[AT] Covid-19 Quarantine tractor project

[Stephen Offiler]

Thanks Spencer.  Good answer.  I used one of the apps a couple years ago
with decent results, but now I don't remember the details.  The app was
free, and I do recall some sort of slider or manual adjustment of some
kind.  That app is gone; my phone has been replaced since then.

SO


On Fri, May 1, 2020 at 11:21 AM Spencer Yost <spencer at rdfarms.com> wrote:

> Hey Steve,
>
> These apps require your visual interpretation that the strobe has “locked”
> onto the rotating object.  With certain object colors, speeds, ambient
> lighting, lots of other things this actually can be a bit hard.  This lock
> process is manual as well, and at least the ones I tried I had to
> manipulate some sort of slider to try to get “locked”.  Sounds easy but can
> be a bit tricky if the gradients on the slider are too great.  My
> experience has been disappointing in general with the smart phone apps.
> It’s been a couple years since I’ve tried them so maybe they’ve gotten
> better?
>
>
> The Harbor Freight unit auto detects RPM - no manual input/guessing what
> the RPM should be. Plus I don’t have to visually determine that I have a
> “lock”.  The cinching factor was the unit at Harbor Freight was only $34
> after it was on sale and I used the 20% coupon.
>
> Spencer
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On May 1, 2020, at 7:35 AM, Stephen Offiler <soffiler at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 
> Hey Spencer - wondering if you're aware of tachometer smartphone apps, and
> why you went with the Harbor Freight device.
>
> SO
>
> On Thu, Apr 30, 2020 at 8:26 PM Spencer Yost <spencer at rdfarms.com> wrote:
>
>> So I took a break from the motorcycle tonight and moved to the 430.
>>
>> After I got the engine unstuck a few years ago I did a static timing of
>> the ignition; but I never did do a running timing. First of all I had still
>> needed to clean and adjust the carb and plus I wanted a few hours of
>> running on it before I did a true running timing on it.
>>
>> As you can guess, I never got around to it.  (-:
>>
>> While the static timing  was close I got a sense of misfire at high
>> idle.  Not a true misfire but not “right” either.
>>
>> The 430 is an engine that you time at full open throttle, no-load RPMs.
>> The service manual provides PTO shaft speeds that correspond with engine
>> speeds which is helpful because my tachometer busted probably 15 years
>> ago.   So I opted for the shaft conversion table.   But my shaft contact
>> tachometer was borrowed by a friend in the 90s and it disappeared( Not his
>> fault:  he became quite ill and eventually passed and I didn’t have the
>> heart to bother him or his widow for it or several other tools).  So I
>> bought an optical tachometer from Harbor Freight several months back for
>> this task.
>>
>> I put a piece of reflective tape that came with the optical tachometer on
>> the PTO shaft and used that table in the manual to double check idle and
>> full throttle, no load RPMs.  The optical tachometer did fine, but as the
>> reviews of the product indicate you do want the area to be fairly dark, and
>> you want to be holding it exactly perpendicular to the axis of the shaft.
>> It also helps to brace your arm while your hold it.
>>
>> For reasons I do not remember, I had to adjust the governor shaft when I
>> was done unsticking the engine and preparing it for test runs. So my high
>> idle RPM was actually dead on. But it definitely took some futzing with the
>> carburetor to get my idle speed right.
>>
>> I needed to do a good bit of adjustment of the distributor to get the
>> timing mark to come up.   I would say a 5 to 10° turn. It now idles without
>> “loping” and runs at full throttle without a hint of that misfire sound.
>>
>> A good day.
>>
>> Spencer
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
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