Updated Sketch Up model and piston assemblies

I have shared the model in Google and will upload it to the web site. The pistons now have 4 nylon screws that protrude through the cores and shell to keep its base centered. This should prevent the piston crown from scraping the plastic seal, which is just a polyethylene bag, because the pressure on it should center the front.

The seal bag is not included in the model, I am still trying to figure out how to represent it.

The current heat exchangers are also shown attached, but without the hoses for the hot and cold water.

Added the piston core caps and the push rod guide's bearings. Push rods have cutouts to allow snapping them on and off the wrist pin, to make changing the bags easier.

It now pretty much represents the current state of the real prototype. I still have to rebuild 2 more of the pistons to install the new shells with 50 mil clearance and the Nylon spacer screws.

I hoping once back together this time, it should be able to hold pressure long enough it to get it run. It has a low displacement cam, so should run with a pretty low temperature difference ~40 degrees F. So far I only have one pair of heat exchangers, which I pump ice water through. Still need a heating means for the hot cylinders. I was just heating the heads with torch, but since most of other parts are plastic or rubber, that is not a good idea. I may just use some high wattage resistors, it would be less messy than using hot water.

Created new blog just for Stirling engine projects

I have been using my personal blog for posting the status of my Stirling engine project, but it was getting awkward. First I checked to see if stirlingengine was free, but it is being used for another project. So I used the same name as the project web site on Google sites, http://sites.google.com/site/openstirlingengine.

I am not sure how to move my existing posts and comments from my personal blog
use the preceding link to get to it so see my previous posts, until I start making more progress here.

Please visit the project web site if you want any of the design information, because that will be where I will be posting the project documents. So far all I really have is the SketchUp 3D model, which does not include the piston seal details. It was too curvy for me to figure out how to include it. All the other parts are there. There is a very rough sketch of the piston seal on my old blog, but I will post some pictures and more details soon.

Please leave any comments about the web site here, since Google project site doesn't seem to have that feature.