> I've seen collectors turn a greenish blue and stammer out crazy offers on sight of my 0.1cc Nano, pictured here. But as the size goes down, construction difficulty and criticality of "fits" goes up exponentially.
Related? Blondihacks [1] has been working through machining a live-steam powered scale locomotive.
Has it been three years now? She easily has another year of work ahead of her before she has live, rolling stock. Wild dedication to a project that could perhaps consume half a decade of your life.
1. Engineering drawings of small model engines used for model aircrafts. They are designed for manufacturing and working, not not like showcase item. We can actually build them.
This is great. If you enjoyed it you should check https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IEGmD_aV3w . Next to that it’s child’s play. That’s a whole trasatlantic’s engine room from scratch.
As someone who always thought that it'd be cool to create my own parts and components by milling, but who never actually had access to a milling workshop, I find this video extremely satisfying to watch. Thank you!
Thank you for the Alex Slocum link. I was aware of a lot of those other machinist channels but the engineering course is new to me. This looks incredible. Alex is a fantastic teacher!
Last century I was gifted a gas powered model helicopter with one of these small gas engines. It had a propeller would fly up, run out of gas and fall back down (it had some larger blades to slow its decent).
You started by spinning the propeller and letting it spring back.
Brings back memories from childhood. I used to build and fly model airplanes (by wire not rc). Starting those engines was also a challenge. I still have a scar on one finger from an engine kicking back when trying to flip the propeller.
I would also like to try that some day, but theres little information on efficiency.
I'd also like to see one running on laughing gas (N2O), as the autodecomposition reaction is nitrogen and oxygen gas, in similar proportions to atmosphere. But the reaction efficiency would have to be high enough or I'd feel bad about the GWP.
The second I heard that engine fire it was 1986 in my brain again. I could smell the fuel and feel the finger damage from repeatedly trying to get the darned thing to start. Followed by damage on the other side of the finger when it actually did. Ouch.
I skipped some bits of the video so probably missed this, but: in the beginning he mentioned no spark or glow plugs and said “similar to a diesel”, but in the end that didn’t work and he had to resort to a glow plug.
Did he mention what fuel he was using for the compression-only attempts? If not actual diesel, it seems like he would have had to use ether or something like that.
https://modelenginenews.org/techniques/minid.html Mentions that this engine needs a spring start and 50% ether and it runs up to 40k rpm(!) seems like it’s finicky, which makes sense given its size
I would think there would be some interaction between the carburetor air intake and the propeller right next to it. Intentional feedback, maybe, to change the mixture as the RPM goes up? If not intentional, then it sounds like a potential showstopper.
I went down a rabbit hole lately and found this article on tiny diesel engines built throughout the past decades, most of them model engines: https://modelenginenews.org/techniques/minid.html
> I've seen collectors turn a greenish blue and stammer out crazy offers on sight of my 0.1cc Nano, pictured here. But as the size goes down, construction difficulty and criticality of "fits" goes up exponentially.
Related? Blondihacks [1] has been working through machining a live-steam powered scale locomotive.
Has it been three years now? She easily has another year of work ahead of her before she has live, rolling stock. Wild dedication to a project that could perhaps consume half a decade of your life.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/@Blondihacks
Some Model Engineering related resources:
1. Engineering drawings of small model engines used for model aircrafts. They are designed for manufacturing and working, not not like showcase item. We can actually build them.
https://outerzone.co.uk/plans.asp?cat=Engines&Xcardsperpage=...
2. https://modelenginenews.org/midge/index.html
I still have a Cox .049 engine in the basement somewhere.
Used to see adverts for those in magazines and even (iirc) comic books
Of course that's .049 cubic inches (~ 0.82 cc), huge compared to the one in the article.
I also had an .020 engine, but it never ran very well, and I don't know what happened to it.
I had a lot of fun designing my own airplanes and flying them with the .049. Modern electric airplanes are too easy.
Outerzone is a great site for (mostly vintage) model aircraft plans.
Cut my fingers up many times as a kid trying to start Cox model airplane engines…
This is great. If you enjoyed it you should check https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IEGmD_aV3w . Next to that it’s child’s play. That’s a whole trasatlantic’s engine room from scratch.
Wait but the one you linked seems to be pneumatically driven, while the op one is an actual combustion engine, right?
That’s true! Sorry for not mentioning that.
