3 Simple Ways to
Share What You Make

With Instructables you can share what you make with the world — and tap into an ever-growing community of creative experts.

PhotosPhotos

Share one or more photos of a project, recipe, or whatever you've made, quickly and easily.

Step by StepStep-By-Step

Share your step-by-step photos with text instructions of what you made so others can do it too!

VideoVideo

Share your how-to video. You'll need your embed code from a video site such as YouTube.

Coke Can Stirling engine

video Coke Can Stirling engine
Here's a coke can Stirling I made, I didn't work as well as I had hoped but it's a starting point! Somehow the flywheel ended up completely wonkey and the bearings keep falling out and it's not very well balanced but other than that its fine ;-) The cranks are made out of a bicycle spoke, I used the thread on the end to screw on the flywheel so it can be easily removed. The piston is graphite in a pyrex cylinder  The target is to build a 1W Stirling generator out of coke cans, a long way to go yet !
16 comments
Nov 18, 2010. 4:45 PMjonathanlee0 says:
whats the flywheel made of?
Jan 15, 2011. 2:14 PMDavid97 says:
It looks like wood.
Aug 15, 2011. 1:02 PMfiredude20123 says:
either that or a cork "coaster" or a couple of em glued together haha???? no idea lol
Aug 2, 2010. 9:30 AMBlofish says:
This is how we succeed, thru our failures! Thanks for sharing
Jun 17, 2010. 3:36 PMSasquatchKid says:
Nice machine what can you power with it?
Jul 3, 2010. 9:25 PMegbertfitzwilly says:
The Stirling was an early competitor with the internal combustion engine. The ICE won out because we had this readily available, cheap fuel.... The fundamental design scales up extremely one can power any number of devices. I believe the primary production application in the modern world is in some model airplanes which can benefit from the high RPMs.
Jul 4, 2010. 3:57 AMSasquatchKid says:
Great im an aviator
Jun 14, 2010. 6:12 PMegbertfitzwilly says:
I wish you would post an instructable to go along with this. By itself its not any better than viewing it on YouTube.
Mar 26, 2010. 1:46 PMak49er says:
I like the "wonkey" flywheel - it adds character! Plus, the fact that it works makes it even more entertaining! If there are two means to an end, and both means are just as effective, but one looks hilarious, go for the funny one!
Mar 24, 2010. 4:03 PMrimar2000 says:
Congratulations!
I'm doing a Stirling engine designed by myself (rotary displacer), but it does not work. I think it has three flaws: It's not tight enough, the cooling is very poor and air connectivity is also poor. I'm redoing it.
Yours functions very well!!

Mar 24, 2010. 3:24 PMKiteman says:
Is that black pipe a chimney?

Does it affect the efficiency in any way?
Mar 24, 2010. 3:31 PMlemonie says:
Mar 24, 2010. 3:45 PMKiteman says:
That lenz turbine looks interesting...
Mar 24, 2010. 3:42 PMKiteman says:
That's a sound idea, any way.

I love the chuffing noise the engine makes.

Pro

Get More Out of Instructables

Already have an Account?

close

All Steps Viewing
View all steps of an Instructable on the same page when you're a Pro Member.

Upgrade to Pro today!
312
Followers
32
Author:scraptopower(Scrap to power)
Always a brew in hand, I like to make stuff.