[wristpin]

A fascinating article. I first heard about “rotating rings” many years ago while attending a service course given by the lately retired ( and much missed) Nick Rosam, Service Manager of Briggs and Stratton UK, but the information on ring gap sizes is new and interesting reading.
Interesting that the writer should mention Caterpillar; having worked for and learnt from Cat straight out of college and been indoctrinated in the Cat way (right?) of doing things, 30+ years of working with garden machinery have shown that there is also the “pragmatic” way as well !
Best practice and factory manual tolerances have their place but I know of at least one mower engine that’s running quite happily several years after having been built up from a collection of mismatched parts from the scrap bin.

[wristpin]

Join the Old Lawnmower Club; full Villiers magneto strip and rebuild instructions in the Technical section of their website.

[wristpin]

Bit of a set back but sorted now. The tine rotor shaft had lots of lateral play and a fair bit of up and down movement so off came the side plate to reveal a bit of devastation. At some point the solid pin securing the bronze worm gear to the shaft had worked loose and while sticking out of the gear had clouted the housing and broken out a chunk of the gear boss. The chances of finding a new gear are pretty slim but talking it over with forum member Hillsider he suggested a couple of possible work arounds, one of which was to drill a new pair of pin holes in the gear. This done, we have a serviceable machine for exhibition purposes and perhaps a bit of light tilling.
I’ve secured the gear with a roll pin and a tight fitting solid pin inside it. To make sure that neither pin can drop out I’ve modified a Jubilee clip to go round the Gear boss. There was some wear on the bearing areas of the rotor shaft so as I had a bit of inch diameter bright steel bar it was a fairly simple job to make a new one and two new oilite bushes and seals completed the job.
Don’t suppose anyone has a bronze gear for a Rotogardener ?

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[wristpin]

Progress with the Shay. Have now done a permanent installation of a Briggs and Stratton condenser to replace the dud original and the engine runs well.
The outstanding job concerns the tine engagement mechanism which is a swinging jockey pulley controlled by a solid rod from the red knob in the centre of the handle bars that passes down inside the handlebars and fuel tank and emerges just short of the engine and then forward to connect to the swinging arm. Unfortunately the person from whom I obtained the machine had unbolted the handlebars without first disconnecting the rod which, as a result, was badly bent out of shape.So far my attempts to reshape it have not resulted in a free moving jockey arm. As it’s probably not my intention to keep the machine I may leave it for someone else to sort out as I’m more interested in mowers and have just retrieved a Ransomes Antelope from Southampton!

The images show the BS condenser in place and the dud Shay one that it replaces.

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[wristpin]

Found time to do a bit more this afternoon and have had it running. Need to make a proper bracket for the Briggs condenser which will also Earth the casing to the stator plate. Any idea wherher it’s safe to solder to the condenser casing or whether the heat will kill it?

[wristpin]

Well, progress of a sort, the condenser is dud. It looks as though a Briggs one will fit and even the terminal is in the right place. Just need to devise a securing bracket but as I’m otherwise occupied for a few days A trial run will have ro wait.

[wristpin]

Thanks, if the weather is anything like today it will be a workshop day tomorrow and I’ll investigate further. At least the flywheel comes off easily and doesn’t need re-timing! Would rather a dud condenser than coil – easier to get around the problem!

[wristpin]

Prototype chastity belt?

[wristpin]

Welcome to the forum. Continuous combing belt? Please explain or even post an image .

[wristpin]

I think that the cleaning agent is important as it aids the bond between the sealant and the tank. Over the years there has been a lot of chat on the Lambretta forum reporting that some of the product on offer has collapsed inside the tank like a deflated balloon!
Hopefully the current products are better. Personal experience with any product from Frost is that, if used correctly, it usually does what it says it will.

[wristpin]

I’ve read of mixed results with sealant, particularly since the introduction of ethanol adulterated fuels. I have successfully cleaned very rusted tanks by electrolysis using an ordinary battery charger as a power source.
Once all the loose rust has been removed either keep the tank full to exclude air or completely empty with a moisture absorbing pouch in it.

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[wristpin]

The big chunk of channel iron on the left of the engine bay is embossed ” Dorman Long Middlesborough ” and is also stamped on the edge 137

https://www.dormanlongtechnology.com/en/Dorman%20Long%20historical%20information.htm

[wristpin]

Of course haystacks don’t normally heat up or catch fire if the hay has been made properly, but if the weather has been wet the farmer wouldn’t have much choice and would have had to make the hay with a higher than normal moisture content. It is then that the problems start with microbes within the stack starting a fermentation process which generates heat to such an extent that some stacks have been known to catch fire.

Way back when conditions dictated stacking a less than ideal crop the risk of heating was reduced by building the stack with alternate layers of hay and straw. The straw provided ventilation and a “wicking effect” to draw out the moisture.

[wristpin]

Countax / Westwood part number 07823200 from your local dealer or may be worth asking Wentin Fasteners of Yeovil who do a great mail order service, nuts, bolts and washers etc and possibly do E Clips
http://www.wentinfasteners.co.uk

[wristpin]

Solved my problem by modifying one of the plentiful ” wrong ones ”

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