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Author Topic: My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine  (Read 17440 times)

Offline rudydubya

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My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine
« on: June 21, 2011, 04:05:05 PM »
New member here, had a nice welcome over in the introductions section, and pictures were mentioned.  So here are a few pictures of my Upshur hit-and-miss engine.  I built it from bar stock using the late Hamilton Upshur's plans (http://hamiltonupshur.tripod.com/).  This was my first project, and I really had no idea of what I was doing when I started, but the design is very forgiving of minor errors and mistakes.  When it was finished and actually ran I had a smile on my face for a month.  If you're not familiar with the design, it's a four-stroke, with spark ignition, 3.5" flywheels, a 0.75" bore, and 1.0" stroke.  I chose the air-cooled version to build.  I'm running it on camp fuel with a little WD-40 mixed in for lubrication.

The first picture was taken a couple of years ago, shortly after I finished the engine.  I initially used mechanical points and condenser ignition with a six-volt battery and motorcycle coil, but my home-made points kept fouling so I changed it over to the electronic ignition system and Hall effect sensor shown.  It worked well, but was a bit bulky.


I cleaned the engine up later and put it on a wooden base, and then changed the ignition again to a small CDI system in a box running on NiCd batteries.  I added a couple of LED lights on the back of the box to indicate power-on and Hall sensor triggering, a power switch, a jack for charging the batteries, and a BNC connector for monitoring and recording flywheel RPMs (from the Hall sensor).  I'm currently using this setup to fiddle with governor adjustments and timing, trying to maximize coast time, and to play with it when I get the urge (yes, it's just plain fun).


I put parallel ignition connections on the side so I can run the engine sitting on top of the ignition box.  It makes a compact package, easy to transport and show off to friends.


I don't have a recent video of it running, but here is one made about the time the first picture was taken.  Not much commentary on my part, but the engine sounds pretty good.  About 3 seconds between hits, and it just gets slightly warm after running for a few minutes.



Hope you enjoy the pictures and video.

Regards,
Rudy
« Last Edit: July 13, 2017, 04:25:05 PM by rudydubya »
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Offline DaveH

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Re: My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2011, 04:11:39 PM »
Rudy,

Beautiful, a work of art - runs very nice too :clap: :clap: :clap:

 :beer:

DaveH


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Offline SPiN Racing

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Re: My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2011, 04:25:01 PM »
Cool motor.. really nice sound to it as well!
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Rob.Wilson

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Re: My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2011, 04:54:32 PM »
Now thats a cracking engine ,Rudy  :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:

Great job ,,,,,,,,, :thumbup:

Rob
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Offline saw

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Re: My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2011, 05:15:01 PM »
Nice engine  :clap:
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Offline Bernd

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Re: My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2011, 05:37:32 PM »
Very nice job Rudy.  :thumbup:

Sounds marvelous too.  :ddb:

Benrd
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Offline sbwhart

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Re: My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine
« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2011, 02:10:07 AM »
Excelent job Rudy
 
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
 :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

Thanks for showing
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Offline Stilldrillin

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Re: My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2011, 04:17:07 AM »
Rudy.

Thank you!

That's a beautiful engine.......  :clap: :clap:

Lovely sound too!  :thumbup:

David D
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Offline Dave G

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Re: My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2011, 09:12:19 AM »
Very nice Rudy. Your engine looks great, Dave
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Offline cfellows

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Re: My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine
« Reply #9 on: June 22, 2011, 10:34:12 AM »
That's a great running engine.  Nice build, too!

Chuck
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Offline Troutsqueezer

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Re: My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine
« Reply #10 on: June 22, 2011, 12:06:23 PM »
Whats next, Rudy-meister?
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Offline rudydubya

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Re: My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine
« Reply #11 on: June 23, 2011, 03:06:41 AM »
Thanks to all for the kind words, they are much appreciated.

Quote from: Troutsqueezer on June 22, 2011, 12:06:23 PM
Whats next, Rudy-meister?

Trout, I'm not sure yet.  I get distracted easily, but maybe an attempt at something akin to a tiny later this summer or fall.

Regards,
Rudy
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Offline H K Barrows

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Re: My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine
« Reply #12 on: June 24, 2011, 06:04:37 PM »
Hello Rudy. Your engine runs very well. I'm curious to know where you found the coil that you show in your first picture in your thread. I guess this was your original ingition system. I have used that type of coil for many years in some of my model boats. Have looked for them on the net no luck hope you might have an idea where to look. recraftmodels@hotmail.com Regards Red
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Offline rudydubya

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Re: My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine
« Reply #13 on: June 25, 2011, 02:46:15 AM »
Red, thanks.  That coil in the first picture is a generic 6 volt motorcycle coil.  I found it at an area motorcycle parts shop.  Guy said it had been on his shelf for years.  If you can't find one locally, JC Whitney still sells them.  http://www.jcwhitney.com/ignition-coils/p2005149.jcwx?skuId=143875&filterid=j1  From their picture, it looks identical to the one I got, but I couldn't guarantee that.

Got any pictures of your model boats?

Regards,
Rudy
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Offline martink

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Re: My Upshur Hit-and-Miss engine
« Reply #14 on: June 25, 2011, 02:22:09 PM »
Love it! Great little engine. :thumbup:
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