gain more reliability I decided to add a perry pump (VP-30) to the O.S 1.60 FX in the red Laser. I thought tapping a hole inthe backplate would be easy but the way this bugger is cast I was at a loss about how to proceed. The cast-metal backplate is so thin that it would not be possible to tap it in the normal manner, plus the supports and the tunnel in the backplate, which serves no apparent purpose other than to puzzle me, left me little options.
So here’s what I did:
I drilled the hole all the way through, enlarging it to 7mm and then tapped it to 8mm (Veeeery carefully!). Then I cut an 8mm bolt, drilled it and tapped that to 3mm to fit a pressure tap. Then I screwed the whole assembly into the 8mm hole. Note that I did not tap it to 8mm all the way in, so that the 8mm screw can be tightened properly and will not screw itself out. A lot of luck ensured that I tapped as fas as the screw was long so that the fit is flush with the backplate tunnel. I turned out very sweet!
