|
|
| Webster Engine Works is pleased to present
The Next Generation EZE - a quick building model airplane engine made
from bar stock. |
| This
basic engine design goes
back several generations, first appearing in 1950 in Model
Airplane News as Roy
L. Clough Jr.'s "Little Dragon", and appearing again in late 1998
/ early 1999 as Tom Crompton presented three variations in Model Engine World. Having
already built a side-port diesel, I wanted to try my hand at a front
rotary valve engine, so Tom's "EZE-2" was chosen as the basis of my
design, and in 2004 The Next Generation EZE was born (for the obvious
lack of a better name). |
| I was pretty much working from scratch as I had simply seen a few photos and only had a general idea of scale. Also, in order to comfortably present my engine as a "new" design, a few changes to Tom's EZE-2 were in order - most notably in the front housing / venturi area. The addition of a raised venturi and needle valve assembly side-steps the interference problem that the original had between it and the front housing screws. A generous fillet around the main journal and the cone-shaped spinner improves the overall appearance. 3D CAD was used to model every part to verify fits, clearances, and even the timing figures. It was nice being able to see the engine rendered in 3D before I cut a single piece of metal. What a time saver! |
Specifications:
|
 |
 The crankcase is machined from a bar of 3/4" sq. 6061-T6 aluminum alloy and a section about 12" long would be sufficient to complete most of the aluminum bits for two engines! (This picture should give you a sense of scale.) |
 The size of the engine is small enough that mistakes aren't costly, but not so small that it's difficult to machine. It employs no exotic materials or techniques and a sample could probably be made from the average machinist's scrap bin. |
 |
Small diesel engines aren't very forgiving of machining errors and require close running fits. It is because of this that I wouldn't recommend the NGEZ-1 as a first machining project. However, I feel the engine could be built by someone who has completed a few successful steam or Stirling engines and has an understanding of which fits are important. Experienced engine builders may find the NGEZ-1 a unique or refreshing change from more complex projects - there's something neat about being able to complete a running engine in about a week of evenings! |
| Click Here for a
sound bite of the engine running. |
Click here for a
video of the engine running. |
| Detailed
plans for the NGEZ-1 are
available. They will come as
10 CAD drawn A-size sheets (8.5 x 11) - complete with tooling
suggestions and 5 pages of build notes. A sample page can be seen here. The price is $12 (USD) post-paid for US orders and $15
(USD) post-paid for international orders. At this time, accepted
forms of payment are cash, check, money order, or PayPal. Please e-mail me for further
information. |
| But
wait, there's more! I'm entertaining the idea of a twin cylinder
version of the engine featuring the same modular concept as the single.
Both inline and boxer configurations have been modeled, but I have a
few details to work out - namely the conrod and crankshaft arrangement.
If anyone has ideas or would like to discuss the project, please feel
free to contact me. |
 |
 |
| Thanks
for stopping by! |
| All material on
this web site is Copyright © of Joseph B. Webster 2005, and all
rights are reserved, world-wide. No text or images may be reproduced in
any form without explicit permission of the copyright holder. |
