1st sterling

[coffeebean16]

hello,
just started my first Stirling engine. found the plans on you-tube, user that goes by the name of "myfordboy".
emailed him and got the drawings.

bought the stuff yesterday and started this morning. mine will be a little different. i don't know where to get the mint tin that he uses, as i live in the states. so i decided to try out an empty quart paint can instead. thoughts on that appreciated.

ill post as i go along.

here are the parts laid out on the mdf. not sure if the pic will work have to review how to that in the FAQs.

thanx

dave

 

[coffeebean16]

so i had some time today and got some of the thing done.
cut out all the parts and glued up most of it. lots of sanding too.
drilled some holes, if you use this mdf stuff for anything make sure you use a backer when you drill.
painted it
pics attached

 

[dsquire]

Dave

Looks good there so far. I will be watching as you progress with this. :bow: :bow:

Cheers

Don

 

[lazylathe]

I also have his free plans!
Looking at doing this with my step daughter as a fun project that she can learn something from.

We have already built a coke can Stirling that worked really well until it was dropped... :-\
She got interested when i showed her the balloon over the can and heated it and then cooled the can!
She immediately said it would be a cool science project for school.

We will be watching your post with interest!!!
Good luck!!

Andrew

 

[coffeebean16]

worked on the stirling some more.
glued the rubber diaphragm in place, used a glove the first time:

then i tried a rubber diaphragm, that worked better.

then i had the bearing problem, which i fixed with a dremel tool:

I placed the rivets to be used as crank shafts and crank pins in my drill and sanded with 600 grit wet/dry. they seem to spin in the bearing better now.

dave

 

[lazylathe]

Good luck with yours Dave!
It is looking good!

Mine did not work...
I could not find the same size tin that he uses so i had to substitute for what was available.
They do not have sweet tins in the part of Canada i am in for some reason...
Lots of plastic ones but no metal.
The only one i could find was a lot deeper, maybe an inch or so deeper.
That throws it all out of whack...
Will keep looking for the correct size tin though!

Andrew

 

[coffeebean16]

Andrew
that could be a problem for me. i substituted a quart paint can for the tin of sweets as im not interested in importing a can of mints just for this project.
on the other hand I'm substituting Styrofoam for the displacer so it should be less mass to move.
we'll see how it goes. i can always shorten the paint can.

sorry things didn't work out. have you done any research on work a rounds for different sized displacer cylinders? perhaps someone on the board could comment.

thanx
Dave

 

[lazylathe]

It is on the shelf for the time being, but not forgotten!! ;D

At the moment i am building the SFA Stirling Engine Project.
It is nearly done and i am hoping for success with this one.

I have built a tin can one and that ran pretty well until i dropped it...

They are fun to build with materials at hand and i am learning as i go along!

I am thinking that a way around the size of tin is to build up the bottom with styrofoam in order to take up excess space.

Can't wait to see what yours looks like!!!

Andrew