Howell's Vintage stirling

[dmartine1]

Here are some pictures of my first Stirling experience.

I bought some plans for my Dad last Chrstmas and these were from late Jerry Howell. It turned out that my Dad whom does not have a lot of machinery, feared to give them a try.

I then decided that it would be a shame to have bought them and not build at least one.

I first saw this model last year at a show in Windsor , VT at the American Precision Museum.

So I set aside my Hit and Miss project which has been cooking since a couple of years anyway, and got started on this one.

I must admit that it was quite something to get to run as Stirlings are very particular on leaks !!! I had to assemble / disassemble many times before getting the right fits and proper leak proof.

After a few mods to add O-rings here and there, I got an engine which I can assemble / disassemble quite easily and is leak proof.

Enough wording, lets get to pictures :bow:

THis is the very first part I made. It is stainless steel and was turned from a solid 2 1/4" bar.

Next, I tackled down the flywheel. I was very lucky with that one as the shop where I get my «scrap» from had a cut-off slice of steel 1/4" larger than needed and 1/8" thicker !!! Not much work to get it into a round slug to hog spokes from (as opposed to having to cut that from a square plate)

Here are the parts for this small but complex engine

And now some pre-assembly

The cooling system, water pump are next.

Stay tuned

 

[BMyers]

nice work ! :bow:

 

[hitandmissman]

Very nice looking engine and a great job on building.

 

[Krown Kustoms]

That looks great
the pics explain a lot just seeing your exploded view.
-B-

 

[b.lindsey]

Nice work on a great little engine. I built one a couple of years ago for my dad and want to build another for myself when time permits. I used the piston type pump and it does have some leakage problems even though it works fine. If/when I do it again I would go with the gear type pump instead to eliminate that issue.

Keep us updated on the progress by all means!!

Regards,
Bill

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Very nice. Beautiful work. Love the color.

 

[idahoan]

Beautiful Engine; Thanks for sharing.

Dave

 

[Deanofid]

Good work. Really a beautiful engine. Thanks for the pictures.

 

[dsquire]

dmartine1

Very nice build on the engine and pump. All blinged up it looks excellent. Definitely something that you can be proud of. :bow: :bow:

Cheers

Don

 

[vlmarshall]

The neatest little water pumps I've seen use a magnetic coupling between the impeller and the drive shaft, eliminating the need for a seal.

 

[dmartine1]

The neatest little water pumps I've seen use a magnetic coupling between the impeller and the drive shaft, eliminating the need for a seal.

I saw that Jerry has designed one but have never seen the internals. Isn't it a bearing for the impeller as well ? How do we seal the bearing then to prevent water from getting in?

 

[arnoldb]

Lovely engine Thm: dmartine1

Regards, Arnold

 

[dmartine1]

Thanks guys for the kind word, I am glad to be part of this community.

It feels good to get your comments as sometimes we shoot for perfection (as we see in some posts here) and that seems to always be out of reach.

I think I'll stay in the hobby and keep learning!

Cheers

Denis

 

[b.lindsey]

Very nice dmartine1 ...a showpiece to be very proud of and I like what you did with the pump.

Bill