Part 1

 

To see this engine being powered by the sun check out the Lamina 1 - Solar Powered Lamina Flow Stirling Engine video.

Here is the video commentary:

Video #1

Here I am unscrewing the last of 4 bolts which secure the pyrex test tube to the aluminum support column. These are 1 inch long #6 - 32 bolts. Their main job is to squeeze three orange rubber washers tightly up against the aluminum support column by applying pressure to the large steel washer.

Normally gravity would cause this test tube and steel washer to fall but all the heat and pressure have caused the orange rubber washers to stick to the support column as well as the large steel washer. This steel washer has four holes drilled through it, each hole is 1/8th of an inch in diameter and is about 7/8ths of an inch apart from the next hole. The outer diameter of this washer is 1 3/4s of an inches and the inner diameter is 11/16ths of an inch, which is just large enough to fit the pyrex test tube through.

This test tube has an outer diameter of 5/8ths of an inch. These orange rubber washers have the perfect inner diameter to fit tighly around the pyrex test tube. It's important that everything is air tight or this engine won't run as well as it could. The outer diameter of one of these rubber washers is 1 inch and the inner diameter is 9/16ths of an inch. The first rubber washer is really just a spacer. The other 2 create a tight seal around the pyrex test tube.

This pyrex test tube is 4 inches tall. The outer diameter is 5/8ths of an inch and the inner diameter is 1/2 inch. Inside of the pyrex test tube is Steel Wool and some Stainless Steel scrubber material. The weight of the metal material is 8 grams. The weight is not important but the volume of the material makes a difference in the engine's speed. The bulk of the metal material stops at 3 inches and it completely stops at 3 and a half inches. I started using this steel wool I bought at the hardware store but it has some sort of oil on it that creates smoke when you heat it up so I'm switching over to this stainless steel scrubber material I found online which doesn't create smoke at all. Here's a better look. The stainless steel scrubber material is great because it doesn't create smoke when you heat it up but the steel wool is easier to compress. Too much air in the pyrex test tube will slow the engine down.

Let's take a look at the flywheel. To take off the flywheel we need to remove this graphite piston. This piston is connected to the flywheel by sliding this bearing onto the brass rod sticking out of the flywheel. This bearing has an outer diameter of 1/4 inch and an inner diameter of 1/16th. This piston is part of an Actuator I got from www.Airpot.com On one side it has a ball joint which allows the connecting rod to rotate easily, at the other end I added a bearing to reduce friction. It's important to handle the piston carefully since a little dirt on the graphite can slow down the engine considerably. This flywheel fits nicely into 2 bearings that fit tightly into the flywheel support column. There's nothing really holding the flywheel into the flywheel support column but I have drilled some holes in the flywheel shaft for a cotter pin.

These bearings fit tightly into the flywheel support column. One has been glued in place but the other just fits tightly in there. It's really easy to knock these bearings out of the flywheel support column. I knocked one bearing out trying to insert the flywheel shaft and it chipped away some of the wood. That's why you see these paper shims. I need a less permanent way of holding these bearings in place. This flywheel is made out of steel and has an aluminum shaft running through it. The diameter of the flywheel is 3 inches, it's thickness is 1/8th of an inch. The aluminum part of the flywheel is 1 and 7/16th of an inch long. It has 2 diameters, the skinnier part is 3/16ths of an inch in diameter and is 1 and 1/4 inch long. The thicker portion is a 1/4 inch in diameter and is 3/8ths long.

The brass pin sticking out of the flywheel has 2 diameters as well. It fits into a 1/8th inch hole but the part sticking out of the flywheel is 1/16th of an inch in diameter and sticks out about one quarter inch. The weight of the whole flywheel is 124 grams. The distance from the center of the brass pin to the center of the flywheel shaft is 7/16ths of an inch. That means the graphite piston travels 7/8ths of an inch. Let's take a look at the flyWheel support column. This support column is made out of wood and is 2 and 7/8ths of an inch tall. It is a square piece of wood, each side is 1 inch wide.

Video #2

These bearings are about an eighth of an inch thick and have an outer diameter of 5/16ths. The inner diameter is 3/16ths of an inch. The whole drilled through the column is 5/16ths of an inch in diameter, for the most part. The hole that is drilled through the column is centered at 2 and 5/16ths of an inch from the base. This is the same height as the center of the hole in the Aluminum Support Column. Now I'm going to remove the cylinder that houses the graphite piston. This cylinder is part of the actuator I got from airpot.com. The metallic end came pre threaded with this thin nut at the end. This nut is at most 9/16ths of an inch wide which fits nicely inside the first orange rubber washer.

