Hacker News Reader

Comment by noselasd | Hacker News Reader

I just watched it, what in particular seemed so dangerous it would warrant so much precaution ?

No rev limiter (at least not that I saw), at least one potentially peaky (high-RPM biased) timing parameter (intake valve), lots of parts that aren't built to take high RPM, and a lightweight flywheel. If it were to suddenly start working properly, it could go flying apart with lots of force in very short order.

To be fair, it would take lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it) ignition timings, since with that system they're all over the place.

Aerosol can. Spark. Gasoline.

Yup, the gasoline splashes out of the bubble carb on every stroke!

You've never run a motor with the airfilter off, right?

My motorcycle motor produces a beautiful cloud of gasoline droplets standing maybe 4 or 5 inches tall above the carburetor throats when you crack the throttle open.

There's thousands of car/bike enthusiasts who see that in their garages every weekend. They're not dying in catastrophic accidents all the time.

Meh. You folks should have misspent more of your youth burning shit down. Gasoline is highly flammable, but it doesn't light without a spark. Also, the small amount of gasoline he's got in his carb will only produce so much flame. I'm glad he appears to be running this outside. I probably would have worn safety glasses, but then I only have one eye.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TCe9NKtP90

Awesome! I only watched the first two episodes. The kid at the beginning is doing it right. The old man with the giant brushpile should be using diesel fuel, with perhaps a couple of old tires and a very tiny amount of gasoline since diesel fuel can be difficult to light. (But it burns much steadier, rather than exploding all at once.)

FYI it's an aerosol can of ether starter fluid, which its intended purpose is to be sprayed into carbs to get engines to start. There is literally no way to do this other than how the guy in the video is doing it.

Your concern for safety is rather laughable for the size of the engine he's doing this with. Ether if improperly stored is the most dangerous thing as a can of 50% either having crystallized is a good few grams of TNT equivalent, which would make it a small hand grenade. (however an aerosol can with peroxide inhibitors in is extremely low risk if its new)

Talk to anyone who has worked in a mechanics garage and this video is extremely weak tea. Try being near a V12 when you've just filled every spark plug with ether and you're spraying it into the air intake. Now that'll give you an uneasy feeling like you've just made a potential bomb, but the fact of the matter is that the failure points in engines are valves and gaskets long before any metal part fatigues and becomes dangerous.

His piston chamber appears to copper piping, which don't fragment they split, so there's really no risk there. Think bronze cannon over cast iron.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com