Engines > From Plans
Howell Stirling Engine Fan
RReid:
For my next project I've decided to build Jerry Howell's “Super Stirling Engine Fan”. I first learned about Stirling engines many years ago when we used one in an engineering school thermodynamics lab on measuring engine efficiency. I thought it'd be interesting to build one then but I had no tools, no money, no time, and not enough knowledge. Now I have at least some of those things. Unlike my other engines, this one can even serve a practical purpose! Here's a photo from the website (http://www.model-engine-plans.com).
Work actually commenced before Christmas with the “displacer head”. This was a fairly straightforward milling task. Not having any ball end mills, I used a 1/8” router bit to round off the bottoms of the two wide intersecting channels.
With that done, and a few days of family time, I moved on today to the “displacer cylinder”. That's the larger, silvery bit with all the fins in the stock photo. The first step was to cut a rough, approximate sized block from a disc of 1.5” aluminum I have.
A flycutter was used to square up two edges. Even though the cuts were kept light, the C-clamp added a bit of extra comfort on the second, hangy-outy edge shown here.
Then the rest of the lines were laid out and rough cut on the bandsaw.
At this point I moved the piece over to the lathe to begin boring the cylinder, starting with a few drills from 3/16” up to 1/2”.
In a few days I'll continue with a boring bar to get to the final 0.940” diameter.
Jasonb:
Off to a good start. I have been toying with the idea of doing a Raab or Jost engine, possibly as a fan which they mostly made or just as a stand alone engine.
Flyboy Jim:
Good start and writeup. :ThumbsUp:
I'll be following along on your project.
Jim
RReid:
Thanks Jason. I looked up Raab and Jost, can definitely see the heritage behind the one I'm doing. They have more Victorian finery though!
Thank you, Jim. Happy to have you along!
Bear:
Pleased to see a Stirling build. Will be watching closely. Been contemplating making one; but have been deterred by comments I have read about the precision required to make them run. Maybe this thread will give me the courage to give it a go.
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