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Hot air and stirling engines

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Mark Smith 311/08/2009 20:09:54
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Maybe it does, but they were being made up until the thirties theres no way to tell. Shame they didn't stamp a date on them.
Ian S C12/08/2009 12:04:50
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Theres quite a bit to read about Barns lathes and other machines on the net,I was looking at the one down the road at the weekend and I see it has the original line shafting,but instead of having one of the belts twisted to give reverse,that belt drives a blacksmiths wall drill or a compressor.I was just thinking,Itold a guy on another site about heat fused flat belt,you could do it on the lathe ok.R.R.Fishers have the belting in Christchurch.Its not too cheap,but then again it would make an improvement. PS. Seen Minty the monkey,shes out again
Mark Smith 312/08/2009 20:04:31
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Thanks Ian I'll look into that.
Mark Smith 319/08/2009 10:42:21
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Gig lamps are finished. I will post some pics soon. Not model engineering but good practice as I learned a lot about sheet metal work, soldering, and metal spinning to complete them. My lathe motor started to smoke during the metal spinning but I found that the countershaft bearings were dry: a very neglected part of the lathe.

Edited By Mark Smith 3 on 19/08/2009 10:43:18

Ian S C19/08/2009 14:52:08
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Oops,hi Mark,unless you'v got a spare motor,you should be able to pick up an old washing machine motor,1/4-1/3hp for $20,maybe less.Has your countershaft got screw dowm greasers,and plain bearings?Hope the shaft is ok IAN.S.C.
Mark Smith 319/08/2009 20:08:40
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175 forum posts
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I do have a couple of motors 1/3 and 1/2 HP but both the motor and the shaft have survived after cooling down and a drink of oil.
I might be selling my V W splitty camper so I am thinking of buying a lathe with a milling attachment.

Edited By Mark Smith 3 on 19/08/2009 20:11:06

Circlip20/08/2009 11:28:55
1723 forum posts
Just been down to Morrisons today for the weekly shopping, Cor, the price hikes on food are realy something to make your eyes water. It's Ok for gorgeous Gordon to tell us we're in a recession, wish he'd tell the supermarkets this.
 
  Regards Ian.

Edited By Circlip on 20/08/2009 11:47:54

Ian S C20/08/2009 11:29:04
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Havn't used a combined mill/lathe,looks ok,I think they are better now than when I was looking at lathes in the late 1980s.I was looking at another site,and the recomendation in the UK seemed to be NO.I'v got a friend who has the use of one,and he has asked me to cut some tiny keyways on my mill,so I might go and see him tomorrow and find out why.
Circlip20/08/2009 11:45:36
1723 forum posts
Thing is though since they stopped selling "Mayflower" Chinese curry sauce mix,lots of their customers have been a bit disgruntled. HOWEVER, after finding the manufacturers address, which happens to be in Doncaster, they have directed me to "Farmfoods" who also sell it. Surprising the number of Morrisons customers who have beaten a path to their doors.
 
   Regards  Ian.
Ian S C21/08/2009 12:14:54
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Saw my mate about the mill/lathe,he says that he was rather disapointed with a number of features,ie chuck capacity(chucks 80mm dia very small grip on jaws),max with jaws reversed about 80mm,about .5mm max cut.He found the mill is not even much use as a drillpress,some form of holder with drawbar for milling cutters is needed.The milling area is very small.The tail stock has about 25mm movement.As a lathe it's quite accurate.Another friend has a BV-20(see the photo on the previous thread,Choosing a lthe),this is a simple little lathe with quite good capacity,I'v used it a few times,it's got 100mm chucks(3&4jaw)and approx 400mm between centers.Neither lathe has back gear,the BV-20 min speed is from memory 120rpm,max could be up to 2000rpm.Don't want to be a spoil sport,but I still think NO to the combined set up.I'm perhaps a bit spoiled,my lathe is a WEY YII TY 1324 belt head,I can swing over 18" in the gap,or 7 1/8" over the cross slide.It has a 1.5hp 1ph motor.My other lathe that I bought in 1962 for £5 is a Super Adept,center hight 1 5/8" between centers 6",it does get some use,its really too small to do very much.
Circlip21/08/2009 15:00:28
1723 forum posts
So ok., Morrisons might have been 99p and Farmfoods IS £1, but if you fancy a trip over to Donny, you can buy 12 packs for £9.50 Inc. Vat.,  Direct from the manufacturer.
Mark Smith 322/08/2009 22:12:38
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175 forum posts
36 photos
Thanks for that Ian, it's only an idea at this stage. What do you reckon with regard to laminar flow engines? They seem to have huge dead space which is probably why they are weak and difficult to make work. What about flattening the tube to reduce dead space and increase compression; just a thought..
Ian S C23/08/2009 02:34:59
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7468 forum posts
230 photos
I take the hint Circlip,hi Mark I'v got a laminar flow engine here,it has a 5/8" bore and stroke,i'run it with both 1/2" and3/4"stroke.The hot end is a 6" stainless tube with 5/8" bore,there is a 3/16"dia tube 5 1/4" long from the power piston back leaving a space at the end for heating,this tube has got cheap stainless pot scrubbers wrapped around it.Its got a 2 1/2"dia by 1/2" wide flywheel,the big end and crankshaft run in ball races.Its my only air cooled motor,using the cooling fins from an old radio transmitting valve,Goes ok but very little power.They can be made with the hot spot just next to the power cylinder,I havn't tryed that,I did try to go bigger 1" bore,but couldn't get it to go,not even a hint,usually even my worst attempts have shown some life.I havn't altered the size of the internal tube,that may alter things,also the lengthof the hot end.IAN S C
Circlip24/08/2009 13:58:53
1723 forum posts
Sorry Ian, your comments on the Stirlings etc were most informative, but I was loosing the will to live when we were going down the three in one and veedub servicing
 
