Rudy Kouhoupt Stirling Engines

[MarioM]

Hi, I am new to this forum. I am finishing a stirling engine from the book "plan sets from the past". Has anybody built one of these engines.

 

[Tin Falcon]

welcome to the board. have not built one get but have a full size plan set from Rudy.
several here have done similar engines.
Tin

 

[MarioM]

welcome to the board. have not built one get but have a full size plan set from Rudy.
several here have done similar engines.
Tin

Than you very much for your reply. My home address is in Ecuador, so English is my second language, sorry if
I make mistakes.

Actually I just finished the engine, but it does not look alive at all, it fills OK when run it by hand but no kickback.......I think it has leaks.......any ideas??

 

[maverick]

Wecome MarioM,
I have built 2 compressed air engines from Rudy's plans and find the plans to be
accurate and easy to follow. Good luck on the Stirling.

Regards,
Mike

 

[Longboy]

............Actually I just finished the engine, but it does not look alive at all, it fills OK when run it by hand but no kickback.......I think it has leaks.......any ideas??

Your engine doesn't run because it has air leaks or suffers from friction in the moving parts. The feel by hand doesn't tell you much, the engine sees something it does not like. A good place to start is to remove the power piston and blow some compressed air at low pressure into the cyl. so the leaks present themselves but I don't know what plans you worked from and you may be unable to get a blow-off nozzle over the power cylinder.

 

[MarioM]

Your engine doesn't run because it has air leaks or suffers from friction in the moving parts. The feel by hand doesn't tell you much, the engine sees something it does not like. A good place to start is to remove the power piston and blow some compressed air at low pressure into the cyl. so the leaks present themselves but I don't know what plans you worked from and you may be unable to get a blow-off nozzle over the power cylinder.

This is the first stirling I made and and was a bit anxious to finish it. I will now try to find where the leaks are and see what happens. Thank you for your advise.

 

[MarioM]

Wecome MarioM,
I have built 2 compressed air engines from Rudy's plans and find the plans to be
accurate and easy to follow. Good luck on the Stirling.

Regards,
Mike

Thank you very much. I will keep trying.

 

[MarioM]

welcome to the board. have not built one get but have a full size plan set from Rudy.
several here have done similar engines.
Tin

Hi Tin, I found the engine I am building in you tube. Do you know of anybody who built this engine??

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUr6rsNgBU0[/ame]

 

[Stan]

I don't remember what plans I used, but I built a Stirling that looks like the one in the video.

Sealing air leaks was the solution to get it to run. I made the displacer guide/bushing several times before I achieved a close enough fit. The hot air has to move from the displacer cylinder through the doss drilled hole to the power cylinder. Any leakage around the displacer piston rod will keep it from running.

My other problem was I used stainless steel for the hot end and SS has poor heat conduction. The second hot end was made from brass. That is not ideal but it works.

I use an alcohol lamp under the hot end and it takes quite a while to get hot enough to run, but then runs well. If I am in a hurry to show it to someone, I preheat it with a propane torch and then use the alcohol lamp.

 

[lazylathe]

Hi,

I have plans for a similar engine.
It is from the Home Shop Machinist Volume 23 November/December 2005.
I think it is called "Brassy Babe" though not sure...
The article is just called " Building a Horizontal Stirling Engine"
The magazine, volume and months above are correct.
I do know it is a horizontal Stirling engine.

Will have a look when i get home although it looks to be exactly the same as the one in the video.

Andrew

 

[MarioM]

I don't remember what plans I used, but I built a Stirling that looks like the one in the video.

Sealing air leaks was the solution to get it to run. I made the displacer guide/bushing several times before I achieved a close enough fit. The hot air has to move from the displacer cylinder through the doss drilled hole to the power cylinder. Any leakage around the displacer piston rod will keep it from running.

My other problem was I used stainless steel for the hot end and SS has poor heat conduction. The second hot end was made from brass. That is not ideal but it works.

I use an alcohol lamp under the hot end and it takes quite a while to get hot enough to run, but then runs well. If I am in a hurry to show it to someone, I preheat it with a propane torch and then use the alcohol lamp.

Than you very much for the information. I have already made the displacer guide/bushing twice. Second time was better than first.......at least the engine tried to run, but maybe is not enough. I was also worried about other leaks so to be sure sealed them with RTV sealant, does not look very nice and lacks mechanical touch, but I really need to see that engine running.......I will work on the look later. The times I have tried to run it has been with the torch.....but if I ever get it running well I will prefer to use an alcohol lamp. Do you remember when you built yours how you sealed the displacer piston assembly.

 

[MarioM]

Hi,

I have plans for a similar engine.
It is from the Home Shop Machinist Volume 23 November/December 2005.
I think it is called "Brassy Babe" though not sure...
The article is just called " Building a Horizontal Stirling Engine"
The magazine, volume and months above are correct.
I do know it is a horizontal Stirling engine.

Will have a look when i get home although it looks to be exactly the same as the one in the video.

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

You are right. The plans are in the volume you mentioned. I have read it many times and it has been a good source of information. The engine is very similar to the one I built, but it is more refined, a bit more elaborated, a few differences, uses ball bearings and the measurements are different (piston and displacer are bigger).

Mario

 

[Stan]

Do you remember when you built yours how you sealed the displacer piston assembly.

I had some high temperature gasket paper and I cut gaskets for both ends. I made a gasket for the power cylinder also.

 

[lazylathe]

I use the red high temp gasket sealer in the tube.
Just spread a very thin layer on one surface and screw together.
Wipe the excess away with a paper towel.
On mine you can barely see a very thin red line around the joint.

Make sure the parts fit flush together and you should not have a problem.

Andrew

 

[Stan]

Here is a hint for people who use the silicone type of gasket sealer.

Put a thin layer of sealant on to the cleaned surface and then set the object (sealer side down) on a piece of wax paper. Come back the next day and lift the object of the wax paper, trim away any that squeezed out and you have a gasket attached to one side of the joint but the parts will not be glued together permanently.

 

[purpleknif]

Some good information here! This engine looks to be very similar to the one I'm building from a kit from Little Machine Shop. Thanks for the tips.

 

[MarioM]

Thank you very much for all the information. I will keep working and trying. Will let you know what happens.

 

[MarioM]

Hi to all. Good news. Finally my first engine runs.......
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x6S1hOGJD4&feature=player_embedded[/ame]

Had few mistakes. Alignment problems, leaks and friction. I used RTV to correct some leaks. Lapped the power cylinder and polished the piston. It seems it needs a lot of heat to run.......I have only used the torch.

Now it needs some cleaning, and a nice base. Very nice feeling to see it working!!!!!!!

 

[lazylathe]

Congratulations Mario!!!!! ;D

How long will it run for when you remove the heat?
If it is not too long it still has too much friction and possible small air leaks.

If you disconnect the arms from the flywheel and push the power piston in and out does the displacer move?

I am sure the more you run it the less heat it will take to run!
My dream is that when i complete my first Stirling it will run off a tea light! ;D
We will see if that happens!!

Excellent job!!! Thm:

Andrew

 

[danstir]

Good work and great perseverance!!