Homemade steam engine. Steam Engine – Getting Started in Simulation

I will duplicate from the forum:
the car is installed on a boat there, which is not necessary for us

BOAT WITH STEAM ENGINE

Case manufacturing
The hull of our boat is carved from dry, soft and light wood: linden, aspen, alder; Birch is harder and more difficult to process. You can also take spruce or pine, but they are easily pricked, which complicates the work.
Having chosen a log of suitable thickness, trim it with an ax and saw off a piece of the required size. The sequence of manufacturing the body is shown in the figures (see table 33, left, top).
Cut the deck out of dry boards. Make the deck slightly convex on top, like on real ships, so that any water that gets on it flows overboard. Using a knife, cut shallow grooves into the deck to give the deck surface the appearance of planks.

Boiler construction
Having cut out a piece of tin measuring 80x155 mm, bend the edges about 10 mm wide in opposite directions. Having bent the tin into a ring, connect the bent edges into a seam and solder it (see table, middle, right). Bend the workpiece to form an oval, cut two oval bottoms along it and solder them.
Punch two holes in the top of the boiler: one for the water-filling plug, the other for the passage of steam into the steam chamber. A dry steamer is a small round jar made of tin. From the steam chamber comes a small tube welded from tin, onto the end of which another rubber tube is pulled, through which the steam goes to the cylinder of the steam engine.
The firebox is only suitable for an alcohol burner. From below, the firebox has a tin bottom with curved edges. The figure shows a firebox pattern. Dotted lines indicate fold lines. You cannot solder the firebox; its side walls are fastened with two or three small rivets. The lower edges of the walls are bent outward and covered by the edges of the tin bottom.
The burner has two wicks made of cotton wool and a long funnel-shaped tube soldered from tin. Through this tube you can add alcohol to the burner without removing the boiler with the firebox from the boat or the burner from the firebox. If the boiler is connected to the cylinder of the steam engine with a rubber tube, the firebox with the boiler can be easily removed from the boat.
If there is no alcohol, you can make a firebox that will run on fine pre-lit charcoal. Coal is poured into a tin box with a lattice bottom. The box with coal is installed in the firebox. To do this, the boiler will have to be made removable and secured above the firebox with wire clamps.