   Am just plucking the courage up to destroy a carefully constructed at great expence HDD to for bits to put in "Ridders" LT Coffee cup design.
 
     Regards  Ian.
Ian S C25/08/2009 00:14:16
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7468 forum posts
230 photos
Hi circlip, I'm in the process of building a low temp motor at the moment,it's a bit bigger than coffee cup,about 7"dia,don't really know what I'm doing,but I'm doing it any way.Only items to be bought in are 12 nylon screws to hold the top and bottom together,40K to town and I'll proberbly hitch hike.
Mark Smith 326/08/2009 08:33:45
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175 forum posts
36 photos
Hi Circlip I also got your point; we seemed to go off at a tangent, Sorry. I  have just got my first engine working again after a major format change. It would run but started clattering like mad after a few seconds. I  adjusted and adjusted until I thought it was dead; then I discovered that the setting was well short of the magical 90 degrees. Reset and adjust yet again and it was running tonight for an hour and a half until the water in  the cooler boiled and it stopped. I'm happy.
Mark
Circlip26/08/2009 12:28:44
1723 forum posts
Cheers guys, just as a follow on, when a mate of mine (Oh yes I do) received an anniversary present of a new lathe, as part of the inducements, a "Gift" of a design and lumps of metal to build a "Chinese" hot air engine came with it. After many e-mails and Skypes the great day arrived and the damn thing wouldn't work. Suggestions on other fori (cos this one wasn't living yet) revealed that with a few mods (Drawings) it came into life and seems to be one of the few that the supplier didn't have returned.
 
   Come on Klank me old cocker, publish and be damned.
 
  Regards  Ian. 
Mike26/08/2009 12:44:30
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713 forum posts
6 photos
Hi everybody: Very interesting, all this stuff about Stirling engines. Makes me think I would like to have a go! Of course, they don't have to be tiny or low-powered. I think it was in the early 1980s that I had a pal who worked for Perkins diesel in Peterborough, and he was involved in the design of one big enough to power a truck. As I recall the fuel of choice was hydrogen. Don't know whether a prototype was ever built, but the project was abandoned, I believe, because of the availability and high cost of suitable materials to stand up to the high temperatures. A lot of cobalt steel was required, I think.
Nowadays this would be the ultimate "green machine!"
In the same era, Perkins built an experimental gas turbine lorry, which was often seen on test around Peterborough. The exhaust was a huge vertical pipe behind the cab, which gave out a massive heat haze and a smell of burnt paraffin. Alas, another project which came to nought - although its acceleration with a full load was most impressive. I once tried to beat it away from the lights in a 2-litre Cortina!
 
Ian S C26/08/2009 15:00:28
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7468 forum posts
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Welcome to or little group.Interesting about the Perkins expiremental engine,the hydrogen would not actually be the fuel,rather it would be the gas inside the engine and compressed to quite high pressure,maybe 2-3000psi,the fuel would be diesel or kerosene(parafin).You mention gas turbine power,in Christchurch here in NZ we have a manufacturer of electric powered buses with a gas turbine a powered auxillary generator(almost silent)I can't remember the power of the unit but it replaces the diesil powered geny that they started with.the buses are exported in reasonable numbers around he world.They should have a stirling engine,Christchurch is the home of whispertec,oh well dream on.My largest has 2 1/4" bore and a power stroke of 1 1/4",and the smallest 5/8"bore and 1/2" stroke-there are 8 others in between.I havn't tryed pressurisation yet,I really should,I have got one that I made so that it could be modified to take pressure.Ian(wot another one)there are very few hot air engines(as long as they are roughly correctly designed)that won't work,I'v often ended up with a painfull arm flicking flywheels,but eventually,and usually quite unexpectedly away they go after which the start with little or no trouble.IAN S.C.
Mike26/08/2009 15:49:49
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713 forum posts
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Hi Ian,
Greetings to NZ from Banffshire! That's very interesting about the hydrogen - you have had me racking my brains to recall conversations of around 30 years ago. Can't check with my old pal, because when I moved 500 miles north to Scotland 14 years ago we lost touch, and I believe he has now passed away.
However, I now recall he said the engine could be modified to run on pretty well anything available locally that would burn with enough heat, which leads me to believe you are right about the hydrogen being the gas inside the engine rather than the fuel.
I also wonder if, after a further 30 years of development of high-temperature steels and maybe ceramic substances, the design could be worthy of another look. - Mike
 
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