Old Suffolk Punch recoil starter versus rope kind

That's a good idea! You mean the sort of dog which used to be in front of the crank pulley on a car engine for a starting handle to engage with?

Reply to
Roger Mills
Loading thread data ...

yeah. the sort that broke your arm if it backfired.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Better designed handle start engines had much the same feature as the rope starts, ie when the engine moved backward the handle was just pushed outwards slightly, not rotated. When that feature became widespread I don't know, its simple enough.

NT

Reply to
NT

You've obviously never been taught the correct way to use a starting handle!

Mike

Reply to
Muddymike

I've been grateful for that lesson many times, often in the middle of nowhere in the Land Rover. The correct grip feels odd until the first time the engine kicks back...

Reply to
John Williamson

Yes. Its long gone now but ISTR I used a short piece of steel tube with a heavy washer welded to one end which went behind the nut that holds the flywheel on. I then cut two curving slots into the other end and made up a rod that fitted into the drill bit with cross pins that fitted the curving slots. The idea being that when the engine fires it automatically ejects the rod from the dog.

The rod that went into the drill was actually a half inch steel bolt with a couple of nuts welded under the head, ground round, then cross drilled to take the "T" pin. So I ended up with an item that was small enough to fit a half inch drill chuck one end, but big enough to fit the tube and be cross drilled at the other.

Mike

Reply to
Muddymike

Yeah, on a Fordson Major, maybe, but unlikely on a Suffolk Punch!

MM

Reply to
MM

The right way is to grip it firmly between your teeth, then start rotating your head.

MM

Reply to
MM

It shouldn't take much to start a mower in good condition. So far I've only needed to give it one ot two short tugs and it's off. The bloke did say not to pull the cord all the way out as some people do, but to give a swift, short pull. I set the choke flap to half open, and have to open it up fully *the instant* the engine starts, otherwise it starts hunting.

MM

Reply to
MM

A Suffolk Punch still has quite a clout should it decide to hit you somehow. When using a starting handle you should keep your thumb on the same side of the grip as your fingers so if it does backfire the handle is wrenched from your grip without ripping off your thumb. Still whack you hard on the back of the hand though...

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

'Course, that's one thing I haven't thought of so far for my Suffolk

-- a starting handle! Now that should be easy to implement.

MM

Reply to
MM

Except that, with one bang per two revs, you may not be able to turn the engine through a big enough angle to get it to start - unless you can literally "wind it up".

Reply to
Roger Mills

Some one who has not started an engine with a handle. You do "wind it up" by gently turning the handle until you start to feel the compression. When you do you give it a sharp turn to quickly take the engine through compression and give the magneto enough umph to make a spark.

Works with petrol engines but not diesels, compression is to high to turn through manually. So you need the decompression lever to release the compression you then spin the engine up to get energy into the flywheel let go the decompression and hopefuly the interia takes the engine through compression and it fires...

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

..provided there's a flaming kerosene soaked rag in the air intake, or a bottleful of ether.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

My pull start (if required, it has electric start as well) diesel genset doesn't need any artifical aids in starting. Spin it up with three or four progessively faster pulls on the recoil cord, let the decompression lever go and off it goes. Rough as hell and smokes like F for the first few seconds until the revs build up.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

I most certainly *have* - but only 4 or 6 cylinder engines with 2 or 3 bangs per rev, so you don't have to turn it very far to find the next compression.

You certainly don't turn it round as many times as a single pull on a rope start or recoil starter achieves.

That's what you do with a car engine - but that's got its own electrical supply for generating the spark - you haven't got to generate it with a magneto, which is likely to need a bit more momentum.

Reply to
Roger Mills

I dont recall ever using decompression on the handle started diesel, but it was a fair while ago. I dont think its needed if engine's small enough to turn over past compression by hand.

Why are they so smokey on first start? I'll never forget being enveloped in a cloud of black smoke every time. Probably full of CO.

NT

Reply to
NT

simply because a cold start needs lots of fuel and lots of compression. And flooding the engine provides both.

There are some old paraffin engines that were started on something else, typically petrol = then switched to paraffin, because they wont cold start on the fuel they run on

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Diesels smoke at startup because the combustion chambers are still cold enough to condense some of the fuel on the cylinder walls, and this doesn't get burnt completely, giving the typical eye-watering fumes. The black smoke is caused by (Possibly deliberate) overinjection of fuel, caused either by bad injection pump settings or poor injectors.

Very common on old tractors, hence the name Tractor Vapourising Oil (TVO) for one grade of paraffin. They start on petrol, then are switched to TVO when the manifold is warm enough to vapourise the TVO. They also need to run on petrol for a few minutes before stopping to clear any TVO out of the carburettor.

Reply to
John Williamson

Well my 2kVA single cylinder diesel genset can only *just* be pulled through compression, it's not the easy way to start it. A handle would give more purchase than a recoil cord.

Incorrect fueling, cold cylinder, incomplete combustion? Mine produces clouds of grey smoke rather than black.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.