Reed valve on the cheap

I bought some reed valves after seeing this post but I didn't get a bracket with them. I was going to make my own out of aluminium. Would you guys let me know where you guys got yours? So maybe I'll save myself some time and headaches. Thanks Rich
 
Everything that I used was fabricated out of scrap materials. If you look at the pictures posted on the first page it shows the piece of metal that I cut and shaped. Hope this helps.
 
cyclepro101 said:
Why cant you just place the reed inbetween the motor and the intake port like a gasket?
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There is a piece of metal called a "duck bill" that provides a back stop for the reed on that side (refer to pictures). I guess one would have to start entirely from scratch to achieve that kind of simplicity.
 
Im not sure if im the only one without a metal shop but i would think you could make the adapter out of of a hard wood like hickory or rock maple, the intake side doesent get to hot..
 
ALL wood is porous - so that's not gonna work out so well, prolly just split along the grain under torque anyway. However just about any tool you can use to shape wood you can use (carefully) on aluminum!

Sander, bandsaw, drill, grinders & shapers etc - just use common sense, watch yer fingers, and test on a piece of scrap first.

I don't think a pocketknife would work all that well tho lol ;)
 
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BarelyAWake said:
ALL wood is porous - so that's not gonna work out so well, prolly just split along the grain under torque anyway. However just about any tool you can use to shape wood you can use (carefully) on aluminum!

Sander, bandsaw, drill, grinders & shapers etc - just use common sense, watch yer fingers, and test on a piece of scrap first.

I don't think a pocketknife would work all that well tho lol ;)
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idk a bandsaw with a wood blade would make me nervous, seems like it would be to agressive.
 
Depends on the blade, but it does fine - I've cut my fair share of aluminum stock with a bandsaw and a wood blade. An overly aggressive pitch on the teeth will slow it down, don't push it or it'll bind same as wood. Cutting tubing needs to be done carefully and trying to cut as straight as possible. It's prone to binding, rolling and otherwise being obnoxious - but it's simple once you know it's evil ways.

Of course curves are out of the question, but bandsaws aren't really about that - that's for scrollsaws, which are also good for aluminum.

This I wouldn't try unless you have a LOT of tool experience, but I've cut 1" thick aluminum sheet on a tablesaw and a medium kerf (biggish teeth for ripping wood) blade. It did great - but kickback doing this is a serious danger!

Of all the alloys, aluminum is by far the easiest to tool for the do-it-yourselfer. Welding alone is tricky, but a good 110v MIG can take care of that and they've gotten quite affordable. The trick to cutting with powertools is the same for all materials, rough cut close enough and then sand to fit. Not only will you get a better finish, you'll prolly keep your fingers longer lol

Just be aware of the tool, be careful and if it seems wrong - stop ;)


BTW - benchtop belt sanders are great for workin on aluminum MB parts too, I dunno what I'd do w/o one lol
 
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I agree with the above comment about the wood. I Know that smoking pipes and the like will hold up to some heat, however the petroleum will affect it along with the heat. I have used cork gaskets in some of these experiments and they have deteriorated at a pretty fast rate.

Aluminum is very easy to cut with hacksaw, even easier with reciprocating saw. I have tried the MIG for aluminum, very hard. TIG is optimal for welding Aluminum, yet still complicated without a lot of welding experience. I would recommend brazing. Which can be done with propane or MAPP gas.
 
One more thought. I am still wanting to try this in plastic. The valve itself is plastic, just haven't made the time to pursue it yet.
 
If you want to have a good functioning reed valve you need to build your own. You can do it with an assortment of hand tools like dremels and other carvers.


Make the reed cage out of a plastic tube. The tube needs to slide into the intake tract and the reeds need to be at a 30-45* angle. Idealy you have two opposite reeds that point inward to the piston.
These 90* chainsaw reeds are ok and do indeed fix the shortcomings of the piston port motor but if you were to have them be optimized youd have to have them mounted flat on the cylinder, and have the intake tract fall away sharply after the reed, but even still that would not be an ideal setup.

I will be building a few of these hi performance reed setups next week.
 
Yes, that sounds good. Please continue to share your knowledge. Performance gained through ingenuity as opposed to store bought is always a plus in my book.
 
waiting on making the exhaust first.... the reed is done, but i went another method. Machining out the cylinder a bit. Resulted in better performance. You want the reed as close to the crank as possible without putting it so close that you damage it.
 
i assume you mean porting... did you drop the floor of the intake about a millimeter and a half and raise the roof of the intake about half a millimeter? oh and for the side walls it should be about 2 and a half mm removed. try not to play around with the port timing too much, the ports can catch the piston rings if not done properly. i would just just the piston skirt so the intake is fully open (stock theres about 3mm skirt blocking the port) and im sure that would give a HUGE performance boost. let me know how it goes. i will probably end up raising my whole cylinder by using another gasket then milling the head to make up for it. mopedders do this and the port timing apparently makes all the difference
 
Yes, I made my own reed setup. Not finished yet, so no pictures. I'm being plagued by things as slow delivery times, a cracked frame, and a broken welder.... LoL.


Speed racer, are you trying to achieve a much peakier and narrow output with your porting?
 
well i have a shift kit so yeah, im looking for as much output from my engine as possible. im not talking about actually changing the port timing, just from about 3mm away from the piston out to the intake mani, open it up with a dremel. i port matched my intake mani with a dremel and did a very nice job of it, i get better performance now too
 
vicsvw said:
Any old Go Cart shops would have a verity of read set-up's. Some have a funnel look with the reads around the out side so the air does not have to make a 90 degree bend. We have found cutting ports in the piston work better then shortening the intake skirt. I will try to find a How to article that Hodaka came out with. It was in detail putting a reed on there 100cc motor. The reed set up was used for more low end torque. Vic
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Think found the info you were refering to here Photo Scrapbook scroll down to: Hot Tips- How to Reed Valve - Pg 1 Pg 2 Pg 3 Pg 4 Pg 5 Pg 6 Pg 7

It's all very good and Page 5 shows the piston mod... seems to be a Great resource for those interested!!!!
 
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