cornish wood burner

That coil does look as if it has been around for some time and chances are is due to be replaced. Looks dont really tell the full story but the cars from 1960s onwards with points, coils and condensers often gave the same symptoms you described in your original post. Fail when hot but go again when allowed to cool. Had that many times.

My guess would be coil as well

Nice job Simon. I think I would have clad the sides though. Gets around the above problem and if you made a door in it, you could then use it for storage.

And you are absolutely certain the delta contactor is good under load

Not quite the area I was meaning. That sounds just a basic timer to change from star to delta. I was thinking you might have an inverter control in your electronics to help starting. Some of the ones I have come across have all sorts of ramp up, ramp down, current control etc etc. In fact a whole page of parameter to settings. Have you tried running for a while before introducing the wood.

That's a lot of weight to start swinging. Perhaps the electronics form a speed controller to limit start up current. Our spend controllers have parameters to input to modify startup as well as running speeds. Wrong parameter somewhere perhaps if that's what you have?

Any info on what your electronics do ?

Morning BigJ Presumably each machine will have its own breaker in the board so most likely supply problem would be in the individual mccb. Had a few of those go down but more contactors than mccbs.

Assuming you have a volt meter. Check each line across the delta contactor. If you have a voltage across the contactor then one of the contacts is burnt or broken. Often difficult to check unless the the motor is running. You probably would get a circuit through the contacts until a heavy load is applied. If the fault was in the power contactor I think you would probably notice it on startup but worth a check as a backup plan. I have known a similar problem across the circuit breaker in the distribution board. Goes to two phases under load.

Have you checked the motor plate for what voltage it should run on?

We used a machine mounted level 20 years ago. Hardly new technology but I would definitely recommend one.

Thanks Andrew Wonder if it was the same young lady that thought we could run a boiler producing 1.5 MW 24/7 through the summer and use all the heat in the glasshouses. The only sales people to give us honest advice have almost shot themselves in the foot regarding payback. We are favouring wood chip gasifier at present due our much cheaper chip cost and not being held to ransome by pellet prices if they rise. However a pellet system would come containerised so cheaper than a chip system needing a building, dryer and sieve. Either way the figures are making us nervous and we are yet to see a working system, which we will do IF we decide the figures are worth the risk. As for the OPs customer getting into pellet production, he needs to consider whether he will see the end of the golden years in the next decade. Government subsidies are a big driver in increasing pellet demand but will they continue? We have heard that the ROCs payments will replaced( read reduced?) which will slow market growth. Will the exit from the EU affect the market. Could the big pellet mills start a price war once their investment is repaid? Hopefully a good advisor will know all the answers. Maybe.

We run a couple of large biomass boilers and get good RHI payments on the newest one. Looking at CHP at present but some of the advice is unbelievable. Few salesmen offer honest advice, some bend the truth and some are plain wrong. A consultant was recommended and again wrong advice, the suggested system was the wrong one for our heat usage pattern and consequently payback would have been close to 20 years rather than the suggested 2. Best for your customer to do some research first, understand the payments, requirements etc then get some advice. At least that way he might spot the poor advice and poor return on investment traps.He needs to be VERY careful.

Looks to me you might have been hitting the end of the shaft. If that's the case it will have grown in diameter and gone tight in the bore. Drive it back clean up the mushroomed part, oil it and ideally pull it off. Often the cleaning up and oiling will make it easier anyway.

Lota seems right. Water carrier either holy or drinking presumably. Cheers guys

To put coal in obviously. In the absence of any offers of wood from local woodcutters we are forced to burn COAL!!!!!!!

Good thought but no, unless he is asleep. I showed it to a retired antique dealer I know and he thinks it's probably from India or some eastern neighbour. He reckons 1920 or slightly later and probably made as a drink carrier.

In an ideal world you should gather up your engine and throw it at the "engineer " who rebuilt it. Bottom line is oil leaks shouldn't happen if done right. If you do it yourself get some degreaser and ensure every part is scrupulously clean, take your time and do it right.

That wobble could well be the cause of your vibration. Assuming no movement in the spindle bearings, I would strip ,clean and reassemble first, might just be a piece of dirt between two mating surfaces. Could be a bent spindle. If you have a blade that uses the same mounting disc the blade should also run out of true if the problem is with the strimmer. It's a long shot but you could try loosening the head and turning it a bit at a time on the spindle to see if you can find a sweet spot. Might be a combination of inaccurate machining that either add together or might cancel out if the position is right.

Presumably your bearings are good? There is a fair bit of metal in these heads so best spend a bit of time making sure they run true. Manufacturing tolerances might give you a bit of slack in the mating diameters allowing the head to move out of true. I had one move after contact with something and the vibrations increased dramatically. Thread tape,paint, plastic or anything to fill that gap if you have one should help. Worked for me anyway. The other thing is these heads take heavy shaped line which is never going to be as smooth as light round line.

I haven't a clue either, no holes though so any vapours would need the top to be unscrewed to escape.

Might be a separate piece sitting below and behind the main thinking back but those rubbers need to be flexible to seal the joint so should be renewed when the engine is rebuilt. Maybe they knew that which is why they tightened them so much?

If they have reused those rubbers then almost certainly that's your problem. I seem to remember that those two bolts go through the main cap into the block and help compress the rubbers. Bear in mind it was about 30 years ago and apologies if I have it wrong but the design seems similar to the Perkins I used to work on.

It's a while ago now since I rebuilt my last Perkins, but doesn't those rubber strips bridge the edge of the main bearing cap and the block. Either way I would drop the sump and renew the gasket and rubbers which will almost certainly have hardened. Instant gasket is a last resort bodge.