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Any engine with a piston that moves back and forth is reciprocating. The difference with steam engines is that the pistons are often double acting (pressurizes both sides of the piston) where nearly all internal combustion engines are single acting (pressure on one side of the piston...

On to the next idea for my series of "steam" engines with strange layouts. I notices on my last project, that back-driving the valve cam resulted in shaft rotation that wasn't too hard. Therefore I think I can have an engine using an offset circular cam instead of a crankshaft. I could've...

DDoty, My wife and I will be on holiday at that time. The timing doesn't work out. ...Ved.

Here's my finished Swashplate "Steam" Engine. The plans, 3D model(s), and casting patterns are freely available here: Swashplate Engine ...Ved.

Finally, the casting patterns:

The solid model of the engine in .stp format (.zipped):

More Parts Drawings:

PDF files of the Assembly Drawings:

The only thing I have left to make on this engine is the flywheel which I'm purchasing from Martin Models. As such, I'm confident that posting the design files at this time is now warranted:

Variable flow rate hydraulic pumps are commonly of a swashplate design as well. As the flow rate requirements decrease and the pressure requirements increase, the swashplate will rotate closer 0 degrees trading volume for pressure. Often this actuation is entirely automatic with the swashplate...

As I've done with my other engine designs, I'll post all relevant design files, cad models, casting patterns, etc. to this forum when I'm done with the engine. Being that this one has been a particularly frustrating build, I've tried to capture my on-the-fly changes, but alas, I probably have...

Dave, I assume the air admission is a rotary valve on the flywheel axle?

Several more weeks of work, and I'm getting closer. I have engine running on two of the four cylinders and that's without a flywheel. It's a noisy sucker, but I have ideas on how to ease that. For as long as I've been working on this thing, today was a big milestone!

I've been working on this contraption and my rotating valve plate idea failed. So I have a redesign using spool valves and a rotary cam. What's not shown is that I intend to use an oring around the perimeter of the engine as valve springs(s). The oring will ride in the cross cut on the...

I"m not that far away (Indianapolis) and you're mill is much better than mine. This issue is that I'm out of room (boo....).

The design does allow for the valve clearance adjustment. The interpretation of the nut adjusting the spring compression is correct. Below the thread, the valve tappet is adjusted. The intent was that the tappet would either be constrained with a second nut or held in place with a light...

Brian, I'm sure you'll have no problem with this engine. My issue was getting the valves to seal any you've done so many gas engines that portion should be cake for you... Ved.

A quick Google search says that Lycoming's XR7755 was the largest radial engine. It never got past the experimental stage though. From the website: "The U.S. military’s naming conventions provide some info about the XR-7755: X stands for experimental; R indicates a radial cylinder...

Great build log. I know what you mean about machining copper. It's quite the PITA.

I assuming you're running your fan at the same power levels as when you ran it out of the boiler (~5.6 volt / ~.46 amps.) This would equal 2.6 watts of power consumed by the electric fan. Now, assuming 10% loss in your power supply, 10% Loss in power transmission from the grid, and 60% loss...