Modern steam engine. Steam engine with your own hands. Second option Homemade steam engine blueprints

The steam engine began its expansion at the dawn of the 19th century. At that time, both large units intended for industrial use and small steam engines, sometimes performing purely decorative functions, were already being built. These "toys" were purchased mainly by prominent nobles who wanted to please themselves and their children. When steam units became more firmly established in everyday life, decorative steam units were used only in educational institutions as benefits.


Modern steam engines

At the beginning of the 20th century, the popularity of steam generators began to decline. The British firm Mamod remained one of the few companies that continued to produce miniature steam engines. A sample of such technology can be purchased even in our time. However, the cost of such devices exceeds two hundred pounds. Those who like to independently assemble and manufacture various mechanisms will surely like the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating a steam engine or others on their own.

Assembling a steam engine is quite simple. Under the influence of fire, the boiler with water is heated, the water, under the influence of high temperatures, turns into a gaseous state and pushes out the piston. The flywheel connected to the piston will rotate as long as there is water in the container. This is the standard scheme of a steam engine. You can make models with completely different configurations. Let's move from theory to practice. This article is devoted to how to make a steam engine with your own hands.

Method one

Let's start the process of manufacturing the simplest version of a heat engine. To do this, we do not need complex drawings and special skills. So, let's take a simple aluminum can, cut off the bottom third of it. The resulting sharp edges of the can must be bent inward with pliers. This must be done very carefully so as not to cut yourself. Since most aluminum cans have a slightly concave bottom, it needs to be leveled. To do this, simply press the bottom with your finger to a hard surface.

In the resulting glass, at a distance of 1.5 cm from the upper edge, two holes must be made opposite each other. It is necessary to make holes with a diameter of at least 3 mm. For this purpose, a regular hole punch is perfect. Place a candle at the bottom of the jar. Now you need to take the usual food foil, wrinkle it and wrap our mini burner. Then you need to take a piece of hollow copper tube 15-20 cm long. This will be the main mechanism of the engine, which will set the entire structure in motion. The central part of the tube is wrapped around the pencil two or three times in such a way that a spiral is obtained.

Further, this element must be placed in such a way that the curved section is directly above the candle wick. To do this, you can give the tube the shape of the letter M. The sections of the pipe that go down are brought out through specially made holes. As a result, we obtain a rigid fixation of the tube over the wick. The edges of the tube act as a kind of nozzles. In order for the whole structure to rotate, it is necessary to bend the opposite ends of the M-shaped element in different directions at a right angle.

Our steam engine is ready. To start it, the jar is placed in a container of water. It is necessary that the edges of the tube are above the surface of the water. If the nozzles are not long enough, a small weight can be placed on the bottom of the can. However, you must be careful when doing this, otherwise you risk sinking the engine. We lower one end of the tube into the water, and with the other we draw in air and lower the jar into the water. The tube will fill with water. Now you can light the fuse. Some time later, the water that is in the spiral will stop into steam, which will fly out of the nozzles under pressure. The jar will begin to rotate quickly enough in the container.

Method two

The proposed design is somewhat more complicated than the first version of the engine. First of all, to create such a device, we need a paint can. Make sure it's clean enough. At a distance of 2 cm from the bottom, we cut out a rectangle on the wall, the dimensions of which are 5x15 cm. The long side of the rectangle is placed parallel to the bottom.

From the metal mesh you need to cut a piece, 24X12 cm in size. From both ends, measure 6 cm from the long side of the piece. These sections must be bent at a right angle. As a result, we should get a small platform table with legs, 6 cm long. The resulting structure must be installed on the bottom of the jar. Several holes are made around the entire perimeter of the lid. You need to place them in the form of a semicircle only along one half of the lid. This is necessary to ensure ventilation: the steam engine will not work if the source of the fire is not provided with air.

For the manufacture of the main element of the engine, we need a copper tube. We bend it in the form of a spiral. We retreat 30 cm from one end of the tube. From this point we make five turns of the spiral, the diameter of each turn should be 12 cm. The rest of the tube is bent in the form of 15 rings, the diameter of which is 8 cm.

