# my first LTD stirling



## McNeillMachine (Jan 5, 2009)

Made this as a Christmas present for my dad. I bought a set of plans from Jerry Howell a while back but given time and material constraints, I modified them heavily. I kept most of the critical dimensions, but that is about it. Took about 75 hours to make, most of which was getting the scrap stock I had lying around into usable shape. All of the moving joints have ball bearings to keep friction to a minimum. It doesn't run on as quite as low a temp differential as I would like, but it is the first one I built.

Sorry there are no construction pics, I got the camera for christmas - after I finished the engine, of course. :












Here's a video of it running. its a large file, >30mb, so woe unto those with dialup
http://s277.photobucket.com/albums/kk67/McNeillMachine/?action=view&current=DSCN0277.flv

Cross posted at homeshopmachinist.


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## b.lindsey (Jan 5, 2009)

Absolutely beautiful engine. I like the clever idea of the adjustable counterweights on the cranks too. Your dad must have been thrilled to receive this for Christmas.

Regards,

Bill


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## rake60 (Jan 5, 2009)

Beautiful work!

Rick


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## Metal Mickey (Jan 5, 2009)

Smashing work.


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## rleete (Jan 5, 2009)

I really like the thin spokes on the large flywheel, and the way they aren't evenly spaced. Gives it the look of a large watch timing wheel.

Very nice lines to that one.


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## Brass_Machine (Jan 5, 2009)

NICE!

Digging the style.

Eric


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## Maryak (Jan 6, 2009)

This is one unique, beautiful engine. :bow: :bow:

Best Regards
Bob


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## jack404 (Jan 6, 2009)

yes very pretty Mc

i wont be getting the video thou...

glad it came out as well as it did for you

well done !!!

cheers

jack


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## Stan (Jan 6, 2009)

I have had both good and bad luck with Stirlings. I see this beautiful engine has a cold side plate of shiny brass. How does this compare to black aluminum for radiating heat? My understanding is that the top plates ability to radiate heat determines the temperature required to make it run. Is this correct?


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## Orrin (Jan 7, 2009)

I _really _ like it! :bow: Your design shows that you have a great imagination.

Thank you for posting the pix. You can show us some more if you want. I guarantee they'll be appreciated. 

Best regards, 

Orrin


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## McNeillMachine (Jan 7, 2009)

Stan,

the hot and cold plates are both aluminum - it just looks like brass due to the bad lighting in my basement and weird photographic artifact. Just out of curiosity, I looked up what the thermal conductivity of brass and aluminum are.

Aluminum: 1160 BTU-in/hr-ft²-°F

Brass:    798 BTU-in/hr-ft²-°F

So there you have it. Aluminum is ~50% better than brass at conducting heat.

Here's one more decent picture of it >TOOL GLOAT ALERT< sitting on my killer 24" x 36" AA grade surface plate that I got for the cost of shipping!


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## 4156df (Jan 7, 2009)

Dang. That is a beautiful engine. 
Dennis


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