I adore this channel. Mr. Murray-Smith is an absolute gentleman. Note how he indirectly touches on the concept of freedom by discussing matters which help us becoming as self-sufficient as possible when it comes to energy. His voice makes me still dream like a child, and now I have the resources to pursue some of these ideas. The water detonation engine is my favourite concept. When he spoke about detonating water like a thunder with a spark, he immediately reminded me of the work of Moray B. King. Thank you, kind sir, for helping us keep hope alive

I'm so excited for more of this. I had plans to build an affordable turbine steam generator but overcoming the load on the generator when charging batteries was going to be a challenge. I think this compressor type cylinder engine may be a simpler and cheaper solution. Thank you so much.

I am really excited about this conversion. I have only seen this done with the exhaust cam being modified by welding on a brazing rod to the round side of a cam then molding and filing that side to a "double" cam; with the modified side mirroring the original cam: from => to , like that. Given Robert's insight I can hardly wait to see how more intuitive and simple this can be.

The heavy flywheel, plate head and base plate are great. Can't wait to see the remainder of the project. I wonder if incorporating the carbon mesh in the intake can act as a separator for condensation

1% of your scientific and engineering knowledge would make me a happy bunny. I started watching because I was interested in your indoor heaters and I'm getting there with my own take on a methanol one. Thank you so much for your down to earth videos 👌🏻

Really glad you're filming your work. Thank you for that❤️

Thank you ROBERT for sharing, waiting to see more progress in this project

Loving this concept. Thank you for posting

That is beautifully done! Nice wood mount too.

Will be interesting to see how it runs, those steam lines look small for steam delivery. Bigger is better. I’ve seen miniature steam locos that are starved and they just don’t deliver their potential despite a boiler able to make steam to fill the cylinders. Good luck with the project, enjoying every video 😊

Very cool Rob! Thanks for doing what you do ✌️

Talk about eagerly awaiting this one! Personally I like to opt for slide valves for simplicity, and they make me think of trains, in which case the opportunity to make a steam whistle incorporated into a pressure release valve is too good to pass up. 👌 I never got around to doing my '1 stroke' steam engine, but if I didn't have a recycle option for high pressure/low pressure pistons, I always wanted to try making an exhaust port at the bottom of the cylinder wall that was covered by the piston during the upstroke cycle. As said, I never got around to seeing if you could do it to fully evacuate the cylinder without affecting bore rigidity or lubrication, but if I ever get a spare engine with no hope of being petroleum-driven, I'd sure like to have a go!

As always, LOVE IT. Exciting build this one mate

This channel never ceases too amaze me, When’s the hover board prog going be 😂😊

Perhaps you could recycle an old espresso machine to run that beast. Just popped into my head over my morning coffee. Love how your show gets my mind running in morning

I’m excited to see how your engine works in the future. I’ll be ordering a Diesel heater from Vevor. I just scored 500 gallons of old Diesel!!!! Just need to wick the water out of Emulation…🤔

Great video! 😀 A turbo-charger with a burn-barrel between compressor and turbine is multi-fuel capable and doesn't need water. Effiency probably can be increased by heating a jacketed pyrolisis reactor with the exhaust fumes of the turbine and use the syngas as fuel. The electric efficiency of car alternators is below 70%. So I suggest to use 48V/50A BLDC motors with a rectifier or magneto-hydro-dynamic generators.

Fascinating. I was motivated to look up how to machine a taper too.

Brilliant looks professional can't wait to see the steam rollin out of it.

Cant wait to see this valve arrangement.

I've watched your video on 'How to become an Inventor ',trouble is I don't find the time,because I'm always watching your videos!

This is brilliant! Have you created the next video in this series? Would love to see how you created the valve and what you used

Good on yer Robert! One suggestion, lubrication. Steam tends to wipe the oil off the piston rings causing excessive wear. I'd put an in line oiler, such as is often used running air tools off an air compressor, feeding into in the steam in piping. I hope you design a flash boiler (Inherently safe[er] than a fire tube or water tube boiler as there's only a fraction of a cup of water in it to explode into steam if anything goes wrong.) to run it.

Years ago an Australien University converted a Lister 2stroke Diesel to run on Steam. They had ballvalves on the head and a pin on the piston that pushed those steel balls up to let the steam flow in.

