Need help with Lamina flow engine
Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 7:23 am
I hope someone with more knowlege on this engine can help me. I built this engine and cannot seem to get it to run at all. I can post pictures if anyone wants to see. I machined the flywheel on my lathe and also the coupling between the piston and the test tube. The cylinder is a glass cylinder I got as a sample from airpot. It is 1.5" long and about 1/2" in diameter. The Test tube is about 4" long and about 3/4" in diameter. I have part of a pot scrubber installed in the rear of the test tube. The coupling has a 1/4" choke between the cylinder and the test tube. I understand that this is critical. I have an excellent seal on everything. If I push the piston into the cylinder I get a great deal of compression. I also get a lot of resistance if I try to pull the piston out of the cylinder. I think I am ok there. If I heat the test tube where it should be heated, the piston pushes outward. If I remove the heat, the piston sucks back in but it takes a while for this to happen. Connecting the piston to the flywheel and trying to run the engine results in nothing. I can spin the flywheel and it doesn't even try to work. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? I am starting to think that maybe the test tube is not long enough and I have too much compression and maybe it doesn't cool enough quickly enough. Any help would be appreciated.