StarJar
Well-Known Member
Hi,
I noticed that Briggs and Stratton makes a 28hp engine that is commonly sold new for less than $700. These same venders sell the horizontal version for $1700. I'm guessing that the price difference must be a combination of production quantities, and a difference in structural complexity.
My idea is to use a a couple bevel gears used on the bottom of outboard marine engines, to drive a prop. It seems like it would work in theory.
Couldn't you mount the engine on a flat plate, and then have a gearbox slip over the shaft? and also mount to the baseplate? The base plate would also facilitate mounting the engine.
I think the vertical shaft engines are lighter than the horizontal shaft engines, so you would still end up with pretty light weight.
Also, this would allow you to incorporate different speed ratio's very easily, by using different teeth gears.
The gears are already available. It seems it would be mostly a matter of duplicating the support and lubrication they get in a marine housing.
I think the gearbox could be rather small, in addition to a pillow block bearing near the front of the mounting plate, perhaps with a little extra stiffening material along the shaft's run.
The engine would have to be mounted a little higher, but this shouldn't be a big problem on ultralights.
I will do some more research to find out what the cost of the pinion gears are.
Any comments here are welcome. We'll eventually sort out the facts.
I noticed that Briggs and Stratton makes a 28hp engine that is commonly sold new for less than $700. These same venders sell the horizontal version for $1700. I'm guessing that the price difference must be a combination of production quantities, and a difference in structural complexity.
My idea is to use a a couple bevel gears used on the bottom of outboard marine engines, to drive a prop. It seems like it would work in theory.
Couldn't you mount the engine on a flat plate, and then have a gearbox slip over the shaft? and also mount to the baseplate? The base plate would also facilitate mounting the engine.
I think the vertical shaft engines are lighter than the horizontal shaft engines, so you would still end up with pretty light weight.
Also, this would allow you to incorporate different speed ratio's very easily, by using different teeth gears.
The gears are already available. It seems it would be mostly a matter of duplicating the support and lubrication they get in a marine housing.
I think the gearbox could be rather small, in addition to a pillow block bearing near the front of the mounting plate, perhaps with a little extra stiffening material along the shaft's run.
The engine would have to be mounted a little higher, but this shouldn't be a big problem on ultralights.
I will do some more research to find out what the cost of the pinion gears are.
Any comments here are welcome. We'll eventually sort out the facts.
