A Hybrid Stirling Trike

Two more items for the build arrived today, they are flue sections left over from an installation job and I was able to buy them for just $NZ5.00. The larger one will become a heatshield and the smaller one is destined to become the outer casing on a wood gasifier.
All I need now is for my replacement welding goggles to arrive and work can begin :D
 

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Is there enough heat generated on the cool side to use thermo-siphon? That's the ultimate in simplicity when very high efficiency cooling isn't necessary. Also would relieve the batteries from additional draw.

I like the look of the stove flues. The galvanized finish could be left with a patina finish for that industrial look.
Since the term "steampunk" is in your vocabulary will we see some of its influence?
Its a perfect build to introduce a bit.
 
cannonball2 said:
Is there enough heat generated on the cool side to use thermo-siphon? That's the ultimate in simplicity when very high efficiency cooling isn't necessary. Also would relieve the batteries from additional draw.

I like the look of the stove flues. The galvanized finish could be left with a patina finish for that industrial look.
Since the term "steampunk" is in your vocabulary will we see some of its influence?
Its a perfect build to introduce a bit.
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Some builders are using thermo-siphon setups to cool their engines CB and I really would like to try this first. I'm not really wanting to try and wring every bit of power out of the engine so hopefully a pump wont be necessary.

I will confess to a liking for Steampunk themes, but I don't like the way some people do it by covering objects with cogs and gears that don't do anything. There will be brass and copper; Dark varnished wood will make a modest appearance; And there definitely will be crankshafts and flywheels. :D

I agree CB, leaving the galvanised metal to acquire a working patina would be a good thing, - especially on a heat shield.
The smaller diameter flue is stainless steel, but that won't be appearing on this project :)
 

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fasteddy said:
Copper, Brass, Dark Varnished Wood? :)

Steve.
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Yes Steve, the three most coolest materials on the planet for making anything out of :)

I've just ordered the crankshaft I'm going to use as a basis for the crankshaft on my Stirling engine.........



Modifications will need to be done of course, such as changing needle roller bearings for bronze bushings, but it's waaaaay easier to mod this than make one from scratch.

The next job is to get a couple of these.....

 
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The housewares section of our local supermarket yielded a stainless steel toilet brush holder which is going to make a perfect displacer cylinder for the Stirling engine.



I'm going to have to modify the top of the kero stove so that the displacer cylinder will fit down inside it for around half of its length. The top of the displacer cylinder will need to be fitted with a water jacket which I will make from sheet copper. By enclosing the hot end of the cylinder inside the stove I should be able to obtain much more even heating than if it was out in the open air.

My next job will be to purchase some steel bar stock from Iron Maiden to make the support frame for the engine. And yes the steel supplier I use really is called 'Iron Maiden' :) They are a scrap dealers and have their stock sorted and well organised so it's easy to order what you need. The best thing is of course that their prices are a lot cheaper than buying new steel.
 
Yesterday we had an absolute hum-dinger of a thunderstorm and it rained like it was trying to make up for all the hot dry days we'd had over Summer. Needless to say nothing got done except housework which was essential, but boring :(

My replacement welding goggles have arrived (Yay!); - so perhaps now I can finally have a mess about and see what this new torch of mine can do.

This delightful little cyclecar is thought by some experts to be a French 'Atome', but others say it isn't and at the time the article about it was written even the cyclecar's owner didn't really know what it was. BUT that doesn't matter because this is essentially what my trike is going to look like with a body on it. My one will differ of course in that its boot/trunk will be full of Stirling engine.
 
Oiler_zpsmldj08sn.jpg


MINE!

So I got my proper vintage oiler, but had to scrap for it a bit to beat off the other bidders. I suppose I've left some poor vintage traction engine owner sobbing into his cocoa, but it's a tough world when you're Steampunk Girl.

 
My lovely flywheel has arrived and it's all round and huge and heavy and cast irony with spokes :D You just have to love the Victorians don't you.
Saved it was from a horrid fate of rusting in somebody's garden because they wanted their garden to look rustic..... Grrrr mutter....

In the same auction lot was a sizeable handwheel for a huge gate valve. You know, the sort of thing at the end of the movie where the hero manfully heaves on the handwheel in the pelting rain and closes the valve with thunder and lightning all around him and saves the girl/town/city/industrial complex/world & etc.
Well with a little modification it will make a very nice flywheel too and it even has curved spokes. This also was saved from a horrid rusty fate. I'm just so kind to old machinery (sigh).

The last object in the lot was a heavy cast iron blanking cover from a pump of some kind. I didn't really need this, but I had to buy all three items or none at all. It should make a lovely doorstop I suppose.

The parcel weight was something like 19 kilos, but since it was the only adequate flywheel I'd been able find I just had to pay up, grin and bear it.
Apparently though the guy selling these items got his wife to go down to the Post Office to send the parcel off and the poor woman had to stand in a queue holding onto the thing :eek:
No man should take a woman for granted who can lug around 19 kilos of cast iron that's wot I'm saying ;)

Now I have to wait for my crankshaft to arrive........
 

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This thing is going to be epic... You are going to need an air bottle and a steam whistle you know.....
 
An air tank and a steam whistle- hum? - you shouldn't put ideas in my head like that Boxcar ;)

cannonball2 said:
Go get em SPG! By all means run the gate valve handle, looks like its moving just sitting there!
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Yes I like the gate valve handwheel too CB. It's just a little lighter and nice and neat and compact than the other flywheel which I think will suit the project Stirling engine better. It looks dead corker with those curved spokes too :D
I will have to sort out something with the square hole, but even if I have to take it down the end of the road to the engineer chaps to drill it out on their big lathe it's still been well worth it to find such a nice flywheel.

I'll reserve the straight spoked flywheel for a larger non-mobile Stirling engine which can be used to charge batteries, but mostly will make me smile a lot when it's running :)
 
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That is a beautiful replica Steve. The Roper steam bike has always fascinated me, but I don't think I have the skills to even get close to building something like that.
 
Hi Anne,

When I saw that I immediately thought of you. Wouldn't that be something to quietly pass through town with leaving a wake of admiring people. I agree with the difficulty of building one but if you could it would indeed be the Bees Knees.

Steve.
 
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