Faith Restored: Evolution 10cc runs perfectly!

Back in June I pancaked the Sbach and her Evolution 10cc when I lost control authority. I thought this was a radio issue (don't we always?) but knowing the radio is fine having had it inspected by Horizon Hobby/Spektrum, I have to think I just stalled it... Anywho's, I, of course, haven't run the engine since. Today I put her on the test bed.

It's narrower than the RCGF-USA 10cc the mounts are set up for. To keep it simple I just made a thingy. Two bolts on the left, on on the right.

Didn't take much to get her started once I got fuel to the spark.

Happens. I was finger choking the carb (has no choke) and touched the sparky, giving me a little surprise shock, making me jump and nicking my finger in the back of the prop.

UPDATE 9/20/20: This is what it looks like this morning when I took the band-aid off. It looks much better a few hours later when I let it dry out a bit. It's really not as bad as it looks.

I don't think I have ever had an engine exceed 9500 RPM before! 

The Evolution was rocking 10,250 at one point swinging a 13x6!

Listen to that sound!

Needless to say, my faith in the little Evolution is renewed, and as soon as they are back in stock its going on the Hangar 9 10cc Ultra Stick!

New shop floor "covering"

It was time to replace the interlocking foam squares that covered a 10x10 section of the shop floor as they were a mess after more than 3 years. I was tired of things bouncing off into the abyss, so this time I went with this holey design, hoping that wayward screws would be forced to narrow their bounce and be contained. We'll see. Its soft and comfy, easily moved for cleaning. The spaces between the squares seem to have permanently stained the concrete floor. I wondered if it was moisture, not sure why that would be, but a fan on it overnight changed nothing. It may be a more deep seated moisture that will fade with time.

450 FBL Update

The #2 aileron servo (port side) had a different range of motion than the #1 pitch servo (starboard side), causing a CCPM interaction at either end other of motion. I could not overcome this with endpoints for some reason, so I decided to replace the servos. I bought some inexpensive digital MG90 micro servos and tonight I installed them. Tomorrow I will program the ZYX Flybarless system and weather permitting test fly her! I will take her and the 450 Sport (flybarred) out.

Defeat

 

I give up. I can't get the Walbro carb to work on my 10cc RCGF engine, even after rebuilding it. When  I took it apart it was full of gas. Running it before and after rebuilding it I would see light smoke and a lot of fuel coming out of the exhaust, no matter how I leaned or richened or changed endpoints. It would never catch nor sputter. So I took it off the engine stand, and was planning to try the small 10mm Walbro I had tried some time ago, but in emails with Gary Hoffman, my engineer, I decided to bring it to him to have him hit it with whatever rocks he has. If he can't get it to run its not likely ever going to, but I will then have Joe Nelson Of RCGF-USA take a whack at it. I will be shocked if Gary doesn't get it running. Tomorrow I will take it out to Gary in Hampton, NH, on my motorcycle, two birds, one stone!

I may put the other RCGF 10cc on the engine stand, the one on the Spitty. I have had problems finding a nice low needle that idles well and accelerates well. Not sure, may just test it on the plane as is. I don't want to put the Evo 10cc on it, would need to see if the RCGF muffler fits as I am not putting the huge torpedo muffler on the Spitty, and also because I kinda think its weaker than the RCGF though I have no objective support for that. I had just found its sweet spot when I crashed the Sbach, so it was running perfectly. I'll give the RCGF a chance on the Spitty, but may replace it... we'll see.

New GT Power Servo Tester

My basic Turnigy servo tester is over 10 yrs old and was starting to show its age. In those 10 yrs I have also wanted to know things about my servos it couldn't tell me, like speed, dead band, etc. So it was time to replace it with an upgrade. I found the GT Power Professional Servo Tester on eBay for $30 shipped from hangarstuff4sale (gave you the MotionRC listing for detail).  I put it on a switch since it doesn't have an I/O switch, it turns on when powered up as far as I can tell, which meant it was going to need a platform, and here it is! I can easily charge the pack through the switch. Built a little box with a hatch to cover and contain the wires, used on old NiMH recieiver pack, some paint and Dual Lock and voila!

My trusty blue Turnigy tester will be hanging around for a while, for sentimental reasons. 

Walbro 10cc Carb Update

 I took the cleaned carb out attached to the RCGF-USA 10cc on the test stand.

She would not catch at all at first, but gas was going through it. Changed from the iffy new spark,mwhich was sparking, and used a good spark, no change. When I had it at WOT, she would try to run a few RPMs, but not consistently. After an hour I gave up, I was wasting a lot of gas to flooding. 

I took the carb apart, and it was full of gas. The valve sheet was rubbery. Now, the replacement kit comes with a least 3 types of material cut for this carb, one is kinda rubbery, one is this thin plastic, and another is a little thicker and looks reinforced. I have no idea which one to use, I've not knowingly used one over the other, and the blue one looks most familiar, so I went with it.

Put it all back together. In consideration of my neighbors, I don't run before 10 am, and usually not till noon, and stop after 5 pm. I will try again tomorrow. 

Updated Engine Test Bed!

 I needed my test platform to work on my 10cc carb problems, and I wanted to update it a bit. Put a throttle servo and an Orange receiver on it, added a second battery pack so I can run longer. Added a hole behind the engine to increase air intake airflow.

Its late now, tomorrow I will take it outside and run the engine whose carb I just cleaned.