[SEL] Campbelltown Steam Museum Rally

[Rob Skinner]

On May 21, 2012, at 8:29 AM, Arnie Fero wrote:

> G'day Patrick,
> 
> Any chance these engines were really continuous lamp (despite
> what the adverts said)?  8-)



I think the problem is that Australs are hit and miss governed, and we run them with no load. Under no load, there are so many revolutions between firing, that the vaporizer does not maintain proper temperature. Ronaldson & Tippett must have realized there were issues, as they utilized an “ignitor coil” to aid ignition. My experiments with different materials and configurations of the ignitor coil concluded that it doesn’t do a whole lot.  

I’ve seen other vaporizing oil engines exhibit the same behavior on cold, windy days. Australs just do it on warmer days, as well. Perhaps the Australs were designed to run under typical Australian conditions, but I’ve never had the opportunity to run an engine at 45 degrees Celsius.

--
Rob Skinner
www.rustyiron.com