Stirling engine build log

Looking good there Mitch how come your doing one steel and other in brass is that part of the brief to do one of each ? Keep the pics coming

the plans call for standard steel for the larger displacer cylinder, so my teach told me to use stainless and it said to use brass for the power cylinder

I'm only guessing, since I haven't seen your drawing/design, but you don't want to have any heat loss through the piston that works on the hot air side, so there stainless steel is a good choice for the material.

Surfer_kris wrote:I'm only guessing, since I haven't seen your drawing/design, but you don't want to have any heat loss through the piston that works on the hot air side, so there stainless steel is a good choice for the material.

that is what i think the teacher was thinking, what is strange is how much smaller the displacer piston is to the inside diameter of the bore for the stainless displacer cylinder, it is about .060'' smaller

Do you have any drawings?

If the piston on the cold side is sealed by o-rings, and plenty of grease, then the piston does not have to be very tight itself.

i do have the drawings, not on me at the moment. I left them in my locker at school

ok, so I have not posted any progress that I have made on the engine here because I have been busy with school and keeping the other build thread that I have for this engine on another forum "home model engine machinist"
here is the link
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f31/stirling-engine-build-20137/

Very nice work Mitch!

My first engine was a stirling.. a tuna can/ junk i had laying around version...that i "dressed up" a bit.. still run it from time to time... my elderly stepfather calls it robo porn.. HA!

this engine is coming along great, still have more parts to machine
2 cylinders, finish the flywheel along with the piston that I have right now that is almost complete
robo porn...

It even has "Authentic" sound i should make a video.. one of the supporting A arms broke off last month when i accidentally dropped it , as i used JBweld to attach them to the top back then... can probably clean it up and solder it properly.

mx862 wrote:It even has "Authentic" sound i should make a video.. one of the supporting A arms broke off last month when i accidentally dropped it , as i used JBweld to attach them to the top back then... can probably clean it up and solder it properly.

you should make a video! shame you dropped it, buy hey jb weld fixes everything... i even used it to fix a crank case on my 1/5 scale rc car with a 30.5cc engine

Jb-Weld 1001 uses! i cant count how many times it has saved my a$$, or used for model building.. i found the stuff makes excellent heat formed foam molds, no other metal filled epoxy has given me the same results.

Repaired enduro bikes out on the trail with it (had to wait overnight).

I love the stuff... like duct tape.. a must have for the common DIY man.

lol, one cant live without some jb weld

I have made a lot of progress to this engine since last updating this build log, I have finished the flywheel, main shaft, fly wheel standards, power piston, power cylinder, displacer cylinder, displacer cylinder back plate, discplacer cylinder standard, displacer cylinder standard support, displacer piston (2x), connecting rod, and one of the crank disks, here are the pictures
Flywheel with main shaft:





Flywheel standards:




Power Piston and Cylinder:







displacer cylinder, displacer cylinder back plate, discplacer cylinder standard, displacer cylinder standard support, displacer piston (2x):





















new piston,







Connecting rod:

Crank disk:

Darn! I was hoping to see the finished product at the end! Looked real nice.

oohhhhhhhhh nice its going to be great !!

It sure is going to be great

Awesome!
Have a greenie for that photo spread.

That post is over two years old. We haven't heard from mitchg95 for quite a while. I will agree, that's a neat looking build.

Rod.

Holy cow.... I had no idea it had been 2years since I posted last. ALOT has changed over the last year and a half, I dropped out of precision machining at the community college, got into drugs and alcohol back in January 2015, got kicked out of my parents house in April, since then I lived in my car for the last 3 months, got clean and sober and moved in with my great aunt in geneva Minnesota.
I should never have gotten into that whole ordeal in January because of that, I litterally only have a very small handful of relatives that will have anything todo with me, pretty much all my friends and family that I grew up around in colorado have left me.
I've done some stupid [bleep] and I do regret it. But one song keeps me going. It is a folk punk song by my favorite band, days n daze... It goes "we'll I've made my bad descisions and I can live with that, because even on the worst days life's never all that bad."
Ok, so now about the engine, because of the whole ordeal, all the parts that I worked so hard to create have gone missing and now I am set back a little further than were I began. I wish I could finish the engine but, that is a physical impossibility. Unless I could find someone with a mill and a lathe that they would let me use, even then I have to track down a full set of drawings and start the whole project over again
MitchG95

Mitch,

Have you considered the military?

It will give a young man direction, a paycheck, pay for your schooling, pay for a certification and allow you to travel.

Yes there are some things that won't be fun, but the good far outweighs the bad.

Just a thought,

Ron

Well Mitch, I'm glad you felt you were able to share with us the troubles you've had. It can be pretty tough keeping the house in order and sometimes things just go wrong. I think I'll get my 20 year old son to read your last post. It seems his folks (us) know nothing and he seems to be determined to do whatever we say not to do. Life can mess up real quick and sometimes making mistakes is the only way we learn. Just gotta hope things don't get too bad along the way. Drugs and alcohol will kill you, and maybe a few other people along the way, so they're a no-where road.
I hope that you can sort out the issues with your folks. It doesn't take too long to realize how much families need each other and one simple mistake can mess up a whole heap of relationships.

Go well.
Rod.

Mitch, thankfully by the grace of God you still have family that cares for you to give a roof over your head. Military is a good option if you qualify as they will give you a roof over your head with 3 squares a day and spending money for several years, plus educational benefits.

I did that in 1972 and after 3 years in the Army went to college on the GI Bill (a scholarship grant). Got a friend who was in college, but got married, had kids and had to drop out of college. He spent several years job hopping, now fortunately with 3 kids is in an electrician apprentice program.

Another friend had a lot of potential, as he won awards through his science fair projects. He got married out of high school. I met him while in college one day at a local supermarket. With several kids, he was a meat cutter, nothing wrong with that. It is just that he was extremely intelligent, could have been something earning far greater wages instead of above minimum.

Since you are young and single, you still have options and would be best for you to seek a career type program. I can't say exactly which as you have certain gifts and talents and would want a job that you enjoy doing, not just surviving in.

Construction field is wide open as it seems many no longer like to do hard physical work, although it pays decent wages. Good skilled tradesmen are getting harder to find and are in demand. Commercial truck drivers and equipment operators make good money, too.

Since you enjoy operating lathes and milling machines, I imagine you enjoy wrenching, too. Electricians, plumbers, air conditioning mechanics, ASME certified welders; building automation system, fire alarm, security system mechanics, etc. are a few specialties that earn a better wage.

There are train engineers, got a friend doing that. But I'd stay away from that field as they put in long hours with stretches away from home, affects family life.

If possible you might want to seek out an apprenticeship program. After 4 years experience, you get licensed and have a career path. If you are not sure of what job you might be suited for, your community college or employment office might have an occupational interest survey you can take, which could help point the right direction.