Making machine
The boat model has a steam engine with an oscillating cylinder. This is a simple yet well-functioning model. How it works can be seen in table 34, on the right, above.
The first position shows the moment of steam inlet when the hole in the cylinder coincides with the steam inlet hole. In this position, steam enters the cylinder, presses on the piston and pushes it down. The steam pressure on the piston is transmitted through the connecting rod and crank to the propeller shaft. As the piston moves, the cylinder rotates.
When the piston does not reach the bottom point a little, the cylinder will stand straight and the intake of steam will stop: the hole in the cylinder no longer coincides with the inlet hole. But the rotation of the shaft continues, due to the inertia of the flywheel. The cylinder turns more and more, and when the piston begins to rise upward, the cylinder hole will coincide with another, the exhaust hole. The exhaust steam in the cylinder is pushed out through the outlet hole.
When the piston rises to its highest position, the cylinder will become straight again and the exhaust port will close. At the beginning of the reverse movement of the piston, when it begins to descend, the hole in the cylinder will again coincide with the steam inlet, steam will rush into the cylinder again, the piston will receive a new push, and everything will repeat all over again.
Cut the cylinder from a brass, copper or steel tube with a hole diameter of 7-8 mm or from an empty cartridge case of the corresponding diameter. The tube should have smooth inner walls.
Cut the connecting rod out of a brass or iron plate 1.5-2 mm thick, tinning the end without a hole.
Cast the piston from lead directly in the cylinder. The casting method is exactly the same as for the steam engine described earlier. When the casting lead is melted, hold the connecting rod clamped with pliers in one hand and pour the lead into the cylinder with the other hand. Immediately immerse the tinned end of the connecting rod into the still uncured lead to the pre-marked depth. It will be firmly sealed into the piston. Make sure that the connecting rod is immersed exactly plumb and in the center of the piston. When the casting has cooled, push the piston and connecting rod out of the cylinder and carefully clean it.
Cut the cylinder cover from brass or iron with a thickness of 0.5-1 mm.
The steam distribution device of a steam engine with an oscillating cylinder consists of two plates: cylinder steam distribution plate A, which is soldered to the cylinder, and steam distribution plate B, soldered to the rack (frame). They are best made from brass or copper and only as a last resort from iron (see table, left, top).
The plates must fit tightly to each other. To do this, they scrounge up. It's done like this. Take out the so-called test tile or take a small mirror. Cover its surface with a very thin and even layer of black oil paint or soot, wiped off with vegetable oil. The paint is spread across the surface of the mirror with your fingers. Place the scraped plate on a mirror surface coated with paint, press it with your fingers and move it across the mirror from side to side for a while. Then remove the plate and scrape all protruding areas covered with paint with a special tool - a scraper. A scraper can be made from an old triangular file by sharpening its edges as shown in the figure. If the metal from which the steam distribution plates are made is soft (brass, copper), then the scraper can be replaced with a penknife.
When all the protruding paint-covered areas of the plate have been removed, wipe off the remaining paint and place the plate back on the testing surface. Now the paint will cover a large surface of the plate. Very good. Continue scraping until the entire surface of the plate is covered with small, frequent specks of paint. After you have attached the steam distribution plates, solder a screw inserted into the hole drilled in the plate to the cylinder plate A. Solder the plate with the screw to the cylinder. Then solder the cylinder cover. Solder the other plate to the frame of the machine.
Cut the frame from a brass or iron plate 2-3 mm thick and secure it to the bottom of the boat with two screws.
Make the propeller shaft from steel wire 3-4 mm thick or from the axle of a “constructor” set. The shaft rotates in a tube soldered from tin. Brass or copper washers with holes exactly along the shaft are soldered to its ends. Pour oil into the tube so that water cannot enter the boat even when the upper end of the tube is located below the water level. The propeller shaft tube is secured in the boat hull using an obliquely soldered round plate. Fill all the cracks around the tube and the mounting plate with molten resin (varnish) or cover it with putty.
The crank is made from a small iron plate and a piece of wire and is secured to the end of the shaft by soldering.
Choose a ready-made flywheel or cast it from zinc or lead, as for the valve steam engine described earlier. On the table, the circle shows the method of casting in a tin jar, and the rectangle shows the method of casting in a clay mold.
The propeller is cut from thin brass or iron and soldered to the end of the shaft. Bend the blades at an angle of no more than 45° to the propeller axis. With a greater inclination, they will not be screwed into the water, but will only scatter it to the sides.

Assembly
When you have made a cylinder with a piston and connecting rod, a machine frame, a crank and a propeller shaft with a flywheel, you can begin marking and then drilling the inlet and outlet holes of the frame's steam distribution plate,
To mark, you must first drill a hole in the cylinder plate with a 1.5 mm drill. This hole, drilled in the center of the top of the plate, should fit into the cylinder as close as possible to the cylinder cover (see table 35). Insert a piece of pencil lead into the drilled hole so that it protrudes 0.5 mm from the hole.
Place the cylinder, piston and connecting rod in place. Place a spring on the end of the screw soldered into the cylinder plate and screw on the nut. The cylinder with graphite inserted into the hole will be pressed against the frame plate. If you now rotate the crank, as shown in the table above, the graphite will draw a small arc on the plate, at the ends of which you need to drill a hole. These will be the inlet (left) and outlet (right) holes. Make the inlet hole slightly smaller than the outlet. If you drill the inlet hole with a drill with a diameter of 1.5 mm, then the outlet can be drilled with a drill with a diameter of 2 mm. Once marking is complete, remove the cylinder and remove the lead. Carefully scrape off any burrs left after drilling along the edges of the hole.
If you don’t have a small drill or a drill at hand, then, with some patience, you can drill holes with a drill made from a thick needle. Break off the eye of the needle and drive it halfway into the wooden handle. Sharpen the protruding end of the eyelet on a hard block, as shown in the circle on the table. By rotating the handle with the needle in one direction or the other, you can slowly drill holes. This is especially easy when the plates are made of brass or copper.
The steering wheel is made of tin, thick wire and iron 1 mm thick (see table, right, below). To pour water into the boiler and alcohol into the burner, you need to solder a small funnel.
To prevent the model from falling on its side on dry land, it is mounted on a stand.

