Yorky's Horizontal Engine

[Yorky]

This is a make work excercise while the Coronovirus lockdown is in force and the wife has banished me to the shed.

I know its copper and the material of choice for serious Sterlings generally does not include copper, but this is definatley going to be in the Toy category.

So far with the exception of the 2.1/2"end fitting at the hot end, everything has come out of the box of really useful stuff, so cost to date is £5.50 and if it melts its not the end of the world.

In the course of my last hobby I used lots of copper bits and pieces, and at one stage I was trying to salvage some large bore copper fitings. Using a propane blowlamp on 3" fittingsI really struggled to desolder old joints, the heat from the blowland just wicked away so quickly. so I do not see the heat from spirit lamps as much of an issue. My experience on my beam engine using copper displacer cylinder seems to confirm it, but I might just have been lucky to date.

I like working with copper and have the tools that will let me make most things and copper is so shiny.

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Toodlepip

[Yorky]

Started the fly wheel, Using a left over laminate flooring tile, cut three pieces. Glued them together again.

Just as a point of reference, the flywheel is 8" (200mm) Diameter

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Made a support from the same tile.

8mm bearing from a fidgit spinner, bearing supports from 22mm (3/4") copper end caps.
and the axle is 8mm threaded rod.

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First mistake - I did not put enough separation between the power and displacer cylinders, I will need to lengthen the pipepork and support but I will save that for another day.

Toodlepip

Yorky.

[MikeB]

Looking good so far. Particularly nice to see a proper electrical socket in the background!

[Yorky]

BAMBOO

My most useful item in my really useful stuff box.

50 pieces 400mm long 4mm diameter form the Pound Shop

That makes 20 meters for a £1.00 whats not to like about it.

I have some 6mm OD \ 4mm ID aluminium tube that is a perfect fit for the Bamboo and is easy to make all sorts of terminal pieces.

Did I forget to say its so cheap!

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[Yorky]

Oops. Somethings gone wrong.

I connected up the displacer conrod and I seem to have something out of alignment.

Every thing seems OK if the flywheel turns clockwise, spin the wheel anti-clockwise and everything stops dead.

I think I will leave it for the time being and try and get the timing so that the wheel is driven clockwise. If I try and realign the linkage I will probably end up with the wheel not going anyway.

Next up is trying to add a heat sink to the cold cap, not really looking forward to that. Soldering adjacent items is a pain, try and solder the second item and the tendency is for the solder on the first one to melt and the item drop off.

Toodlepip

Yorkyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XMwaBRPrG0

[Yorky]

Not enjoying this - it seems to be taking forever.

It would have been a lot easier and quicker to use annular fins, but it would have required me to buy big bits of copper. Using this configuration I am using up lots of bits from my scrap box, any small piece of pipe will do - split it, flatten it, shape it and drill a couple of holes in each piece to use for wiring them in place while I solder them.

Only had an issue with two pieces falling off due to over heating.

Its not very shiny but you will get the idea

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Toodlepip

[thanh-cuibap]

Hi !
Piston power you made of ?? wood?

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[Yorky]

Thanks for the advice it is much appreciated and its nice to know you are prepared to help.

Yes - I surmised the same and put A,Band C in a straight line, and my doubts were confirmed, the linkage now snatches in both directions.

I agree that the link should be stiffer, however I do not currently have anything suitable in my stock. My local supplier has closed its doors for the duration of the coronovirus lockdown so I am trying to make do with what I have got. To keep some form of progress going I am currently trying to make a set of guide rails that will keep the conrod horizontal and hopefully stop the bearing at A from snatching.

The progress on the heat sink stopped at 33% - I ran out of gas and I am now awaiting a shipment from ebay, the only seller that had it in stock needed a minimum order of three cans, not happy that has put the cost of the project up by 400%.

Toodlepip

[thanh-cuibap]

Hi !
Piston power you made of ?? wood?

[Yorky]

Sadi,

Thanks for the reply however I am confused by it, it maybe me that's creating the confusion. To clarify matters I am not building a Palm Engine. The title of my post is "Yorky's Horizontal Engine" and the pictures show a horizontal displacer cylinder and a horizontal power piston which is the configuration I am trying to achieve. Whether this is a sterling engine or a heat engine I do not know.

My knowledge of sterling or heat engines is very basic, there are many examples of Stirling engines on the web and my interest was initially aroused when I stumbled on the tin can variety on all the sites I viewed theses were called Stirling Engines. The majority of these types have the take off to the working cylinder approx mid way half way. I followed the proportions of the tin can type, only changing the displacer cylinder from a paint can to a piece of copper tube.

I used two of these engines in my beam engine model and I was pleased with the result and the performance.

(https://youtu.be/RJ4R7CUNRCs)

During the development of the model I accidentally ran the engines without filling the water jacket, they still ran, I am now curious to know how a fully air cooled engine will operate - hence the cooling fins / heat sink.

Having built vertical water cooled jacket engines I looked on the web to find something else to build and saw examples of horizontal engines (try this Link ) (https://gallery.myff.org/gallery/208394 ... %20!!!.jpg) and here I am. I have kept the proportions of the tin can builds because that is all I have experience of.

Toodlepip

[Yorky]

My new gas supply turnedup and I managed to solder the rest of the heatsink fins.

It turned into a bit of an endurance event - solder one fin and two fell off. Eventually I came up with a procedure of soldering one fin and then letting everything completely cool down, try to do it more quickly and the heat builds up until everything melts.

Got there in the end but it is the ugliest soldering that I have ever done, hopefully a good coat of paint might tidy it up a bit.

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Toodlepip

[Yorky]

Hi !
Piston power you made of ?? wood?

Sorry to confuse you - the pistons are epoxy, only the linkages are made from Bamboo.

Toddlepip

[Yorky]

Three false starts but got there in the end and I am pleased with the result.

The connecting rod to the displacer cylinder is now nice and stiff, not quite a sliding bearing - I made a couple of "wheels" out of some 3mm bearings that I had in the box.

The flywheel is nice and smooth in both directions with no snatching at all.


https://youtu.be/4_GAFxQZXy0


https://youtu.be/K3V9XVOk9sk


Next job is the displacer, hoping that gravity will not bend the connecting shaft enough cause the shaft to bend again. The shaft is supported at both hot and cold ends of the cylinder to give it a chance.

Toodlepip

[Yorky]

Up until now this build has been the minimum to establish if I could make the concept work, I did not want to spend a lot of effort detailing only to find that the engine did not work.

I am happy to say that IT WORKS.

https://youtu.be/832Kyds5GZc

Now to spend the next few months making it look / sound better.

First job, fire box.

Toodlepip

[Yorky]

WOO WOO!!!!!

A couple of adjustments and I found second gear.

https://youtu.be/dHu7F0BEydA

I love it!