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Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d Printed Compresso

This document provides instructions for building a homemade gas turbine engine entirely with a 3D printer and basic tools. It begins by noting that most homemade turbines require precise machining tools, but this design uses a 3D printed compressor instead. It then lists all the necessary materials, which include a 3D printer, metal sheets, ball bearings, pipes and fittings. The instructions explain how to assemble the shaft and hub that will hold the turbine wheel. CAD files are provided to 3D print molds for pressing the turbine wheel and nozzle guide vanes out of sheet metal. The goal is to construct a simple, affordable homemade turbine that can run on propane using only a 3D printer and basic DIY skills and tools.

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Alp Eren
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
89 views93 pages

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d Printed Compresso

This document provides instructions for building a homemade gas turbine engine entirely with a 3D printer and basic tools. It begins by noting that most homemade turbines require precise machining tools, but this design uses a 3D printed compressor instead. It then lists all the necessary materials, which include a 3D printer, metal sheets, ball bearings, pipes and fittings. The instructions explain how to assemble the shaft and hub that will hold the turbine wheel. CAD files are provided to 3D print molds for pressing the turbine wheel and nozzle guide vanes out of sheet metal. The goal is to construct a simple, affordable homemade turbine that can run on propane using only a 3D printer and basic DIY skills and tools.

Uploaded by

Alp Eren
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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instructables

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor

by Laphicet

In this instructable we will learn how to make a really working gas turbine engine at home. There are many tries to make
a homemade gas turbine, described over the net. There are even some instructables, e.g. that one:
Turbine Engine;
How to Build a Jet Engine! ;
The Recycled Jet Engine;
...

But only a few of them are truly functional.


A typical report on a successfull homemade turbine begins with a bunch of photos of machine tools and stages of
material processing. One usually needs at least a lathe, a milling machine and an argon welding tool and this makes the
gas turbine engine much less a ordable than it could be.
The most complicated thing to manufacture and the most critical for the turbine to work is its compressor stage. Usually
one needs CNC or manual driven precise machining tool to build it successfully. Luckily to us, the compressor works at
low temperature and can be 3D-printed. Also luckily to us 3D printers are a ordable nowadays and most DIY-ers have
them at home.
I must note that I'm not the rst who got an idea to build the su cient parts of gas turbine by using 3D printer. AFAIK the rst
one was Axel Borg from pulse-jets.com forum. You can take a look at his site: amazingdiyprojects.com. I must also note that
the turbine, being described here, is totally independent elaboration from the one presented at amazingdiyprojects.com. I
must state clearly that neither me, nor people known to me, have ever purchased the mentioned project, and hereby I am in no
way can be imputed in disclosing any proprietary information in this instructable.
People skilled in the art can note di erent design, di erent technology approach and even di erent blade angles. The only
contribution of Axel Borg was that he had shown that 3D-printed version of compressor will work if necessary e orts were
applied. It appeared to be enough for me to apply the necessary e orts and design my own version. I'm gratefull to Axel for
this.
Another thing, being usually extremely di cult to reproduce at home is so called "nozzle guide vane" or simply NGV.
Luckily by trials and errors I've found a way how to make it without using an argon welding machine or other exotic
tools.
You will need:
1) 3D printer, able to work with PLA lament. If You have an expensive one, like Ultimaker - good for You,
but cheaper things, like Prusa Anet, will suit too;
2) Obviously You should have some slicing software, properly tuned to work with Your printer;
3) Even more obviously, You should have a proper amount of PLA lament to make all the printed parts.
ABS won't suit for this project, since it is too soft. You probably may use PETG, but it is untested by me, so
do it on the risk of Your own;
Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 1
4) A tin can of proper size (100 mm diameter, 145 mm length). Preferrably the can should have a
removable lid. Many sorts of tea or candies are distributed in such cans. At the least case You can take a
common can (from say pineapple slices) but then You will need to make a metal lid for it all by Yourselves;
5) A sheet of galvanized iron. 0.5 mm thickness is optimal. You may choose other thickness, but You may
face di culties with bending or grinding so be prepared. In any case You will need at least a short ribbon
of 0.5 mm thick galvanized iron to make a turbine shroud spacer. 2 pcs of 200 x 30 mm will suit;
6) A (smaller) sheet of stainless steel to make the turbine wheel, the NGV wheel and the turbine shroud.
Again 0.5 mm thickness is optimal. You may use a chimney steel or even to sacri ce a stainless steel
dinner dish for this purposes. A wide spread 555 "kitchen steel" works extremely well here;
7) A hard steel rod to make the turbine shaft. Beware: mild steel simply does not work here. You will need
at least some carbon steel. Some hard alloy will be even better. Here we will assume that the shaft has its
diameter of 6 mm. You may choose another base diameter, but You will then need to nd proper
materials to make a hub;
8) 2pcs 6x19 ballraces 626zz (11/14/21: earlier it was written 6x22 - it was a typo, thx to Yossis2 for note);
9) 1/2" pipe nipple 150 mm long And two end ttings;
10) A drill and some rig to secure it;
11) A grinder. In the worst case some whetstone will suit;
12) A dremel (or other hand engraving tool) with engraving discs;
13) A general purpose metal working tool set including hacksaw, pliers, screwdriver, M6 thread die,
scissors, caliper and so on;
14) A piece of copper or stainless steel pipe to make a fuel spray;
15) A set of screws, nuts, clamps, vynil pipes and other common DIY stu ;
16) Propane or butane torch

If You want to run the engine You will also need:


17) A tank of propane. There exist petrol or kerosene engines, but it is a bit tricky to get them to work on
these fuels. Better to start with propane and decide later, wheteher You want to transit to the liquid fuels
or You are already happy with gas ones;
18) A manometer, capable to measure pressures of several inches of water column. Alternatively You can
use a jar of water, connected to a transparent pipe attached to a ruler;
19) A digital tachometer is also desirable. One can certainly estimate the rpm by the sound of the turbine,
but it requires a lot of experience;
20) A starter. To start the jet engine one can use:
a fan (100W or more rated, and better centrifugal one)
an electric motor (100W or more rated, 15 krpm capable; Yes You can use Your dremel here).

