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what's the last thing you bought?

Started by billy rubin, November 01, 2019, 09:49:47 PM

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Icarus

Billy I am pleased tat you are pleased with the ARD magneto.  Whatever floats your boat is what you need to have if you can possibly get it.

The mag will work and sure enough the faster it turns the hotter the spark because the voltage from the pickup coils increase in some proportion to the velocity of the magnets.   Old mags like Bosch, Scintillas,and , perish the thought, Brit mags  were operable but starting was a bit problematic  faster the mag turns the hotter the spark. (They turn rather slowly when at cranking speed)   Way back in the bronze age when I was an Evinrude outboard dealer, all the motors had magneto ignition.  A serious pain in the ass they were.  The outboards had magnetos but were  laid out differently under the flywheels.  A real pain.

The good lord smiled on us when he let us invent CDI ignitions.  You will find that kind of ignition system, on all of the fast bikes of today.  What do you suppose makes sparks on the little 10 grand Ninja that your daughter runs?  It ain't a magneto.

You can graft a CDI from something like a Yamaha RD 250 or other modern ignition into the Triumph.  It might cost $30 from the local junk yard.  A bonus is that it has no belts or pulleys and does not sap power from the engine like the Magneto does.  The faster the mag turns the more energy it absorbs. A CDI is a damned site more reliable and is much easier for the engine to start too.

Any system  with breaker points belongs on vintage scoots, surely not on all out racer bikes. 

With all that mean critique, I apologize and tell you that I am pleased that you have an ignition system that you really want. 
...
That it took an exceedingly long time to get your package is a bummer.  My wife is a power E Bay seller. She ships many packages every day.  Sometimes the packages, scheduled for three day delivery do not arrive in the USPS allotted time.  The worst and most frequent delay of delivery service in the nation seems to be in Ohio.  Sometimes a package will "lie in state" for weeks in Toledo or some such place.  No reason for the delay is obvious. The postal workers in Ohio are surely as competent and conscientious as the ones anywhere else.  No telling what the Ohio hang up is.  The unexplainable delays precede the LaJoy administration so we can not blame it on him.




Dark Lightning

Moving magnetic fields generate counter-electromotive force in proportion to their speed. I don't want to go refresh my memory on whether it is linear or not, atm. When I taught physics, one of the demonstrations I did involved dropping a magnet down a PVC pipe and a copper pipe. If one chooses the magnet size correctly and the pipes have similar inside diameters, it amazes the students immensely. The magnet(s) fall through the PVC pipe with aplomb, but in the copper pipe it can take many seconds to traverse even a three foot section. I'm willing to bet the EMF of that magneto is in the single digit HP absorption regime. Electronic ignition could yield a couple of top end MPH. It would be worth experimenting with, for sure.

Ecurb Noselrub

Sweet Cream and Cinnamon Vanilla ice cream from Freezing Point, Temple, Texas.  Part of the desserts for Christmas dinner.

hermes2015

Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on December 23, 2020, 10:30:28 PM
Sweet Cream and Cinnamon Vanilla ice cream from Freezing Point, Temple, Texas.  Part of the desserts for Christmas dinner.

You're lucky I am not a house guest — your dessert would not survive until the 25th.  :let'seat:
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Dark Lightning

A set of profile scrapers and two hook knives. I have a new carving project coming up and the hook knives are needed. The scrapers are needed all the time, but I'm just now breaking down and buying them.

billy rubin

Quote from: Icarus on December 23, 2020, 02:43:03 AM
The good lord smiled on us when he let us invent CDI ignitions.  You will find that kind of ignition system, on all of the fast bikes of today.  What do you suppose makes sparks on the little 10 grand Ninja that your daughter runs?  It ain't a magneto.

i confess that there are hall effect and even optical transistor ignitions around that not only have a spark advance curve, but don't absorb horsepower, never go bad, work reliably in all weather conditions, and need no maintenance. i've got em on a triumph, two BSAs, and a norton commando, and they work flawlessly.

but they all require a wiring harness, a battery, and if you want the machine to work more than an hour or so, an alternator. i actually ran a new zealand elecronic system on my race bike at first, but took it off when i melted the harness against my chest while lying down on the frame. it's on a BSA now

TBH th emagneto is attractive not because it's practical, but because it's just so  . . . mechanical. the electronic ignition systems are philosophical black boxes, they just sit there quietly and work perfectly without any fanfare. but the ARD whirrs and clicks and sparks and generates an experience of time travel whenever i get it set up. and so far the machine is faster than all it's similar compettors with transistor technology.

and it's minimal. i'm a minimalist. the first thing i do when i get a piece of computer hardware is go through and delete everything that i don't need. all the games, all the apps, all the bells and whistles-- i strip it to as close to nothing as i can get and then add back only things i need. even as a teenager, i ditched the front derailleure on my bicycle because five speeds were better than ten.

so th emagneto decision is as much about art as it is about technology. but i'm approaching the edge of the envelope, and if i want to go faster i'm going to have get rid of the spark scatter and the horsepower drag of spinning that rotor.

Quote from: Dark Lightning on December 23, 2020, 03:27:11 AM
I'm willing to bet the EMF of that magneto is in the single digit HP absorption regime. Electronic ignition could yield a couple of top end MPH. It would be worth experimenting with, for sure.

i know you're right. even spinning th erotor by hand takes several ounces of torque. and its not lik esliding friction that doesn't increase once you overcome starting inertia. the total force required to turn the rotor stays the same with every revolution, and so the faster you want to turn it, th emore reistance events per unit time you have to add up/.

i have  one of these already, bu i've been resisting putting it in.



maybe this coming summer


"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

Icarus

Billy I also appreciate prior art, primitive science, old bikes, and Armstrong clutches. But what the hell I am as old as dirt.  I do admire the ARD mag and its heritage.   

