Vibrating plate

[Burnerman]

I'm attempting to sort one of these things for a friend. I've never owned one before so I don't know their foibles.
I've no instructions, but its made by Evolution power tools and its horribly made. The engine looks suspiciously Chinese.
The questions.....
Do these things only 'walk' themselves when ticking over? With the engine running fast it vibrates like hell but doesn't move.
Secondly, this thing only starts fairly well on the throttle tickover setting. Give it some gas and it doesn't want to know. Is this also the norm?
Cheers for any comments, and have a good evening.
John

 

[r896neo]

Oh dear sounds like a dog. In my experience vibrating plates come in two catagories.

1. Bloody expensive but up to the job.

2. Rubbish with no compatction force and shake themselves apart and or breakdown frightenly quickly.

It's just not a tool you can skimp on.

To answer your questions, it should sit still at tickover and begin propelling itself (very slowly mind you) with even the slightest bit of throttle. On full throttle it'll move maybe a metre every 3/4 seconds.

Your throttle problems sound engine related whereas it not moving forward may be a seperate issue or may in fact be that the engine is not pulling strongly enough to make it walk.

 

[Burnerman]

I think its in category 2, neo....
Its curious, this....the engine drives a pulley at the front of the plate and I guess its just an off centre bob weight or similar.
On tickover it walks nicely, but give it full bore it just shuffles around.
As per your experience, it shakes itself to bits on a regular basis.....yesterday the govenor had come adrift inside the motor! Well handy
John

 

[r896neo]

Sorry i can't help, Is it anything to do with the belt condition or tightness? Or maybe the clutch is on it's way out and is only manqaging to grip at low revs?

The vibrating part is as you guessed just an off weighted shaft but they are usually very well sealed with plenty of bearings and as far as i know don't really go wrong much.

 

[Burnerman]

Thanks very much for your interest mate, its greatly appreciated!
The engine has a direct belt drive to the bob weight device....there is no centrifugal clutch, which I am surprised about.
The bob weight drives at twice crankshaft speed, so when the engine is ticking over the machine shuffles off - which makes it a right issue to tune the carburettor! I took the belt off for that.
Set the engine speed higher and the machine does not propel - but its reasonably easy to glide in a sort of heavy hovercraft way!
I guess its just a generally poor design (bought I believe in a pub, the 'seller' claiming that it wasn't up to his jobs)....heard it all before.
Curiously enough, there is no engine manufacturers name anywhere, and the carb likewise.
Just had a look on Evolution's website, and its the Hulk compaction plate.
Not recommended!
John