Search found 8 matches

by timsefton
Fri May 03, 2019 5:58 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Melvin Engine
Replies: 16
Views: 21022

Re: Melvin Engine

Hi Ian,

The bore size of power cylinder is 250 mm.

Tim
by timsefton
Mon Apr 22, 2019 3:53 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Melvin Engine
Replies: 16
Views: 21022

Re: Melvin Engine

True, I could only find information for PTFE on steel and PTFE on PTFE, both 0.04, no mention of aluminium. Andy Ross in his book "Making Stirling Engines",(free down load), uses a Teflon resin paint called Xylan on aluminium alloy pistons, this stuff is applied professionally and baked o...
by timsefton
Mon Apr 22, 2019 3:36 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Melvin Engine
Replies: 16
Views: 21022

Re: Melvin Engine

How many hours are on the Melvin? I think it needs many hours of running to see what is wearing... Hi cbstirling, Not many hours yet, we are just starting to get into some more formal testing - took us a long time just to get it built and running ! We are seeing some wear in the hot end of the disp...
by timsefton
Thu Apr 18, 2019 6:05 am
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Melvin Engine
Replies: 16
Views: 21022

Re: Melvin Engine

Interesting, its funny how one constraint (ie your legs) can drive the design - we had some issues with the piston / ring setup on the Melvin but have got a good solution at this point. The 3D printed piston is pretty cool due to the internal structure of infill (amount of which you choose) which is...
by timsefton
Sat Apr 13, 2019 5:19 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Melvin Engine
Replies: 16
Views: 21022

Re: Melvin Engine

Looks cool, What did you make the piston & rings out of ?

Is it a direct crank for the displacer ? We tried to get rid of the linkage between the piston crank and the displacer on the melvin but had too much side force on the displacer shaft due to size constraints.
by timsefton
Fri Apr 12, 2019 7:22 pm
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Melvin Engine
Replies: 16
Views: 21022

Re: Melvin Engine

Will do the stainless hunt - There is a great metal scrap yard here in Detroit (actually several) but the one I go to gets the most amazing stuff - at times brand new engines show up from some of the auto manufacture / suppliers that are being scraped out - I'll keep my eye out in their stainless ar...
by timsefton
Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:51 am
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Melvin Engine
Replies: 16
Views: 21022

Re: Melvin Engine

Hi Ian, Thanks for the note - were using Aluminized Steel for the hot end chamber and hot end of the displacer. Its regular steel that is hot dipped into aluminum- gives us the corrosion protection of aluminum and higher temperature limits of steel. We've had it up pretty high in temperature and hav...
by timsefton
Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:01 am
Forum: Stirling and "Hot Air" Engine Forum
Topic: Melvin Engine
Replies: 16
Views: 21022

Melvin Engine

Good Morning, We are making a stirling engine in Michigan, called The Melivin, to produce electricity. Always interested in getting feedback and I know there is a lot of stirling knowledge here. Our goal was to make the least expensive, robust, simple to operate engine that can produce a useable amo...