Stirlingengineforum.com

not soup cans, but here is a 10W Stirling engine built from a SS water bottle.
you should get close to 8W out of a generator/alternator

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joUCcJhBm8U

---
Pete

Ian, have you ever checked this out? ITC-100 it is for use in foundry work. I first read about it after seeing a foundry made from a plastic 5 gallon bucket lined with Kaowool and then coated with ITC-100 and then ITC-296A. Now they even have a primer for metal. http://secure.anvilfire.com/itc-ceram...

Changing the phase angle would change the compression ratio. 180 degrees would be 0 compression, closer to 0 degrees would raise compression. The temperature ratio follows the compression ratio. I've never built an Alpha engine, but have read a lot about them. The first Stirling engine I built was a...

A good read: "How to measure engine friction using flywheel deceleration" by Doug Conner
http://www.solarheatengines.com/2013/02 ... eleration/

covers how Doug measured the friction in his 3D printed LTD engine.

---
Pete

I played with nitinol wire long ago, and at the time brass crimps were the preferred method.
A quick search from one of the manufactures shows the same.
There is a slight problem if too much current is used, the crimp works loose.

---
Pete

Aviator168, "But not all stirling engines are one cylinder. For a double acting four cylinder stirling, there is no crankcase pressure to speak of." With a double acting power cylinder the other side of the piston is Not at atmosphere. When it is compressing on one side, the other side is ...

Bumpkin, The JD#6 needed tending every 15 to 20 minutes to keep the power fairly constant when I saw it running in 1999. This could have been changed by adding a fuel feeder like a pellet-stove uses. Aviator168, I've tried to pressurize a few open crankcase engines, the limit was when the energy in ...

Aviator168, my reference was more a pointer to the spreed sheet, the slot width comment was in my notes from when the spreed sheet was discussed in the SESUSA group. With multi-tooth cutters (slitting saws, band saws ...) the width is from .015" to .035" for most cutters. When using a shap...

Rich, Have you worked out the number of slots and their width and depth? Their lengths are limited to your cylinder section lengths. To get the heat transfer you need enough surface area. The slot size is very important: too narrow and you increase pumping losses, too wide and you increase dead spac...

Hi, my friends call me Pete. I first read of Stirling Engines while in grade school (mid 60s) and the caption read, "mow your lawn from the heat of a match". I knew it took more energy to mow a lawn than a match could provide. So for a long time when I saw/heard "Stirling Engine"...