Hi all,
I built one of these many moons ago (more moons than I will admit to), and always had a soft spot in my heart for it. It's a "wobbler" of the most fundamental design, and was the first engine I built that actually worked when I finished it. I even fancied it up a bit by making a flywheel from a section of steel pipe, nails for spokes, all soldered to a drilled steel hub. The one I built is long gone, having been given to an admiring nephew years ago, but I still have fond memories of that first running.
Anyway, the beauty of this design is that it utilizes widely available telescoping brass tubing, stocked by many hobby shops (here is one on-line source), and so machining a piston and cylinder is not required. Made almost entirely of square tubing, it has kind of a minimalist appeal. It's a great project for beginners, and "old hands" might get a kick out of it as well.
Now that Google has made all the Popular Mechanics back issues accessible on line, many of these otherwise "lost" projects can be brought back in to the mainstream. Here's the link:
Popular Mechanics, July 1970, page 154
Paula
I built one of these many moons ago (more moons than I will admit to), and always had a soft spot in my heart for it. It's a "wobbler" of the most fundamental design, and was the first engine I built that actually worked when I finished it. I even fancied it up a bit by making a flywheel from a section of steel pipe, nails for spokes, all soldered to a drilled steel hub. The one I built is long gone, having been given to an admiring nephew years ago, but I still have fond memories of that first running.
Anyway, the beauty of this design is that it utilizes widely available telescoping brass tubing, stocked by many hobby shops (here is one on-line source), and so machining a piston and cylinder is not required. Made almost entirely of square tubing, it has kind of a minimalist appeal. It's a great project for beginners, and "old hands" might get a kick out of it as well.
Now that Google has made all the Popular Mechanics back issues accessible on line, many of these otherwise "lost" projects can be brought back in to the mainstream. Here's the link:
Popular Mechanics, July 1970, page 154
Paula