Stirlingengineforum.com

I have a litte LTD stirling engine that I got for xmas (super awesome!). I added some ice to the top trying for more RPM and I think I created quite a problem. The engine stopped running. Im pretty sure what happened is the ice touched and cooled the aluminum parts that come up from the top and resulted in condensed water in all the bearings and around the power piston and such.

I have since got it to almost run again but not quite. Now on a normal cup of hot water it will run about 5 or 6 revolutions and stall. Before, it used to run a good steady 60-80RPM on a normal cup of hot water. Everything feels nice and free but it seems to be laggin somehow. I oiled everything up with clipper oil out of my Wahl haircutting kit (all I had on hand). Is this oil too heavy for these engines? I'm not quite sure what weight it is.

Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

Matt

Hi Matt, the oils the problem, stirling engines do not like oil, there should be no oil on the piston, or the bearings, in fact if you build on from scratch, and use ball races, its recomended that the grease in the races be cleaned out, too much friction. Ian S C

Thanks Ian, I shall tear it down and clean all that oil out.