About 20 cm should remain at the opposite end of the tube. Both outlets of the tube are passed through the ventilation holes made in the lid of the jar. Coal is placed on a pre-installed platform. The spiral should be placed directly above the platform. Charcoal must be spread out neatly between the turns of the spiral. Now you can close the jar. As a result, we got a firebox, which will set our steam engine in motion.


Hello! Kompik92 is with you again!
And today we will make a steam engine!
I think everyone once wanted to make a steam engine!
So let's make your dreams come true!

I have two options to do it: easy and hard. Both options are very cool and interesting, and if you think that there will be only one option, then you are right. The second option I'll post a little later!

And let's go straight to the instructions!

But first....

Safety regulations:

  1. When the engine is running and you want to move it, use tongs, thick gloves, or a non-conductive material!
  2. If you want to make an engine harder or more powerful, it's better to learn from someone than to experiment! Incorrect assembly may cause the boiler to explode!
  3. If you want to take a running engine, don't point the steam at people!
  4. Do not block the steam in the can or tube, the steam engine may explode!

And here is the instruction for option number 1:

We will need:

  • Aluminum Cola or Pepsi can
  • Pliers
  • Metal shears
  • Paper puncher (not to be confused with drocol)
  • small candle
  • aluminum foil
  • Copper tube 3mm
  • Pencil
  • Salad bowl or large bowl

Let's get started!
1. You need to cut off the bottom of the jar with a height of 6.35cm. For a better cut, first draw a line with a pencil and then cut the bottom of the can exactly along it. Thus we get the body of our engine.


2. Remove sharp edges. For safety, remove the sharp edges of the bottom using pliers. Wrap no more than 5mm! This will help us continue to work with the engine.


3. Push the bottom. If the jar does not have a flat bottom, push it with your finger. This is necessary so that our engine swims well, if this is not done, then air will remain there that can heat up and turn the platform over. It will also help our candle stand.


4. Make two holes. Make two holes as shown in the picture. There should be 1.27 cm between the edge and the hole, and the hole itself should be at least 3.2 mm in diameter. The holes must be opposite each other! We will insert our copper tube into these holes.


5. Light a candle. Using foil, position the candle so that it does not move in the body. The candle itself should be a metal stand. We have installed a boiler that will heat our water, and thus ensure the operation of the engine.


6. Create a serpentine. Make three to four skeins in the middle of the tube with a pencil. There should be at least 5 cm on each side. We made a serpentine. Don't know what it is?

Here's a quote from Wikipedia.

Coil - a long metal, glass, porcelain (ceramic) or plastic tube, bent in some regular or irregular way, designed to ensure maximum heat transfer between the two media separated by the walls of the coil in a minimum amount of space. Historically, this heat exchange was originally used to condense the vapor passing through the coil.

I think it got easier, but if it still doesn't get easier, I'll explain myself. A serpentine is a tube in which liquid flows to be heated or cooled.


7. Place the handset. Place the tube using the holes you made, and make sure that the coil is exactly next to the candle wick! Thus, we are almost done with the engine, heating can already work for us.


8. Bend the tube. Bend the ends of the tube using pliers so that they are pointing in different directions and are bent 90 degrees from the coil. We got outlets for our hot air.


9. Preparation for work. Lower our engine into the water. It should float well on the surface, and if the tubes are not submerged at least 1 cm in water, then weight the case. We made the tubes go out into the water so that she could move.


10. A little more. Fill our tube, dip one tube into the water, and pull the other through a cocktail tube. We almost made the engine!


11. DONE! Now light a candle, for some time the water in the coil will heat up and steam will come out of the ends of the tube, and from this the engine will start to move!

Even if an athlete already has a wealth of experience in creating ship models-copies, all the same, when designing a new microvessel, he inevitably faces a problem - which engine to put on a future copy! Heating or compression - there will be problems with fuel, noise suppression and vibrations. Electric! But it is not without drawbacks, especially given the large mass of electric accumulators.

And why not take the most colorful path and use a real miniature steam engine on copies, for example, of steamboats! An attempt to implement this initially seemingly difficult idea brought very interesting results.

First of all - directly about the engine (many more large components are included in the steam installation). It is easier to make it on the basis of any of the model ICEs of sufficient working volume. By the way, such a motor as the “Kometa” MD-5, which has long established itself in a regular glowing performance as completely inoperable, is well suited for these purposes. For the steam version, it is best to make a new cylinder liner and make only outlet windows in it for steam to escape. Bypass (purge) windows are not needed - in their absence, the motor crankcase will be closed, which will allow maintaining a sufficient amount of oil in the crankcase volume during operation of the unit.

