Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

My flame licker has been playing up with the crank loose and twisting.
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Now I know why

Dstar / Starpower seem to ignore their limited lifetime warranty when it suits them,
I d3cided to mke a new crank web as I managed to get an hour or so in the shed this evening.
 
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This is somewhat of a temporary fix while I decide on a better crankshaft design.
Once I had tweaked the timing the engine ran better than it ever has before.

Thanks, That seems to be the general consensus.

From catastrophic failure to a great repair.

Thanks Jim.

It seems that there is nothing that cannot be improved.

It will be improved further when I get round to it.

Steam technology, On mine I have what looks like 4 cracks where the bolts hold the head on.  It looks like the bolts were overtighted
And cracked the head. After seeing your pictures I noticed yours also has a crack.  Do you have 4 cracks on yours? One for each head bolt?  Perhaps its supposed to be that way?
Mine seams to run ok. Thanks

Yes, I had noticed that before but they seem to be too uniform to be cracks. I think the part is laser cut and the slots are part of the process or they are there to relieve any stress from the bolts.
The bolts do not need to be super tight, just enough to seal the cylinder.