Driving belt and shape of flywheel surface

Hi there , can anybody tell me how they got on using the flat surface flywheel ? I always thought the surface should be curved and it was this curvature that kept the belt centred . I wish to use the drive soon for a saw bench , and later for a 4" thrashing machine , but if the belt will not stay on then I will need another flywheel as the present one does not seem to have enough meat for re-machining.

I think you are right. The amount of crowning given normally varies from 3/16" to 1/2" per foot of width of the face, so in our case they would be almost flat anyway. If everything is in line and the tension is correct you may be ok.

Would be interesting to hear from anyone who have tried it though.

This makes interesting reading and explains the principle quite well.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=08FkBSjG2bMC&pg=PA409&lpg=PA409&ots=MaMv9VXCtu&dq=flywheel+crowning&output=html_text

I don't think you will have too much trouble, yes normally the drive pulley would be crowned to allow easy's running of the belted machinery. However I have plenty of bits of kit that have straight or flat pulleys and they run fine. I mean take my Lister D as an example that will run my water pump all day long and wont miss a beat, both have flat pulleys. The key here is your alignment and tension of the belt, also you need to keep and eye on the condition of your belt a bad splice or tight joint may well throw the belt off. Also if you can cross the belt so that if it does come off it will pull away from to the engine and not into the crank, where you could cause serious damage if it was to get caught. Some people say this method wears the belts out quicker, but each to their own. I would rather stay on the safe side.

Just my experience.

Ryan

Hi,

Although I'm not 100% certain until I check with Steve tomorrow, I am almost sure that all our flywheels do have a slight radius on the crown for the belt. I can't ever remember turning one flat put it that way.

Dean

Hi lads . Thanks for replies . Thanks Dean , I look forward to any other info you can supply . I shall visit the workshop tomorrow to put a straight edge across the fly wheel . The edges are radiused I know but I shall check the surface . Thanks to Robfish for the info about the publication . I shall look this up . Hi Weston , I see you are in the ranks of the Lister "D" owners . My first engine 40 years ago . Since then I have had 19 assorted engines but only the Bernard , the Wolseley , and the Ruston P.B. had flywheels that had curvature . The others were all flat but remember they all were 5" to 8" long and there was little chance of a belt running off . I have in pieces, a strange carrot top with both the wheels radiused to take a belt each way for the double sheep shear. This has been in pieces for perhaps 25 years , which is one of the reasons I bought my Burrel already completed ! Thanks again , bayleaf

Hi Bayleaf,

Agreed the pulley widths are larger than that of a traction engine flywheel, and definitely that of a model. I don't blame you for buying your engine put together I have projects piling up left right and centre. Yes I am part of the Lister D ranks not to get of topic but I do have a more unusual machine (unknown to me when I got it at the age of 12) The engine has the Ricardo style cylinder head which was an experimental design that only lasted a few years in production. I believe it to be of 1926, so one of the early ones. it also has a shaft driven magneto, different from the usual chain drive. Let us know how you get on with putting your engine to work. grab some pictures if you can would be good to see some engines in action.

Regards

Ryan

Bayleaf
Was very interested to read that you intend to drive a 4" Threshing Machine with your engine. I am wanting to do the same when I've completed mine. Where do you get a 4" Threshing Machine from or are you building one? Are there any plans available or do you know of anyone who's made one?
Would be very interested as all my research has drawn blanks so far.
Thanks,
Simon

Simon

Donal in Ireland has built a nice one, if you are on Traction talk follow the below link to the photo album. I am sure he will be more than happy to help regarding the drawings etc..There are some videos on TT of it running too but not sure how to find them, he sent me a link but it is on a different computer.

http://www.tractiontalkforum.com/album.php?albumid=55

He also built a couple of living vans and I bought one off him recently for our dogs to ride in behind Blackbeard.

Brian

There were drawings for a 3" one in EIM many many years ago, it could be scaled up

I just picked up Old Glory yesterday and looking through the ads there is now a 4" scale threshing drum and baler for sale, in Ireland. Not sure if it is the one Donal has, I would need to look in my old e-mails to see if number is the same.

Brian

I wonder if thats the same on which was for sale on ebay for several months last year, I'm sure that was from Ireland?