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Hello Ted, I must admit that I didn't know what a Rhodes shaper was until I looked it up on the the web. It certainly is a massive bit of kit! It made a very nice job of the Impossible Dovetail Puzzle ( which was something else I had to look up to find out how it works). Thank you for your kind...

Hello Ted, I was planning to make another Stirling 60 but got interested in Low Temperature Differential engines. I found a book by Jim R Larsen "Three LTD Stirling Engines You Can Build Without a Machine Shop" His Number 2 engine looked interesting so I thought that I would have a go at...

Hello Ted, This is my completed engine. I thought that it would be fun to make it look like the sort of thing that a Victorian gentleman with an interest in science would have in his study to show his like-minded friends. Hence the faux-marble plinth with brass ball feet and the addition of a...

Hello Ted, Following your advice, I made a new displacer using Loctite instead of solder. I used Loctite 270 rather than 620 as the 620 was extremely expensive and the much cheaper 270 also had a high temperature rating. It was much easier to put together using Loctite rather than solder! I...

Thanks for the advice, Ted. I had not heard of high temp Loctite. I have done a bit of on-line research and it appears to be a good substitute for solder and should be a lot easier to apply. I will give it a go. Best wishes, Clockman

I spent some time chasing places where I thought there was some friction and got things moving as freely as I could - certainly much better than before. I decided to try running the engine with more heat so I added two extra wicks to my tea light and fired up. Much to my surprise and joy the...

Thank you Ted. I will let you know how I get on. Best wishes, Clockman

Hello Ted, Thank you very much for your helpful reply. I did spend some time getting the levers, rods and flywheel to run smoothly and was careful with the alignment of the various components. This led me to the conclusion that the cylinder and piston, and my poor workmanship, were the root of...

Thanks everyone for the helpful tips. Progress has been slow because of clock repairing commitments but all the parts have now been made and assembled. A certain amount of tweaking was needed to get the proper clearances on the levers and rods. I didn't really expect it to run on its first test...

Thank you - that is very useful information. After much internet searching I think I have found 13mm dia. test tubes. But I will need to check the size when received as advertisers are not always that accurate. Best wishes, Clockman

Thanks for the tips about fit. In clock making fits are generally on the loose side. There is a saying "If it rattles then it will run" which works for clocks but probably not for the Stirling. I am having problems finding test tubes of the specified 13mm diameter. I presume it would be better...

Thanks for the helpful replies. I like the idea of using my Dremel as a cutter and will follow this up. Friction is the enemy of clock making too but the point about changing clearances as the engine heats up is not something that I had thought of before. I feel that there is going to be some...

Hi - I'm new to HMEM so I hope that I'm doing this right. Since retiring, my hobby has been making clocks - proper ones with weights, mainsprings, pendulums etc. For a change I thought that I would try to make a Stirling engine and found the drawings for the Stirling '60' by J.Jonkman on the...