Poppin - Reprise

[b.lindsey]

For the last six months there has been intermittent after hours work going on in our offices at school (new faster CAT cable) and the majority of my engines have been boxed up out of sight to keep them from getting "lost" so to speak. Now that the work if finally done I have been unboxing them and placing them back on the bookshelf where they normally reside. Among them was the Poppin which I built several years ago now. It needed a good clean up and polishing as well as some tweaking on the timing so it will again run in either direction. That was kind of a mini-project for today as well as working on the Pearl. This is still one of my favorite engines, just wish it wasn't quite so delicate as far as the valve mechanism. In any event, after a good clean up and resetting the timing, it was good to see it running well again so I took a short video.

Cheers,

Bill

[youtube1]https://youtu.be/J1W3qxpdZXk[/youtube1]

[Dave Otto]

Nice running Poppin Bill!

I have one in pieces stored in a bread loaf pan in the cupboard. It has run, be needs to be finished; I need to drag that one out and get after it one of these days.

Dave

[Myrickman]

That one sounds like it's  in the Swiss watch category.....nice work Bill.

Paul

[b.lindsey]

Thanks Dave. Even though I never ran it often, I like knowing its ready to go when I take a notion. These flame eaters and Stirlings both really need to be run periodically in my opinion to keep them freed up. This one was made with a graphite piston rather than the steel one in Dr. Senft's design so that part is relatively maintenance free.

Thanks also Paul. It will take off when the timing is set right, but the faster it goes the faster the cylinder heats up too and then it slows down or quits since the heat from the flame can't be removed as efficiently. I was running it outside in the garage today, It will go longer indoors where it is cooler.

Bill

[Flyboy Jim]

Nice engine Bill.  I noticed that Jerry Howell uses a fan on his designs. Do you think a fan would make any difference or are they more for looks?

Jim

[b.lindsey]

Jim, fans may help with Stirling's, but you need a fairly quiet airspace around Poppin at least or the flame becomes more eratic. If outside and any wind at all it is toast!

Bill