My First Engine Completed

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a41capt

Well-Known Member
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Jun 5, 2009
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Location
Camp Verde, Arizona USA
Well, I guess I posted my original article in the wrong area, so I’m sorry if this is considered a repost, but after all, I am a newbie!



I promised a Stirling engine to my 7 year old grandson so he could take it to school and share with his classmates. He’s very interested in the principles that allow a Stirling engine to operate, but being that he just turned 7, and I don’t think it’s safe or prudent to allow a 7 year old to play with fire, I elected to make my first engine ever to be an LTD Stirling that runs on an ice pack/cold pack.

Here’s a video of it running, and while I will do better on any additional engines (especially as far as finish goes!), I think it’s a pretty good attempt. The design is my own, although I must admit that I did careful study on many, many other builder's efforts. I must’ve done something right, for after a little tweaking on the timing, it’ll run for 10 hours on one cold pack.

Reducing friction was the biggest issue I had, as well as sealing the displacer cylinder properly to ensure the most efficient use of the small temperature displacement. It runs well counterclockwise on cold, and clockwise when sitting on my morning cup of coffee!

Anyway, I love this website, all the knowledge I’ve gained from the membership (I'm self taught through observing the great things you folks do here), and I look forward to building and sharing more model engines in the future now that I’ve finally retired!

Thanks for watching,
John W.
Camp Verde, AZ
 
Way to go nice job. I have several of those engines and I can contest at how they are a bugger some times to get to run.
 
Very nice! Please share more info as to where/what influenced your design. Impressed readers want to know...
I’ve been interested in LTD Stirling engines for about 10 years since I read about them in James Senft's book. I had attempted one before with a much smaller displacement, and it was a miserable experience and I couldn’t get it anywhere near running.

The Home Shop Machinist magazine had an article on an engine called Brassy, and between it, Dr. Senft's book, and looking over Jan Ridder's projects, I was inspired to try again.

I’ve had a box of 20 or so graphite piston dash pots laying around for about 12 years so I grabbed one of the 5/8” diameter pistons and got to work. Some 1/8” aluminum plate, some scrap aluminum from my pile, a piece of 3/16”foam board for the displacer, some 3/32” ID slot car bearings, and some of my 3/32” tungsten rod from my tig welder, and it was built.

Biggest issue was reducing friction and sealing everything tightly. Boy was I happy when I finally got it to run!
 

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