LUCAS GA4 MAGNETO

Just did a bit more research on BTH, locomotive production was apparently only one of many varied devices.

BTH electric motors are fairly common in old stuff...........the Coles in the yard,I think has BTH DC electric motors ,including the traction motor...............Years ago,GEC Diesels had a shop downtown Brisbane.......prices were astronomical ...for instance a Ruston 6YE from a RB38 crane ,the water pump seal was $500 in a little GEC box..............the same seal was $12 from Perkins.......they also carried Rolls Royce diesel spares ...with prices so excessive,it killed the RR diesel here....................Incidentally,didja know the James Holt Crossriver Ferry had RR motors........at rebuild they were replaced with Caterpillars for more economical spares.

Lang that video is a gem and a big help thank you. As for BTH and Lucas I think but dont know that when you look at those samples there is a striking resemblance to them both only the caps are vastly different.
BTH single cylinder maggies are found on some Aussie made stationary engines and my 1925 model Buzacott Farm Pumper originally had a BTH on it but not now.
The lovely Flick maggy ready for work looks as if it cleaned up nicely. From memory flick maggies are low tension maggies as they usually drive igniters and not spark plugs. Well that is what I thought was the difference.

Flick magneto is low tension as suggested. If you go onto the U-Tube and type in 1912 Hornsby there is a great example of the magneto at work.
Identical engine to mine. Magneto was , as are all my magnetos, serviced by Paul Johnson in Naracoorte. A real nice bloke to deal with.
I do have about 20 magnetos in various condition if anyone out there is looking for a particular model.

Inter-action Thanks for the information. Can you please put up his email, phone or snail mail address so we can contact him, just in case.

Is Paul Johnson also known as the Maggy Man. I have dealt with the Maggy Man and he too was a gem to deal with.

Yep . No problem.
Maggyman , Paul Johnson P.O. Box 1375 Naracoorte SA 5271 . Phone -- 0428 160 322

Email -- magneto88@bigpond.com

Seasons greetings to you all and your families. Stay safe . Hope to exchange lots of info and pictures in 22. Dave. Port Lincoln.

Anyone here own a WASP petrol compressor unit...........West Australian Steel Products......Ive seen a few of the units in years gone by.......anyhoo,my comment is the maggie is also branded WASP,and it seems they made it......Must have a closer look next time ,as the compressor unit now has a 3 ph motor,and the WASP engine is in a heap of stuff.

John

Here is an interesting story from "Smokstack" forum.
Yes well Rodney the compressor is the WASP 8 cfm model . The engine bits are the early model alluminium cowling .Later models had a sheet metal cowl. Later models had a die cast carburetor and a fibre cam gear. I know full well about the cam gear ,I machined quite a lot of them and also stuffed a few up!. The fibre gear ring was riveted on the the cast iron cam shaft The 16 cfm compressor was just a different crank case with vee formation 8 cfm cylinders . I was an apprentice at WASP,stayed two more years after my initial 5 years. During that time I was absent doing my National Service in RAEME . WASP was a very busy place when I started there which would have been in 1951. I was given the apprenticeship by Basil Jenkinson. Basil was a clever man . As some one has already said there was a need for a method of drilling holes in fence posts ,Basil saw the need for a portable compressor and an air powered drill ,the engine and single cylinder would be mounted on two wheeled reciever to make the unit portable. There was not much in the way of small engines available and what seemed to be available were only BSA units and the supply of these dried up. So Basil decided to make his own engine . I dont know much about the Union Engine ,I think it was something the Basil was playing about with in the early days in his Midland workshop. Not everything was made in the WASP factory in Faulkner Ave Belmont[ I had to ride my push bike from Sth Perth out to this address when I started there !Two Pounds ,seven and six a week !. The crank shaft for the engine was made by HADWA as were the connecting rods . There were in a unmachined form and that was done at WASP. The magneto HT coils were wound somewhere else out side WASP.Small items such as condenser and contact points where also items from out side ,every thing else was made under the factory roof at Faulkner Ave . There were some very clever people at WASP , a lot were from the UK and Europe ,remember that this was in the early fifties and not long after WW2 ended . There were trades men from the UK ,Holland ,Latvia ,Italy ,those from Europe were from displaced persons camps and bought with a lot of skill . I can remember one in particular ,Mick Hannass ,I think he was from the Ukraine ,Mick worked a Herbert auto lathe, he built a very nice house directly opposite the factory ,and he was a watch maker! Another Peter Rohan was a skilled artist ,he built his house next door , the was Ivan a toolmaker ,Eddie ,a Dutchman who made all the patterns for the engine castings . I can remember one man who arrived fresh from the UK ,collar and tie ,white dust coat he had come from the British navy torpedo establishment ,he was a tool room turner, there were many more . A couple that I remember well were Miles Tomlinson who one of the very first that Basil employed, Miles was a speedway rider at Claremont Speedway ,he rode a sidecar outfit built by another employee Arthur Hurst ,Arthur was instrumental in the development of the WASP 305 engine . Arthur was also very handy in building speedway sidecar outfits , his winning out fit was powered by a unit using two Manx Norton cylinders and valve gear and a Harley Davidson crankcase .. I had by that time an Austin Seven ,Arthur showed me how to increase the valve lift.
I stayed at WASP for seven years ,the business was gradually closing ,they tried to make many new products ,even furniture . One man Colin Hales ,who started there as a tool setter ended up as a the manager and to give him his due ,tried everything to keep the firm going. He and I had a disagreement , I was the last of the apprentices there ,I stayed that extra two years ,Hales and I had the disagreement so I left.
This diatribe may not have answered your questions ..........it's a long time ago and in that time much has happened .
If there is something in particular that you wish to know about WASP let me know.
BTW I have a WASP 305 engine and a 8 cfm compressor also the wheel mounted air receiver. I also have engine parts list and drawings . Some people would turn their noses up at a WASP engine and Compressor however congrats to you for your interest.

The original poster of that thread on WASP is very knowledgeable but can be a painful person at times.
Well today I stripped and clean the Lucas and followed the steps in the video link kindly posted by Lang and I did find the timing marks for the gears, thankfully as I would certainly have been in deep poo poo if I could not find them. I did not cut any wires this time to properly test the coil and condensor as my plan was to clean it up a bit more follow the instructions in timing the maggy and try it out. After the timing marks were found and clearly marked I again checked the points, put a small amount of grease on both roller bearings and stuck it all together again/ I am starting to get good at stripping and assembling this Lucas. I counted a total of 6 carbon brushes in this model. One the end of the points cover to make contact with the centre bolt which is live and this is how the sparked is cut to stop the engine. Another brush behind the points plate, an Earth brush underneath, the rotor button brush and 2 brushes on the lead out tower at the rear. I have taken another slightly clearer shot of the stripped screw head in the recess where the HT lead is held in place. Looking at the armature. the widest brass section at the right of the pic is where the condensor is hidden away and is a very tricky thing to get to. The bakerlite slip ring must be removed then a puller to remove the shrink ring and then maybe it might come away. For the moment I have left that alone.