Jam jar Stirling

[bradley]

Has anyone used a glass jar, with a metal screw top lid, as the basis for a LTD Stirling? Large jars with tight fitting screw tops are much more common than metal containers with screw tops. Glass is a poor conductor, but isn't that a good thing in this situation? The displacer could be about 65% of the jar height - two polystyrene discs made into a cylinder with a paper wall. A rubber membrane. I am just thinking aloud, and haven't started anything yet........any comments? Thanks

[jimlarsen]

Here is a video of a Stirling motor made from a beer bottle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hi2SB3IciI

He also makes one using a coffee mug. The same technique would work with a glass jar, but you would want to cut the jar to get the ideal shape, and to put a conductive surface on the bottom.

[Ian S C]

Cut the bottom off the jar(theres instructions how on the web if you need them), then glue an aluminium disc on in its place. The metal on top and bottom make it easier to get the heat in and out of the motor, some wide mouth preserving jars look as if they would be ideal. The glass/ plastic, what ever you use insulates the hot end from the cold end. Ian S C