Belt starting an engine

[Hydro Junkie]

You must not use it very often then, Ron. I bought two of the the Harbor Freight 18 volt drill/drivers at $60 per within 4 months and before the end of a 6 month period, starting when I bought the first, they both were trash. I even canibalized the two to get one running and it only lasted for another two weeks. I bought a Ryobi made Craftsman Professional Series drill and trim saw set the day after the rebuilt one died and have used the hell out of it for over a decade with no problems EXCEPT for wearing out two battery packs over that time period. Probably the best $200 I've ever spent on power tools while the $120 on the two HF drills was the worst. The only HF tool I ever bought that has any age on it at all is a bench top drill press, probably because I don't use it very often

 

[moparbarn]

HJ, harbor freight has improved a lot since you bought your drills. i think they realized they had to, to survive......

i also use both a cheapo tower & sullivan starter on my .21's. i keep 2 in the pits, 1 for ib's & 1 for ob's, so i don't have to worry about swapping polarity before the start. i use a smal side postl car battery, so i can screw 2 long bolts in it to hook up both starters at the same time. doesn't matter which starter i use, they both have done just fine, for 5+ years.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Hard to say Robin, but after getting burned on almost everything I've bought at HF, it's hard to take a chance with that place again.

Back to the starters, I bought a 12 volt Sullivan high torque starter back in 1983 and use it to this day. I did find, on my road trip, that to start a new/tight engine like the NR 21, it requires more juice than a single 12 volt 12AH gel cell can provide so that is something I need to work on.

 

[William McCay]

I'm an old guy , been boating a long time and when I first started I don't use a starter and belt . I used a rope made from parachute cord and a half inch dowel drilled in the middle with the cord attached at one end . You rapped the cord around the flywheel and formed a V , then you rocked it back and forth until the motor started to pop , at which time you pulled the cord smartly and it usually started the eng. Only drawback is you usually need two people .

 

[Joal Garner]

you can Make a real grunty one off motor cycle engine ( the starter motor ) .

I can send you a pitcure if you like

 

[RobertWurster]

I use a 19.2 volt craftsman drill batt and a tower starter.it starts all my engines from 18 to a 25.it will last all day .it did start a nova 45 for a guy its about 4 years old .i also use the grim belts and have been using the same one for a couple years.on the bat i use two femal spade plugs and it just plugs right on .i use deans wet noodle wire and run the ground down the batt and use a pice of electical tape to hold it a way rom the pos.kinda red neck but it works great and i have to batts that came with the drill a got for fourty bucks a few chrismas ago.

 

[Eric Drust]

OK, I know it has been almost a year now, but I just don't have any spare cash for R/C boating, and it is too interesting to me to let it die as one of my hobbies.

I bought a starter, and I am using the batteries from my JAE mini sprint to run it. I got a Grim Racer belt, and it does not fit my flywheel the best, but it does work.

This week I gave it a try on this OS engine I bought a few years back when I began this whole JAE 12 project. This is the first time I ran the engine, and it started on the first shot using the starter. I did not have a flex cable in the boat at the time, and just wanted to see if the engine would run at all.

Knowing that the engine did work, I put the boat back together, flex cable, prop, etc, and did a little more as far as mounting the fuel tank, and routing the fuel lines. Everything seems in order now. I tried starting the boat again, and had no luck, but found the temp change from having the boat in the house to going outside caused fuel to flood the engine. Once I removed the excess fuel the engine started again, pretty easily.

So, at this point, no more pull starts for me. Everyone told me that all along, but I just would not buy into it, well now I am sold. Pull starts are a pain, and switching to the starter has removed 75% of my nitro R/C boating frustration.

I still have a long way to go tuning this engine. It idles fine, but won’t respond to throttle commands very well, and half the fuel sprays out the exhaust pipe (too rich I am guessing).

Thanks to all those who ultimately convinced this bull headed guy of a better way to do things...