News:


  • March 29, 2024, 09:35:29 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Author Topic: Spike Plug  (Read 899 times)

Online Dave Harmon

  • 24 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Commander
  • *
  • Posts: 384
  • Tulsa Glue Dobbers C/L and R/C Clubs
Spike Plug
« on: September 16, 2021, 11:49:19 AM »
I've been doing this for a very long time but I've never seen a plug like this one.
It was in a bag with some other plugs I have been carrying around for many years.
It appears to never have been used.
Can anyone identify it....mfgrs name, model year etc??

Offline Steve Helmick

  • AMA Member and supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 9920
Re: Spike Plug
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2021, 12:07:02 PM »
Is it a SPARK plug or a GLOW plug? Does it say "SPIKE" on it, or what is that about? It LOOKS like it is a SPARK plug from the bottom, but I'd be interested in seeing top side and side view photos.

Old model aero/car/boat spark plugs had a threaded post and some sort of a nut end up top, to fasten the ignition wire on. Some were a 3/8"-? thread and some 1/4-32, and some were even rebuildable. Other than Champion, IDK what brands were available back in the olde days. I do remember the smell of gas & oil fondly, but I never ran a "sparkie" myself.  H^^ Steve
"The United States has become a place where professional athletes and entertainers are mistaken for people of importance." - Robert Heinlein

In 1944 18-20 year old's stormed beaches, and parachuted behind enemy lines to almost certain death.  In 2015 18-20 year old's need safe zones so people don't hurt their feelings.

Online Dan McEntee

  • 23 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 6823
Re: Spike Plug
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2021, 12:22:36 PM »
  It has a glow element that is spot welded in place where it should be. it looks from this photo that there is only half of an idle bar that is spot welded in place also. I would say it's a factory reject or mistake of some kind that got past QC efforts. If it glows under power, it should work, but I would worry about vibration getting to the incomplete bar and breaking it off. I would save it as an oddity. Post a side view picture of it so we can tell more, please.
   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee
AMA 28784
EAA  1038824
AMA 480405 (American Motorcyclist Association)

Online Dave Harmon

  • 24 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Commander
  • *
  • Posts: 384
  • Tulsa Glue Dobbers C/L and R/C Clubs
Re: Spike Plug
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2021, 01:29:45 PM »
Its not a spark plug.
The 'idle bar' is shaped in an L.....the spike part of the L is inserted into the wire coil.
it works when I put power to it.
Other than that....there are no markings.
I'll get a couple more pix after a bit.

Online Dan McEntee

  • 23 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 6823
Re: Spike Plug
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2021, 02:29:06 PM »
Its not a spark plug.
The 'idle bar' is shaped in an L.....the spike part of the L is inserted into the wire coil.
it works when I put power to it.
Other than that....there are no markings.
I'll get a couple more pix after a bit.

    Boy! That is weird! If the coil distorts or moves at all and contacts the "L" it shorts the coil to ground and it won't glow. Not a lot of room for error there. I'll be interested in more pictures. It's definitely an oddity but probably not a "mistake"  !!
   Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee
AMA 28784
EAA  1038824
AMA 480405 (American Motorcyclist Association)

Online Howard Rush

  • 22 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 7805
Re: Spike Plug
« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2021, 02:54:14 PM »
Looks like a Delmar.  I have one somewhere.
The Jive Combat Team
Making combat and stunt great again

Offline Peter in Fairfax, VA

  • 23 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 1101
Re: Spike Plug
« Reply #6 on: September 16, 2021, 04:25:48 PM »
Howard,

I suspect you are right, based on this listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/114934664336?hash=item1ac2a3cc90:g:EJwAAOSwNThhFrBW

Peter

Online Dan McEntee

  • 23 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 6823
Re: Spike Plug
« Reply #7 on: September 16, 2021, 06:56:44 PM »
  Makes me wonder what is behind the name? I worked part time at a local hobby shop going back to to the late 70's and have one of the largest model airplane magazine collection in the country and have read them ALL and I don't ever remember seeing something like that from Royal Products. I wud LOVE to hear the theory behind the design.
   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee
AMA 28784
EAA  1038824
AMA 480405 (American Motorcyclist Association)

Offline Peter in Fairfax, VA

  • 23 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 1101
Re: Spike Plug
« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2021, 07:48:05 AM »
Dan,

The back of the package in the eBay ad gives some of the theory.

Peter

Online Dave Harmon

  • 24 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Commander
  • *
  • Posts: 384
  • Tulsa Glue Dobbers C/L and R/C Clubs
Re: Spike Plug
« Reply #9 on: September 17, 2021, 03:02:07 PM »
This plug is indeed a Delmar.
I had never heard about this plug and never seen an advertisement for them.
I knew it was not a Ohlsson Corp plug because the Delmar does not have the patented Belleview washer crimp around the stem.....then I read the back of the package and saw they were mfgd in the UK.
I think its an interesting idea but the conventional welded idle bar or machined bar like Fox did was probably easier to make.

One thing I DID notice is that with battery power about 25% of the length of the wire did not glow.
Probably because the spike was shorting out that length of the wire....ie the spike provides the ground instead of the wire even though the wire was welded to the plug body.
Anyway.....a curiosity that had me wondering for a while.
Thanks to everyone who commented.
Here are a couple more pix confirming that it is a Delmar.

Offline Steve Helmick

  • AMA Member and supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 9920
Re: Spike Plug
« Reply #10 on: September 17, 2021, 03:21:50 PM »
Howard heats his Delmar glowplug up with a lighter and shows it to the judges, claiming it fell out of the plane flying an official. We're onto his shenanigans, however, since we discovered that he likes to land his plane while sitting on his buttocks.  y1 Steve
"The United States has become a place where professional athletes and entertainers are mistaken for people of importance." - Robert Heinlein

In 1944 18-20 year old's stormed beaches, and parachuted behind enemy lines to almost certain death.  In 2015 18-20 year old's need safe zones so people don't hurt their feelings.

Online Dave Harmon

  • 24 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Commander
  • *
  • Posts: 384
  • Tulsa Glue Dobbers C/L and R/C Clubs
Re: Spike Plug
« Reply #11 on: September 17, 2021, 03:47:54 PM »
Howard heats his Delmar glowplug up with a lighter and shows it to the judges, claiming it fell out of the plane flying an official. We're onto his shenanigans, however, since we discovered that he likes to land his plane while sitting on his buttocks.  y1 Steve

Hey....that's a great idea.....I'll try it at the Glue Dobber contest next week end!
Hope to see yall there!


Advertise Here
Tags:
 


Advertise Here