Laser Engines

PRICES

	LASER ENGINES	4-Stroke
	Laserengines are designed by modellers...and manufactered by engineers

Dear customers - To give me more time for engine development and aero modelling, Laser engines office at Hemel Hempstead will be taking phone orders and enquiries. The telephone number is 01442 249505, please ask for Gary.
I will be answering your technical questions mainly by e-mail, please send to info@laserengines.com

	The new 2000 series including the Laser-180 and 360v twin
Laser engines dominate International and British FAI scale competitions with a unique combination of power, reliability simplicity of operation and extremely high quality.

At the World Scale Championships in Canada 5 out of the top ten models were powered by Laser engines. Laser engines have powered the winning model in 3 of the last 6 World Championships
In the British National FAI Scale Championships every competitor used a Laser engine.

The power and reliability of Laser engines is perfect for the competition modeller, serious individual sports modeller and novice. The majority of our development and testing is actually flying models. Components are manufactured in our factory in England from the highest quality materials available using the latest CNC machinery. Each engine is assembled by hand and test run.

You are our reason for manufacturing engines and Neil Tidey, the designer of the engines is always ready to listen and advise.


Laser-70	LASER-80	LASER-100	LASER-120	LASER-150	LASER-180


LASER-160v	LASER-200v	LASER-240v	LASER-300v	LASER-360v

WHY 4-STROKE?

4-stroke engines have been manufactured for well over 100 years. They are the most common of all internal combustion engines. Power, reliability, weight, exhaust emissions, fuel economy, noise and cost are factors in the design of an engine and only a 4-stroke engine can be designed to meet all these criteria. The engine in every motor car is a 4-stroke and even the small engines for strimmers (weed wackers) are changing from 2-stroke to 4-stroke to meet the latest noise and exhaust emission requirements.

BUY DIRECT

Buying direct eliminates the costs of the importer, wholesaler, distributor and model shop. Sales are mainly through reputation with minimal advertising and marketing costs, a simple box for packaging and no frills, ensure the price you pay for the engine is competitive.

The price you see is the price you pay, you do not have to shop for special deals and the engine you receive will be the latest model produced. Payment by credit card is accepted.

Laser engines are manufactured in England and are the only range of single cylinder and Vee twin 4-stroke model engines manufactured in the Western World. The components used in Laser engines are individually manufactured from solid metal using the latest Computer Numerically Controlled machinery. This ensures extreme accuracy and strength. The parts made from aluminium are finish turned or bead blasted externally. All the steel bearing parts are fully hardened and ground or honed to finish. Standard bearings are used which can be bought anywhere in the world.

Finished parts are hand assembled and as the final quality check each engine is run and the carburettor set. This ensures that your engine will be ready for you to give the final running in and installation in your model. The very close tolerances and high quality materials used in the manufacture ensure that the engine will give many years of reliable power.

THE LASER DESIGN

The design of the Laser engine followed an intensive study of all types of full size 4-stroke engines and model engines. Since the first Laser ran in 1983 the design has been refined with continuous development. New materials, processes and machining techniques have become available and improved the engine further.

For a model aircraft, the engine has to have a high power to weight ratio and be very reliable. Compact, especially from the front profile. It has to meet noise criteria which means a silencer has to be fitted. A silencer fitted externally would spoil the shape of a model so it has to fit behind the engine within the cowl. The carburettor also has to be within the cowl, again the only place is behind the engine.

All modern high performance engines have the carburettor in a straight line to the valve port, you can see this feature on any motor cycle engine. Air and fuel are different weights and if the mixture is forced round a bend, centrifugal forces affect the mixture and also reduce velocity. The carburettor on the Laser engine is fitted near the cylinder head to give a straight line to the port.

The carburettor size is conservative. This is a compromise between maximum power output and response to the throttle setting. Silencer pressure is not needed but the open tank vent should be faced forward to avoid a venturi effect over the vent. If it were left hanging from the cowl it could create a variable suction on the tank.

Silencer pressure is not needed with Laser engines. Pressure is used on many engines to increase power by increasing the size of the carburettor. Pressure reduces throttle response as pressure has to build up when the throttle is opened. It can be a source of fuel contamination as burnt oil can pass back into the silencer and adjustment to the main needle can be more critical. In the event of the pressure pipe coming off or fracturing, the engine would stop. A larger carburettor makes the needle setting more critical and reduces reliability.

The ‘Wedge’ shape combustion chamber is recognised for performance providing good air flow characteristics and large ‘Squish’ areas for efficient combustion and minimisation of detonation. This allows the Laser engine to run on zero or low nitromethane and have excellent fuel efficiency.

The valves are inclined to the rear of the engine reducing the height of the engine. Although more complicated as a separate drive has to be taken from the crankshaft, the rear pushrods have two major advantages. The maximum height of the cylinder head is further back following the profile of most aircraft cowls and there is less chance of damage in a crash.

Just like ‘Full size’ engines the Laser engine has separate valve guides. These are longer than the combined guide and seat fitted to model engines and give greater accuracy in seating the valve. With hardened valves wear is negligible but the guides can be replaced and the valve seats can be reground.

Cooling fins are machined integral with the aluminium cylinder barrel giving superior cooling and far less distortion than a separate liner and fins. Nickel Silicon Carbide is electro plated directly into the aluminium. This process is similar to the plating used on Formula 1 racing engines and car manufacturers such as Porsche, BMW and Jaguar. It is very expensive and should not be compared with electroless plating used on some engines which is less than one tenth of the thickness.

Long beams are machined onto the crankcase for extra strength and support. The cylinder head bolts fix direct to the crankcase giving more strength and rigidity. As the engine warms up the steel bolts tighten further against the expansion of the aluminium cylinder so it is impossible for a the cylinder head to come loose when the engine is running. This ‘Fail safe’ system is used on many full size engines, the Rolls Royce Merlin is an example.

A pinion drive is engaged with the crankshaft to drive the twin camshafts fitted at the rear of the engine. Flat headed cam followers are used to drive the pushrods and rockers. The camshaft profile is computer generated and like all performance engines there are two camshafts.

The crankshaft is made in one piece from nitride hardened high tensile steel supported in the front housing by two ball bearings. The bearings used are standard and can be obtained anywhere in the world. The propeller driver is secured with a taper collet so there cannot be any movement between the driver and the crankshaft which could loosen the propeller nut.

The basic layout of Laser engines has not changed from the original in 1983. New engines have been introduced and the design has been refined and developed as a continuous process. New materials and machining techniques have become available and introduced to production. Testing has always been essentially practical through bench development and extensive use in flying models. The ultimate purpose remains the same, simply to power model aircraft. We hope that you enjoy owning and using Laser engines for many years in the future.