Lykamobile 2 Run it on air

Greetings fellow steam-puffs. I have assembled and installed the engine and the instructions suggest "Running it on air", but no specific instructions are given on how to do this. Lynn in customer support has made a few suggestions, but I'm not having any luck.
I'm wondering if any of you have had any success. I am using 120PSI connected to the inlet of both cylinders. I have plugged the two small ports on the cover of the valve chests. As I apply the air it simply rushes out the exhaust ports. Do I need more air pressure? More volume? Where should the control lever be on the quadrant?
Thanks in advance for any help or advise you can give.

Mark Pappas
Doylestown, Pa. 18901
215-820-2600

Sounds like your valves are not sealing or are not sitting on the valve face
It should turn over on around 30psi

Thanks Mark. Lynn from customer service made the same suggestion. How much wiggle should the valves have on the shaft?

Hi Mark
The valves should be a nice fit with no play but not tight so the pressure holds the valve puck on the face
A little oil on the valve face helps to seal it as well

Greetings Mark,
(and Mark).

I am at the same point.   About halfway thru Kit 14 the reversing linkage, etc.  I was worried about messing up the threads on the
ports (face of the valve box and top where the "steam" in introduced.  Can you tell me what you used for fittings/plugs?  
Can I get them from McMaster?  Can/would you post a picture?

And/Or Lynn, - what are the specifications on those two holes?

As to the air leaks, I have built  large number of smaller engines - for model boats, and I concur with the others here -
1.  if you can access them - make sure the valve faces are "smooth as a grand-babies bottom"
2.  Create an initial seal by using a little heavy oil on the face.

I use an engine assembly lubricant from Permatex that is really slimey. I have added this to the cylinders/pistons to keep
things sliding.





Regards,
Jim Pope
Denver, CO

Hi

I show the fittings as 1/2" BSP

Hi Jim- I'm not having any luck so I'm going to remove the valves and polish their faces as you suggest. I just used a piece of 5/8" heater hose and clamp to go over the fitting and then connected a quick disconnect air fitting to the other end. It doesn't look pretty, but it works.

Mark

So Mark,

What did you use to plug the holes in the cover plate?
The idea of the flex hose sounds great.

Also, the nuts on the valve rods need to be finely adjusted to allow the plates to "float"
but also not have too much slop in the up/down direction.

Of course I am giving all this advise and I have not tried running my engine yet!

Keep in touch - It's good to know any other builders on this side of the pond.
Specially in this series.

Regards,
Jim

Jim- I used 1/4" NPT plugs on the cover plate port. The threads are just slightly off, but I only put them in finger tight assuming a little leakage is not critical. As I write this, maybe my assumption is wrong! Wouldn't be the first time. Perhaps too much air is escaping there and thus not closing the valve against the housing? Let me know what you think.
Mark

Mark,

You might try a little SteamSeal on the plugs to fill the gaps.

McMasterCarr has all kinds of fittings for NPT and BSP types of thread.
So I may look at those for my rig as soon as I get there.

With the prospect that I may want to add a steam whistle and such, I figured that
I would need to do some minor pipe mods.

I guess I would also ask how easy it is to turn your engine by hand?
On mine, I can move the crank webs with one hand, and they are very firm but not "sticky".
If I use both hands, avoiding the pinches I can get the engine moving but it does not "coast" -
it stops when I do.

One thing that Lynn cautioned me about a while ago was that the tolerances in these engines
are not the same as those in my micro-engineered miniature ones. So I should expect a little "looseness"
but not slop.

Regards,
Jim

Thanks again for your input. I can turn the engine by hand as well- a little stiff and definitely no coasting here, either.
Hoping to put some serious time into it tomorrow. Looking forward to giving you a good report.
Regards,
Mark

I just got my reversing linkage done, planning on getting the preliminary timing done today.
Weather is going bad for a week, so I will use that time to get the tubing and such setup for
an air test.