The next stage of work on the steam power plant is the manufacture of two tanks: for water and gasoline or other liquid fuels. The water tank is soldered from thick sheet brass or stainless steel with a thickness of at least 0.8-1 mm (in extreme cases, thick roofing iron is suitable). The choice of material is due to the fact that the water tank will be under the same pressure during the operation of the installation as the entire steam system. The fuel tank may not be as strong and smaller in volume. Its dimensions are selected in a practical way.

One of the most important components of the installation is a steam boiler. Its design is clear from the drawings, and everyone can choose materials and technologies for manufacturing boiler elements based on their own wishes and capabilities.

1 - fuel supply pipe (copper, Ø 3 mm), 2 - heat exchanger-evaporator, 3 - nozzle supply pipe (copper, Ø 3 mm), 4 - steam extraction pipe, 5 - water evaporator (tube Ø 3-4 mm) , 6 - blinds for supplying air to the flame, 7 - nozzle, 8 - nozzle mounting unit, 9 - lower chamber, 10 - water supply pipe to the evaporator, 11 - housing-pipe.

Heat exchanger - fuel evaporator can be made from a copper box from an old barometer or in the form of a coil of a thin copper tube. The fuel spray nozzle is converted from a toilet sprayer.

1 - steam supply pipe from the boiler to the engine, 2 - brass valve body, 3 - spring, 4 - ball valve. For the valve to work in the bottom of the engine piston, it is necessary to mount the pusher rod in the center, which, when the piston approaches the top dead center, must press the ball-valve up, thus letting in the next portion of steam under pressure.

1 - body (roofing iron or sheet brass), 2 - filler neck (closes hermetically), 3 - valve (nipple from a bicycle or motorcycle), 4 - consumable tap valve.

Preparation for testing a steam engine is not difficult. Machine oil is poured into the crankcase of the converted internal combustion engine; a plug is inserted into the standard carburetor diffuser (the oil must be changed after about 50 hours of machine operation). The tanks are filled with water (preferably distilled, which will prevent the formation of scale in the steam system) and gasoline of any brand, respectively. Both tanks are hermetically sealed. Then, an ignited tablet of dry alcohol is placed in the lower part of the steam boiler, and air is pumped into them through the nipples soldered into the tanks, creating excess pressure. Now you can open the consumable taps-valves. After some time, when the fuel evaporation heat exchanger warms up, the flame system of the boiler will switch to automatic mode, constantly supplying gasoline under pressure to the nozzle nozzle. To make the engine work, it is enough to turn its crankshaft a couple of times. Motor speed is controlled by water supply and flame height.

Have you ever seen how a steam engine works, not on video? Nowadays, finding such a functioning model is not easy. Oil and gas have long supplanted steam to dominate the world of mechanical installations that set machines in motion. However, this craft has not been lost; you can find samples of successfully working engines installed by craftsmen on cars and motorcycles. Home-made samples more often resemble museum exhibits than elegant, concise devices suitable for use, but they work! And people successfully drive steam cars and set in motion various units.

In this edition of the Techno Rebel channel you will see a steam engine with two cylinders. It all started with two pistons and the same number of cylinders.
Having removed all unnecessary, the master increased the piston stroke and working volume. Which resulted in an increase in torque. The most complex part of the project is the crankshaft. It consists of a pipe, which was bored under 3 bearings. 15 and 25 pipes. The pipe is cut down after welding. Prepared the pipe for the piston. After processing, it will become a cylinder or spool.

From the edge, 1 centimeter is left on the pipe so that when the lid is cooked, the metal can be carried to the side. The piston may be stuck. The video shows the completion of the distribution cylinders. One of the holes is plugged, narrowed to a tube of twenty. Steam will come in here. Steam outlet.