Awesome! 👏

Nice video, thanks :)

Thing about valves, is no I don't own a lathe, and most important its going to wear and fail, but if its trivial to make I can have a spare. Last thought, want to collect the waste steam to condense in a bucket, as the trouble with steam engines is they need large amounts of pure clean distilled water. A commercial valve is attractive if its not to expensive to replace.

Thank you, much. You keep me reaching for the remote one video to the next. I have always been biased against the reciprocating piston in spite of its obvious utility, especially so when applied to home power generation. All that flapping and cycling does nothing for longevity of the system and will ruin a good afternoon nap. How can you possibly brainstorm without that? Would you instead consider using a gear pump/motor or even a small gear pump/motor in line (series) with a larger one to capture a bit more efficiency?

great content thanks

I am very sad this project never came to fruition! Seems no one on KZfaq has accomplished this either. I wonder if the valve was too difficult to design

as a gasoline mechanic when i think an engine was flooded i pull the spark plugs and then rotate the crank shaft, then use the starter to pump the pistons, effectively all the water gets ejected. if you left the fittings removable or put some bolts in the top plate you could manually move the flywheels to push out the water before starting it. potentially you could leave the bolts out, apply the steam and work the flywheels to eject the water and warm the engine for use. then replace the bolts to get it running. this would be fairly easy to add if it becomes required later.

Awesome video, I looked through your videos and didn’t see one on the valve setup, is that still a work in progress or did I miss it?

the steam engine is coming along nicely. Any chance of an update on the magnetically displaced free piston Stirling engine coming soon? I've been trying to think how to easily attach the displacer to the retaining ring with springs but haven't come up with a sufficiently simple idea yet.

Is there still an update in the pipeline for this Robert? Thanks for the great content

I like your Crunchie mug

Good to see that you're allowed to have that much fun.

would love to see a homemade steam turbine turning a motor genorating power

Great video

Dude once the prepping community get wind of this channel it's gonna skyrocket.

i suggest use steam oil a type of lubricant specifically for steam engines and locomotives well you can also make your own lubricant using tallow oil or graphite power and i also suggest to attach a generator maybe a single phase induction motor and maybe implement form one of your videos about induction motor generators without magnet for efficient performance overall the engine has no issue at all even lubrication because the connecting rods and crankshaft has built in oil channels

I SURE HOPE YOU'LL MAKE THAT A GENUINE STEAMPUNK ENGINE MR. SMITH! MAYBE RUN YOUR LAPTOP IN THE OFFICE

What do you think would be a fun thing to do with railway tie spikes

I wish this man was my uncle.

Interested to see what, if anything, you have planned for lubrication of the cylinder/piston/rings. Without it the cylinder/piston could erode away and/or seize, but with it I think you'll get oil coming out the exhaust valve. So any oil reservoir would need to be checked regularly and topped up, plus dealing with the milky greasy mess created by oil mixing with steam moisture.

I know you did the rubber based Stirling engine that vibrated. But did you do any Alpha or other style Stirling engines. Sure steam is strong and it has power and you can burn practically anything in the boiler. But for simplicity a stove with a Stirling attached is more my speed.

20mm aluminium plate takes a SERIOUS amount of cutting

I am going to build a valveless steam engine the Winter.

Maybe someone could summarize the video for me, because I spent the whole 6½ minutes with my eyes focused on the mug, praying that Robert would not crash it while moving all these metal and wooden parts around. 😀

Just use the piston to open the valve, through the sparkplug hole!

I was thinking, since you have the gear, to weld together a steel box, maybe with a bolt screwed in for access. Into which you could put various things and put them under tremendous pressure....

What kind of compressor are you using? Love your work!

