This fan
was designed to be a real workhorse. Every effort was made to
reduce friction to an absolute minimum while at the same time
making the unit extremely reliable, maintenance free, quiet and
very long lived. My fan
has many hundreds of running hours on it while at shows and in
my office durring summer months with no maintainance, service
or repairs of any kind done, or needed.
In addition to the crankshaft running in ball bearings, the power
piston rod is fitted with precision ball bearings. All of the
reciprocating parts use very low friction non-metallic components
and never need oiled. The hot cap is specially designed to absorb
heat from the flame. The carefully shaped and angled concave fan
blades improve the overall air moving efficiency.
The fan operates nicely on an alcohol flame only 1/4" diameter
and 5/16" tall, moving a very respectable amount of air.
During a day long run, the displacer cylinder will never get more
than just luke warm.
One other design consideration was to make the fan an attractive
piece of machinery. You will be the judge of that!
The plans set consists of 9 sheets of drawings and 2 sheets of
construction and assembly notes.
(1) 5/8" dia. x 1.9" long graphite rod for piston
(2) .187" x .375" flanged bearings
(1) .156" x .312" flanged bearing
(1) 3/8" dia. x 2-1/4" long delrin rod
(4) 1/16" x 1/2" roll pins