07-11-2020, 01:59 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-04-2020, 11:21 PM by Terry Bentley.)
Chapter 49
The big workday weekend at Gasset is past tense. Monday came too soon and now back to typing class. It is the second and final week. Soon to be finished. This summer class really hasnt interrupted my off school activities so much. It is an inconvenience not to be able to sleep late some mornings. But if I slept all morning, it would still be gone. At least I can drop by the science lab.
Today I made the decision to walk my way to school. In order to get a box of flywheels to school I am pushing a two wheel dolly. Sort of looks out of place walking down the street toting a box on a two wheeler. A box full of heavy cast iron flywheels. There was no way to carry these heavy boat anchors on my bike. So here are a few more of the different flywheels that fit Clinton engines. Some of them look the same, but different weights.
I did manage to find both right and left flywheels in aluminum. Maybe these will be the hot ticket. Or not. I didnt bring them today tho. I was afraid they might get broken bouncing around mixed in with cast iron. The thin cooling fins look very fragile comparing them to the rusted ones.
From all of the parts gathered in the Gasset raid, there are enough for at least one each of matching right and left hand engines. Both in bushing and needle bearing rod. Putting two engines on the Cates would be so cool. I havent even gotten to race yet, and already trying to build a dual engine kart. Way messed up. Maybe I need some professional help. Oh well, live and learn. Or just go really fast getting nowhere.
Going over the usual typing routines in class to become accustomed in using all the keys today, I notice just how dirty my fingernails are. No matter how much I scrubbed, they just dont clean up. Maybe if I try using a tooth brush next time and really focus with some Comet or Tide, then maybe wont look so bad. I dunno.
With typing class finished, it was time to carry this, much heavier than the last trip, box, upstairs to the science lab. Today I just moseyed on in like the place was mine. That was the wrong thing to do. Mr. Pennington gave me a very serious stop in my tracks look and motioned with his hand twirling around in a big circle. Yes sir!, I acknowledged him. Made a quick u-turn and went back outside. He managed all of this without a single word. Not any noise coming from him at all.
They were taking a test and he was not happy about my intrusion. With me entering the classroom like I was the principal didnt set so well with him either. His demeanor changed a little bit, then suggested I be extremely quiet with my endeavors and do nothing that would disturb his class. I apologized and then went back inside, but with a meek stance, instead of my normal half cocked self.
Quietly, I pulled a partition around the lab table and disappeared behind it. Without interrupting the science class, I spent my time in silence weighing and jotting down the numbers in grams of all these flywheels. I need to convert over to something that can be directly related to and comparable in pounds or ounces.
Comparing to the gram weights from my first trip, there is a bigger difference in some of these. I now wish the aluminum ones were here today. Not really. Too much stuff here already. But still curious. They feel like a feather compared to these cast iron flywheels.
My focus came back to the first two flywheels from last week. After cutting the other flywheel down to match, I wanted to find out how much weight had been removed. I have to really wonder how much the cut down flywheel from Cates kart did weigh before? With all the material that had been machined off, it is still heavier than the stock one from lawn mower. Huh.
I was getting scatterbrained with weighing these flywheels. Too many and too much to think about at one time. There is way too much information playing ping-pong in my head today. I should have made this in several trips. Brain overload. Jotted everything down and made sure each flywheel is marked for quick identification later. Still very curious about the Cates flywheel. Time to bail and head back home.
To figure the weight of flywheels in ounces, I found this conversion in a machine book. Actually the Machinerys Handbook. Dads father, my grandpa, had given one to him. It stays out in the garage to be handy when using the lathe. But is kept in the drawer of a small desk across from where the lathe is sitting in corner of garage.
![[Image: attachment.php?aid=4703]](https://www.vintagekartforum.com/attachment.php?aid=4703)
This way it should not get misplaced or damaged. It is one of those rules that is. So it stays there. Period. Use it, with clean hands obviously, and put right back in the drawer. The more I work out here, the more I have come to rely on this handbook.
