Villiers Tarpen restore

Thought I'd already started a restore thread but cant find it...Never mind here's some piccies I took and this is how far I've got so far..
I had to remake some parts like the inlet manifold and exhaust studs and nuts, they were too rusty to re-use..

I'm concentrating on the engine for the moment, once fettled I'll work on the gen part.

Hopefully the conclusion will be a restored gen set.

Looks like your doing a cracking job of restoring this engine. It's in the correct section so don't be worrying about that.

Keep up the great work, looking forward to seeing it in all it's glory. Nuts knows a bit about Tarpens so if your stuck he's the guy with the knowledge.

Stu.

Oh No! Not another Tarpen! :stick lol: :stick lol: :stick lol:

This one's a different model to the three I restored last year (thank god, I'm a bit Tarpen'd out after that lot ) it's a later one. But looks to be an early model of the later one, if you know what I mean.

Have you got any "before" pictures? I will be watching this one with interest. Kev is pretty good with Villiers engines, so if you get stuck there I'm sure he'll chime in & help out.

Looking good so far though, very nice job.

Nutgone,

You have a pm....

nutgone wrote:Oh No! Not another Tarpen! :stick lol: :stick lol: :stick lol:

This one's a different model to the three I restored last year (thank god, I'm a bit Tarpen'd out after that lot ) it's a later one. But looks to be an early model of the later one, if you know what I mean.

Have you got any "before" pictures? I will be watching this one with interest. Kev is pretty good with Villiers engines, so if you get stuck there I'm sure he'll chime in & help out.

Looking good so far though, very nice job.

only me
looking like a mark 10-12 engine from the pics above, and the sump style tells me shes a later villiers engine model, with the filler into the block not the sump, give me the numbers ,hand stamped onto the flywheel i will give you a year +/- 12 months
any help or info parts ect just ask pm me or email , and "il be back"
kev

I realise its been a while since I last posted anything on this....
Been a little busy with other generators, but I've acquired another Tarpen genset....this one is based on the Villiers F15 engine...No piccies at present...

but I do have an issue with it....It doesnt output any volts...
I guess the field coils need flashing...Anyone done this? What is involved?

Depends largely on what the voltage is, but you could try a quick flash with a battery (only quick though, as it's a low resistance & any thing more could burn out the coils).

Funnily enough I recently bought one of these. I haven't put it on here as I'm not really logging my restorations any more (not that I've been doing much lately).

Mine has a BSA power unit & came with a hedge cutter & the correct rubber shrouded 10 amp plug. It's another 110v DC unit, which is a shame, I fancied an AC one this time.

Hi nutgone,

Its the 110v dc version ( again..sigh..was hoping for 240 ac but I guess they werent made)
Tried with a 30v dc lab power supply, no joy...
guess I need to up the anti ? (spelling)

TBH I'm not really that sure about flashing coils. I'm told the proper way to do it involves lifting the brushes, but you need to know polarity or you could well end up reversing the polarity of the machine.

However, these are not a very intricate dynamo, I believe they are a simple shunt wound machine (basic voltage regulation is taken care of by the engine's governor, I've actually had close on 200v from my 1930s unit in the past, although I wouldn't want to do it again & that was open circuit voltage), so no series windings to get in the way. This basically means the magnet (field) coils are connected in parallel with the output, so the output voltage doesn't flow through them on its way to the socket. (Although, looking at the wires, I reckon the coils are connected in series with each other, but I could be wrong on that). It might be worth having a look around the net on shunt wound dynamos. I have some useful links somewhere, will see if I can dig them out for you (it's been a long time since I used them, so they will take some finding).

I'm pretty sure they did make a 240v machine in this guise, got a feeling I've seen one for sale before. Finding one would be difficult though & I expect the price would be higher (not that they are expensive to start with). AC machines also require far more accurate governing & more intricate wiring to control the frequency of the output, many older machines had a frequency meter with which to set up the governor. Also, most 50Hz generators need to run at 3000rpm, whereas these little units run at a much more sedate 1800 (I think).

all the villiers engined geny 12 30 110 and 240v ive always found starting with a item for power supply plugged in with all switched to go ,if nothing first go stop engine and start it again ,its always worked for me ,but 60% of the genys will have a button for stimulating them back to life but not always does the trick so do as with the rest as above.
but if its the red and yellow 110v geny set by e.p.allam they have not been a very good geny and can be a fortune of parts to get working again and the wire grade was rubbish also as rubbered wires so nowerdays its either cracked or falling in the bottom   ,shame as they always look in good fettal ,but be aware as ive had a mate by 8 of them over the last few years and has had them all in electrisions for repair and all have been left as is due to state of internals
so i hope you dont have on of these with the villiers f15 motor on
fingers crossed
kev

That's a good bit of info Kev, thanks for that.

My one is sitting in the shed, all in bits. I had trouble getting the genny split from the engine, one of the countersunk machine screws had to be drilled out as it had been butchered by a previous owner, but the armature & field coils look to be OK. The BSA power unit was seized, but not in the barrel, some moisture had got into the crank case & rusted between the webs. Damn thing felt stuck fast but was fine once I had it apart.

I've just been a bit slow getting it back together, can't seem to muster much enthusiasm for these little engines these days.