Testing and starting up the machine
After the model is completed, you can begin testing the steam engine. Pour oxen into the cauldron to 3/4 height. Insert wicks into the burner and pour alcohol. Lubricate the bearings and rubbing parts of the machine with liquid machine oil. Wipe the cylinder with a clean cloth or paper and lubricate it too. If the steam engine is built accurately, the surfaces of the plates are well lapped, the steam inlet and outlet holes are correctly marked and drilled, there are no distortions and the machine rotates easily by the screw, it should start running immediately.
Observe the following precautions when starting the machine:
1. Do not unscrew the water filler plug when there is steam in the boiler.
2. Do not make the spring tight and do not tighten it too tightly with the nut, as this, firstly, increases the friction between the plates and, secondly, there is a risk of the boiler exploding. It must be remembered that if the steam pressure in the boiler is too high, a cylinder plate with a properly selected spring is like a safety valve: it moves away from the frame plate, the excess steam comes out, and thanks to this, the pressure in the boiler is maintained normal all the time.
3. Do not let the steam engine stand for a long time if the water in the boiler is boiling. The resulting steam must be consumed all the time.
4. Do not let all the water in the boiler boil away. If this happens, the boiler will melt.
5. Do not fasten the ends of the rubber tube too tightly, which can also be a good preventive measure against the formation of too much pressure in the boiler. But keep in mind that the thin rubber tube will be inflated by the steam pressure. Take a strong ebonite tube, in which electrical wires are sometimes laid, or wrap an ordinary rubber tube with insulating tape,
6. To protect the boiler from rust, fill it with boiled water. To make the water in the boiler boil faster, the easiest way is to pour hot water.

The same thing but in PDF:

A wood-fired power plant is one of the alternative ways to supply consumers with electricity.

Such a device is capable of generating electricity at minimal energy costs, even in places where there is no power supply at all.

A power plant using firewood can be an excellent option for owners of summer cottages and country houses.

There are also miniature versions that are suitable for lovers of long hikes and spending time in nature. But first things first.

Peculiarities

A wood-fired power plant is not a new invention, but modern technologies have made it possible to somewhat improve previously developed devices. Moreover, several different technologies are used to generate electricity.

In addition, the concept of “wood-burning” is somewhat inaccurate, since any solid fuel (wood, wood chips, pallets, coal, coke), in general, anything that can burn, is suitable for the operation of such a station.

Let us immediately note that firewood, or rather the process of its combustion, acts only as an energy source that ensures the functioning of the device in which electricity is generated.

The main advantages of such power plants are:

• The ability to use a wide variety of solid fuels and their availability;
• Receive electricity anywhere;
• The use of different technologies makes it possible to obtain electricity with a variety of parameters (sufficient only for regular phone recharging and up to powering industrial equipment);
• It can also act as an alternative if power outages are common, as well as the main source of electricity.

Classic version

As noted, a wood-fired power plant uses several technologies to produce electricity. The classic one among them is steam power, or simply the steam engine.

Everything is simple here - wood or any other fuel, when burned, heats up the water, as a result of which it turns into a gaseous state - steam.

The resulting steam is supplied to the turbine of the generating set, and due to rotation, the generator generates electricity.

Since the steam engine and generator set are connected in a single closed circuit, after passing through the turbine the steam is cooled, fed back into the boiler, and the whole process is repeated.

This power plant scheme is one of the simplest, but it has a number of significant disadvantages, one of which is the danger of explosion.

After water passes into a gaseous state, the pressure in the circuit increases significantly, and if it is not regulated, there is a high probability of rupture of the pipelines.

And although modern systems use a whole set of valves that regulate pressure, the operation of a steam engine still requires constant monitoring.

In addition, ordinary water used in this engine can cause scale to form on the walls of the pipes, which reduces the efficiency of the station (scale impairs heat transfer and reduces the throughput of the pipes).

But now this problem is solved by using distilled water, liquids, purified impurities that precipitate, or special gases.

But on the other hand, this power plant can perform another function - to heat the room.

Everything is simple here - after performing its function (rotation of the turbine), the steam must be cooled so that it turns into a liquid state again, which requires a cooling system or, simply, a radiator.

And if you place this radiator indoors, then in the end we will receive not only electricity from such a station, but also heat.

Other options

But the steam engine is only one of the technologies that is used in solid fuel power plants, and is not the most suitable for use in domestic conditions.

Also used to generate electricity are:

• Thermoelectric generators (using the Peltier principle);
• Gas generators.

Thermoelectric generators

Power plants with generators built according to the Peltier principle are quite an interesting option.

Physicist Peltier discovered an effect that boils down to the fact that when electricity is passed through conductors consisting of two dissimilar materials, heat is absorbed at one of the contacts, and heat is released at the other.

