Stirling Engine (Make Labs 01)

This specific engine was sent back as defective, by an engineer who purchased it at Maker Faire 2008 in San Mateo. It was my job to figure out what problems there may be and to figure out what problems might come up in the future.

Here is what I found:

If you follow the directions exactly, you hardly have any flame hitting the glass tube at the rear of the engine, so you're going to have to give it some time to heat up enough to run. You can try raising the wick a bit more, as that will increase the heat and might provide a bit more crank power.

The metal bar that's attached to the wire mesh going through the entire engine assembly was a little bent when I took it out to inspect. If you roll it in your hands (or on a table) like a pool que, you'll notice if it has any bend in it. If it's bent going through the engine, it's going to have trouble. I cannot stress enough: when you're taking the pieces out of this kit, be very careful not to bend anything, especially the long, slender metal pole. IT'S IMPORTANT!

Another thing I noticed is that the mesh that's attached to the pole was rubbing against the sides of the glass tube, slowing the engine down. I rolled it, as per the instructions, to make it a bit more slender. Do not make it so slender that it doesn't touch anything, or so fat that it scrapes the glass. You want the mesh to JUST touch the sides of the glass.

The last thing I did was to make minor adjustments on the screws closer to the fan side, which raise and lower the mid section of the engine. It's important that the metal pole that goes from front to back comes through the engine perfectly straight, and this is where you make those minor adjustments.

All things told, even with a bent bar, the Stirling Engine seems to be running quite well.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Make
• Make: Magazine
• Maker Shed
• Gakken
• Engine
• Stirling Engine
• Kit
• DIY

[simdude2u]

Why do you have a battery pack on it ?

[hellstudios]

it would be cool if (somehow) they had a small 17v generator on there somehow and hooked the generator up to a peltier block to boil the water.

[MrNik1001]

@simdude2u i think this toy runs as a generator too

[kinakos1]

10 days to wait 2-3 days to think it is Athens:)

[MasterHacker01]

can it drive or something?

[Thebigbambeano]

i dub the a#% doser

[exodus2142]

i saw that too

[30GB]

i would strip all the stuff off like the motor and etc and see how it runs

[MrfixitRick]

Good sleuthing...I agree on all your points, after having assembled one with a student. Though finely built, there is probably room for some better engineering in this unit. But it does look and run sweet, and the fine tuning and tweaking is what it's really all about!