7525 Circle Parkway, Sacramento, California 95823
These are pictures of my model hit and miss engine. The bore and
stroke are 2 x 2? inches. The flywheels are 12 inches in diameter.
Ignition is by automotive points and coil. I built it from plans
sold by John Palmer. No castings were used.
The cylinder was machined from 2? inch cast iron. The bottom
half of the hopper was made from 4 inch water pipe. The rest of the
hopper and the base are entirely hand-built of welded steel plate.
I put off building the fly wheels as long as possible, because I
thought it would be difficult. To my surprise, it was a pretty
straightforward process. Both wheels run true. The rims are turned
from 1? inch steel plate. The spokes are
3/8 inch pipe, flattened to an oval
shape and welded to the hub and rim.
I am not an experienced machinist, and this is my first major
project on a lathe. It took about one year to build. (And I am
grateful to my wife, Rosalie Davis Krominga, for her patience.) I
made a few mistakes and had to remake a few parts, but generally
the process went well. When the engine was finished, I put gas in
the tank and a battery to the coil and gave it the first starting
flip of the flywheels. It began to fire immediately. Of course it
took a bit of adjustment and general ‘tweaking’ to make it
run smoothly. After about an hour of run time the compression was
up and now it usually starts on the first flip. The hit and miss
action is very good.
This first engine was a real challenge to me. I learned a lot
from it and enjoyed the whole process. I am planning another
one.