Moreover, this effect is the opposite - if the conductor is heated on one side and cooled on the other, then electricity will be generated in it.

It is the opposite effect that is used in wood-fired power plants. When burned, they heat up one half of the plate (it is a thermoelectric generator), consisting of cubes made of different metals, and the second part is cooled (for which heat exchangers are used), as a result of which electricity appears at the terminals of the plate.

But such a generator has several nuances. One of them is that the parameters of the released energy directly depend on the temperature difference at the ends of the plate, therefore, to equalize and stabilize them, it is necessary to use a voltage regulator.

The second nuance is that the energy released is just a side effect; most of the energy when burning wood is simply converted into heat. Because of this, the efficiency of this type of station is not very high.

The advantages of power plants with thermoelectric generators include:

• Long service life (no moving parts);
• At the same time, not only energy is generated, but also heat, which can be used for heating or cooking;
• Quiet operation.

Wood-burning power plants using the Peltier principle are a fairly common option, and they produce both portable devices that can only release electricity to charge low-power consumers (phones, flashlights), and industrial ones that can power powerful units.

Gas generators

The second type is gas generators. Such a device can be used in several directions, including generating electricity.

It is worth noting here that such a generator itself has nothing to do with electricity, since its main task is to produce flammable gas.

The essence of the operation of such a device is that during the oxidation of solid fuel (its combustion), gases are released, including flammable ones - hydrogen, methane, CO, which can be used for a variety of purposes.

For example, such generators were previously used in cars, where conventional internal combustion engines worked perfectly on the emitted gas.

Due to the constant jitter of the fuel, some motorists and motorcyclists have already begun installing these devices on their cars.

That is, to get a power plant, it is enough to have a gas generator, an internal combustion engine and a regular generator.

The first element will release gas, which will become fuel for the engine, which in turn will rotate the generator rotor to produce electricity as output.

The advantages of power plants using gas generators include:

• Reliability of the design of the gas generator itself;
• The resulting gas can be used to operate an internal combustion engine (which will drive an electric generator), a gas boiler, a furnace;
• Depending on the internal combustion engine and electric generator involved, electricity can be obtained even for industrial purposes.

The main disadvantage of the gas generator is the bulkiness of the design, since it must include a boiler where all the processes for producing gas take place, a system for its cooling and purification.

And if this device is used to generate electricity, then the station must also include an internal combustion engine and an electric generator.

Representatives of factory-made power plants

Let us note that the indicated options – a thermoelectric generator and a gas generator – are now a priority, therefore ready-made stations are produced for use, both domestic and industrial.

Below are a few of them:

• “Indigirka” stove;
• Tourist stove “BioLite CampStove”;
• Power plant "BioKIBOR";
• Power station "Eco" with gas generator "Cube".

Stove "Indigirka".

An ordinary household solid fuel stove (made like a Burzhaika stove), equipped with a Peltier thermoelectric generator.

Perfect for summer cottages and small houses, as it is quite compact and can be transported in a car.

The main energy from burning wood is used for heating, but the available generator also allows you to obtain electricity with a voltage of 12 V and a power of 60 W.

BioLite CampStove stove.

It also uses the Peltier principle, but it is even more compact (weighs only 1 kg), which allows you to take it on hiking trips, but the amount of energy generated by the generator is even less, but it will be enough to charge a flashlight or phone.

Power plant "BioKIBOR".

A thermoelectric generator is also used, but this is an industrial version.

The manufacturer, upon request, can produce a device that provides output electricity with a power of 5 kW to 1 MW. But this affects the size of the station, as well as the amount of fuel consumed.

For example, an installation that produces 100 kW consumes 200 kg of wood per hour.

But the Eco power plant is a gas generator. Its design uses a “Cube” gas generator, a gasoline internal combustion engine and a 15 kW electric generator.

In addition to ready-made industrial solutions, you can separately buy the same Peltier thermoelectric generators, but without a stove, and use it with any heat source.

Homemade stations

Also, many craftsmen create homemade stations (usually based on a gas generator), which they then sell.

All this indicates that you can independently make a power plant from available materials and use it for your own purposes.

Based on a thermoelectric generator.

The first option is a power plant based on a Peltier plate. Let us immediately note that a device made at home is only suitable for charging a phone, a flashlight, or for lighting using LED lamps.

