Cel Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 With an impulse coupling it will start right away. I had troubles with my tractor a while ago, took the mag off and found out that the impulse did not snap. It is a Bosch DU2 mag so different from the Simms, and is has two sliding plates with 90° edges that were worn. I welded up these and filed them down to the proper size again, and after installing the mag it started without troubles, see this movie: This engine has a decompressor but even then an impulse is needed. The same problem happened to the donkey engine of my Cat D8, and after I got the impulse working properly my troubles were over! The Bosch mag has the same type of spring, you might look out for a 'cheap' mag and use the spring, but looking at the outstanding work that you guys have done, the fabrication of this tiny spring will just be a piece of cake! All the best Marcel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormin Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 I've repaired the re-coil springs on quite a few two stroke engines, chainsaws etc just by cold forming the end of the spring to put a new hook or eye onto them with no problems. As David says if you are going to do it hot you only want to heat the very ends and do it quickly. I would try cold working a couple of springs first. Two stroke re-coil springs tend to be available quite cheaply so you could have a few goes without spending too much and cheaper than getting a custom made spring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 The timing chain tensioner coiled spring on my old Matador had snapped at its right angle securing end, and I successfully hot-formed a new end on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Tested spring Company in Tividale, Birmingham. They'd help with the spring. Thanks for that recommendation, Hedd. Thank you chaps for your comments too. I can pull it over compression but not very fast. Too many years driving a desk! The FWD has an impulse and starts well when cold, just by pulling it over the top. Hot starts are a different matter but that's another story! I am currently making up various adaptors to allow me to hang the 'Slick' starter on the spare Simms mag. This is looking promising but I would like a proper Simms if I can. Making the springs is a bit of a challenge as I can't see how to bend the eye so tightly. The eyes are only 1/8" in diameter and are very neatly bent. I did make somthing similar for the FWD spring clips which have similar eyes on the ends and although they are satisfactory, I could not get them tight. Those were made from spring steel in the soft state which I heat treated afterwards in a sand bath heated using my propane torch. I quenched and tempered them in chip fat raided from the fryer. I must state that I didn't put the oil back afterwards though! If you have any thoughts on how to bend the eyes, I should be very pleased to hear them. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 after installing the mag it started without troubles, see this movie: All the best Marcel You make it look too easy! Thanks for the inspiration! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattinker Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Hi! first of all, does it have to be a rectangular section? If not, piano wire, formed cold except for eyes, heat red just the end and bend with round nose pliers, (like small cir-clip pliers without the thin points) will be easy for you! Round nose pliers are often used by electricians, I find lots of uses for them. As the spring has a long bending length, there shouldn't be too much work on the eyes, so don't try to temper it, just let it cool slowly, dunking it in water will make it too brittle unless carefully done. I When I was talking about magneto sparks being better at low revs, it was relative! Hence the transition period when some vehicles were equipped with both coil and mags. I feel it would be a lot easier to start with a de-compressor, I don't want to bore you, but it seems hard to believe that it didn't begin life with one! I am assuming that it's a White Poppe engine. It would make the inertia work for you instead of against you, and, at the same time mean that the mag was turning faster, giving it a better opening speed. You cant break your wrist if the handle is pulled before you drop the de-compressor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gritineye Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Our metal work teacher (What happened to them?) taught us how to form a round eye in blacksmith lessons at school. The secret is to make a right angle bend then roll the loop towards it, I found these pliers on a stall, they help a lot, perfect for the job but easy enough to make from an ordinary pair. Far from perfect but hope this helps demystify the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 That's very neat. Thank you for taking the trouble to demonstrate the process. Looking back, I see that my picture is not very clear. The spring is actually a coil of 20swg x 3/8" wide flat strip. I can probably wrap the main coil in the lathe but the eye looks tricky. It wants to be wrapped around a pin but that will only be 1/16" dia max. My best attempt so far will be to bend the top over in the vice and then to keep wrapping and squeezing in the vice jaws. It will have to be done cold and in the annealed state because it will cool too quickly to be done hot unless there is some special jig I could make. There has to be a trick to it as clocks have been made for quite a while! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minesweeper Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I have been talking to a retired "Spring Maker" over here in the USA and he says "Piece of cake!" Just anneal the broken end of the spring to dull red heat and bend it around the end of a drill of the required diameter when the end of the spring has cooled! Sounds easy - and probably is for him! Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asciidv Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I have been talking to a retired "Spring Maker" over here in the USA and he says "Piece of cake!" Just anneal the broken end of the spring to dull red heat and bend it around the end of a drill of the required diameter when the end of the spring has cooled! Sounds easy - and probably is for him! Tony I would cheat! I would weld a bit tube onto the end of the flat spring steel (probably NOT using an Oxford stick welder)... Barry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I have just been filing the latest batch of photos of the project bringing the total to 4500 in 23 albums! We seem to have got a bit carried away but I do love flicking through them. The original objective was to record how to put the bits back together. Even with all of this lot, I keep wishing we had taken more. I have just frightened myself by working out the cost as well. Each album comes to around £30- so this represents nearly 5% of the total spend on the project! Still a few more until the job is done. I will get Tim to post some of the latest odds and ends. