Homemade tin can stirling engine!

[Bitter Ashes]

Homemade stirling engine made from rubbish! Cans and balloons and knitting needles and stuff. I'm really excitied about this project. Anyone ever tried to build one? I'm going to get a printout of this on Monday and start gathering the stuff. Then I'll start converting it to solar fuel. Wonder how much electric I could get out of it when I've finished refining the designs and stuff? ^^
http://astro.sfasu.edu/courses/egr112/StirlingEngine/stirling.html
Am I just really weird for getting all manic like a kid with too much sugar when I look at stuff like this?

[Wolfshadow]

thats pretty cool,when I was in high school I made a running 2 stroke engine for my senior metal shop project :)

[t.shonku]

that was really very cool thanks :):)

[Bitter Ashes]

Huddersfield Anarchist League is building one of these a week on Wednesday. Think we'll end up spending several hours winding coils after that to see if we can get any decent wattage generated by the sucker, or if it's practical to wire them up in series/parallel to get an acceptable generator on the go.

Going to use a parabolic mirror as the heat source by focussing the sun onto a sturdy part painted black that won't melt after a few hours.

[Rusty Shackleford]

that thing might lose a lot of energy due to friction. i suggest getting a little oil can to spot oil it every once in a while.


also, it says to keep the top cool. it says use water but you might want to tinker around with a heat sink.

just an idea.

something kind of like this:

http://graphics.hobbypeople.net/gallery/553928.jpg

thought, something a lot thinner. maybe just some aluminum cans soldered together with thin little sheets on it so that the heat can actually travel along it and dissipate.

a relevant example:

http://www.mobile-mechanics-mallorca.com/images/Motorcycle_Engine.jpg