3PI-X Improvement Tip

Since I developed the 3PI ignition module in 2024, I have sold 2 or 3 dozen kits and have not had any reports of any issues until I received the following e-mail from Justin Snyder on Jan 25, 2026.  I have not had a chance to test his changes (but will soon) but I have no reason to doubt his results.  See his email is below:

---------------------------------------------

Hello,

I purchased the 3PI-X ignition module awhile back. I had a few issues getting it working reliably. It really messed with me debugging my new hit and miss model engine. I went through several 555 ICs and a couple 2N4124 transistors.

I was about to email you for troubleshooting tips but after a lot of research and reading about similar circuits, I believe the issue was stray voltage created by the coil. Adding extra grounding was not enough.  To fix the issue, I added the optional 0.01uF cap to pin 5 of the 555 chip as well as adding a 0.1uF bypass capacitor between pin 8 (VCC) of the 555 and ground. So far no more blown 555 chips and reliable performance. These should be part of the circuit as added protections.

I hope this helps others so they don't have to go through what I did to get it working reliably.

Thank you,

Justin Snyder

--------------------------------------------

Thanks for sharing Justin!

Richard Daoust's Farmboy# 1063

Dan Allen's Farmboy #818

 

John Laudano's Carburetor

 Thank you again. I built one. Next will be the rest of the engine.

A few photos are attached.

John

On Monday, October 7, 2024 at 09:01:57 AM EDT, John Laudano <john.laudano@att.net> wrote:

Thank you Allen. 

the world misses guys like your dad.

John

Jon Zwicker's Farmboy

 Hello Allen

I just wanted to let you know that I finished my Farm Boy No. 1019 , this is the first engine I’ve ever built and I really enjoyed it.  Your prints are excellent.  I was a pattern maker for 30 years and it seems that there were always a few missing dimensions.  Your prints were very complete !

I thought you might like to see some pictures.  I haven’t painted it yet and maybe I won’t, having too much fun just watching it run!

I see in one of the photos of someone else’s engine that they built they had an oval Farm Boy plate made for the side of it.  Any idea where it could possibly get something similar ?

Thanks Again

Jon

Alan Gorlick's Farmboy (and plan changes/corrections)

 Hello Allen,

Just a note to let you know that my FarmBoy engine, Serial # 1033 is finished and running well. I downloaded the plans in March this year and worked on it steadily since then. I used the buzz coil ignition with spark saver option, a standard length Rexcel plug and a 4 AA battery pack. I did depart from the plans a bit to build it as a six bolt head instead of four, just to put my own mark on the model.

The plans are excellent but I can confirm there are two errors on sheet 3. As identified by Andrew Whales in his build series on YouTube, the horizontal spacing between the crankshaft and cam shaft is 1.031" for 48DP gears, not 1.026" shown on the drawing. The other error is that the 0.325" dimension for the cam mounting pad thickness on the Rearward View should be 0.355" as confirmed by the correct  0.105" (plus 0.25") dimension for the pad shown on the Bottom View.

The engine started and ran on the very first attempt, startling me completely! The only adjustments I made was experimenting with governor spring force, initially using a rubber band to get a feel for the right tension and then making the light spring shown in the attached video link which is a short clip of the fourth run. I've raised the speed slightly with the adjusting screw in the catch lever and finished the mounting bolts with nyloc nuts etc since that clip was filmed. The only things left are the crank bearing oil cups and deciding on a paint scheme or maybe leaving it natural.

Thanks again for the quality products,

Regards

Alan Gorlick

Qld, Australia

https://www.icloud.com/photos/#/icloudlinks/09eIMdROuPz9pF8GblRNJj0Og/0

Indiana Engine Show - Oct 12-13, 2024