I see that PA is supposed to get a lot of bad weather as well. Hope you keep warm.
At least we are not in CA, they are all washing away. My daughter in SF has been without
power for days.

Regards,
Jim

Hi Jim- I see that you got some air hooked up to your engine. Did it work? I still can't get mine to run on air.

Mark

Mark,

The next thread down is my account of my build, it has a movie at the end of the engine running on air.

I only have a small compressor (Home-depot Nailer type) so it does not have a lot of capacity.
I rigged it thru an adjustable valve with a pressure gauge - I brought the compressor up to 150 PSI, but set the output at 90 tops.

Then I turned the valve and watched/listened to the engine. At first I got air leaking thru, then at about 20 PSI the engine started to move.
It ran well up to abut 60 PSI but then ran out of air and slowed down ending at about 10 PSI.  

--------
As to your engine -  
I would disassemble the steam chests and verify the face of the chest and the valve.  Just make sure there are no ridges in any face,  also
verify that the slide can not get hung up when moving up and down.  If I remember, I put a very slight chamfer on the outside corners everywhere and
also looked at the steam ports.  Again just looking at something that had a ragged edge and might mess up a smooth flow.

As to timing.  
I found there was a "flat spot" at TDC and BDC.  Where the piston sat there while the crank moved about 2-3 degrees crossing over.  made this my "Timing point" where the opening was just exposed.   I reasoned that the incoming steam would continue to force the piston the the direction of travel.

Also - at the beginning I ignored "reverse".   I read that the "Hackworth" linkage favored reverse so I optimized forward.  I lengthened the reversing linkage until
the crank webs hit the arms, then I backed it off - just a little.  This is where I did the timing.

Hope this helps.  At least we have some time to get it right until the boilers show up!

Do not hesitate to reach out if I can help some more.

Regards,
Jim

Hi Jim- I have been busy with work and have not done any work on the Lyka for a while. How freely does your engine turn by hand? Is it like a 1 cylinder mower engine? With the sparkplug in or removed?
I'm wondering if my engine is too tight. I can turn it by hand, but not easily.
Best regards,
Mark

Hi Mark,

My engine is tight, but can be moved with one hand on the crank webs. (watch your fingers).
It does not "coast" - stops when you stop.

Remember that there is no "compression" as the steam pushes the piston to the other "end" of the cylinder,
which exhausts the "spent" steam from the other side.

A few questions - did you add lube to your cylinders when you put the pistons/rings in?
I used an engine assembly lube that keeps everything slick until oil comes along.

Did you move the gaps in the rings so they did not line up? - not really required but a good practice.

I worked really hard to make the crossheads slide without binding even if they twisted a little.
Had to round off the edges of the cutouts on the crosshead guide.
Until I tightened up the packing on the piston rods everything would drop with just gravity.

Try disconnecting the Valve Rod from the Valve Stem - Then make sure that the Valve stems will
travel easily up and down - when still connected up thru the packing nut into the valve chest with the valve slides.

With the packing nuts loose - I can "pop" mine up and down with one finger. This will make sure that here is no binding
of the upper linkage - I had to shim the valve guide on the main post and also add a washer to one of the cylinder mounting plate
bolts in order to get things to be real "slippery" when all was tight.

The valve slides should be attached to the very end of the valve rods, double nutted, and without more that about a hundredth clearance up/down.
but you do want the slide to "float" in/out against the face of the chest.
Again - I did some needle filing of sharp edges where the rods went thru the "U's" on the back of the slide, But I on smoothed the front edges just a little
on the slide to remove any flash left from milling.

After I got everything all tight on mounting bolts, I hooked the rods to the stems and started to adjust the slides up/down like I laid out in the posting above.

My engine runs on 15-20PSI - but I have an air control regulator valve and gauge to bring up the pressure from 0, maxing at 60.

I would try running at about 15 PSI and then see if you can loose a finger by turning the engine over.

If you have an I-phone - perhaps we can face-time since you are this side of the pond.
May be I can help more if I can see your car.

Hope this helps,

Jim