We are planning to shoot weekly how-to videos and post them for free downloading on rotaryengineillustrated.com. At some point, we will compile them on DVDs and offer them for sale at very reasonable prices and perhaps even create a super-high-quality engine rebuilding DVD along with a printed manual, but we want to get our feet wet with little, mid-quality videos first.

We started off last Thursday by shooting an improptu, unscripted video on rotor bearing installation, using only one cheap camcorder. I think we spent 15 minutes total on it, if not less. Yeah, it ain't much to brag about, but we learned a lot about what we need to improve upon. Lighting, sound, cameras, editing. This week, we will go from only one camera to four, add some lighting, perhaps use a real microphone and maybe script it a bit more. Haven't decided on the subject yet, however. It, again, won't be great but should show modest improvement. Once we get a bunch of these modest vids in the can, the plan is to go full-bore with professional cameras, lighting, sound and editing. But for now...baby steps.

Here is a temporary link to the trial video, just to give you a taste. The format is Quicktime video. In the future, we may offer other options, like WMV or a flash player.

>> TRIAL VIDEO <<

Let me know what you think and give us suggestions for future videos.

 

Nice! Sound quality wasn't bad. In the future when you start to produce higher quality vids in various formats I suggest giving the XviD video codec a try along with the AC3 audio codec in an .avi container. With those two codecs combined you can make some very high quality videos with high quality 5.1 capable audio(lol like its needed for this). The Xvid codec is super light and so is the AC3 codec.

XviD

AC3

 

Nice.
My only suggestions for this particular vid is to ref part #'s with a text overlay(?) instead of Rob spelling them out.
Also, any clearances or "important" info could be additionaly shown in text along with Rob spelling it out.

 

page wont LOAD

 

Do you have Quicktime installed?


I agree with RX-Heven on the text overlay. It probably a good idea to always have part numbers overlayed when they are mentioned especially if theres some tools in use at the time making some noise that can distort and make it hard to hear the number. Or maybe have a sort of table of contents at the start of the video with text saying what parts will be needed along with the part numbers.

 

Yeah, I already thought of that. We just threw this one together to see how it worked. In the future, in addition to the text and illustrations, we may drop the live narration and do a voice narration over the video of the work being done. So, it will be Rob (or whoever) doing the work but a narrator will tell you what is going on. That way we can have better audio, scripted narration that is done after the fact, and fewer re-takes from flubbed lines.

At any rate, it's better than this one, LOL!! >> Scary-bad how-to vid <<

 

Holy crap, thats bad. He needs to take a public speaking class, or something.

 

Nah, next week he will make an appearance on American Idol singing "You light up my life"?

 

lol
Anyway, I think the narration over-dub is a good idea. It makes it easier to film since you don't have to worry about how you sound, and you end up with a better product. I'm looking forward to seeing a porting how-to, if you do one.

 

a quality engine build dvd with manual sounds like a great idea, im trying to get into the internal how too's of building a motor. can build up a piston motor easily enough but rotarys are a fairly new game for me, owned one for around 9 or 10 months now, and absolutly love them, if i could find a way to get into the field proffesionaly id be more then happy with that.

 

Good info, however I always found it easier to freeze the bearing shell overnight and heat the rotor in an oven before pressing.

 

ah no, not that video again. dude seriously needed a script and a valium..

 

Yeah, it is pretty funny, but I will say that it's very easy to do bad videos. It's hard enough for us to do anything nice, let alone a guy at home in his garage working by himself with a compressor two feet away.

BTW, we have a new video available on RotaryEngineIllustrated.com. It's a longer but not more sophisticated one covering rebuild parts options. Again, we're just getting the feel of the process and hope to do something better in the near future.

 

No direct link to the video?

 

Also having a hard time finding it. Could you give us a link

BTW I love the videos so far. This is very generous of you guys to give us all this information...

 

Thanks
I just want to thank you guys for taking time and sharing your lessons learned over the years with every body else. I
Learn something new every day!
Andres.

 

If you look on the left hand side, there should be a link to "how-to videos" or something similar, its in there. I like downloading the file better, though, because I hate streaming videos.

 

I would buy the narrated videos with part numbers on overlay

 

The latest video is about how to modify a stock non-adjustable oil pressure regulator for higher oil pressure. You can view it >> HERE <<.

Sorry, it's still embedded. We are working on making them downloadable. Again, nothing fancy. There was a bit of an audio problem at the end, but you should still be able to follow it just fine.

 

I'm surprised no one else has asked this yet...how much is that pressure gauge? This is a great vid and a mod that I have been wanting to know about for a while, thanks a lot!

 

Here is the direct link to all of the videos:

Rotary Engine How To Videos

http://www.rotaryengineillustrated.c...videos/20.html

 

We haven't started producing them in volume, but it won't be too expensive...under $50 at any rate. A lot of the specialty tools we mention in the videos are not in the online store yet, so please call us if you need to track them down.

 

Here is the newest movies and all released, we are working on making them downloadable ask we speak.


http://www.rotaryengineillustrated.c...videos/20.html

 

Another video is now available. This one is on mounting an engine to an engine stand with an adaptor. You can find it >> HERE <<

For next week, it should be a discussion on rotor housings and what to inspect and measure to determine if they are worth re-using. Due to technical problems, the video we shot on shimming your thermal bypass valve will need to be retaped and released later. D'oh!