Aveling DX road roller

[miken]

I've just dragged out from my shed, the Aveling DX road roller that I built about 20 years ago to Edgar Westburys design.
I want to freshen it up so my 2 grandsons can play with it (and me).
I remember that It used to run alright, and I was able to drive it up and down my driveway. But only for 5-10 minutes. Then it would foul the spark plug (black soot) and conk out.
I have a vague memory, and I might have imagined this, that an improved design for the carburettor was published. But I'm not at all sure now.
Does anyone know anything about this?
Does anyone have one of these that actually runs?
Also, the battery and coil have got lost so I've got to find something to replace them with. The engine still has a healthy compression so I'm hopefull.
Thanks
Mike

[weary]

Model Engineer Magazine April 20 1939, Vol. 80, issue 1980, pages 455 -> 458 inc. has an article 'Further Notes on the Model "Aveling" Type Road Roller" by E T Westbury.

Pages 456/7 refer specifically to the carburettor. In summary the suction carburettor as designed can be variable in operation; suggestions include fitting a float feed fed from a header tank under the awning or a small diaphragm pump or even a plunger pump driven from one of the valve cams or an eccentric between contact breaker and timing-gear housing. Westbury is not keen on the float-feed solution & recommends running a small-bore pipe from the silencer to the top of the fuel tank to pressurise the feed and states that he is 'currently' trying out this system.

The coil was specifically designed for this engine (?)

Phil

[miken]

Thanks for that Phil. So it doesn't sound like there was an actual design drawn up for an improved fuel feed.just a discussion about what to do.
I built the model from the drawings in the ME. But I borrowed them and no longer have them.
I seem to recall that the original ignition system used a 3v coil and battery.
I've just ordered a small 6v ignition coil for a moped and a 6v sealed lead acid battery that will fit up under the canopy.

[jasonb]

There was very nice one in Model Engine Builder a few years back and the builder opted to use a carb based on Westbury's Wallaby which has a float chamber

[johnd]

It may be of interest but in the February 19th issue of ME 1942 there is an article on the carburettor for the ETW “1831” engine.
The DX roller is referred to in the notes and he says about the DX carb “Most constructors of the model have reported that it behaves well…………but one or two who have encountered difficulties with the suction feed……”
For the “1831” the new carburettor seems to have based on the DX but with the addition of a float feed.
This might be worth a read, subsequent issues detail the new carburettor.

[miken]

Apr 10, 2023 19:07:53 GMT johnd said:

It may be of interest but in the February 19th issue of ME 1942 there is an article on the carburettor for the ETW “1831” engine.
The DX roller is referred to in the notes and he says about the DX carb “Most constructors of the model have reported that it behaves well…………but one or two who have encountered difficulties with the suction feed……”
For the “1831” the new carburettor seems to have based on the DX but with the addition of a float feed.
This might be worth a read, subsequent issues detail the new carburettor.

That's interesting.
Is this available online to read does anyone know?

[miken]

Success. I've fitted up the new ignition system to the roller. It fired up and after warming up it ran. But not for very long. I decided that the suction type carburettor wasn't sucking the fuel very efficiently from the tank (which is mounted below the chassis) as I had to keep blowing down the filler to keep it running. So I removed the fuel tank and raised it up to give it a bit more of a head. As soon as I did this it ran well and soon boiled the cooling water in the crankcase. It then ran for several minutes.
So, as suggested by others on here, I think the answer is to make a separate float chamber for the carb to maintain the fuel level.

[jasonb]

If you did want to keep the tank mounted low then another option is to fit a small piston lift pump driven off the crankshaft and have that pump fuel up to a small chamber and arrange an overflow at the required level so that excess fuel will run back down into the tank. I've done a few engines that use this method, mostly vertical hit and miss engines where the carb is up at the top of the cylinder.

[miken]

I painted my roller this summer. Finally got round to posting some pics. Dianne carney supplied the nameplates

[cgd]

What a lovely looking roller, very nice indeed !

[jcraske]

Hi All


I have recently purchased an Aveling DX of my own that has been half built.

I am fairly new to model engineering so am after a little bit of guidance. Has anyone copies of the plans of the model that I could borrow or potentially purchase?


They look a lovely model when finished and am wanting to do mine justice.

Many thanks

[jasonb]

You would probably do better tracking down the couple of volumes of ME mag that the model was described in, should be able to pick those up fairly cheaply from ebay or one of the second hand dealers. I think is was around 1937 or 38