The pages are really paper thin. Now thats a funny thing to say. Actually, I did measure the thickness of a page. Using my vernier caliper, I could line up the graduations at 0.002". That is some thin paper. Over 1900 of them. Huh, 1910 pages x 0.002" = 3.82" thick. Thats not right. My bad, there are only half that many actual pieces of paper.
If I compress these book pages tightly, the thickness is right at 2.5 inches. So dividing 2.5 by 955 it works out to 0.002167. Seems all those extra numbers past the decimal point really do add up. I can measure 0.002" on my vernier, but doing the math there is an additional 0.000167 per page. Is this 167 millionths? Wow, that is some fine print there.
Steve asked me to explain how to read a vernier caliper. I told him just line up the lines. He kept trying but decided until there was a real need to use them he would pass for now. He suggested I needed to stay in practice anyway. What a pal.
![[Image: attachment.php?aid=4709]](https://www.vintagekartforum.com/attachment.php?aid=4709)
Last year for Christmas I was really hoping for a set of Craftsman wrenches. By the time we headed to my grandparents on dads side, this was the last chance of it possibly coming true. I was not expecting the vernier caliper. I wasnt really sure what to make of it just yet.
Since grandpa had been working in the aircraft industry as a machinist, it really meant a lot to him. Giving this to me was extremely thoughtful. Just not realizing this is something I wanted. Boy was I surprised just how useful a vernier caliper has been. You can get almost exact measurements with one. Just about close as when using a micrometer. It does take a little bit of a learning curve adjusting your eyes to read it quickly.
Maybe just an extremely simple first step to reading a slide rule. No, not even close. Dont know if I will ever figure out how to read one of those. Makes me dizzy looking at one too long. After I realized the advantage of these, has opened up my mind to other tools I had not even considered before. Sometimes a potential disappointment can turn in to a major big bonus.
One thing cool. This vernier caliper also measures in metric too. It tool me a long time just to grasp converting fractions to decimal. Now another twist. Working in both standard and metric measurements at the same time. With both together I can see just about what particular inch size is in its metric form. Convert fraction to decimal then compare to its metric equivalent. But who uses the metric system for anything? Thinking back just a few years ago how happy I was learning to read a yardstick. Yikes!
Ok back to flywheels again. When I think of one pound, it is easy to envision something about that weight and use for comparison. I still cant wrap my head around a gram. Too small to put a face on just yet.
The conversion is 1 gram equals 0.03527396 ounces. So a gram is an extremely very small measurement of weight. After realizing rounding up is not that smart for some things, I will keep all those numbers east of the decimal point in use. The first stock flywheel from mower weighed in at 2177 grams on the tri-beam scale. So 2177 multiplied by 0.03527396 equals 76.79 ounces. Still not a lot of help yet. 16 ounces to a pound. 76.79 divided by 16 equals 4.80 pounds.
Now this gives me something to work with. It is like nearly a 5 pound sack of potatoes. That is about the weight of this stock flywheel. Wow! I just cant see the weight of a sack of potatoes spinning up around 6000 rpm. More like mashed potatoes. Even the stock 3600 rpm number seems to be a lot to spinning this flywheel around on a small diameter shaft.
Doing the conversion on that cut down flywheel, originally off the Cates kart, comes to 4.88 pounds. O,k now easier to understand why it was difficult to tell which was lighter by holding one in each hand. A full size stock flywheel weighs almost the same as another similar one cut with all the fins removed.
![[Image: attachment.php?aid=4704]](https://www.vintagekartforum.com/attachment.php?aid=4704)
![[Image: attachment.php?aid=4705]](https://www.vintagekartforum.com/attachment.php?aid=4705)
I have weights from the first trip to science lab and now all of the other ones. Including the before and after weight of this one flywheel I cut down to match the Cates flywheel. Way too much to absorb right now. It will still take another visit to the science class since there are a couple of others that did not make the trip today.
I was very satisfied with how this flywheel turned out. It closely resembles the one from Cates kart engine. But since it is already weighed less before getting cut down, now I might be able to confirm if the difference is worth the time and effort it took to machine. Eventually that is, if we ever get to the track. Then might be able to find out some of these things for sure.
