no mill no lathe ic engine

[gmac]

Matt;
You might want to Google the "Henry Ford First Engine". It's simple enough and many of the parts are store bought with minor machining. From this forum;

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f31/henry-ford-engine-7985/

As for the idea of building a lathe and mill; I started down that path but soon discovered that the cost exceeded that of finding a used Taig or chinese 7x12 lathe. I'd suggest watching the ads for a lathe.

As Terry said, leverage the people you know and businesses to help you accomplish the things you can't do (yet). There are lots of people willing to help young people keen to learn.

Cheers Garry

 

[Matterest]

Matt;
You might want to Google the "Henry Ford First Engine". It's simple enough and many of the parts are store bought with minor machining. From this forum;

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f31/henry-ford-engine-7985/

As for the idea of building a lathe and mill; I started down that path but soon discovered that the cost exceeded that of finding a used Taig or chinese 7x12 lathe. I'd suggest watching the ads for a lathe.

As Terry said, leverage the people you know and businesses to help you accomplish the things you can't do (yet). There are lots of people willing to help young people keen to learn.

Cheers Garry

Since the first post I have gotten a lathe and mill(piece of junk) hopefully I can get a sherline mill soon, I have looked a that engine before and it has always interested me.
I am a member on a robotics team of highschoolers. Most of the students have atleast a little experience with manual and cnc machines, its amazing that the can build a 120 pound robot to throw a frisbe or something like that in six weeks. A few of them have expressed interest in building model engines as well.
Would you suggest the ford engine as a first ic engine?

http://kyeot.org/home/

 

[RichD]

Matt,
Check out this site, he hosts all kinds of stirling engines made from Tin Cans...
http://www.boydhouse.com/stirling/
Rich

 

[BronxFigs]

Matterest...

I like your style. Almost anything can be done....so, try. But first, do some reserch for simple designs.

For cylinders....try DOM (drawn-over-mandrel) steel tubing, and finish the bore with very fine sandpaper. Hone the cylinder by spinning the sand-paper around the inside of the bore by using an electric drill, and slotted wooden dowel. Pipes will probably not have a round bore. You might also try using store-bought, bronze bushings for a cylinder.

Buy some small diameter, bronze bushings at the local Hardware/Marine-Hardware store and use these bushings for your bearings. Use scrap metal for the rest of the engine. Many parts of the engine are NOT critical, but relationships and dimensions are. Cranks must spin easily, and turn without binding, and the finished piston/cylinder must seal without leaking. The 'frame' of the engine just holds everything together, in the correct relationships. (This is an oversimplification).

I would strongly suggest that you start with a simpler, steam-engine, and learn how to fit all the parts together. The same skills used to make this steam-engine will be used to make your I.C. engine(s). Look up the drawings for a steam engine called: "The Little Husky" - Modelengineeringwebsite.com. Take a good look at the drawings. Almost all the frame parts can be made by using the simple hand tools found in any good shop. Use a short piece of DOM steel-tubing for the cylinder, which is the most important part of this design. Once you have a good cylinder, make a good-fitting piston, then make the rest of the parts. Make sure you understand how this engine works. Later on, when you gain experience, you could convert this steam-engine into an Internal-Combustion design by making a few new parts, like the cylinder, valve, cam, head. NOTE: Some forum members have already built this engine and posted very helpful photos of this engine as it was being built.

I wish you good luck, and I hope you have many hours of interesting fun when building your first engine. Ask for help.


Frank