This is the third and final engine contributed by Jan Ridders of the Netherlands, a pressure controlled 2-stroke engine.

I asked Jan to pick his most simple designs in each of 3 categories, Stirling, Flame Eater, and IC.  This set of plans is for his most simple IC design, a pressure controlled 2-stroke engine. If you’d like to see the other two designs shared by Jan, they can be found here: Jan’s Coffee Cup Stirling Engine and Jan’s Flame Sucker. And of course, all of Jan’s other engines can be found by visiting his site, which is written in both English and Dutch.

Here’s an animation and a description of the principle behind Jan’s masterpiece (excerpt from Jan’s site):

A ball valve only opens when the pressure below the ball is higher then above the ball. For the upper valve this is only the case, and for a very short time, when the piston reaches the exhaust port. The pressed gas mix below the piston and between the two ball valves is injected then, filling the cylinder and pushing out the remaining burned gases. Before and shortly after that moment the pressure above the ball in the upper valve is always higher then below the ball. When the piston is moving upwards there is an overpressure above the ball (gas mix compression) and a lower atmospheric pressure  of the sucked-in fresh gas mix below the ball. When the piston is moving downwards there is a high overpressure above the ball due to the combustion (power stroke) and a much lower overpressure of the compressed fresh gas mix below the ball. So also during that power stroke the upper ball valve keeps closed until the piston opens the exhaust port.

So the timing of the process is exactly right and automatically controlled by the alternating pressures in the system. That is why I called this engine the “Pressure controlled Two-stroke”.

Here’s a video of the engine in action:

For more information on this engine (including construction tips and trouble shooting) please visit Jan’s website. Jan also has many other engines on his site and he shares his plans freely with anyone by request.

I’d like to say Thank You one more time to Jan Ridders for sharing multiple sets of plans with this site. By sharing your plans you’ve helped this site grow.

  Pressure_Controlled_2-Stroke_Engine_-_Jan_Ridders.pdf (5.1 MiB, 223 hits)
NOTE: You need to be a registered member (and logged in) to download this file. You can register or log in using the "Log In" section located in the upper left corner of the site (don't worry, it's free to register and your email address will be kept private). Please note, subscribing to the RSS feed is not the same as registering. Also, registering for the site will grant you forum access, allowing you to log into the forum using the same username and password you used to register for the site.

[nms: stirling engine]

To leave a comment join the forum discussion on this post - (3) Posts

Material: Aluminum, Steel, and Brass
Units: (in)

If you’re looking for a simple engine to build that runs on compressed air, here’s a nice set of plans for you. Here’s what Rob had to say about his plans:

“This was the semester long project we did in class for Machine Tool Technology at the University of Central Missouri . I would like to hook the engine up to something and do tests.

The base is made out of a 3/4 in thick aluminum and the body and cylinder is mild steel. The flywheel and crank is made out of brass. I used most tools that you would use with metals. Vertical mill, horizontal mill, metal lathe, drill press and grinding machine, thread tap. I even machined the threads on the wrist pin.”

- Rob K.

Here’s a video of the little engine in action:

Thanks for sharing your plans Rob!

  Air_Engine.pdf (1.1 MiB, 299 hits)
NOTE: You need to be a registered member (and logged in) to download this file. You can register or log in using the "Log In" section located in the upper left corner of the site (don't worry, it's free to register and your email address will be kept private). Please note, subscribing to the RSS feed is not the same as registering. Also, registering for the site will grant you forum access, allowing you to log into the forum using the same username and password you used to register for the site.

To leave a comment join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

Material: Steel or Aluminum
Units: (in)

Here’s a set of plans for a nifty little two stroke engine submitted by Shane W., a sophomore studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Here’s what Shane had to say about his project:

“This is a two stroke internal combustion engine that I designed for a design class. Though the design is unique and engineered by me, much inspiration was taken from an engine from the 50’s called “The Little Dragon.”

Engines are not exactly simple to make or design, but this one is designed to be as easy as possible to construct, using standard size stock to minimize machining. In fact I was able to build it and get it running with the experience from building a simple air engine and nothing else.

Most of the tolerances are a little tighter than necessary, particularly the bore of the cylinder. You can get away with it being a couple thousandths off.

It runs on 30% nitromethane fuel mixed with castor oil. The plans don’t exactly follow any standard, though they lean toward ansi. In the drawings for the cylinder, con-rod, and piston I used hidden lines to represent tool paths. I don’t have drawings for the needle valve, though many are easily obtainable online, or a pre-made one can be purchased.

- Shane”

Thanks for submitting your plans Shane! Be sure to visit Shane’s site to check out his other projects and to see a video of this little engine in action!

Would you like to have your project featured on this site? If so, do what Shane did and click the “Submit Your Plans” tab at the top of the page.

  Shanes_Two_Stroke_IC_Engine.pdf (156.0 KiB, 2,574 hits)
NOTE: You need to be a registered member (and logged in) to download this file. You can register or log in using the "Log In" section located in the upper left corner of the site (don't worry, it's free to register and your email address will be kept private). Please note, subscribing to the RSS feed is not the same as registering. Also, registering for the site will grant you forum access, allowing you to log into the forum using the same username and password you used to register for the site.

To leave a comment join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts