factory

I've had this unknown O&R powered pole trimmer for a few years (thanks to Wallfish for his help), I'm not 100% sure of the intended use, if anyone has seen one or know what it is please let us know, the pictures below are from the ePay listing. Here are some pictures of the engine & cutter assembly as it arrived and has been for a few years since. David

I've just refilled the box with the next project, will start a new thread for it, hopefully it won't take as long as this one did. David

I see you have people like that there too. Ive seen my share of that here mowers are the worst It happens in a lot of things and the stuff I used to repair for a living. I recycled a mower last weekend, it was massive lump of cheap orange plastic junk, saved a few of the screws & the motor brushes though. The V8 style exhaust seems a little more common, just need to figure out how to make a cooling system, then I can see if the (noisy) neighbours appreciate the sounds from it. David

Any chance of a picture of the AEP decal? I would also be interested in knowing the engine type as well & trying to date it. There are plenty of O&R/Orline bike kits already out there (known as the Chicken Power) these fans don't turn up as often, so it would be a shame if someone were to remove the engine & dump the rest. David

Finally got the Octura carb & 'go-louder' exhaust fitted to my boat engine, the engine still needs rebuilding at some point on the future, will have to make another tool to get the cylinder off. Hopefully I'll find a more original cylinder in the future, this one has been bodged by a previous owner, they didn't even bother to remove the cylinder as there is lots of solder splattered on the inside of the starter. David

Here are some pictures of the Champ generator now the engine has been reattached, taken in-between the rain today. David

The same Klinger Statite* gasket paper (cellulose fibre based) I've had for a long time, I bought a selection of small sheets in six sizes from 6 thou to 63 thou years ago. The size I used for the induction & feather valve assemblies for this engine was 6 thou, some later engines use a thicker size and towards the end they changed to using an 'O' ring seal (no paper gaskets). *The smaller sizes of Statite seem to have been discontinued, Flexoid also have the same type of gasket paper in the UK, similar gasket paper should be available from other companies depending where you are. I have an industrial punch kit that also has a compass based cutter, it came from a business clearance company on ePay years ago for a third of the usual price, I suspect a lot more clearance stuff will appear later in the year from companies that are struggling at the moment. It got used again the other day to cut some more air filter foam, there is a point that can be fitted to the centre for locating the punches if you use two sizes that fit in the same place on the tool. The Olfa cutter looks a better choice if you only have a few engines. David

All done apart from the HT lead & tank. The exhaust fixing rod was found to be too short, it had snapped off where the nut was fitted. Using one borrowed from another of these generators as a template I made a new one from some salvaged rod, the thread for both was #5x40, I also cut a new thread on the old one and added it to the spares box (it could be used for a different engine with a shorter exhaust). Hopefully it will be dry tomorrow & I can take some pictures of the generator outside. David

Don't remember seeing that before. While I was moving engines & parts around to retrieve the generator section of my current project, I found the box with the incomplete Model L (sn 006403), as I suspected the clutch for this early engine doesn't use the keyways. David

Today's progress, the starter was in very good condition apart from a broken screw for the cylinder baffle plate, which soon got removed with the help of the Dremel cutting disc to add a slot. Also rebuilt the carb & cleaned out the air cleaner today, I still need to order some smaller HT lead to repair the coil & find a tank, but hopefully I'll get the rest of this one finished tomorrow. David

For future reference here are the two sizes of piston used for the two types of O&R/AEP Compact Industrial engines. David

Thank you to Terry @JUST O&R for scanning the manual for the Nichols generator Model D, it has now been added to the manuals sticky thread. It reveals the purpose of what looked like a glass lamp inside (found by @Wallfish in the Creme Lure generator refresh thread), it's actually an overload protection thermostat. David

The only paint stripper that seems to work these days is the industrial variety, at least in the UK all the consumer grade stuff has had anything even slightly harmful removed, rendering it useless. David

Depends if you prefer originality or not, if it was mine I would leave it as it is, not all applications used the compression release. Also remember that some of the 20A engines will have a crankshaft & parts for reversed rotation (important to know if you ever need to swap a knackered engine to restore a hard to find tool). If you find any errors in the 20A service manual please let us know (other than the ones I already listed). David

Maybe if you add some dimensions and we could move this to the "What is it?" section, someone might recognise it. O&R stopped using alloy con-rods in the model engines that pre-date the Compact engine, the alloy con-rods couldn't handle the modern glow fuels of the era, the replacement steel con-rods wouldn't bend and the worse case scenario was the cylinder getting blown off instead, or the crankcase splitting. David

I do have a couple of new & used ones, but don't want to use them unless really needed, I had one a while back that had been badly bent & the flanges would never have sealed against the gaskets (that got replaced). This one wasn't rusted through, just badly pitted, the Dremel has smoothed it enough that it should seal fine. David

The engine is now mostly back together apart from the carb & starter. This exhaust collector was a bit too far gone for the aluminium foil cleaning method, it was so rusty I had to use the big wire wheel to start with, followed by lots of sanding with the Dremel to get the gasket surfaces smoother (as best I could), forgot to take a before picture. I had to make a few more gaskets for the induction & feather valve assemblies. Here is the coupling used on these UK Champ generators, this one has two three thin washers as the coupling doesn't quite fit level with the PTO shaft. David

and you called us vulture's Well now we know they were used by fire departments and we know what to search for hopefully they will be easier to find. The Tempest website gives another possible use as a hot air balloon inflator (although the engine looks a bit bigger), they also mention the use of fans for helping control fires as well as clearing smoke afterwards. David

Interesting, the label looks to say Controlled Airstreams, searching for that & fan gives the full name as "Controlled Airstreams Inc." a company that made fans, apparently taken over by Tempest Technology Corp. they still sell fans for many applications; https://www.tempest.us.com/ including fans for ventilation after fires. David

If you wanted a similar looking exhaust it probably wouldn't be too hard to make, if you can find the correct size chrome tubing, just don't go filling it with that stuff though. David

Good idea, I've got a similar can I kept for eventually using with the test stand. David

I don't think that is anything to do with O&R engines, the Series 20A has a one piece crankshaft, no chance of fitting that. Did it come with some O&R spares? I thought I had uploaded the 20A manual. David

Here's a picture of the inside, looks like Hazmat to me, lots of chucks of rust fell out too. I'm not sure why all the plated steel parts have rusted so badly on this engine (see the threads on the end of the exhaust fixing rod for example), as the paintwork is in excellent condition and the engine looks to have had very little use before it seized. David

If your planing to sell the fan once you've got it running then I'm sure there will be plenty of interest from the collectors on here. David

The tank on your Drillgine seems to have the missing part from the second line of the Orion decal. Looking a couple of decals & piecing together the surviving parts, I think this it the full decal (not 100% sure on Associates); ORION MANUFACTURING CO. Div. of Orion Associates Inc. 14873 E. FIRESTONE BLVD. LA MIRADA CALIF. Searching for 14873 E. FIRESTONE BLVD.* gives an extra magazine article (from Popular Mechanics Oct 1963) for the sticky thread; https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CeMDAAAAMBAJ&pg==PP1&lr&pg=PA163#v=onepage&q&f=false It's also in the April 1962 Popular Science; https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LCEDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&lr&pg=PA32#v=onepage&q&f=false Two models were available with the 1360 r.p.m. version having a 3/8" chuck & the 620 r.p.m. having a 1/2" chuck. David *And another area of cleared land on google earth.