Free Metalworking Project Plans: The Coffee Cup Stirling Engine by Jan Ridders
Material: various
Units (mm)
As luck would have it, I came across a site by a fellow from Florida named Ernie. Ernie is an accomplished machinist and hobbiest who will happily share his engine plans with others upon request. I asked Ernie for a set of plans for his internal gear engine and he quickly fired a set off to me via e-mail.
In his email Ernie recommended that I visit the site of a machinist that Ernie considered to be of truly exceptional talent – a man from the Netherlands named Jan Ridders. Now, I had just finished admiring Ernie’s work, so if there was a machinist out their that produced work that Ernie admired, it was definitely worth a look.
I was amazed. Jan’s website documents several of his projects, most of which are engines, all of which are amazing. And again, as luck would have it, Jan is also willing to share his plans with his visitors upon requets. I quickly emailed Jan and mentioned that I had set up projectsinmetal.com and I asked him if he would be willing to donate a few plans for my visitors to enjoy. He agreed.
Because this site is focused on offering plans suitable for the beginner, I asked Jan for his most simple, straightforward set of plans for each of his 3 categories. Stirling Engines, Internal Combustion (IC) Engines, and Flame Eaters. Obviously all three plans would be considered advanced projects by anyone new to the hobby, and therefor they will all be listed under the “Advanced” category on this site.
Below is the PDF file that Jan provided for his “easiest and most reliable” stirling engine – the Coffee Cup Stirling Engine. Here’s a video of a few different versions of this engine in action:
Be sure to visit Jan’s website for more inspiration!
And if you don’t have enough materials in your scrap bin to build a stirling from scratch, they’re are tons of great kits on Ebay and books on Amazon to get you started. Just look below. Be aware, however, that most kits on Ebay aren’t ready to assemble, they just save you the time of gathering up all the necessary materials. Usually machining is still required to complete the kit . . . which is kinda the whole point.
Stirling_Coffee_Cup_-_Jan_Ridders.pdf (1.6 MiB, 4,339 hits)
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MACHINED STIRLING CYCLE HOT AIR ENGINE KIT
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Tags: Advanced, Engines, Units (mm)