What started out as a little bit of curiosity turned in to an extended project. I have made two trips to the science lab so far with more in the plans. Just to discover the difference in two flywheels. Now it is out of control. Is it really going to make that much difference like Steve was thinking. Maybe just put an engine together first. This is getting to be real work. What if all this effort turns out to be for nothing?
The big workday weekend at Gasset is past tense. Monday came too soon and now back to typing class. It is the second and final week. Soon to be finished. This summer class really hasnt interrupted my off school activities so much. It is an inconvenience not to be able to sleep late some mornings. But if I slept all morning, it would still be gone. At least I can drop by the science lab.
Today I made the decision to walk my way to school. In order to get a box of flywheels to school I am pushing a two wheel dolly. Sort of looks out of place walking down the street toting a box on a two wheeler. A box full of heavy cast iron flywheels. There was no way to carry these heavy boat anchors on my bike. So here are a few more of the different flywheels that fit Clinton engines. Some of them look the same, but different weights.
I did manage to find both right and left flywheels in aluminum. Maybe these will be the hot ticket. Or not. I didnt bring them today tho. I was afraid they might get broken bouncing around mixed in with cast iron. The thin cooling fins look very fragile comparing them to the rusted ones.
From all of the parts gathered in the Gasset raid, there are enough for at least one each of matching right and left hand engines. Both in bushing and needle bearing rod. Putting two engines on the Cates would be so cool. I havent even gotten to race yet, and already trying to build a dual engine kart. Way messed up. Maybe I need some professional help. Oh well, live and learn. Or just go really fast getting nowhere.
Going over the usual typing routines in class to become accustomed in using all the keys today, I notice just how dirty my fingernails are. No matter how much I scrubbed, they just dont clean up. Maybe if I try using a tooth brush next time and really focus with some Comet or Tide, then maybe wont look so bad. I dunno.
With typing class finished, it was time to carry this, much heavier than the last trip, box, upstairs to the science lab. Today I just moseyed on in like the place was mine. That was the wrong thing to do. Mr. Pennington gave me a very serious stop in my tracks look and motioned with his hand twirling around in a big circle. Yes sir!, I acknowledged him. Made a quick u-turn and went back outside. He managed all of this without a single word. Not any noise coming from him at all.
They were taking a test and he was not happy about my intrusion. With me entering the classroom like I was the principal didnt set so well with him either. His demeanor changed a little bit, then suggested I be extremely quiet with my endeavors and do nothing that would disturb his class. I apologized and then went back inside, but with a meek stance, instead of my normal half cocked self.
Quietly, I pulled a partition around the lab table and disappeared behind it. Without interrupting the science class, I spent my time in silence weighing and jotting down the numbers in grams of all these flywheels. I need to convert over to something that can be directly related to and comparable in pounds or ounces.
Comparing to the gram weights from my first trip, there is a bigger difference in some of these. I now wish the aluminum ones were here today. Not really. Too much stuff here already. But still curious. They feel like a feather compared to these cast iron flywheels.
My focus came back to the first two flywheels from last week. After cutting the other flywheel down to match, I wanted to find out how much weight had been removed. I have to really wonder how much the cut down flywheel from Cates kart did weigh before? With all the material that had been machined off, it is still heavier than the stock one from lawn mower. Huh.
I was getting scatterbrained with weighing these flywheels. Too many and too much to think about at one time. There is way too much information playing ping-pong in my head today. I should have made this in several trips. Brain overload. Jotted everything down and made sure each flywheel is marked for quick identification later. Still very curious about the Cates flywheel. Time to bail and head back home.
To figure the weight of flywheels in ounces, I found this conversion in a machine book. Actually the Machinerys Handbook. Dads father, my grandpa, had given one to him. It stays out in the garage to be handy when using the lathe. But is kept in the drawer of a small desk across from where the lathe is sitting in corner of garage.
This way it should not get misplaced or damaged. It is one of those rules that is. So it stays there. Period. Use it, with clean hands obviously, and put right back in the drawer. The more I work out here, the more I have come to rely on this handbook.
