Meccano Stirling engine ticking over fixed camera position

My Mk3 Stirling engine ticking over, built from Meccano, various tin cans, and a ready made graphite piston and glass cylinder assembly. Stirling as in Stirling engine is spelt Stirling not Sterling. For the technically minded, the displacer is 6cm diameter by 2.5cm stroke, and the piston is 1.6 cm diameter by 3.3cm stroke. The displacer is in an air tight chamber and is moved up and down, by a thin wire passing through a seal made of silicone bathroom sealant. This moves 'displaces' a trapped volume of air from the 'hot end' heated by a tea light candle and the 'cold end' which is at room temperature, this causes the air to expand and contract, pulling and pushing on the piston, driving the engine. The piston is graphite and runs in a glass cylinder - I was lucky to have a few of these piston/cylinder sets handy. There is plenty of stuff on the internet explaining more about these engines if you want to know more. This engine is idling, so the leading shoe centrifugal clutch remains disengaged, except at one point where it did 'catch' slightly. There is a small air tight window allowing the movement of the displacer to be seen. Take a peek at http://tinyurl.com/hw8tc this is my MK5 engine over on Google video, http://tinyurl.com/hym9b is the MK4 twin cylinder driving a roundabout and http://tinyurl.com/3dzoku is a parade of the MK1, 2, and 3 engines.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Meccano
• Stirling
• engine
• heat
• steam

[fugasgas]

WooWoo

[ChuffChuffWoo]

@fugasgas Yes - well chuffed! ;-))

[ChuffChuffWoo]

Yes it's a favorite, still got it :-))

[fishhsifboy]

thats really good,

i'm going to try to make something like this but out of fischertechnik.

[ChuffChuffWoo]

@fishhsifboy When you've built it - let me iknow when you've posted it on youtube - I'd like to see it -we have Fischertechnik too.

[DonPMitchell]

Nice work. It actually sounds like a large industrial sterling engine I once saw.

[CTInfraHawk]

cool

[desiredusername]

Wow, this is great.  Awesome sound.