Has anybody built the flame eater "Nick"?

Farm water pumps, small chaff cutters, things like that, don\t know if they were over successful, but they were made for a short time, but died a similar death to the Stirling Engine. Maybe not the work of the devil, but a devil of a thing to make, and keep working. Love to find a full size one, but that might be difficult, they probably went out as scrap in the 1930s, and got thrown back at us in the 1940s by the Japanese, and Germans.

Ian S C

After much mucking around with pipe benders and various fittings this is what I came up with. It seems to work well but I would have liked the flame to be even lower. At least this one does not keep blowing out.  I might make another one when I get time to see if I can get it even lower so that the engine is drawing from the tip of the flame. That might slow down the rate at which the engine heats up and hence lengthen the running time. Had I know I would be using my own burner then I would have set the engine back further on the smaller wooden base giving more room for the burner.

Edited By Brian John on 02/09/2016 10:31:09

I dragged this flame eater out of the cupboard to see if I can get it to work. It ran when I first built it but then refused to go ever since. The timing is okay : move the eccentric 1mm either way and the engine will not run so we can eliminate that as the problem. Piston/cylinder fit is very good : strong suction when I place my hand or finger over the end port. That leaves the ball valve arrangement. I enlarged the counter sink hole where the ball valve fits. This time I did it by hand as using the counter sink in a drill press or power drill results in small ridges which may affect the seal.

Some success ; I can get it to run for 5 minutes but then it fades and stops. It should run for about 10 minutes. Any suggestions as to how I can improve the running time ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yqkYYkZ6eI&feature=youtu.be

NOTE : sorry, I have a new computer and I cannot get the usual links to work.

Edited By Brian John on 07/09/2017 08:31:48

Edited By Brian John on 07/09/2017 08:35:24

Brian, I had to change to goole Chrome to get any sence out of my computor when I went over to W 10, it's ok on all the other sites I go to on IE.

Have you stripped the motor to take out the piston, you need to wipe it clean with a paper towel, also wipe out the bore. That's usually all I need to do to get my motoer going after a long storage.

Ian S C

I have built a new burner using what was left of the original burner after my ''soldering accident''. I have adjusted the ball valve with the M3 screw much lower than I thought necessary and I have got this engine to run for 10 minutes which is not too bad for a tropical summer.

1. If I were to put a heat resistant gasket between the cylinder head and the cylinder, would this increase the run time of the engine ?

2. How do you cut a heat resistant gasket ? It seems to have a metal plate sandwiched on either side by some sort of rubber compound. I did try using hole punches and a hammer but I made no impression on it at all.

Edited By Brian John on 08/10/2017 03:39:49