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gritineye Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 (edited) It's nice to see you have taken the trouble to make prints, although we would expect nothing less of you! It's a bit worrying that more pictures than ever are being taken of everything now, but most are just left on a CD or HDD in a drawer somewhere. Will people be bothered to get out an ancient PC to look through them in 50 yrs time? Much easier to find an old album and flick through it, so well done! Edited August 12, 2011 by gritineye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nz2 Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 It's nice to see you have taken the trouble to make prints, although we would expect nothing less of you! It's a bit worrying that more pictures than ever are being taken of everything now, but most are just left on a CD or HDD in a drawer somewhere. Will people be bothered to get out an ancient PC to look through them in 50 yrs time? Much easier to find an old album and flick through it, so well done! As is said; "A picture is worth a thousand words." The only problem with the convenience of digital images is storage and long term accessibility. As much as one has multiple back up material, discs seem to be come unable to be read. and steadily material is lost. Prints lose colour and fade. However its not a recent problem as so many slides and prints from negatives of an earlier generation of photography are deteriorating rapidly. Always amassed at the consistent quality of negatives from 80 to 100 years ago. Glass plate appears to survive. Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted August 15, 2011 Author Share Posted August 15, 2011 The Dennis still isn't quite finished and Steve is carrying on with odds and ends. They tend to be things which need doing to the lorry and only limited items can be done remotely so progress is a bit slow. Nearly there now. Steve has made up a nice bronze plug to replace the radiator drain tap. It will do until we can make up a new tank with the correct thread. He has also made up some new rods for the advance linkage to improve the angles of operation. Hopefully, this will reduce the lost motion and allow the timing to be fully advanced next time we take it out. Regular readers may recall that on the way to Brighton, the half-shaft started to work its way out and punched the badge out of the hub cap. Diane Carney made up some replacement badges for us and Steve has fitted one. To prevent the problem from recurring, he has also made up a collar to sit behind the wheel and pick up in the splines thus stopping the axial movement of the shaft. We are having a get-together in Devon next weekend to get ready for Honiton Hill Rally on the bank holiday. Hopefully, we can do some more to the hood frames as these are also not quite complete. Once they are up, though, the lorry will have to live outside again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted August 22, 2011 Author Share Posted August 22, 2011 It is the two days Honiton Hill Rally next Sunday and Monday and we plan to drive all four trucks there on Sunday morning. Both Steve and Tim joined Tony, this weekend to get some of the preparatory work for the Rally completed before hand - the main job was to get the Dennis out of the shed and re-erect the canvas - a bit of a job. The longitudinal beams to take the canvas over the back were only held in place with temporary bolts for the "Brighton" - we ran out of time to make the proper brackets to hold them - but Steve has mainly completed these now and we were able to fit most of them today. There are still six remaining to fit to the inside of the curved sections of the bows but there is still the curve to bend in the these bracket to follow the curve in the bow. For the moment, they are held in place with temporary bolts but we hope and plan to remedy this next Saturday before we set off on Sunday. If any of our HMVF friends are at the Rally, then please make yourselves known to us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 That rope looks terrible! Must do something about that before we go! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asciidv Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 (edited) Does one of the last pictures show that it is a true Dennis, with the characteristic oil drips coming from the gear selector rods indents? Barry Edited August 24, 2011 by Asciidv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minesweeper Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Does one of the last pictures show that it is true Dennis, with the characteristic oil drips coming from the gear selector rods indents? Barry Spot on, Barry! I thought it was just our workmanship and we were wondering how to fix that ! A difficult one to cure. I guess it is just one of those weaknesses in the design. Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minesweeper Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 We took all our trucks to the Honiton Hill rally today: We will be there again with them tomorrow. This is the first time that we have managed to photograph all four of them together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gritineye Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Marvelous...:thumbsup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevpol Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 oh wow!!! what a beautiful line up!!! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon_M Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 I think there's just room for a Thorny on the end there :cool2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Now that's great to see! So did the rally go OK? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asciidv Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 How did the Dennis start? Are you still with the non-impulse magneto? Hope you had a lovely weekend! Barry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormin Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Great to see your collection all at one rally there. Did you have to drive them there in shifts, or did you get helper to take the remaining vehicle? Looks like the weather was too good to have the canvas canopies up on FWD and Dennis, they may be more appropriate up North were it's rained quite a lot of this Bank Holiday weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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