The Home Machinist!

rmac wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 9:54 am

Kay_B wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 4:16 am It looks good, the work is neat. Do you have a complete drawing of the device in order to understand how many more spare parts you need and what shape they should be?

Thank you, Kay_B. Yes, I'm working from a complete set of plans. There's a link to them in one of the earlier posts in this thread.

-- Russell Mac

Thanks for the answer. I was inattentive and did not pay enough attention to your previous posts in the thread. Of course, it will be interesting to see the end result of your work.

Progress Report #17:

New flywheel. And lots more interesting, the UPS guy showed up yesterday with a shiny new 18" parabolic mirror. I threw together a quick and dirty bracket to hold the engine in the proper position and mounted the whole mess on a camera tripod for easy aiming. I've got the mirror focused on a point inside the displacer cylinder, about 1/2" above the end cap. And it works! In the picture the engine is running at several hundred RPM, oriented at a goofy angle to catch the early morning sun. It will also chug along at a more leisurely pace with about half the mirror covered up.

Next step is to make a better bracket that 1) isn't so ugly, and 2) allows more light to reach the engine. I'm guessing that the current setup is blocking about a third of the available light.

Fun stuff!

-- Russell Mac

Very nifty!
Next is to turn a small DC generator to power the sun-following drive on the mirror mount!
An equatorial telescope mount can easily be set up to follow the sun with a single-axis motion, ala telescope drive.
RussN

NP317 wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 8:30 pm Next is to turn a small DC generator to power the sun-following drive on the mirror mount!

Don't think that idea hasn't crossed my mind!

Progress Report #18:

Today I finished making a better mounting bracket for the solar setup. This one looks better, doesn't block so much light, and makes it easier to adjust where the mirror focuses on the engine. I can't tell if the engine actually runs any better or not, though. Too many variables.

-- Russell Mac

I like it.
That was a great project to complete!
RussN

NP317 wrote: ↑Mon May 10, 2021 9:13 pm That was a great project to complete!

Yeah, it was.

But here I am feeling like I built the space shuttle or something with this little project and its twenty or thirty piddling little parts. My hat's off to all you guys who manage to pull off locomotives that must be what--tens or even hundreds of times more complicated?

-- Russell Mac

A really pretty gizmo you've made.

Making a thing that actually functions is an accomplishment, making a thing that functions AND looks good is just great work.

Thank you, sir.