Can you weld engines together?

[cleatus]

Mirth, my 9.2 Wisconsin pull started the other day easier than any of my 3.5 push mowers.

 

[JRP]

SELL THEM ALL ON EBAY, AND BUY ONE ENGINE THAT DOES WHAT YOU WANT. It is very easy to sell a the same item type. It is called "relist".

When I want a new toy, I sell my old ones and put the money in Paypal. The wife never sees it. Works great.

 

[AndyMA]

I've been reding this post and having a good laugh. Years ago in my go-kart racing days I ran one triple. What a PIA. It worked but it was **** on wheels. We ran 3 horizontal engines each with its own chain setup to a live rear axle. If one engine hesitated, the others dragged it along. Bang, that is the sound of the pistons and part of the connecting rod coming through the case. Didn't always explode, but did a happen a couple of times. We ran them in parallel and did get it to work (sorta). I would never attempt it in series with engines like that. Do the math, the slightest rotational misalignment will result in massive shaking. Alll the power needs to go through the bottom engine crank. Heck, these engines snap there cranks all the time when mowing just by hitting a rock with the blade. I do not believe a Rigid connection as recommended above will work. I would say you need a connection where the engines drive the load(s) either separately as recommended above or in parallel via connections with a limited amount of slip. Even better to devise a setup where the engines can "freewheel" and only pick up their share of the load when they are up to speed and the load demands it(slip clutch). Rather like syncing a generator to a power grid.

And BTW, back when I was a kid (and I'm still a big kid) I hacked together many contracptions and left my fair share of blown apart parts on the ground. Also when the thing you are proposing comes apart, I suggest it be surrounded by a steel shroud to catch the shrapnel. I still have a helmet with pieces of an old Merc Hurricane embedded it in from an old hydroplane.

One final thought, I don't believe that "phasing" of the power pulses will be an issue. Just connect them together with something with some give and a slip clutch and wind them up. They'll each pick up their share of the load when the time is right.

Have fun, and take pictures.

Andy

 

[AndyMA]

Jared

I hadn't read your reply when I posted mine. Interesting- You are staying in series and I am proposing parallel. Sounds like a good contest for "Junk Yard Wars" show on TV. I'm sure you put more thought in this than I did, so you have a head start. Mith, which team do you want to head- Team Series or Team Parallel /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Gee I wonder if the engines actually run???

Andy

 

[AndyMA]

Gee Jared

Sorry you didn't pick quick enough. You can now have two in a row. I propose to Mith if he wants to be on the parallel team that we take Junkman, the guy who only lives 4 miles from my shop who has 10 of any part we could possibly need. Actually both teams could share Junkman-he has more than enough stuff for everybody. And to go one further, if you need to we'll set you up with shop space and a well equiped machine shop for those adapter plates. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Andy

 

[AndyMA]

And if you don't take Taylortractornut We'll take him next....
Actually we should make it geographic- you get everybody in your half of the world....

Sorry guys, just bored tonite

Andy

 

[mrcaptainbob]

Would it be a plan to have the engines mounted in a circular pattern..like one, two three o'clock positions and then a drive belt individually from each to a common center shaft, each driving their own slip clutch? Then, that shaft could be chained to the axle shaft......

 

[Mith]

JRP, the engines are worthless, worth a tenner each at the most. im doing it for the fun, not because i want a big engine (well i do but my stuff already fills about 1/4 of our 2/3 of an acre /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif)
Andy, my dad and brother are both in Karting teams, they run twin engines with a chain to a solid rear axle. the engines in question are vertical output so this wouldnt work. guess so far the best sensible plan has been to belt drive them to a transaxle.
i see a horrible flaw in your plan to sgregate us by halves of the world, we are both in the same half of the world /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
so really that leave pretty much everyone on TBN v Neil in the land of OZ
im gunna go on the weld em together team might not work but it sounds cool if the self destruct (im a safe guy, ill get someone else to try it first) anyone care to join?

hopefully he aint scrapped em yet, they were there on thursday

 

[notamustang]

Good luck !!!! Be safe and most importantly PICTURES ! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Steven

 

[have_blue]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Nice ideas, as to having them all spread out and connected by belts, could be cool
limo style...... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

would simlpy welding them work though, or am i gunna be the one sailing into unknown territory )</font>

The alignment is super-critical. If you could machine some precision couplers that fit tightly over the shafts, it would work. But them, you would have a very tall, awkward engine that would be hard to see over. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif