Stirlingengineforum.com

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good sealing/low friction displacer gland or bushing for a small model engine? I have minimal machine tools at my disposal.

How about a Mikuni type small carbeurator jet and some wire? Would that work?

what I used that worked well was a needle from a deep fry turkey injection baster. I bought a container of turkey marinade and it came with a pretty much disposable suringe. I cut the needle part off and deburred it. Then I jb welded it into another piece of metal that was easier to mount to the top of the engine. I used a 3/32 piece of welding rod as the displacer shaft. It fit good with very little friction.

If you cant find the marinade with the disposable needles, you can buy just a needle for about $5.

If you have one of those old school hardware stores in town that have all those bins of small parts you can get a brass bushing and some tubing that fits. I've had real good luck using it. While your there, look at all their little parts and you may find other things that are cheap and useful.

For my second LTD Sterling engine I used 19ga. (~.032 inch) steel wire epoxied into the displacer and a .035 inch mig welding tip/electrode. With a little oil it holds 10 PSI easily! I found a 1/4"x20 version and there were metric versions as well. Make sure you pick one with a thread that you can use.

It looks nice as well.