Thrust Washer And Reed Help Please

NEW222 wrote:Hi there.  Back in the saddle again, this time, hopefully for a longer stay.  Anyways, I was going through my rebuilt Baby Bee here and had a couple of quick questions for those more knowledgeable than I.  While rebuilding, I had not put on a thrust washer, and as I am building an electric starter from an old drill motor for the .049's, I thought I would make a couple of them.  Would brass or aluminum pop can be alright?  I have more access to the aluminum cans than brass.  As well, what would the thickness be for the thrust washer.  Question #2.  Upon disassembly, I took a look at my reed.  It is a copper brass star shaped one, held in place by the e-clip.  I do know that the center of the clip goes to the front of the engine, but my reed is flat.  From what I remember, were they not supposed to have all 4 tips bent in one direction ever so slightly at the very tips.  Would it still run if it was flat?  Thank you in advance for any help or opinions you may be able to help with.  Thank you.

Hi New. Steel or phenolic thrust washers are my preference, but brass should work fine. Aluminum might wear too fast but may be fine for a few starts with the electric starter. I don't know the thickness. If someone else doesn't answer, I'll measure one of mine.

That old Copper Beryllium star reed is a fairly poor performer. I remember them having bent ends on them from way back, like when I was 12. But they should work if flattened too. You might have to place the back side of the circlip on a sheet of sandpaper and slightly flatten it to allow free reed movement. Just give it the suck/blow test to see if it seals and opens before assembling the engine. The best reeds these days are the semi-oval mylar or stainless steel reeds.  The two following guys sell everything you need to get up and running:
http://www.exmodelengines.com/
http://coxengines.ca/

Hope this helps.
Rusty

All my star reeds were flat when I took them out.  If the reed is bent it likely won't seal fully.  

I would order up some of the new style oblong reeds from coxengines.ca or exmodelengines.com in mylar as they are really nice performers and easy to work with.

While you are there order some no-drag spring starters. If you need a battery they have the 2D box too.

The reed needs to be free to move some under the clip.  Use the clean fuel line and do suction test on the assembly.  I ran a lot of those star shaped reeds and they run rather decent.  I think everything I have is the oblong shape reed now, although I might have put back in a clear mylar star reed in a baby bee.

Phil

Hi there again. After disassembly, I started to reassemble my engine. I tried a stainless steel reed for kicks and giggles. I then hooked up a piece of fuel tubing to the back of the tank behind the reed. It did not freely move, but I could both pull air back through as well as push it back out. So I then re-installed the original star style copper reed. Same as the above, only a lot easier to blow air through and back again. So, I then took my stainless steel reed and made a reed out of an old floppy disc. I then installed it and tried it out. Well, I was able to blow air through the reed easily and it made a very tight draw on the inhale to which I feel is blocking the hole on the inhale. I believe that this was the best reed for my engine. So, if somebody could please reassure me that I should be able to easily blow air forward and have a restriction on the inhale, that would be great.

Now, my only quest left is to make a thrust washer. I have the material, but my hole punch just distorted the stainless.

The reed should seal quickly and completely when you try to pull air backwards through it. No flow at all. The floppy disk reed will work but just might wear out more quickly. It's thinner that the mylar reeds. Something about yours was keeping it from seating, but I hope you'll report on how the floppy reed works.
Rusty

Thank you. I will report back, only after all this white stuff disappears. I like to play with stuff like this during the winter and hopefully play with it in the summer. As I may have mentioned earlier, I have taken a break from nitro stuff for a few years as life takes over, but have been flying electric only as the cottage (my only flying grounds), and my space is a bit limited as well as having neighbors that do not appreciate too much nose! But I do plan on a control line circle this year so I can get more air time. I will be building a couple of coroplast trainers as I will need something virtually indestructible, so I can try things other than straight level flight.