The pages are really paper thin. Now thats a funny thing to say. Actually, I did measure the thickness of a page. Using my vernier caliper, I could line up the graduations at 0.002". That is some thin paper. Over 1900 of them. Huh, 1910 pages x 0.002" = 3.82" thick. Thats not right. My bad, there are only half that many actual pieces of paper.
If I compress these book pages tightly, the thickness is right at 2.5 inches. So dividing 2.5 by 955 it works out to 0.002167. Seems all those extra numbers past the decimal point really do add up. I can measure 0.002" on my vernier, but doing the math there is an additional 0.000167 per page. Is this 167 millionths? Wow, that is some fine print there.
Steve asked me to explain how to read a vernier caliper. I told him just line up the lines. He kept trying but decided until there was a real need to use them he would pass for now. He suggested I needed to stay in practice anyway. What a pal.
Last year for Christmas I was really hoping for a set of Craftsman wrenches. By the time we headed to my grandparents on dads side, this was the last chance of it possibly coming true. I was not expecting the vernier caliper. I wasnt really sure what to make of it just yet.
Since grandpa had been working in the aircraft industry as a machinist, it really meant a lot to him. Giving this to me was extremely thoughtful. Just not realizing this is something I wanted. Boy was I surprised just how useful a vernier caliper has been. You can get almost exact measurements with one. Just about close as when using a micrometer. It does take a little bit of a learning curve adjusting your eyes to read it quickly.
Maybe just an extremely simple first step to reading a slide rule. No, not even close. Dont know if I will ever figure out how to read one of those. Makes me dizzy looking at one too long. After I realized the advantage of these, has opened up my mind to other tools I had not even considered before. Sometimes a potential disappointment can turn in to a major big bonus.
One thing cool. This vernier caliper also measures in metric too. It tool me a long time just to grasp converting fractions to decimal. Now another twist. Working in both standard and metric measurements at the same time. With both together I can see just about what particular inch size is in its metric form. Convert fraction to decimal then compare to its metric equivalent. But who uses the metric system for anything? Thinking back just a few years ago how happy I was learning to read a yardstick. Yikes!
Ok back to flywheels again. When I think of one pound, it is easy to envision something about that weight and use for comparison. I still cant wrap my head around a gram. Too small to put a face on just yet.
The conversion is 1 gram equals 0.03527396 ounces. So a gram is an extremely very small measurement of weight. After realizing rounding up is not that smart for some things, I will keep all those numbers east of the decimal point in use. The first stock flywheel from mower weighed in at 2177 grams on the tri-beam scale. So 2177 multiplied by 0.03527396 equals 76.79 ounces. Still not a lot of help yet. 16 ounces to a pound. 76.79 divided by 16 equals 4.80 pounds.
Now this gives me something to work with. It is like nearly a 5 pound sack of potatoes. That is about the weight of this stock flywheel. Wow! I just cant see the weight of a sack of potatoes spinning up around 6000 rpm. More like mashed potatoes. Even the stock 3600 rpm number seems to be a lot to spinning this flywheel around on a small diameter shaft.
Doing the conversion on that cut down flywheel, originally off the Cates kart, comes to 4.88 pounds. O,k now easier to understand why it was difficult to tell which was lighter by holding one in each hand. A full size stock flywheel weighs almost the same as another similar one cut with all the fins removed.
I have weights from the first trip to science lab and now all of the other ones. Including the before and after weight of this one flywheel I cut down to match the Cates flywheel. Way too much to absorb right now. It will still take another visit to the science class since there are a couple of others that did not make the trip today.
I was very satisfied with how this flywheel turned out. It closely resembles the one from Cates kart engine. But since it is already weighed less before getting cut down, now I might be able to confirm if the difference is worth the time and effort it took to machine. Eventually that is, if we ever get to the track. Then might be able to find out some of these things for sure.
What started out as a little bit of curiosity turned in to an extended project. I have made two trips to the science lab so far with more in the plans. Just to discover the difference in two flywheels. Now it is out of control. Is it really going to make that much difference like Steve was thinking. Maybe just put an engine together first. This is getting to be real work. What if all this effort turns out to be for nothing?