Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Just got this as my first order from Stirlingkit today.

The good: seems well made.

The bad: I believe I received an "open box" product, the outer box and inner foam had been taped up. The biggest issue is my unit is missing the heavy bevel glass base and metal engine mount, I have an email in to them notifying of the problem. I believe they donated prizes to our online table show and are a recommended vendor here?
  I really want to try running the engine, but not sure if they will want me to ship it back. It's middle of the night in China so it may be some time before I hear back.

This is what I got- [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Well.....curiosity got the best of me!
   I fired it with one of my other small alcohol burners and it only needs a small flame to run.
   It is my first twin cyl and runs cheerfully in either direction, although blowing forward disturbs the burner Very little but blowing rearward really makes the flame dance.
   The nose cone has a collet system in it and it grips the engine output shaft as you tighten it down on a taper...this runs much more true than a typical set screw.
  I remain super hopeful stirlingkit will get me the glass base and engine mount, it's a neat little engine. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Was messing with the engine this morning and thought with the propeller pitch load it Runs fairly slow. I tried the burner the model came with as its a bit larger and gained about 10% speed but I wanted More.
    Just for fun I Nicked a light wooden gear from a marble run I am currently building, I was curious if the wood gear would have enough mass to allow the engine to run, it does! And the result is MORE than doubles the engine speed!...lots of fun but as I ran the engine Fast, I discovered the air cooled engine Does rely on the air movement from the propeller to carry the heat away. The engine will run fast And smooth with the gear flywheel for apox 1 min than begin to slow down and surge. If I let it cool for a min it will go fast again and the cycle repeats.
  I am going to look thru my airplane stuff for a propeller with less pitch but all this tinkering got me thinking a 3 or 4 blade model aircraft propeller might make an interesting "Baker fan" variant?

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Well, my engine stand is sitting on a desk in China somewhere....hopefully it will be on My kitchen table in about 2 weeks!

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Good news Ben

It IS good news, thanks Jan!
   If it comes thru, this would mark the first time I have received "customer service" from china!

Well, it took 4 days short of a Month, but today I took delivery of not one but TWO glass engine stands!!
  I had pretty much lost hope, but all is well now. I have no idea why they sent 2 other than they hoped at least one would be damage free. The aluminum riser is just held by super glue in a groove cut in the glass, one is popped off and I can easily mend it. I actually have a engine that I could fit to the second base or keep it for a spare if I break one (bull in China shop)
  I also got a small bag of stainless screws to mount the engine.
  So stirlingkit came thru.

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