How the device works. Steam is supplied to the holes. It is distributed through the pipe, enters 2 cylinders. As the piston moves down, the steam passes through and is forced down under pressure. The piston rises. Blocks the passage. Steam escapes through holes.
Further from 5 minutes

Source: youtube.be/EKdnCHNC0qU

How to make a working model steam engine at home

If you have been interested in model steam engines, you may have already checked them out on the internet, shockingly they are very expensive. If you are not expecting a price range, then you can try to find other options where you can have your own steam engine model. This does not mean that you only need to buy them, since you can make them yourself. You can watch the process of building your own model steam engine at WoodiesTrainShop.com. There's nothing you can't do and find out without doing a bit of your own research.

How to build your own steam engine?

It sounds amazing, but you can actually build a model steam engine from scratch. You can start by building a very simple engine pulling tractor. It can easily carry an adult and it will take you about a hundred hours to complete the construction. The great thing is that it is not that expensive and the process of making it is very simple and all you have to do is drill and work on the turn-mill all day long. You can always check your options at WoodiesTrainShop.com for more information on how you can start making your own model steam engine.

The rear wheel rims are homemade, the steam engine model is made from gas cylinders, and you can buy ready-made gears as well as drive chains on the market. The simplicity of the steam powered DIY model is what makes it appealing to everyone as it offers you very simple instructions and quick assembly. You don't even need to learn anything technical to be able to do everything yourself. Simple drawings and drawings are enough to help you with your workload from start to finish.

How to make a steam engine


Mechanical engineering began with the production of a steam engine. This was the start for the development of modern cars. So why not go back to the roots and feel like the first inventor of the motor? Plus, you can do it yourself at home.

Engine manufacturing technology

Before you start designing your creation, you need to prepare materials that may come in handy, as well as learn some instructions in order to have an idea on how to make a steam engine. This is not a very simple task, but it can be solved.

Of course, it will not work to invent a motor for a functioning steam locomotive, but a small home steam motor will definitely work. There are several ways to build a homemade steam engine. For those who decide to try themselves in a home workshop for the first time, you can make a simple but working engine.

  1. To make a steam engine with your own hands, you need 2 cans of canned corn. The sizes fit perfectly. Take both containers, cut off their lids. One jar is not needed, it can be thrown away. All it needs is a lid. The second jar needs to be cleaned in place of the cut of the lid. This can be done with a file. If there is a "grinder", use it to clean the cut. Now clean the edges of both covers in the same way.
  2. Take the nut. You need to pick up a bolt for it. Prepare a metal tube. Cut a hole in the cover into which you want to embed the nut, attach a bolt to it. The distance between the cap and the nut, if any, must be soldered. You also need to make another hole for the tube. As a result, it should turn out like this: a cover with a built-in nut and tube.
  3. Take a jar prepared in advance. Solder a fixture consisting of a cap, a nut and a metal tube to it. The boiler for the engine is ready.
  4. Now you need to prepare the turbine. To do this, take the second prepared lid from the can. In the middle of this circle, you need to cut a hole, along the edge - cuts. You need to cut it so that it looks like a flower. It is not necessary to cut to the center of the cover. Just cut a little - 2-3 centimeters. Now from this cover you need to make a semblance of a fan. To do this, you need to bend the tin in places in the middle of the slots.
  5. It is necessary to prepare a handle for the turbine. This can be done with an iron plate. It should look like a ruler about 10 centimeters. It needs to be bent, making the letter “p” out of this plate. Now make holes on the "legs" of the bent plate. Check that these holes should be through, exactly opposite each other.
  6. Now you need to weld the turbine to the boiler. To do this, you need to prepare an iron tube. It must be attached to the hole that was prepared on the cover - the turbine. Then you need to identify an iron rod in the tube. It should be thinner than the diameter of the tube. Insert the ends of the rod into the holes on the handle - the iron letter "p". Solder.
  7. Now you need to connect all the available parts of the motor. Take a pre-prepared cauldron. The iron tube, which is located on the boiler lid, should "look" at the turbine blades, while not covering the place where the nut is located. Weld on.
  8. Now how to make a homemade steam engine so that it comes into action? Pour water into the newly made boiler through the "nut" hole. Seal this hole with a bolt. Now you need to bring the water in the boiler to a boil. The steam that will come out of the tube in the boiler will make the turbine spin. Now you have a small but fully functional steam engine.

You can find some details on how to make a steam engine, videos and other notes on the Internet on thematic sites and various blogs.