My new stirling project

[r0g3r]

Why didn't someone warn me? Building stirling engines is addictive.
Today i found this in my junk bin and i dicided to build a nice little stirling out of it.
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I thought i would show you guys my progress building this.
First step : Heat chamber and displacer.(new pics coming soon)
roger

[r0g3r]

I’m using a diamond disc to cut the bottle. The little bottle is made out of very thin glass,
so I can't use a regular glass cutter for this.
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The capacitor is an excellent air tight aluminum can.
After removing the inside it fits very nice in the bottle.
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[r0g3r]

For the displacer rod I’m using a linear slide from an old floppy drive.
In my previous sterling projects I’ve used them with great success.
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FR4 material is used to connect the rod with the displacer.
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[Ian S C]

Roger, you'll have to watch it, the glass bottle won't stand the heat that a test tube will (different type of glass). Ian S C

[r0g3r]

Yes your right, I know these bottles are very fragile to heat. Lucky I have a few on spare and can replace them if they break.
Also I don’t like the flame touching the glass.Thanks for the advice.

[Ian S C]

It might be possible to get a similar sized test tube, maybe on the net, don't know where I'd find one, but it does make the motor more interesting if you can see whats going on inside. I find I just use whats available. The steel case of a NiCad battery makes a displacer, or displacer cylinder, and you get them from AAA, AA, C, and D cells. Ian S C

[r0g3r]

I to love finding ways to recycle items that are just lying around.
Finally found use for this microscope part I had for a few years
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The bottle nearly fits.
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Here you can see some parts after machining to the right dimensions.
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Two component glue is used to hold the linear slide from the floppy drive in place.
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It starts to look like a real stirling now.
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After this project I’m starting to look for real test tubes (maby on ebay)

Next step: Flywheel and power piston.

[r0g3r]

This flywheel is another part I found in my junk bin.
I really don’t know where it’s coming from (I think it’s from a old tape recorder)
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The connection with the shaft is made by these two discs with many holes for adjusting.
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[r0g3r]

The piston is made from a fluorescent tube lamp. The glass tube is very straight and makes an excellent piston.
I bought this graphite rod at a local jewelry repair shop, they use them for stirring molten silver.
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A small bearing is used to make the connection, this way the friction is reduced to a minimum.
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This aluminum tube is placed over the piston to protect the fragile glass.
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The piston and heat chamber are ready to be mounted and connected to the flywheel.
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Hopefully I can see it run today……..

[Junkie]

Nice work! It's looking good :)

[r0g3r]

Thanks junkie
There it is, my new stirling engine.
It’s all holding together with glue for the moment just to do a quick test run.
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It needed a few seconds to heat up and tadaaa! It runs first time.
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Currently I’m making a video for YouTube so you can see it running.
When it’s ready I post the link below.

[r0g3r]

I uploaded a YouTube video where you can see it in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... PKND59P3c8

I added a coreless dc motor to generate some power and drive a RGB led circuit.

[r0g3r]

A little update on my engine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... CUwaDVeb1Y

[presentteck]

Great little engine for so many household pieces.

just one question... where do you fine bearings so tiny?

[Ian S C]

One place to find very small ball raced is the pinch wheel (rubber roller) in a VHS vidio recorder, but you only get one per machine, they have a bore of between 2.5, to 4 mm, if you'r lucky al the ones you find are the same, but all is not lost if they are different. Also look at DVD/CD players, floppy disk units, all small electronics stuff that goes round & round, some have plain bearings, others ball. Or they can be bought, try a bearing stockest first, if not a hobby shop, RC cars use them. Ian S C