For production you will need:

• A metal body that will play the role of a furnace;
• Peltier plate (purchased separately);
• Voltage regulator with installed USB output;
• A heat exchanger or just a fan to provide cooling (you can take a computer cooler).

Making a power plant is very simple:

1. We make a stove. We take a metal box (for example, a computer case) and unfold it so that the oven does not have a bottom. We make holes in the walls below for air supply. At the top you can install a grate on which you can place a kettle, etc.
2. We mount the plate on the back wall;
3. We mount the cooler on top of the plate;
4. We connect a voltage regulator to the terminals from the plate, from which we power the cooler, and also draw terminals for connecting consumers.

It works simply: we light the wood, and as the plate heats up, electricity will begin to be generated at its terminals, which will be supplied to the voltage regulator. The cooler will start working from it, providing cooling of the plate.

All that remains is to connect the consumers and monitor the combustion process in the stove (add firewood in a timely manner).

Based on a gas generator.

The second way to make a power plant is to make a gas generator. Such a device is much more difficult to manufacture, but the energy output is much greater.

To make it you will need:

• Cylindrical container (for example, a disassembled gas cylinder). It will play the role of a stove, so hatches should be provided for loading fuel and cleaning solid combustion products, as well as an air supply (a fan will be required for forced supply to ensure a better combustion process) and an outlet for gas;
• A cooling radiator (can be made in the form of a coil) in which the gas will be cooled;
• Container for creating a “Cyclone” type filter;
• Container for creating a fine gas filter;
• Gasoline generator set (but you can just take any gasoline engine, as well as a regular 220 V asynchronous electric motor).

After this, everything must be connected into a single structure. From the boiler, gas should flow to the cooling radiator, and then to the “Cyclone” and a fine filter. And only after that the resulting gas is supplied to the engine.

This is a schematic diagram of the manufacture of a gas generator. Execution can be very different.

For example, it is possible to install a mechanism for forced supply of solid fuel from a bunker, which, by the way, will also be powered by a generator, as well as all kinds of control devices.

When creating a power plant based on the Peltier effect, no special problems will arise, since the circuit is simple. The only thing is that you should take some safety measures, since the fire in such a stove is almost open.

But when creating a gas generator, many nuances should be taken into account, among them is ensuring tightness at all connections of the system through which gas passes.

In order for the internal combustion engine to operate normally, you should take care of high-quality gas purification (the presence of impurities in it is unacceptable).

The gas generator is a bulky design, so it is necessary to choose the right place for it, as well as ensure normal ventilation if it is installed indoors.

Since such power plants are not new, and they have been manufactured by amateurs for a relatively long time, a lot of reviews have accumulated about them.

Basically, they are all positive. Even a homemade stove with a Peltier element is noted to completely cope with the task. As for gas generators, a clear example here is the installation of such devices even on modern cars, which indicates their effectiveness.

Pros and cons of a wood-fired power plant

A wood-fired power plant is:

• Fuel availability;
• Possibility to get electricity anywhere;

3 / 5 ( 2 votes)

Steam engine

Production time: One day

Materials at hand: ████████░░ 80%

In this article I will tell you how to make a steam engine with your own hands. The engine will be small, single-piston with a spool valve. The power is quite enough to rotate the rotor of a small generator and use this engine as an autonomous source of electricity while hiking.

• Telescopic antenna (can be removed from an old TV or radio), the diameter of the thickest tube should be at least 8 mm
• Small tube for the piston pair (plumbing store).
• Copper wire with a diameter of about 1.5 mm (can be found in a transformer coil or radio store).
• Bolts, nuts, screws
• Lead (from a fishing store or found in an old car battery). It is needed to cast the flywheel in the mold. I found a ready-made flywheel, but this item may be useful to you.
• Wooden bars.
• Spokes for bicycle wheels
• Stand (in my case, made from a 5 mm thick PCB sheet, but plywood will also work).
• Wooden blocks (pieces of boards)
• Olive jar
• A tube

• Superglue, cold welding, epoxy resin (construction market).
• Emery
• Drill
• Soldering iron
• Hacksaw

How to make a steam engine




Engine diagram






Cylinder and spool tube.

Cut 3 pieces from the antenna:
? The first piece is 38 mm long and 8 mm in diameter (the cylinder itself).
? The second piece is 30 mm long and 4 mm in diameter.
? The third is 6 mm long and 4 mm in diameter.




