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/ (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.
(http://i.imgur.com/mMXy8jl.jpg)
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).
(http://i.imgur.com/c1zHSZx.jpg)
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.
(http://i.imgur.com/H6A8Wmq.jpg)
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