I was just thinking using electric valves , is like using relays, they don't really last long getting actuated repeated like in that app, so I thought use 2, 3, or 4, per cylinder, use a controller, that can trigger one per rotation, then start with the first one, again, or build a electronic driver attachment, with a shift register, and MOSFETs, each time it's triggered it fires another valve, then starts over, fairly simple, this will have the valves lasting longer, possibly longer than if they were just replacements, since it allows time to cool between cycles, may only be 10% longer, but it's better than nothing, and if one fails, it will only develop a mis! Not a dead cylinder or a failure in a single cylinder, I have a couple lawnmower engines I'm thinking about converting, to build a steam generator, I'm thinking about using both intake and exhaust valves as exhaust, and use the spark plug hole as the intake, and possibly wrap the cylinder with copper tubing, as part of the exhaust, and insulate it, to keep it hot as possible, to keep the pressure up, cooling of the steam as it enters the cylinder can be a problem, if it cools excessively, I have thought about using a hydraulic cylinder as the piston, bolt the shaft to the piston, remove the rings, and replace the head with a sheet of rubber, to seal the old cylinder somewhat, so it can operate as a double acting cylinder, to perform much like a two cylinder boxer, without the balance advantage, especially if I can find a near 3" cylinder with a near 4" stroke, the engine only has a 2" +/- stroke, but I doubt I'll find a cylinder under 4" ,. I guess it could be cut and bolt a head on shortening it, however a much longer stroke would be better, I'd much rather build a engine with 3"-4" bore, with 6" to 8" stroke, it would probably peak at 1000 rpm or less, but the TQ would be much higher, especially if the steam flow can keep up with the cylinder displacement, all this could be machined with the proper tools, even a 2" bore with 4" stroke,. 2cylinder, double acting, so performance would be similar to a 4cylinder.. Maybe power the secondary of one cylinder , with the exhaust of a primary side of another cylinder, maybe design a valve system that does that, then gives it a shot of hot steam when it's about half down(or up the bore) to give a power boost, About the same time the exhaust valve is closing that is fed that cylinder, Maybe a small Tesla turbine could compete with this style engine, build it with only . 010"- .020" clearance between the disc, with 6, 6" disc, make it tight as possible, allow for expansion, or maybe a rotary vane motor, like used in pneumatic tools, using graphite bars or vanes to seal the rotor in the bore, a 6" rotor, about 1" wide, maybe seal the sides of the rotor with a nylon or ring possibly sealing against a graphite plate , making all this complicated, maybe just convert a mower engine, get a extra oil ring, widen the top ring land, and use a oil ring scraper to seal the gap in the top compression ring, possibly sand the sides of the rings with 2000 grit or higher sandpaper, to polish the sides, after going over then with 220 paper to get a cross hatch, it should look like a fresh built engine cylinder bore, the tiny scratches are to hold oil, preventing the rings from sticking, and possibly use a tiny round file to put a tiny groove in the ring lands to supply oil, only about . 002" the compression ring gap will supply oil also, with the extra oil rings in the compression rings, making the rings zero gap, with the oil rings in the middle, above the bottom ring, below the top ring, with gaps 180° from each other, there should be near zero water in the crankcase, Sorry, I do RAMBLE don't I,. So sorry to get carried away, But I have been planning this for a while, build a dc generator, steam powered, Using a alternator, with a brushed motor controller to power the brushes/ field coil, to regulate the voltage output, I also been planning a feedback regulator to control the output, allowing 12v and 24v output , and possibly 60v for 48v systems, it may require a different diode in the 3phase rectifier, I hope it would do between 35 and 50 or 60 amps, at 24/29v. It may require more engine to do that much power, they are designed to spin 4 to 60 x the engine rpm, so 2k rpm idle, peak over 20krpm 😲 sorry again for rambling!

Would a turbine used with air tools work with steam as well?

Would it be worth to put insulation on the metal walls of the engine? or the efficiency increase would be negligible?

yeah. so i bought the carbon felt. fair enough in size and dispatch time. but be aware.the felt is extremely loosely "packed" in itself. (i mean very lightly compressed -5mm). The containment packaging is wonderful; thick cardboard and lots of clingfilm (saran wrap)., but what the problem is is that the smaller felt fibres are free to float in air. yes the clingfilm attracts minute particles using static, handling the stuff does free up more particles. like i said, lightly compressed (compounded?). ' Handling and Airflow Influenced Density' is probably the best way to describe it. H.A.I.D. : wear breathing and eye protection is my advice.

