Brian Rupnow

Ordered a copy of "The Engines of Doug Kelley" from myself to myself.----Brian

Today I got some more information on my friends Atlas lathe. It is a 10" F series lathe catalogue number TH42 and TH54. My friend lives about 20 miles from me, and I don't have the lathe here in my shop.---Brian

A friend of mine has recently purchased a mid 1950's Atlas metal lathe. It's all there except for the chuck and the drive motor and pulley. I have set him up with a 3 jaw chuck, and the literature he has suggest using a 1/2 hp. motor. What he really needs to know is the outside diameter of the drive pulleys which go on the motor. His literature shows a 2 step v-pulley, but no reference is made to the pulley diameters. Does anyone out there own a similar Atlas lathe, and if so, what diameters are the 2 step v-pulleys that go on the motor.----Brian

Something like that.

Yes Allen, I'm okay. I have been bitten by the "powder paint bug" and have been devoting my time to a powder paint booth and a sandblasting cabinet. By the time I have that sorted out, I will be quite happy to return to my unfinished engine, and attempt to get my other non running engines sorted out.---Brian

Allan---I'm standing in two worlds. In "Theoretical world" I am absolutely sure of what I write. I am also standing in "Reality world" which sometimes confuses the Hell out of me. I firmly believe every thing I said in that post that you have quoted. However, Dick Upshur was nobodies fool, and his engine design without a flank radius seems to run very well in videos I have seen of it running on Youtube. I don't have a reason for this. I am not the world's leading authority on cam design. I believe that on a full scale engine which has to give maximum torque under varying conditions that the cams absolutely need to have a flank radius. On small scale versions of this engine, it probably isn't that big a deal.---Brian

Not really. I have read that some people insist that the cams must have a flank radius, and I have read that some people say it doesn't really matter. This current engine is built mostly to Dick Upshur's plans and obviously he didn't think that a radiused cam flank was necessary. The original twin opposed that I designed and made the video of had the sparkplugs on the bottom of the cylinder head, and although it ran very well, if you flooded it when trying to start it there was no way that it would clear itself to start. The current engine has the sparkplugs positioned on the top SIDE of the cylinder head, which I have not seen before, but there are many videos on Youtube of this engine running, so it must work.---Brian

Yes

whj308-i'm not sure what you seen, but this engine has never ran.---Brian

So, here we are, 8 weeks after my knee operation. I'm doing well,--no infection and minimum soreness. I'm just beginning to walk around my house without using a cane. My energy levels are far lower than I had wished, but apparently that is not unusual at this stage of the game. I got a phone call from my supplier today that my #2-56 brass threaded rod is in, (it's for the distributor) and I will pick it up tomorrow. Most of the energy that I do have right now is going towards my powder paint booth. I am setting here surrounded by box fans, furnace filters, and various pneumatic bits and pieces. Riding two projects at the same time has never worked that well for me, but I will keep you posted as I progress.---Brian

Happy birthday to me!! Seventy eight years young today!! Happy birthday to Ringo Star too--(he's a few years older than me). I never imagined getting this old, but it's not that much different from being 50.

I couldn't let the entire day go by without doing something.----So----I milled grooves in the cylinder heads to clear the pushrods. You can't see what I have done, because the grooves are hidden by the pushrods.  I can slide a piece of printer paper between the heads and the pushrods without it jamming up, and a miss is as good as a mile.

No work today---All my aches and pains have caught up to me today, and I'm hobbling around like somebody's old granny. I still have to cut some clearance grooves in the cylinder heads to clear the pushrods, and time the cams. I called my nut and bolt guys yesterday and they don't carry any bolts nor threaded rod size 2-56 so I can either attempt to make my own---questionable.--They need to be made from brass, for the distributor so I will wait until Monday and try a different nut and bolt store (we actually have two such in Barrie).

Today, it didn't take too much to wear me out. I drilled and tapped the engine sub base to hold a condenser for my ignition, drilled and tapped my starter mechanism top plate for the Upshur engine bolt pattern, milled a keyway in the crankshaft and cut a keyway in my flywheel. That doesn't sound like a lot, but I'm tired out now.

Today was kind of a write off type day. I went for my last physio appointment and was told that I had "progressed nicely" and didn't need any more physio appointments. I had it confirmed by another source that the angle between the two cams is indeed 105 degrees on this engine. I set the assembled engine up on my test bench, filled with oil and drove it with an electric motor for 20 minutes to get rid of any tight spots. I cut all of the pushrods to finished length and installed them, and set the valves to 0.005" clearance--not sure yet if I have to put relief slots in my cylinder heads for the push-rods or not. I read thru the instructions from Upshur once again about the distributor and decided that tomorrow I would buy some #2-56 threaded rod or at least some brass bolts with long threads that I can cut off and use for distributor terminals. I still have to put a keyway in my flywheel and in the crankshaft end that the flywheel sets on. I also have to set the engine up on my starter stand and drill and tap four holes to bolt the engine to it. That's probably enough work to keep me occupied tomorrow.----Brian