Let's take tube No. 2 and make a hole in it with a diameter of 4 mm in the middle. Take tube No. 3 and glue it perpendicular to tube No. 2, after the superglue has dried, cover everything with cold welding (for example POXIPOL).




We attach a round iron washer with a hole in the middle to piece No. 3 (the diameter is slightly larger than tube No. 1), and after drying, we strengthen it with cold welding.


Additionally, we coat all seams with epoxy resin for better tightness.

How to make a piston with connecting rod

Take a bolt (1) with a diameter of 7 mm and clamp it in a vice. We begin to wind copper wire (2) around it for about 6 turns. We coat each turn with superglue. We cut off the excess ends of the bolt.




We coat the wire with epoxy. After drying, we adjust the piston with sandpaper under the cylinder so that it moves freely there without letting air through.




From a sheet of aluminum we make a strip 4 mm long and 19 mm long. Give it the shape of the letter P (3).




We drill holes (4) 2 mm in diameter at both ends so that a piece of the knitting needle can be inserted. The sides of the U-shaped part should be 7x5x7 mm. We glue it to the piston with the 5 mm side.





The connecting rod (5) is made from a bicycle spoke. To both ends of the knitting needle we glue two small pieces of tubes (6) from the antenna with a diameter and length of 3 mm. The distance between the centers of the connecting rod is 50 mm. Next, we insert the connecting rod at one end into the U-shaped part and hinge it with a knitting needle.


We glue the knitting needle at both ends so that it does not fall out.






Triangle connecting rod

The triangle connecting rod is made in a similar way, only there will be a piece of knitting needle on one side and a tube on the other. Connecting rod length 75 mm.







Triangle and spool


We cut out a triangle from a sheet of metal and drill 3 holes in it.
Spool. The length of the spool piston is 3.5 mm and it should move freely along the spool tube. The length of the rod depends on the size of your flywheel.






The piston rod crank should be 8mm and the spool crank should be 4mm.


• Steam boiler

  
  The steam boiler will be an olive jar with a sealed lid. I also soldered a nut so that water could be poured through it and tightened tightly with the bolt. I also soldered the tube to the lid.
  Here is a photo:
  

  

  
  

  Photo of the engine assembly

  
  

  We assemble the engine on a wooden platform, placing each element on a support

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  Video of a steam engine in action

  
  
  
  

• Version 2.0

  
  Cosmetic modification of the engine. The tank now has its own wooden platform and saucer for dry fuel tablets. All parts are painted in beautiful colors. By the way, it is best to use a homemade one as a heat source.

I’ve been wanting to write my own article in Packflyer for a long time, and I’ve finally decided to do it.
One of my first serious projects was the manufacture of a steam engine, I started it at the age of 12 and continued for about 7 years, as I increased my tools and straightened out my crooked hands.

It all started with videos and articles about steam engines, after which I decided why I was worse. As I remember then, I wanted to build it to generate electricity for a table lamp. As it seemed to me then, it had to be beautiful, small in size, work on pencil shavings and stand on the windowsill to release hot gases to the street through a drilled hole in the window (it didn’t come to that).
As a result, some of the first models that were sketched in haste and built using a file, pieces of wood, epoxy, nails and a drill were ugly and unworkable.

After which a series of improvements and bug fixes began. During that time, I had to try myself not only as a foundry worker, melting a flywheel (which later turned out to be unnecessary), but also learned to work in the drawing programs KOMPAS 3D, AutoCAD (which was useful at the institute).



But no matter how hard I tried, something always went wrong. Constantly could not achieve the required precision in the manufacture of pistons and cylinders, which led to jamming or failure to create compression and made the engines not working for long or not working at all.
A particular problem was the creation of a steam boiler for the engine. I decided to make my first boiler according to a simple diagram I saw somewhere. An ordinary tin can was taken with a lid sealed at the open end with a tube for the engine coming out. The main disadvantage of the boiler was that the water should not be allowed to boil away because... An increase in temperature may cause the solder to melt. And of course, as always happens, during the experiment the heating was overextended, which led to a mini-explosion and the release of hot steam and rusty water along the walls and ceiling….

Subsequently, the production of the steam engine and boiler ceased for several months.

And this is only part of what remains today.

And for even greater safety, a pressure gauge was installed

This boiler does have a downside: to warm up such a bandura to operating temperature you have to heat it with a gas burner for about 20 minutes.
As a result, with blood and sweat, they finally made their OWN steam engine, which, however, did not run on pencil shavings and did not meet the very initial requirements, but as they say: “it will do.”

