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Building Tips and technical articles. => 1/2 A building. => Topic started by: John Castle on January 31, 2009, 01:53:47 PM
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This has probably been asked a thousand times but can I use a cox glow plug (head) on my Norvel BigMig .061?
Thanks,
John
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Yes, it'll work just fine. However, you can save a bunch a bucks over time by getting a Galbreath head and using Nelson HD plugs. The head is about $10 and the glow plugs are $3.50 each, and seemingly last forever. Both head and plugs are available from Larry Driskill at:
www.kittingittogether.com
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Thanks Ralph, I think I will try that.
John
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The MECOA website, www.mecoa.com is showing they now produce Cox glow heads under the K&B line. They also show that soon they'll have Norvel plugs, and several other proprietary 1/2a heads. Might be worth a look for anyone flying 1/2a's.
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The MECOA heads use standard plugs. The combustion chamber volume is so small on these engines, the little bit that leaks into the threads causes a significant loss in power.
The Nelson and Turbo plugs seal at the bottom off the plug and eleminate these losses.
As I understand it, the Galbreath is the best setup. Next is a guy on eBay (Jon Valentine) that makes heads for Turbo plugs (used by the RC car guys). He makes specific head for the Cox/small Norvels, Norvel .061 (slightly larger diameter fins) and one for the Norvel .074.
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The Galbreath head on my Norvel .061 worked terrifically with 2 head gaskets. I use as many as 6 of them on my Cox engines. I believe the AP glow plug will work in the Norvel clamp as well. If not the entire set up will. I have an Ap glow plug button in my Brodak .061. I abuse this engine pretty good. I drilled out the threads on the head to accept the Ap and I use the head assembly as a clamp to hold the button in. I run it hard with 40% nitro and its held up. So in the event your wondering what is the best alternative to plugs don't sell the Ap short. I've never used the turbo set up. I went with the Galbreath due to some of my other combat engines using the same plug. In the event you chose the Galbreath, I've found if the plug starts loosening out of the head it means add another gasket. Ken
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The MECOA heads use standard plugs. The combustion chamber volume is so small on these engines, the little bit that leaks into the threads causes a significant loss in power.
The Nelson and Turbo plugs seal at the bottom off the plug and eleminate these losses.
You're thinking of the adapter heads.
(http://www.mecoa.com/acc/adaptors/grp-150.jpg)
http://www.mecoa.com/acc/adaptors/index.htm
That's not what I'm talking about. They're reproducing glow heads, in addition to the adapters.
(http://www.mecoa.com/acc/glowplug/cox-125.jpg) (http://www.mecoa.com/acc/glowplug/norvel-120.jpg)
http://www.mecoa.com/acc/glowplug/glowplug.htm
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That is an interesting development!
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merlin just came out with a std glow plug that is a copy of the old glo-bee plug i have 4 dozen of them they look very nice have not run them yet.
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Who is Merlin, how do we contact him (them, her, it?) and how much do the plugs cost?
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Larry:
I did a Google search and found this. http://www.merlinglowplugs.biz/ I have never heard of them before.
Bill Hodges
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Larry, I typed in Merlin glow plugs and it directed me to their site. I see they list plugs for the glo bee heads but they're currently not available. They have contact info on the site as well. I truly wish Mecoa wasn't so slow in bringing items to the table. They seem to list many products in the site and are unobtainable for years. I was comparing a few plugs the other night. I had Nelson, Norvel, Ap, Glo Bee and they all fit within the same clamp. The differences were usually within the squish area. The Glo Bee also had a finer and wider element. The ap has an area more like a stock low compression head where as the others are more like the trumpet style. I haven't done any rpm checks on each of these yet. I've been trying my hand at making a mouse racing engine. So far out of all my experiments the Galbreath head has been showing the highest rpm's. Yesterday, we tached the Black Widow at 23,800. I can't seem to keep the Nelson plug in it tight though. I think it just keeps loosening from heat. Every plug except for the Nelson has been suffering from the white deposits you had mentioned in another post. This seriously degrades performance especially when your going for the maneuvers. On another note, for those who have been trying to use Cox plugs in their Norvel watch when trying Norvel in Cox. I've discovered that the piston can hit the plug or the clamp itself. I think this is due to the narrow area a stock Cox plug has for its sealing edge to the washer. The Norvel has a lot more area there. I'm sure additional glo plug washers would help. Ken
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Larry the merlin plugs are made by Al Kelly, as i posted before i have 4 dozen of the glo bee style std. plug and have not tried them yet. i think they were 8 bucks a plug. i have run some of his other plugs in a fox 35 and a la 46 and can say they work great for me here in vegas. he is also working on a turbo plug rhat has the flat coil like the glo bee i have a few of them also but are not tested yet.
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Got my new AP .061 in the mail today.. the Hobby People special deal. The glow plug is the old style small Norvel plug ,, Not the freedom plug!!! It is smaller and floods much easier than most. Flipped this motor for 20 minutes after my typical 200 flips sans glo plug and with fine machine oil for initial break in,,reinstalled the plug and could not get the run going. Installed a Galbreath/Nelson head and plug combo and it fired right up! Twenty one thousand plus on the tach, amazing little motors...
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You're thinking of the adapter heads.
http://www.mecoa.com/acc/adaptors/index.htm
That's not what I'm talking about. They're reproducing glow heads, in addition to the adapters.
(http://www.mecoa.com/acc/glowplug/cox-125.jpg) (http://www.mecoa.com/acc/glowplug/norvel-120.jpg)
http://www.mecoa.com/acc/glowplug/glowplug.htm
Cool, hadn't seen those. Actually from the link, they are K&B products.
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MECOA purchased a bunch of unfinished glow plug blanks from the guy up in canada that that bought all the cox tooling and leftover parts.
I don't know if they are making then from scratch, or his plan for the norvel ones. I just know from experience that I waited a LONG time for parts from MECOA that were "coming soon".