Brass plate or flywheel casting

Hello from Ireland

I have the plans from Jan Ridders of a coffee cup Stirling engine.
The flywheel is 6mm thick, or could be made from thicker than that, to about 12mm, to allow for turning a centre boss.
The flywheel is 65mm dia. so a 6mm thick piece of brass 70mm square would be fine.
Or alternatively a casting of roughly similar size.

I have hunted all over without success.

If anyone has any suggestions as to a source of suitable materials I would be very grateful.

Ron

Any reason you can't use a slice of round bar?

Someoen like M-machine may well be happy to cut you a thin slice from square or round brass but you may have to pay a small premium over the typical 1" length increments they generally sell by, drop them an e-mail.

If you can use something other than brass then a Stuart Progress flywheel casting can be bought from them, look under spare parts.

Thanks for that.
I did look for round stock, but the only thing that came up was 70mm dia bronze at 990 quid a metre ha ha.
Will look at M-machine.

Mine was entirely made from 5" x ¼" Aluminium flat bar - base, top and flywheel. I found plate easier to slice to size than round bar - 5" round stock is too big for my band-saw and challenging to part off on the lathe.

An electric jigsaw cuts ¼" Aluminium no bother, and it could have been hand sawn. I sawed squares, converted them to octagons, and rounded off on the lathe. The base-plate was superglued to a mandrel, but top plate and flywheel can both be gripped through centre holes. The spokes were milled - easy with a rotary table.

Bought some Brass a few months ago and still haven't got over the shock! Ouch.

Aluminium is considerably cheaper than Brass and my engine runs well with an Aluminium flywheel. I've an idea the plan specifies Aluminium. Could be because the engine's power output is extremely low and a Brass flywheel might be too heavy for it.

Dave

Thanks Dave,

Yes I keep looking round the kitchen at all the ally things and wondering......
I just like the look of brass, though I agree it may be a bit heavy for this.
Getting any materials in Ireland is a challenge in itself.
But maybe a trip to the tip, oops sorry recycling centre, will yield something I can recycle personally.

Edited By The Real Ron Skingley on 29/09/2023 18:37:43

go round your local ind est and look for engineering places and walk in with your drawing and ask if they could help with materials or info, its surprising how accommodating people can be.

Nice idea.
But this is the west of Ireland.
No engineering firms, only building, wood, and glass windows.
And one local firm that makes cableforms for the electronics industry.

Sorry Ron there are small engineering companies everywhere you just have to find them.

Ron

I have no idea what there Irish operation is like, but I have in the past had excellent service from Richard Austin Alloys … they don’t seem to publish lists on the web, but they do, inevitably, have off-cuts of various materials and I purchased a good off-cut of Aluminium Tooling Plate from the Manchester branch.

I would suggest you give the Dublin branch a call … not ‘bargain basement’ prices, but realistic.

MichaelG.

.

**LINK** https://raaltd.com/branch/ireland/

Not in Bantry, Skibbereen, Clonakilty, or even Kenmare in Kerry.
Cork city may be a different matter, but even model engineering friends who have been here longer than my 20 years say the same. And end up sending to the UK for stuff.
And since Brexit we now pay not only transport charges, but vat and import duty too. Oh and a charge by AnPost for collecting the duty.

My family still live in Cornwall and they have a good metal supplier in Penryn/Falmouth.
But they won't send outside the UK after Brexit.

Thanks Michael, I'll try them.
There is a small place on the edge of Cork City where I used to get offcuts. But that is an hour and a half drive away, and I no longer have a car. Which makes driving difficult .
And getting there and back by bus is an adventure to say the least.
And there's no saying they will have a suitable offcut.

Now if it was tractor parts that would be a bit different.

I've built a couple of engines for a guy in near Skibbereen and he also says it is hard to get anything for when he builds the smaller engines

It is very difficult.
The population density of Ireland as a whole is less than a tenth of the UK, and West Cork is lower than that.
Model engineering is not one of the traditional rural pastimes.
Sending to the UK for stuff used to be the norm, but since Brexit increasingly it's Germany or Poland, just because of the import difficulties.
I recently had an innocent small box of bits stuck in customs for three months, with no explanation of course.

Edited By The Real Ron Skingley on 30/09/2023 07:35:05

Edited By The Real Ron Skingley on 30/09/2023 07:36:03

Edited By The Real Ron Skingley on 30/09/2023 07:36:37

There used to be a supplier based in Dublin, with a branch in Cork, who stocked Ali, Brass, Plastic, ect ect.

Sad to say, they closed down a year or two back, maybe due to the Brexit cock up, so getting almost anything here now is "difficult" to put it mildly. Has become a case of mend and make do.

As you say, tractor parts, now that,s another matter, to be sure, to be sure !

Perhaps that,s why there are no "local" clubs over here. If you want to do any machining around here, you are on your own !

There used to be a supplier based in Dublin, with a branch in Cork, who stocked Ali, Brass, Plastic, ect ect.

Sad to say, they closed down a year or two back, maybe due to the Brexit cock up, so getting almost anything here now is "difficult" to put it mildly. Has become a case of mend and make do.

As you say, tractor parts, now that,s another matter, to be sure, to be sure !

Perhaps that,s why there are no "local" clubs over here. If you want to do any machining around here, you are on your own !

Late mate of mine decided to build a 'Simplex'. Already started a Black Five but gave that away when he moved house from southern England to Cebu - Philippines.

Think you have problems sourcing materials? He completed it but then had a problem obtaining COAL. Coals to Newcastle became coals to Cebu.

Regards Ian.

Jan ridders designs are superb, just be aware that you MUST use the materials he spcefies.

Deviate from his plans at your peril.

I now await your future posting on how to get it to run......

good luck

Howi

Thanks Howi, and everyone.
Yes things here are very 'Irish' as you would expect. And I wouldn't have it otherwise.
Wonderful people.
But just as an example.....
We now have two new bus services. Excellent we all cry. One even comes through the village.
The other goes through Bantry from Skibb, then on up country a bit.
Great says I, I can get to Skibb now!
Well..... Only if I've got all day and take some sandwiches.
Bus through the village gets to Bantry 20 minutes after the Skibb bus has gone.
Next one is a three hour wait.
And so it goes on.
If I leave home at 7:45 to walk down to the village, I won't get back, after the walk back up the hill, until half seven in the evening.
It would be quicker on a tractor......

You should know by now that bus and/or train services are not intended to work together, sure what use would that be ? Next thing, you would expect them to run on time !!!! Not at all, they are not there for your benifit, or mine.

I just remembered, that company I mentioned was called James Healy, but while Jimmy might still be with us, his company is not. There are a few small engineering companies around but there is a limit to what they can offer, depends what type of work they do.

Ah, James Healy. Yes.

The two new busses are actually on time, which upsets many people.
But the timetables give you space for a Murphy's in the pub.
Sure what else would you be doing?

Edited By The Real Ron Skingley on 30/09/2023 10:49:48