I widened the hole in this actuator to 1/4 inch, which is as wide as I could drill it without ruining the threads on the threaded end. This quarter inch hole is 5/16ths long. The pyrex portion of this Actuator has an outer diameter of 23/32nds and an inner diameter of 5/8ths. I cut the pyrex cylinder's length down to 1 and 3/8ths of an inch. This allows the connecting rod to rotate at greater angles. If you check out the first engine video I uploaded on my other channel you'll see I left the pyrex cylinder fairly long and so I had to lengthen the connecting rod on that engine as well as the distance from the flywheel support column to the aluminum support column. The longer the connecting rod is the less it rotates with each revolution of the flywheel and the less likely it is to hit the walls of the pyrex cylinder.

Let's take a closer look at the graphite piston. The length of this piston is 1/2 inch. The diameter is 5/8ths of an inch. The connecting rod that connects the piston to the flywheel is about 3 inches long. The total weight of the piston, with the connecting rod and the bearing that connects to the flyWheel, is 4 grams. Now to remove this pyrex cylinder I just have to unscrew it. It does take a little force to loosen it up. I added this black rubber washer to keep air from leaking from the pyrex test tube side to outside of the engine by seaping past the thin nut. This rubber washer has an outer diameter of 5/8ths of an inch and an inner diameter of 1/2 inch.

Let's take a gander at this aluminum support column. The aluminum support column is held in place by 2 aluminum brackets. These aluminum brackets squeeze the aluminum support column with 2 half inch number 6 - 32 bolts. The brackets are secured to the wooden base with 2 one inch long #6 - 32 bolts. These are the same type of bolts I used on the large metal washer. I drilled 2 slots into each of the 2 brackets but it only took 2 bolts through one of the brackets to hold the support column in place. Each bolt has a washer on both sides of the wooden base. If the support column were to bend or move at all while it was in operation I would have put 2 more bolts through the other bracket but that wasn't the case.

The purpose of drilling slots through the brackets rather than just one hole is to allow the aluminum support column to move closer or further away from the flywheel. It's important to have the graphite piston just about touch the metal end of the cylinder. If the graphite piston makes contact with the metal and has to push the aluminum support column with each revolution of the flywheel, there's going to be some energy wasted and the engine won't perform as well as it could. The graphite piston can be damaged that way as well. On the other hand, if the closest the graphite piston gets to the metal end of the cylinder still leaves a lot of air in the cylinder, you'll notice a big performance loss. These brackets are 1 and 1/2 inches wide. The sides of the brackets that touch the wooden base are 7/8ths of an inch. The sides that clamp the aluminum support column are a 1/2 inch tall.

The aluminum support column is 3 inches tall and 1 and 1/2 inches wide. The 4 smaller holes at the top are 1/8th inch in diameter and are about 7/8ths apart. The large hole near the top has a diameter of 3/8ths of an inch and the center point is 2 and 5/16ths of an inch from the bottom. The 2 large holes at the bottom are each 1/4 inch in diameter. Their center points are 5/16ths of an inch from the bottom and are 5/8ths apart. The reason these holes are much bigger than the 1/8th inch diameter bolts that are running through them is so the aluminum support column can be adjusted slightly. These extra large holes allow the support column to be moved from side to side or up and down as much as an 1/8th of an inch. This way the connecting rod can be made perfectly parallel with the flywheel.

The base of the engine is made of wood and is 9 inches by 7 inches. It's thickness is 5/8ths of an inch. I spray painted the base with this brown textured spray paint. On the bottom of the base I've added 4 felt pads. The Fresnel Lens I use for solar power I got from an office supplies store. It's known as a Page Magnifier. It's about 11 inches by 8 and 1/4 inches. But the actual magnifying portion is 10 and 7/16ths by 7 and 7/8ths. The slots in the brackets are about 3/8ths of an inch long and are supposed to be an eighth of an inch wide, They didn't turn out so well but they still serve their purpose. The thickness of the brackets is about 1/16th of an inch. The thickness of the aluminum support column is about 1/8th of an inch. Ok check out video 2 for the rest of the details. Alright that's all the dimensions of all the parts and a little explanation as to why I used some parts. Subscribe if you want to see some more videos like these.

To see this engine being powered by the sun check out the Lamina 1 - Solar Powered Lamina Flow Stirling Engine video.