As someone who always thought that it'd be cool to create my own parts and components by milling, but who never actually had access to a milling workshop, I find this video extremely satisfying to watch. Thank you!
Sorry for offtopic, I want to share,
Some Machining related channels on youtube:
this old tony, Chronova engineering, cylo's garage, inheritance machining, breaking taps, blondie hacks, tarkka, dan gelbert, Jonesey Makes, Eric(with a K), Clough42, Alec steele, NBR Works, Not An engineer, Stefan Gotteswinter, oxtoolco, ROBRENZ, MrCrispin, Clickspring, Artisan Makes, MH Anything, Jellyfish machine,Maker B,
And also there is great course on precision engineering by Alex slocum:
https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLksE8LDXGXl_MQHKr2DqhfD...
Thank you for the Alex Slocum link. I was aware of a lot of those other machinist channels but the engineering course is new to me. This looks incredible. Alex is a fantastic teacher!
Have to recommend TryAlly. He makes it look easy and straightforward. It's not.
https://www.youtube.com/@tryally
https://www.youtube.com/@thisoldtony
https://www.youtube.com/@Chronovaengineering
https://www.youtube.com/@cylosgarage
https://www.youtube.com/@inheritancemachining
https://www.youtube.com/@breakingtaps
https://www.youtube.com/@blondihacks
https://www.youtube.com/@tarkka
https://www.youtube.com/@dgelbart
https://www.youtube.com/@JoneseyMakes
https://www.youtube.com/@Erik-not-Eric
https://www.youtube.com/@Clough42
https://www.youtube.com/@Alecsteele
https://www.youtube.com/@NBRWorks
https://www.youtube.com/@NoEngineerHere
https://www.youtube.com/@StefanGotteswinter
https://www.youtube.com/@oxtoolco
https://www.youtube.com/@ROBRENZ
https://www.youtube.com/@MrCrispin
https://www.youtube.com/@Clickspring
https://www.youtube.com/@ArtisanMakes
https://www.youtube.com/@MHAnything
https://www.youtube.com/@Jellyfishmachine
https://www.youtube.com/@MakerB
Thank you!
Last century I was gifted a gas powered model helicopter with one of these small gas engines. It had a propeller would fly up, run out of gas and fall back down (it had some larger blades to slow its decent).
You started by spinning the propeller and letting it spring back.
How I didn’t loose a finger…
They’re remarkable little devices.
Brings back memories from childhood. I used to build and fly model airplanes (by wire not rc). Starting those engines was also a challenge. I still have a scar on one finger from an engine kicking back when trying to flip the propeller.
I would love to couple one of these mini-engines to an electric motor and... build a cursed USB-C "generator"... ;)
I would also like to try that some day, but theres little information on efficiency.
I'd also like to see one running on laughing gas (N2O), as the autodecomposition reaction is nitrogen and oxygen gas, in similar proportions to atmosphere. But the reaction efficiency would have to be high enough or I'd feel bad about the GWP.
The second I heard that engine fire it was 1986 in my brain again. I could smell the fuel and feel the finger damage from repeatedly trying to get the darned thing to start. Followed by damage on the other side of the finger when it actually did. Ouch.
Flick a pen on it instead.
Ah, the classic "chicken stick" approach. No shame in that!
Me too, brother.
Cox 0.049?
If you want to see the engine running it's at 30:12
I skipped some bits of the video so probably missed this, but: in the beginning he mentioned no spark or glow plugs and said “similar to a diesel”, but in the end that didn’t work and he had to resort to a glow plug.
Did he mention what fuel he was using for the compression-only attempts? If not actual diesel, it seems like he would have had to use ether or something like that.
https://modelenginenews.org/techniques/minid.html Mentions that this engine needs a spring start and 50% ether and it runs up to 40k rpm(!) seems like it’s finicky, which makes sense given its size
The spring start makes a lot of sense, thanks.
It was a mixture of ether, castor oil, and something else. He theorised that the ether was boiling off in the tank before it made it to the engine.
Ah thanks - I was imagining that perhaps the engine didn’t have high enough compression to achieve ignition.
I would think there would be some interaction between the carburetor air intake and the propeller right next to it. Intentional feedback, maybe, to change the mixture as the RPM goes up? If not intentional, then it sounds like a potential showstopper.
He did: It was just warm enough for the ether in the mix to evaporate long before it reached the engine, so it couldn't run.
I just noticed that this channel has 2 million views and only four videos, all from about a year ago!