Recent content by myrickman

Finally completed the Lil Brother. Had it set up to run a 3.2:1 CR and it would run, but was difficult to get enough ooomph to run the fan. Added a cap to the top of the piston bringing it up to 4.5:1 and much easier to start and this resulted. The points were contact arms taken from a small 24v...

Well, they guy who gave me the castings also found the base and the prints. Here is a partially complete family shot. I made the heads a bit thicker to recess the spark plug and get it closer to the combustion chamber. My exhaust comes out the side of the head as per water cooled version…my...

Finished this over a year ago and finally got around to sharing it. I tool a little mechanical license and replaced all the fasteners with UNC/UNF made from 330 stainless hex. During construction the bridge casting has some super hard spots. I contacted Stuart and they graciously sent a replacement.

Some fine additional models on this thread. Well done gents. I used my friends Sunnen hone to get the bore dead true then sized the piston for a half mil clearance. Still, it took several sea trials to get running decently.

I have all the parts for this engine except the base casting. Anyone have a spare they wish to part with? Can buy outright or swap for machinists goodies…PM if you do.

I think I know Graham’s plan…mine was to make the breech plug into a spark plug and use a bbq ignitor to light the pilot flame. In this video, you can hear the ticking of the spark plug, then the flame light and the dull roar through to the exhaust.

Thanks Graham. Mine has a 2” bore. What size is yours planning to be? The pilot flame chamber is about 7/8 diameter x about 0.4 high.

I started on this back in 2019 as a project to teach myself CNC. I went to view and measure the original Brayton engine at NMIH in Bethlehem. From there I used the CNC to make all the patterns. It is a unique engine in that it is a constant pressure combustion cycle. You get a pilot flame...

I have a set of castings for the Lil Brother IC engine which is missing the base casting. I tried Ministeam but they are out of them. Anyone have a spare from a partial set of castings they wish to sell or trade for?

Setup for machining the mating surfaces on flywheel support to ensure they‘re parallel to crank axis. The casting is shimmed to get best fit before boring for the crankshaft bearing.

Only bothersome thing with this build was making the link from the crank pin to the walking beam. I had to offset the shank to one side to get it to fit correctly. I think this was because of how I positioned the flywheel support on the base to make things “look” right and have the bolts...

This one took about 6 months to complete. Made all the hardware out of 3/16 SS hex stock. Re-engineered the pump piston to have a sliding check valve instead of the tapered piston in the drawing. This is its second run on Christmas Day 2021.

Picked up a set of castings for the 1/8 Ericsson made by Meyers. I have no plans for building the engine and was wondering what was the stroke of this one. I’ve made several hot air engine models in the past and with the stroke, I should be able to complete it. Any help appreciated.

Update: I contacted Andy at Stuart and he graciously sent me a new standard casting to replace the one with all the hard spots. This one was much better and I was able successfully bore the ways and finish it up today.

The patent Dave found has a lot of similarities. The rotating electrode in the cylinder and it being driven at half speed makes me think it is pre-1900 also. The three holes in the flywheel spokes may have been for a drive pulley. The crank handle is an afterthought. NICE early piece of iron and...