Crank VS Crankcase Help Needed Please

Thanks Cribbsy

Looks like it time for this old bloke to learn to use Ebay. 60 years and I have avoided it but I guess the time comes to us all.



Yabby

Do you have any RC clubs around you? They tend to hold annual flea markets and such. Good place to find cheap treasures.

Ron

That was a clever trick Ron!!! I couldnt work out how that got into the post. Lol. I just worked out that somehow you have injected the question straight into the post to muck with my old mind. Lol. I live in Adelaide South Australia and there are a number of RC clubs but they are VERY spread over the state with a lot of distance between them and I dont think they have very big numbers. Large state by area, very small population. The one RC club near me is nearly all electric as Ive gone out there to watch. Im not sure the clubs are on the scale where they have swap meets or flea markets themselves. But we do have general flea markets (junk markets) around the place and once covid restrictions are gone i will start haunting these places for things. Never know. I also travel a bit up north out if Adelaide to my shack and there are lots of little towns (farming) and they have all sorts of junk shops (my wife calls them antique shops hahaha), Im going to start looking in these also, as they often have old stuff and bits and pieces of things in boxes etc. Maybe I will strike it lucky one day!

Yabby

Have a TD051 with near 300 hours on its clock and it has not worn its case out. With properly balanced props and steel washer between the prop drive plate and the case it will outlive the cylinder and piston..if you buy pre-owned TeeDee-s destined to your spares stock, pay attention to the No.2 punched into the left mounting bar, these have longitudinal geometries inside slightly different than older cranks without the No.2. The crank web on later TeeDees-s was thickened for improved strength, and it necessitated the shortening of crank interior to keep the crankpin flush with cylinder centerline.

One other thing.
If you are good at anodizing you can clean the old case up and re-anodize it?
Working at Cat. we would get worn out plungers and barrels from the Cat dealers (core parts) and either phosphate, nitrite,
or re-anodize the old parts if they were not that worn out.

The phosphate, nitrite, or anodizing would add some material back onto the part you are coating ( the plunger / barrel)
The nitrite coating would add on to the surface anywhere from 0.005mm to 0.10mm
The phosphate coating would add to the surface 0.003mm to 0.006mm
The anodizing would add 0.002mm to 0.005mm

The thickness depended on how many times it was done and for how long.

After they were recoated, Cat. would sell the "used/reconditioned" parts as Remanufactured.

Thanks Sosam! I recall David put together an awesome thread in CEF on how he does anodizing of all kinds of things and different parts, that was quite lengthy and detailed. It makes sense as its not a lot between sloppy and good with overall diameter.

I have also taken on-board Cribbsys comment about keeping my props balanced! Guilty......... That reminded me last night and I spent a while balancing and re-checking some of my props. All the props fitted on engines are now either balanced or re-balanced. And I have a plastic bag with some take flying props for my toolbox that I have balanced and written on the bag with a sharpie pen so i know they are balanced. (plus you can see the evidence afterwards. but..........)

It seems if I look after my engines which I believe I do, I should have plenty of engines and spares already to take me well into the future. The engine I use on my Lads plane is a surestart that has been hammered and it seems to have almost no compression left at all, so I put a Kamtechnics head from Greg and a turbo plug on it and it goes like a stuck pig.

Thanks everyone. I love all the different little ideas and ways people have of getting life out of these engines or looking after them whilst using them lots such that they perform well for a very long time. I fly at least one day, often two days a week and my engines really get some use. Hence my interest in the little things that help them last whilst still being used heavily. i am perfectly happy to spend money and buy parts, but if doing little things can keep them going all the better!

Yabby