What about a small electric boiler, are they available as kits/plans..?
I saw a video of one running a small engine and thought it looked rather good, dont know if it was diy or a kit/plan. The boiler was horizontal and looked to be around 10 inches long by 3 inch diameter, thought it good been able to run these small engines on steam and not having to consider fuel types for the boiler.
Anyone know if the lampost engines is going to be written up or do I have to start from scratch?
Hi Duncan, the plans are taking shape, very slowly and hand drawn, just my way. I will have another push. I have lots of dimensional notes that I took when I took it apart for the latest mods, more detailed descriptions of the engine are here. Thanks for the interest, Nigel
The drawings are coming along very slowly, here is the base of the lamppost itself. A mixture of an image and simple drawings. Does this work for people?
In making my version of lamp post I had to buy a packet of 6 motors, to be used as a generator, so if any body wants a spare or info just drop me a message.
I ended up trying different motor and LED combinations to find the best pair. The red LEDs worked well, but just the wrong colour for a lamppost. I ended up with a yellow based LED as it gave the best overall light output. It would probably be best to use a permanent magnet brushless motor and also might be worth trying the tiny bead LED's from the battery powered sets.
Well I've got started. Here's the lantern. Many thanks to David George for supplying th generator and a press tool for the top. Got to find a better LED, all mine have a built in lens to the light goes primarily up, which isn't what you want. I suppose I could put an angled mirror inside, but then would only shine one direction.
Anyone tried glazing the lantern? My mobile phone screen protector was advertised as 'tempered glass' which might be more scratch resistant than polycarbonate
I used glass in the lantern, the glass came from old 35mm slides – there is a posh version of the slides where the film gets sandwiched between two thin pieces of glass.
For the light I turned a perspex bulb that the LED goes into, you could add some silver paint inside at the top of the hole that the LED fits into.
nearly there. I spotted a Stuart Williamson engine that I made over 30 years ago, too good to pass up. All I need to do now is find an LED that shines sideways all round, all mine have a 'beam' out of the end, so at present it's bent over and directed in one direction. The the dreaded painting.
I've got unopened litre tins of Tetrosyl etch primer, anyone know if it has a shelf life as I've had it for years. If still ok any good ideas for dispensing small quantities, and if I mix up too much does it keep? Precision paints premix has a definite use by
Try dimpling the end of an LED with a drill point, thus forming a conical concave. It should spread the light sideways.
I think Big Clive **LINK** mentions that they are available (in that form) over the counter. However, without wading through his many videos I can't say where.
you could machine some perspex into a lightbulb shape, drill the centre to take an LED and leave the inner surface rough so that it diffuses the light from the LED
This is actually using a flickering LED – if you go on ebay these LED's are quite cheap and replicate a flame – used quite a lot in dioramas
This is a very creative way of making a sheet metal press tool. Myfordboy has 3D printed the male and female formers and then used them to form the lid for the lantern.