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Author Topic: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread  (Read 1660 times)

Nick

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Re: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread
« Reply #15 on: May 17, 2019, 10:34:09 am »
I would make two observations regarding this:

First is that the Baker fan with its flat paddles offers significant resistance, far more so than a propeller that cuts through the air.

Secondly, Bruce's engine is not hitting on every stroke by far, so there is still a lot of potential energy that engine is not yet applying, thus it hasn't nearly reached its max power threshold yet.

Yes, I agree that a Baker fan does give a lot of resistance, but they do not have a ton of power when placing your finger on the flywheel... still more than a lot of our steam toys.
Nick

St Paul Steam

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Re: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread
« Reply #16 on: May 17, 2019, 11:27:19 am »
Are these engines strong enough to run accessories (with gearing if needed)?
I would say it has at least as much power as a Jensen 50 Steam engine, but it has a narrow power curve...it doesn't have much low end grunt when you get down below the power Curve , it falls off dramatically, whereas a steam engine will keep lugging.
Bruce, St. Paul Indiana, USA
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classixs

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Re: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread
« Reply #17 on: May 17, 2019, 01:33:40 pm »
Just had a couple of hours of playtime at hand, so i mounted a pulley on the engine, grabbed a handful of goodies from the "genny-bucket", and set up a simple "powertest".

The engine is pretty capable of running a load, but the mixture needs some attention, since fuel issues killed it on every single run, when having this load on.
No problems with that at all when it just idles.



And by the way...
Might well be that they run pretty cool when idling, but after burning a full tank of gas under this load, the water actually gets hot enough to throw a bit of steam of the surface.
Cheers
Jan
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Stoker

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Re: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread
« Reply #18 on: May 17, 2019, 01:41:37 pm »
I'll bet it burns through a tank full of fuel much faster under load too.

Nice test set-up Jan ... I look forward to further adventures down this road!
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
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Nick

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Re: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread
« Reply #19 on: May 17, 2019, 02:05:25 pm »
Very cool test Jan, much better than just guessing with a finger on the wheel as I was
Nick

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Re: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread
« Reply #20 on: May 17, 2019, 03:40:58 pm »
Wow Jan...that setup would be great in the event of a loss of mains power!  Amazing how much load that engine can handle.

Rog
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St Paul Steam

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Re: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread
« Reply #21 on: May 17, 2019, 04:34:05 pm »
now that was fun to watch Jan, it does have some grunt 😉👍
Bruce, St. Paul Indiana, USA
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Dr.Rev.DelmarMacReady

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Re: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread
« Reply #22 on: May 18, 2019, 10:02:40 am »
Impressive display, Jan. I felt like these had some power, and this demonstrates it well. I noticed as well the mixture issues under heavy(finger on the FW) load...After a short time mine just falls on it's face.
Bennydaheeb

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Re: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread
« Reply #23 on: May 21, 2019, 07:04:43 pm »
I've had a few runs now with a .308 case stuck in the middle of my battery box, thus reducing voltage from the original three AA batteries at about 4.5 volts, down to around 3 volts with only the two AA batteries.

Haven't noticed any difference in the engines operations at all, though I'm far from having quantified any of the parameters that might be affected.
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.

RedRyder

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Re: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread
« Reply #24 on: May 23, 2019, 04:16:22 pm »
Jan, that is a great demonstration video!


Gil

IndianaRog

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Re: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread
« Reply #25 on: May 23, 2019, 06:25:18 pm »
I've had a few runs now with a .308 case stuck in the middle of my battery box, thus reducing voltage from the original three AA batteries at about 4.5 volts, down to around 3 volts with only the two AA batteries.

Haven't noticed any difference in the engines operations at all, though I'm far from having quantified any of the parameters that might be affected.

I picked up same advice from a Ron Walters video...reduce voltage from 4.5>3.0 volts by removing one battery and placing a dummy in it's place.  Before I saw Daniel's suggestion of using an empty .308 shell casing, I found a very reasonable "dummy" cell sold on Amazon for just 99 cents US.  AND that included free shipping from California.  It took a week or so, but today my dummy AA cell arrived in good shape and I noticed seller paid $4.06 to ship it.  Tough way to make a buck !!!!!

Rog
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txlabman

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Re: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread
« Reply #26 on: May 23, 2019, 06:27:26 pm »
I just had a chance to read this entire thread.

Thanks to all that contributed.

An excellent read!

Nick

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Re: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread
« Reply #27 on: May 23, 2019, 09:19:58 pm »
Does it matter which way you insert the .308 case? I would assume base/primer on the negative (spring) end?
Nick

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Re: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread
« Reply #28 on: May 24, 2019, 12:33:23 am »
Does it matter which way you insert the .308 case? I would assume base/primer on the negative (spring) end?

That's the way I have it. Best if it's not a live primer though ...   ;c)
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.

Swift Fox

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Re: Yet another M90 Microcosm Hit & Miss thread
« Reply #29 on: May 24, 2019, 04:08:04 am »
Nice write up Daniel and good to see folks sharing their experiences of these engines.

Jan, that was very impressive seeing your engine power all those lights!  
Your nose is before your eyes, so trust it first!