Hmmm. Nooow. If you were to use a single but triple sized large hole in the center for both in/out (each cylinder), and do the in/out separation outside with a t-junction you could put the engine upside down and during warmup/cooldown open both ports. (Edit: and get better flow/less pressure drop) The condensed water, with gravity and maybe with the help of a bump towards the center hole of the new plate, could flow out back to the reservoir/pump. Once the system heats up enough, close the exhaust valve and start pulsing it according to the piston position. Probably a bit before it reaches the highest volume/lowest point, so you dont start compressing the old cool steam. Also you might want to use overheated steam at 1.2 to 2 bar system pressure so you get more energy during expansion before the steam turns back into liquid. If its upside down any liquid will just leave with the "cold" and wet steam through the output valve. For the demonstrator it might really be easiest to use magnetic valves (solenoid actors) so you can put a bit of distance via linkage between the hot steam and the coil/electronics. To start the electronics use a hand crank generator (or power bank), when its running a old style bicycle dynamo on the flywheel ;-) And the you can simply move/clamp two magnets on the flywheel for variable timing and switch the valves via reed switch+mosfet. No arduino, just need to find a good position. The arduino (i would use a siemens logo! RC12/24) could be used to optimize timing for steam temperature and control rpm tho... If you bypass/remove the relais you can trigger the outputs up to 10Hz and it has high frequency inputs for the rpm and valve timing.

On the valve in and valve out, could you use a diaphragm so the air comes in and goes out directionally. So valve 1, piston 1 brings in the air, Valve 2, piston 1 sends out the air to piston 2 valve 1 and then sent out through piston 2 valve 2 back to piston 1valve 1, Repeating the process?.

Is that compressor one with the cylinders 180° apart or are they at 90°? A steam engine is best for self starting if at 90°. Air compressors work best at 180°. Two ball valves per cylinder with the right pushrods would work if the pushrods operated off the top of the pistons. Valves could be enclosed in a cover sealed so you did not have to worry about sealing the pushrods.

A tenner says Rob will be using solenoids.

Years ago I replaced a timing belt on a fiat punto, required the engine set to middle dead center, a little unusual but approached it in a similar way using meat skewers, regarding the valve I'm wondering if a turbo boost control solenoid might work, they come in 3 and 4 port set up but only require a small voltage to operate, obviously they need to handle fairly harsh conditions working with charged air from a turbo but I'm unsure how they would fair with steam, compressed air no probs and can get them fairly cheap

Did you ever finish this project

Great project as usual. My one concern is the use of aluminum. My understanding is that aluminum can be eroded under certain conditions by steam. Years ago, I was playing around with very thin walled aluminum tubing, passing heated rubbing alcohol steam through it. Within seconds, the pipe seemed to disintegrate! I think it was the water vapor that did the damage. I switched to thin copper tubing. Anyway, I'm wondering if steam and aluminum is just a bad idea or is it that temperature and pressure play into this.

Hi, big fan of this channel. Could you please help me with something. I want to make an air compressor , or mor accurately , get steam , turn it into super heated steam and have it produce about 120 CFM at 8 bar. Could you point me in the right direction of choices you would make please.

why not just have an inlet port and drill a hole at bdc to act as an exhaust [ this would also mitigate the need for a water drain as well ?]

I built one out of a old lawn mower motor didn't have a real problem with water build up

You gotta suck! Squeeze, BANG! And BLOW! 😲 Along with add fuel to the suck,. Spark to the squeeze,. So you can get the BANG! And BLOW, So you can do it again!

Quality

id not bother with the plate on top just use the head and fill the sparkplug holes with chemicial metal and flatten it top drill the 4 holes reuse the head bolts,ive come up with a idea to reuse the gas from the outlets of a engine compress it down and blow it black into the head lower fuel use uses unburnt fuel in the compressed gas could mix it with methane or other gas as well

I have seen people converting 2-stroke engines from weed eaters, etc. Pretty much the same thing.

What is the valve timing, is it 1-2-3-4 or 1-4-3-2

Puedes replicar el generador del canal the crazy channel...???? El que fabrico con el alternador modificado con magnetos de neodimio....???

👍

First, and thank you😊

I bought some carbon felt 5mm thick off Amazon. It doesn't wick anything. So where did I go wrong??

Do you have DVDs of your videos?

My biggest concern about steam is safely producing it and not having to constantly monitor or adjust it. Certainly you could use an electric steam generator and accomplish that. But that sort of defeats the purpose if the goal is to produce electricity from steam. I'd like to burn wood waste and pellets as the energy source because my family has a farm and has plenty of wood waste to potentially use as energy. Wood that often gets burned in a pit anyways. Seems like a big waste.

wo ist das update?

How much for the aluminium block? Looks expensive

Rob, I am in a country from where i can't subscribe to your other channel. And i want to see your prog on hho. Any solution?

👍🇮🇪

Stick with the ORIGINAL FLYWHEEL, its asking for a belt drive to an alternator.

Hi Murry,could you not just 3D print an entire steam engine.with hi temp plastic....