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Unless what you are printing is one color and an exact match isn't needed, I prefer paint over colored filament. "Silver" PLA+ looks a lot more like grey to me. White painted with Testors' metallic silver looks like polished aluminum. Lohring Miller

This is a 1/4 scale small block Chevy race engine kit I printed. Some assembly and painting is required. Lohring Miller

Thanks everyone, he found me. I'll try to get him set up with a great boat. Lohring Miller

We did run a more conventional outboard hydro to a UIM record in 2008. It was recently broken by a Princeton team. Lohring Miller

Mike Bontoft designed the most innovative outboard hydro. It still holds the NAMBA record. Lohring Miller

I met Kim over 20 years ago at the NAMBA SAW events. Her support and kindness at these events was irreplaceable. I can't believe she is gone. She will be missed by the entire boating community. My sympathy goes out to all her family, especially Mark and Chris. Lohring Miller

Nice lathe and mill in the background. I hope they have stepped up your hardware business. Lohring Miller

You can actually 3D print threads. I've printed down to 1/2" coarse threads that just needed a little cleanup with a tap. Lohring Miller

I posted the whole series on the nitro engine. See https://www.intlwaters.com/threads/bearing-damage.86987/page-3#post-854833 Lohring Miller

I've tapped a lot of holes in 3D prints. Even 3 mm and 4-40 threads work. Don't expect high strength or wear resistance. Like Mike said, use inserts for those situations. Lohring Miller

Actually Bill Wisniewski, K&B's engine designer, was a leading figure in model engine design. Read my article on the history of the nitro racing engine. K&B improved their engines up to the end. Their red head outboard and its inboard version were as good as you could get at the time...

West Systems, and probably others, don't recommend thinning their epoxies. Heating it with a heat gun will make epoxy thin enough to flow into the wood to seal it. Also, epoxy has poor UV resistance. Manufacturers recommend coating an epoxy sealed surface with paint or a UV resistant clear...

I found I didn't have time to look at data while running the boat. A data logger allows data to be carefully studied after the race or test. Electric speed controls often have built in data loggers. We ran Eagle Tree data loggers for years, but they are no longer in business. There are...

The pipe is everything in the stock motor. Because the intake side is restricted compared to mod motors, a pipe that creates a strong low pressure wave (suction) gives the best power. We compared several pipes to our standard M&D pipe. A billet pipe I designed worked best. Accuracy in...

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I wrote a series of articles on high speed boat design. They emphasize the theory and may be more than most need to know. They were designed to encourage an understanding of how our boats work and how to improve them. Lohring Miller

The late Frank Crockett ran Madam X. It was one of his favorite boats. He nearly won X hydro at the 1998 NAMBA Nationals with it. However after 3 first place finishes he crashed in the fourth heat giving Al Waters the win. The last I heard the boat was still available from his estate...

Thanks again. My interest in nitro engines started in high school where I designed and built a 10 cc engine. I was flying control line airplanes at the time. Over the years I've learned from some of the best. I hope my articles will inspire a new generation of engine builders. I'm afraid...