The steam engine began its expansion at the dawn of the 19th century. At that time, large units intended for industrial use and small steam engines, sometimes performing purely decorative functions, were already being built. Such “toys” were purchased mainly by prominent nobles who wanted to please themselves and their children. When steam units became more firmly established in everyday life, decorative steam units were used only in educational institutions as aids.

Modern steam engines

At the beginning of the 20th century, the popularity of steam units began to decline. The British company Mamod remained one of the few companies that continued to produce miniature steam engines. A sample of such technology can be purchased even today. However, the cost of such devices exceeds two hundred pounds. Those who like to independently assemble and manufacture various mechanisms will certainly like the idea of ​​creating a steam engine or others on their own.

Assembling a steam engine is quite simple. Under the influence of fire, a boiler with water heats up, the water, under the influence of high temperatures, turns into a gaseous state and pushes out the piston. The flywheel connected to the piston will rotate as long as there is water in the container. This is the standard design of a steam engine. It is possible to produce models with completely different configurations. Let's move from theory to practice. This article is devoted to methods of making a steam engine with your own hands.

Method one

Let's begin the process of manufacturing the simplest version of a heat engine. For this we do not need complex drawings and special skills. So, take a simple aluminum can and cut off the bottom third of it. The resulting sharp edges of the can must be bent inward using pliers. This must be done very carefully so as not to cut yourself. Since most aluminum cans have a slightly concave bottom, it is necessary to level it. To do this, simply press the bottom with your finger to a hard surface.

In the resulting glass, at a distance of 1.5 cm from the top edge, you need to make two holes opposite each other. It is necessary to make holes with a diameter of at least 3 mm. A regular hole punch is perfect for this purpose. Place a candle at the bottom of the jar. Now you need to take regular food foil, crumple it and wrap our mini burner. Then you need to take a piece of hollow copper tube 15-20 cm long. This will be the main mechanism of the engine, which will set the entire structure in motion. The central part of the tube is wrapped around the pencil two or three times to form a spiral.

Next, this element must be placed so that the curved section is directly above the candle wick. To do this, you can give the tube the shape of the letter M. The sections of the pipe that go down are taken out through specially made holes. As a result, we obtain a rigid fixation of the tube over the wick. The edges of the tube act as a kind of nozzles. In order for the entire structure to rotate, you need to bend the opposite ends of the M-shaped element in different directions at right angles.

Our steam engine is ready. To start it, the jar is placed in a container of water. It is necessary that the edges of the tube are above the surface of the water. If the nozzles are not long enough, a small weight can be placed at the bottom of the jar. However, you must be careful when doing this, otherwise you risk sinking the engine. We lower one end of the tube into the water, and with the other we draw in air and lower the jar into the water. The tube will fill with water. Now you can light the fuse. Some time later, the water that is in the spiral will turn into steam, which will fly out of the nozzles under pressure. The jar will begin to rotate fairly quickly in the container.

Method two

The proposed design is somewhat more complex than the first version of the engine. First of all, to create such a device we will need a paint can. Make sure it is clean enough. At a distance of 2 cm from the bottom, cut out a rectangle on the wall, the dimensions of which are 5X15 cm. The long side of the rectangle is placed parallel to the bottom.

From a metal mesh you need to cut a piece measuring 24x12 cm. We measure 6 cm from both ends from the long side of the piece. These sections must be bent at a right angle. As a result, we should get a small platform table with legs, 6 cm long. The resulting structure must be installed on the bottom of the jar. Several holes are made around the entire perimeter of the lid. They need to be placed in a semicircle shape only along one half of the lid. This is necessary to ensure ventilation: a steam engine will not work if there is no air access to the fire source.

To make the main element of the engine we need a copper tube. We bend it into a spiral shape. We retreat 30 cm from one end of the tube. From this point we make five turns of the spiral, the diameter of each turn should be 12 cm. The rest of the tube is bent in the shape of 15 rings, the diameter of which is 8 cm.

There should be about 20 cm left at the opposite end of the tube. Both ends of the tube are passed through the ventilation holes made in the lid of the jar. Coal is placed on a pre-installed platform. The spiral should be placed directly above the platform. The coal must be spread out carefully between the turns of the spiral. Now you can close the jar. As a result, we received a firebox, which will drive our steam engine.