Recent content by Richard Horne

Thank you Gus! Best of luck with your Howell v-2. I hope to get there myself, eventually. But I need a few more engines on the mantlepiece before I would dare to try it.

Thank you, chm90. The cylinder is cut from a 20 cc glass syringe. The main chore is cutting out a section of proper length. You can read about how this was done at THIS LINK.

Simple 4 Stroke This is the simple 4-stroke glass cylinder engine designed by Jan Ridders. I chose this engine mainly because its simplicity nicely matches my experience and shop equipment. It is also a very nice looking engine with the clever use of a glass cylinder that makes combustion...

I usually reach a point in every engine project where I can’t resist trying a test run, even if the engine is not completely finished. So after completing all of the moving parts and ignition electronics for my Glass 4 Stroke Engine, I fired it up for a test run...

For my first internal combustion engine model, I’ve decided to build Jan Ridders’ one cylinder glass 4 stroke engine. Plans, pictures, and videos of the finished engine can be found at Mr. Ridders’ web site. The engine uses a single glass cylinder making combustion visible, a rotary valve...

Ah, but I am largely still a beginner, and I appreciate your advice on valve timing. I believe that I had correctly set the symmetrical valve extents and the relationship of the eccentric and crank positions. However, I had not tried specfically to fine tune valve opening to just PRIOR to TDC...

The Stuart Twin Launch Engine I have admired the Stuart Models Twin Launch desktop steam model for many years. It is a lovely classical 19th century marine engine design that is self-starting and reversible with Stephenson valve gear. It runs nicely on compressed air, has a pleasing...

Looking back at my Stuart drawings, I can see that "CRS" most plausibly stands for "Centers" as suggested by PKASTAGEHAND and others. So, for example "1 CRS" means one inch distance between centers. This meaning fits for every Stuart drawing example I could find. Definitely not a material...

I'm embarassed to say that I've not yet figured out the meaning of "CRS" when applied to dimensions on Stuart drawings even though I have built several Stuart models. CRS sometimes seems to be attached to the most critical dimensios, and sometimes not. This designation is used on drawings going...

This is my second engine model, a horizontal steam engine with 1" bore and 1 1/2" stroke. It was built from PM Research castings and plans using a small lathe and mini-mill and required about six months of intermittent and part-time work. The original PM Research flywheel was too spindly for my...

What a gorgeous finish! Truly beautiful. Richard

A Stirling Experience I’ve always been fascinated by desktop Stirling engine models. In particular, I admire the high temperature models that run from the heat of a flame. They are robust enough to be called real engines and are mechanically beautiful when carefully finished and outfitted...

Thanks to everyone for the encouraging words. Its good to hear from the experts once in a while. In response to bearcar1, the lower plate fits in a shallow slot across the width of the oak base. It is attached to the base by screws at four corners. I did use threaded brass inserts into the...

Here is one build photo that might be useful. This shows the construction of the oak base to support a flat mounting plate with cutouts on top and a smaller recessed plate on the underside to hold the outboard flywheel pedestal. One nice thing about this base is that it eliminates the need for...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI3Ip0ixBrg I've just completed my first steam model, the Stuart Beam Engine shown above. I replaced the cast iron brick that Stuart provides as a base with an oak base supporting a 1/4 inch thick plate with cutouts for the crank and eccentric. All links and rods...