How to make a stirling engine
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- So you want to make a Stirling engine. First things first, DO YOUR HOMEWORK! You can never know too much about how the engine works so start [now]. The key behind any engine is precision. If energy can escape from any point your engine will be less efficient. Listed bellow are the step by step instructions on how to make your own .
- Gather up the materials needed.
| Needed | Helpful |
|---|---|
| 10.5 oz Tin can (preferably small soup can) | Hair dryer |
| Tall 12 oz beer can (Keystone or Coors) | Fine metal file |
| Metal cutters | plexiglass |
| 2 pairs of needle nose pliers | |
| Fast setting epoxy (rated to withstand at least 300°) | |
| Coat hangers or 16 gauge jewelry wire | |
| Metal/PVC piping (No bigger than .5' in diameter) | |
| 1 CD | |
| Exacto knife | |
| Hot glue | |
| Heat shrink plastic | |
| pennies | |
| Wax paper |
- Begin by cutting your tin can exactly in half. You want a nice clean edge that will seal well. If your edge is jagged, rough or not level, go back over it with the metal cutters and metal file and make sure your edge is clean. This will be the main cylinder of your engine.
- Then Take your beer can and using the exacto knife cut even around the bottom so that there is about a centimeter tall edge. This will be the start of your displacer. Use a compass to find the center of the can. Drill a small hole in the exact center and feed an 8 - 10 cm STRAIGHT (the straighter the better) piece of wire or coat hanger and attach it to the can.
- Then take a large chunk of Styrofoam and push it down the displacer rod till touches the soda can. Take a marker and trace around the can. Because you want the Styrofoam to just fit inside the edge of the beer can you must remove all parts of Styrofoam that have marker on them. Then use a hot wire device and rotated the block about its center point so that the edges are removed. Then slide the block just inside the can. Once the block is inside the can I set it next to you cylinder and cut it close to half the height of the cylinder.
- You have now completed the base and displacer of your main cylinder. Next using some sort of hard heat resistant material (plexiglass) draw a circle larger than your soup can using a compass. Mark the point at which the needle pokes the plexiglass. Cut out the circle a round the edges (just for looks :P). Then drill a hole that is exactly the diameter of your displacer arm material. I used used a coat hanger and using my dial calipers measure the diameter to be .196 centimeters. Using a 1/16' drill bit drill a hole so that the arm can just squeeze through and slide freely in and out of it but can not play back and forth. Then towards the edge but not over the outside of the can, drill a large hole through the plexiglass that is the diameter of the inside of your small cylinder (power piston). I used 3/8' drill bit.
