Roy's Hobbies

If you have built an engine or made something of interest and would like it displayed, then please send in a few pictures, a short movie (if you have one) and a bit about it.

 

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The McEntire

Posted September 2006

 

Marvin McEntire from Utah, USA, sent in this Stirling engine. You can check out his site at: www.geocities.com/mgmlab04 where you can see a movie of the engine.

This is what Marvin says about his engine:
it started out to be a pure Ringbom, but did not respond to efforts to get it running. I then added a walking beam mechanical to the already installed pressure connection. After a little adjustment, I found it to be very energetic. The glass and graphite piston lead the ringbom chamber's brass pipe piston by 90 degrees in rotation.

 

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Stefan's Engine

Posted October 2006

 

Stefan, built this Gamma beam engine by hand, using only hand tools and a rotary tool (no lathe).

This is what Stefan says about his engine:
With the rosewood base, the engine stands 8.5 inches tall, with a 3 inch flywheel, and a 3 inch displacer cylinder. The stroke is 5/8 of an inch and the volume is about 2.2 cc. (Sorry about mixing my units) I have measured the engine running at over 700 rpm for extended periods. I’ve also run the engine for over 20 minutes at a time without overheating it even though it only uses 15 brass fins for air cooling.

The displacer and its cylinder are both made of stainless steel silver soldered together to withstand heat. The piston and power cylinder are segments of a ground glass syringe. All my volume measurements were constrained to the power cylinder though it was well worth using: it has a very tight fit, runs without lubrication, and required no machining to match the pieces.

The frame and flywheel are built from a combination of brass and stainless steel. The flywheel is actually hollow, having been constructed from sheet metal and the frame is an “I” beam design to prevent the engine from twisting. There are four miniature bearings: two at the pivot point of the beam and two supporting the main shaft. In addition, I used tool steel (silver steel) for the displacer shaft and a matching bronze bushing for the outlet.

 

 

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Steve's Engines

Posted October 2006

Steve Graehl Engine Movie
WMV Format 1.25MB

I have built a gamma type Stirling engine that uses a paddle or lever type displacer. My thoughts with this design are to lower the friction by using one bushing with a slight rotation rather than a sliding travel.

I also wanted to make the displacement chamber square so I could use cheap flat plexiglass.

The bearings are brass tubing and music wire and one ball bearing for the crankshaft. The power piston is made from a brass pipe fitting and a nylon spacer that was turned with sand paper on a drill press.

This is my first Stirling and I was very pleased that it worked.

 

 

Steve's Seconded Engine

 

This is Steve's second Stirling. It is larger than his first one and takes more heat to run it as well. You can check out his site where there are movies and pictures of his engines.

 

 

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Harold Engine

Posted March 2007

 

Thought you may be interested in this Stirling engine that I have just completed. It has an 8 1/2" machined aluminum flywheel, machined 3/4" aluminum piston and a machined piston water pump to circulate the cooling water. The bearing are out of an old VCR. The base is all highly finished cherry wood. The engine turns about 200 rpms on a tealight cup of sterno fuel.

I am in the process of building a much faster engine with a larger power piston, fully adjustable power piston stroke, adjustable displacer piston stroke and adjustable timing. The displacer cylinder is a two part affair with a machined steel bottom to take a large amount of heat and a pressed fit aluminum top and water jacket to disperse the heat. Engine is about 3/4 complete.

Hooked on Stirlings,
 

 

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Denis's Electric Motors

Posted June 24th 2007

Denis's Motor Movie
AVI Format 1.7MB

 

The other night I was a bit bored so I built a copy of your Ten Minuet Motor. It works great! I took it to work and my co workers thought it was terrific.

I am attaching a short video of it. Unfortunately the lighting wasn't the best and the box is black plastic so it's a little hard to see the details. I used a flat disk magnet on it. All the parts came from my scrap electrical box except the magnet which until recently was holding notes on the fridge.
 

Denis's Seconded Motor

Posted 8th April 2008

Denis's Second Motor Movie
WMV Format 1MB

 

I am attaching a short video of a reciprocating motor I made last winter.  It is my own design.  I used brass tubing, metal wheels that I got from the hobby store and a coil from an old doorbell. The crank is made from a R/C model control linkage for a radio control airplane.

I run it on 12 volts DC.

Denis Arquette

 

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John's Engine

 

Had a look at your web-site and really enjoyed seeing all the nice engine projects displayed there. Don't know if mine fit in with the others, but I have a couple that I have built over the years. I am a retired aircraft machinist. Have always been fascinated by any kind of engine or machinery.

The first picture (AirEngine1) was my first attempt. I based it on a typical railroad steam engine design. There is no reverse mechanism. It has ball bearings throughout. The cylinder, bearings and all other materials were salvaged from the scrap bin at work.

The next three pictures (Air Engine 2a, 2b & Valve) show a slightly more ambitious project. This one is based on a turn of the century ship engine. Again, several key components were plucked from the scrap bin and it spawned a plan.

The rods were from a large twin cylinder vacuum pump. I bored out the big ends to accept (salvaged) ball bearings. The original air cylinders in pic 1 were replaced when I made the crank stroke just a hair too long and the cylinders did not have enough stroke. New ones were purchased as surplus through eBay.

The crankshaft is built up from 9 individual pieces (left end main journal, crank plate #1, rod journal#1, crank plate #2, centre main journal, crank plate #3, rod journal #2, crank plate #4 & right end main journal). All joints are keyed and are a light press fit.

The rotary valve is my own design. 45 degrees of rotation directs the pressure to the appropriate end of the cylinder and at the same time vents the exhaust from the opposite end. The bed plate is roughly 7" X 12". It stands about 26" tall and weighs close to 90 lbs.
 

John Newman, Jr.
Saint Louis, MO USA

www.maximum-engineering.com

 

 

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Barrie's Reciprocating Motor

Posted 17th July 2008

For an explanation of how it work and to see it run, visit Barrie's Utube site

 

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