Ageless 9 cylinder radial engine build thread

[wngman]

With the home repairs, travel and fishing, less got done with respect to this project. I have completed the front bearing, the cam and the cam mount/support for the engine. Nothing special with the parts other than the tediousness of cutting the lobes of the cam. Note that the jack shaft and gears are not included hear. Gotta save some more bread for those items. The internal cam gear alone is around $150+, so gotta clear the basement out and sell a bunch of stuff first.

Just a note to any fool interested in building this beast, the material costs are considerable. And I have not started on the cylinders and the heads. Spark plugs (9) alone will run over $250. Just letting you know....

This were iam at

 

[wngman]

This is an effort to document my build the Ageless 9 cylinder radial engine.
Some background: I have been active in hobby machining for 4 years, since retiring as a software engineer. Prior, I had no machining experience. Since embarking on this hobby, I have had many successful projects, a couple of not so successful ones, but all were educational and fun. One success is a hit-miss engine. One not quite success is a clock (runs fine for only 30 minutes). Anyway, my point here is that I am not a journeyman machinist, but I am working and learning to be a competent machinist.
I have the a PM1030V lathe with DRO and a PM727V bench mill also with DRO, a 6" rotary table. It is a small shop that is shared with wood working stuff.
Now, why did I pick the Ageless 9 cylinder radial engine for my next project?
1. It looks like a challenge. It has complicated components that will take some effort and new skills. It has a number of components are duplicated. This will require thinking in terms of production processing as opposed to one off stuff.
2. The documentation is great. It is a huge binder of over 200 pages. The drawings appear to be complete. There is an operations list for each component. This is important because I have found one difficult part of machining is to determine the order to do things.
3. The documentation contains drawings for jigs and other tooling needed. I don't have to guess.
4. It will keep me busy for a couple of years while locked down again cause the COVID pandemic isn't over.
It is my intent to only upload pictures of finished components with comments on issues/non-issues found during the machining.
5. I also hope I can get answers to "how do I do this?" from you folks.

Note: I started this effort back in May 2021.

I started with crank then case then bearings built the whole lower end worked up to the cylinders heads ect.

 

[petertha]

Bought 10mm plugs from Autozone for a lot less. I think in the $60.00 dollar or so range. Used them before very good plugs . They are used in small weedeater and such type engines.

Ron

Just guessing but maybe 10mm (0.394") are more common. The ones I referenced (1/4-32) are quite a bit smaller, perhaps less common, I suspect model specific? I'm not sure what the original design calls for or what the OP may have threaded the heads for. I didn't realize there were quite so many in this range.

SPARK PLUGS Archives - CH-ignitions

ch-ignitions.com

 

[wngman]

Just guessing but maybe 10mm (0.394") are more common. The ones I referenced (1/4-32) are quite a bit smaller, perhaps less common, I suspect model specific? I'm not sure what the original design calls for or what the OP may have threaded the heads for. I didn't realize there were quite so many in this range.

SPARK PLUGS Archives - CH-ignitions

ch-ignitions.com

I use the 10 mm ngk

 

[starr256]

This were iam at

Looking good, said the apprentice to his mentor. Looking good. I start the rods next. It is the cylinder heads the have me apprehensive. So many fins on so many heads and at strange angles. Then again, I have found the operation sheets to be spot on.

 

[Dhal22]

Not sure if this helps at all for future reference, but my buddy was going through the same $$ issue for his engine. I stumbled on this seller on AliExpress that sells plugs & ignition modules. Cannot vouch for them, but they do sell DLE engines so looks reputable on the surface. Prices shown are CAD so multiply by 0.75 to get USD.

But being in USA may present better options to you. This place gets good reviews & from what I gather sells the Paul Knapp plugs which are supposed to be very good & possibly more scale size. Spark ignition is outside my current knowledge level. I'm going glow plug on my first/current radial build. Also a money pit, but quite as bad.

Shop - CH-ignitions

ch-ignitions.com

RCEXL is a very good name in the rc airplane world.

 

[wngman]

RCEXL is a very good name in the rc airplane world.

 

[wngman]

The wedge tool allows you to do all that he angels make sure its spot on and square to the what ever you mount it to here's a pic of how i Did it repeatably is key

 

[wngman]

As of today

 

[Dhal22]

What airplane is this going on?