Building Stirling Engines without a Lathe by Hoejfeldt Kjeld

Description

If you have always wanted to build a working model from scratch or are fascinated by Stirling engines and want to experiment further, but have been frustrated by lack of any machine tools, then this is the book you have been waiting for; quite simply it is brilliant.

Like many others, Kjeld was fascinated by the Stirling or hot air engine, wanted to build his own examples but couldn’t to any published designs, as he has no machine tools in his hobby room, and no space for them. Browsing on the internet he came across an idea for a Stirling engine which could be built without tools, developed the idea and built a running engine, followed by five other increasingly sophisticated machines which demonstrate the main types of Stirling engine, all built using only ordinary hand tools, an electric soldering iron and a gas blowtorch, from tin cans, wire coat hangers, old gloves, parts from scrap computers, gramophones, video players etc. The basic idea isn’t completely new, but this is the first time such ideas have been available in book form.

Here Kjeld describes how to build his first engine in some detail, and then how to construct the subsequent five engines, which largely develop from each other, in slightly less detail, but still plenty enough for you to build them.

You won’t find any drawings in this book, as the measurements of your engines will depend on the dimensions of the scrap you use, notably the tin-can for the cylinder, but the derived dimensions are covered in the text, and there are numerous photographs of set-ups, parts and so on to guide you. Additionally, there is a brief overview of the history of the Stirling engine, a fascinating look at some present commercial applications, and an Appendix of recommended reading, films and useful websites.

40, A4 format pages. 45 B & W photos and illustrations. Softcover.