Dark Lightning

Quote from: billy rubin on December 25, 2020, 01:50:17 AM
Quote from: Icarus on December 23, 2020, 02:43:03 AM
The good lord smiled on us when he let us invent CDI ignitions.  You will find that kind of ignition system, on all of the fast bikes of today.  What do you suppose makes sparks on the little 10 grand Ninja that your daughter runs?  It ain't a magneto.

i confess that there are hall effect and even optical transistor ignitions around that not only have a spark advance curve, but don't absorb horsepower, never go bad, work reliably in all weather conditions, and need no maintenance. i've got em on a triumph, two BSAs, and a norton commando, and they work flawlessly.

but they all require a wiring harness, a battery, and if you want the machine to work more than an hour or so, an alternator. i actually ran a new zealand elecronic system on my race bike at first, but took it off when i melted the harness against my chest while lying down on the frame. it's on a BSA now

TBH th emagneto is attractive not because it's practical, but because it's just so  . . . mechanical. the electronic ignition systems are philosophical black boxes, they just sit there quietly and work perfectly without any fanfare. but the ARD whirrs and clicks and sparks and generates an experience of time travel whenever i get it set up. and so far the machine is faster than all it's similar compettors with transistor technology.

and it's minimal. i'm a minimalist. the first thing i do when i get a piece of computer hardware is go through and delete everything that i don't need. all the games, all the apps, all the bells and whistles-- i strip it to as close to nothing as i can get and then add back only things i need. even as a teenager, i ditched the front derailleure on my bicycle because five speeds were better than ten.

so th emagneto decision is as much about art as it is about technology. but i'm approaching the edge of the envelope, and if i want to go faster i'm going to have get rid of the spark scatter and the horsepower drag of spinning that rotor.

Quote from: Dark Lightning on December 23, 2020, 03:27:11 AM
I'm willing to bet the EMF of that magneto is in the single digit HP absorption regime. Electronic ignition could yield a couple of top end MPH. It would be worth experimenting with, for sure.

i know you're right. even spinning th erotor by hand takes several ounces of torque. and its not lik esliding friction that doesn't increase once you overcome starting inertia. the total force required to turn the rotor stays the same with every revolution, and so the faster you want to turn it, th emore reistance events per unit time you have to add up/.

i have  one of these already, bu i've been resisting putting it in.



maybe this coming summer

How big a battery is required to eliminate the requirement for a charging system? In the end, the weight isn't that big a factor if enough energy is stored to get the job done. Another approach would be to have a system that uses magnetic braking. Maybe rig a charging system that works like brakes that work only at the end of the high-speed run?

billy rubin

i use the little featherweight shorai lithium iron batteries. they weigh about as much as a baked potato and are about the same size. theyll run my race bike all day without recharging so running out of emf really isnt a problem.

theg retainb.v charge a very long time without a trickle and even though thegre ver expensive im a convert to them on my EI machinez.

but i confess that one reason im partial to magneto ignition iz becauze it is so primitive. i get significant satisfaction by showing up at the line with a primitive machine in a production frame with ancient components, and then being faster than high-zoot dynotuned data logged competitors.

i hear about it from them too. i am  annoying to my felliw racers becauze i have been qble to dob.c. so much with so little . its tge same reason i dont want a fairing with the instant 7mph increase i could probably get-- i like beating then without the aids.

but its time to grow up i think. faster is faster. in the end.



"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

billy rubin

lol

watch this. these are the guys i deal with.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=95vU9hWWO1U

go right to the en d when dave lights his cigar off the magneto spark. barry is the guy laughing in the background. he sells me my parts for these old instruments


"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

Icarus

Small Wisconsin industrial engines had a "wind up" starting mechanism in the magneto.   It was a spring wound deal that made the rotor move faster when triggered during starting efforts. That gimmick did help the starting exercise.   I worked on a gazillion of them in my younger days.

xSilverPhinx

If you want to see if you really know a person, try getting them gifts!

Last thing I bought were some expensive soap bars and hand creme for my mother. She was like, "why don't you go and buy yourself some soap bars and hand creme for Christmas?" She didn't know what to get me besides clothes. :lol: 

And I'm like, "I'm not going to buy myself gifts for Christmas".  :???:

So I went and bought her some. I know she loves getting expensive soap bars as gifts. ;D

See, it was all just her way of expressing what she wanted me to get for her. :grin:
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Tank

I bought some random stuff for my wife. When she opened one she said "Oh! This scarf matches my coat perfectly. Did you chose it so it matched?" I remained silent.  ;D
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

xSilverPhinx

Quote from: Tank on December 27, 2020, 05:03:18 PM
I bought some random stuff for my wife. When she opened one she said "Oh! This scarf matches my coat perfectly. Did you chose it so it matched?" I remained silent.  ;D

:lol:
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Randy

Quote from: Tank on December 27, 2020, 05:03:18 PM
I bought some random stuff for my wife. When she opened one she said "Oh! This scarf matches my coat perfectly. Did you chose it so it matched?" I remained silent.  ;D
Sometimes silence and a nod is all that is needed.
"Maybe it's just a bunch of stuff that happens." -- Homer Simpson
"Some people focus on the destination. Atheists focus on the journey." -- Barry Goldberg