Techniques for Model IC Engine Building

This page presents general techniques for the common tasks encountered when building a model IC engine in a home workshop. Many of the techniques are repeated on the pages dedicated to specific engines, but finding the nuggets you need among all my other verbiage and adjectival-overkill can be a pain, even using the Site Search facility. So the links below will take you to a technique that has worked for me. It may be a dedicated page, or it may be a link into the middle of another larger work. At least the index will give you an idea of where a description of the process you're after might be found.

But first, the usual getoutagaol disclaimer:

I am not any kind of trained machinist—just an ignorant software engineer who builds little engines for fun. Any suggestions found on these pages may be unsound, unsafe, and/or downright dumb. Follow them at your own risk!

How to:

   Anodize Things
   Balance Crankshafts
   Broach Square Holes
   Conrods Made Easy
   Insert Threaded Inserts
   Kit Up Your First Shop
   Knurl Prop Drivers
   Make a (not very efective) Throttle
   Machine Cooling Head Fins
   Machine Crankcases
   Machine Crankcases for Ball-races
   Machine Crankshafts
   Machine Multy-throw Crankshafts
   Make a crankcase pattern for sand casting
   Make a Simple Gasket Punch
   Make and Use Cylinder Hones
   Make Cams for Four-stroke Engines
   Make Needles for Needle Valves
   Make Needle Valve Assemblies
   Make Piston Rings
   Make Really Small Diesels
   Maintain Your Digital Vernier
   Measure Engine Performance
   Mix All Types of Model Engine Fuel
   Remove a Broken Tap
   Make Skew Gears
   Remove Rust
   Select Cylinder/piston Material
Select a Prop for Classic C/L Models
   Sharpen Small Twist Drills
   Solder a washer to piano wire
   Stop Your Comp Screw Wandering
   Tighten Head Bolts
   Time a FRV
   Turn Down to a Small Diameter
   Turn Large Radius Curves
   Use the Putting-on Tool
   Work with Cast Pistons
   Workholding with Pot-Chucks

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