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 2


Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 3
https://vimeo.com/304085195

Step 1: Make the Hub

The hub will be made of:


one 1/2" pipe nipple 150 mm long;
two 1/2" female hose barb connector
and two 6x15 ballraces 626zz.

For some reason the ballraces t correctly to the nut parts of the ttings, so all You need here is to remove the dead
weight: Use Your hacksaw to cut o the pipes from the ttings, and use Your drill to enlarge the remaining holes. You will
end up with two cup nuts. Put the ballraces in the nuts and screw the nuts onto the waterpipe connector. Now You will
be able to insert the shaft into the newly made hub and rotate it freely.

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 4


Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 5
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Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 7
Step 2: Make the Shaft

Theory (and experience to some extent) says that there's no di erence whether You make the shaft of mild steel, hard
steel or stainless steel. So choose one, that is more a ordable to You.
If You expect to get a decent thrust from the turbine I'd advise You to use a steel rod having 10 mm (or larger) diameter.
However when preparing this instructable I had only 6 mm one, so we will take it as an example.
Use Your M6 thread die to thread one end of the rod on 35mm of its length. You next task will be thread the other end of
the rod in such a way, that when the rod is inserted into the hub (it is assumed that the ballraces are put onto the end of
the pipe nipple and tightened with the hose barb nuts) and when nuts are screwed to the end of thread at both ends,
there would stay a tiny bit spacing between the nuts and ballraces. This is a very complicated procedure. If the thread is
too short and the longitudinal play is too large You can thread the rod further on. But if the thread appears to be too long
(and there is no longitudinal play at all) there is no way to recover it and You will need to start up with a next rod sample.
Better to have an excess of rods here.

You may also want to grind the shaft with a sandpaper to t the ballraces more precisely.
For this sample there exists one prospective material - shafts from a laser printer. Their stainless steel looks hard enough
and they are exactly 6 mm diameter. Their drawback is that 20-25 krpm is their limit. However the same can be said about
any 6 mm steel rod. If You want higher rpm - use thicker rods,

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 8


Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 9
Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 10
Step 3: 3D Print Turbine Wheel and NGV Matrices

Here are the STL les for the matrices for the NGV wheel:
NGV_matrice_down.STL
NGV_matrice_up.STL

Download them and 3Dprint


And here are the STL les for the matrices for the turbine wheel:
turbine_matrice_1pass_down.STL
turbine_matrice_1pass_up.STL
turbine_matrice_2pass_down.STL
turbine_matrice_2pass_up.STL

Download them and 3Dprint too.


It appears that the blade shape becomes more smooth if one presses the vane not into the nal shape during one step
(pass) but into some intermediate shape (1st pass) and only then - into the nal shape (2nd pass). Therefore I provide
STL's for both type of press matrices. For the 1st pass and for the second one.
Yes in this design the NGV has the shape of the wheel. Just like the turbine, but with mounting holes in it.
View in 3D Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/F3E/1UIR/JOYNX269/F3E1UIRJOYNX269.stl

View in 3D Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FCE/JAGP/JOYNX26B/FCEJAGPJOYNX26B.stl

View in 3D Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FED/YJGN/JOYNX26R/FEDYJGNJOYNX26R.stl

View in 3D Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FD1/NECZ/JOYNX279/FD1NECZJOYNX279.stl

View in 3D Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FL7/ZNTD/JOYNX27G/FL7ZNTDJOYNX27G.stl

View in 3D Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FRB/UHDK/JOYNX27H/FRBUHDKJOYNX27H.stl

Step 4: Cut the Wheels

This design uses 2 kinds of steel wheels. Namely: the turbine wheel and the NGV wheel. To make them use a stainless
steel. If made of mild or galvanized one
their lifetime would be barely enough to show You the engine working.
You could cut the wheels from a sheet of metal and then drill a hole at the center, but most probably Your drill bit will
miss the center. Another approach is to drill a hole in the sheet of metal, and then to glue a paper template, so that the
hole in the metal and the place for the hole in the paper template become coincident. Finally You can cut the disc with
scissors.
You may nd and download the templates below:
Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 11
Turbine wheel template:
turbine_wheel_template.doc or turbine_wheel_template.pdf
NGV wheel template:
NGV_wheel_template.doc or NGV_wheel_template.pdf
For Your convinience the images are already in the properly scaled "doc" and "pdf" les. Load them into a text editor,
capable to operate with doc- les (One can use Microsoft O ce, Libra O ce or Open O ce for example).
Download the les, open with Your o ce software and print on a common paper using a common (not 3D) printer.
Now You can cut the wheels from a sheet of metal and drill the auxiliary holes. (Note that the central holes should be
drilled already. Also note that the turbine wheel has only the central hole.)
It's also a good idea to leave some allowance when cutting the metal, and then grind the circular border of the wheels
using a drill and some grinding device. However if You trust Your abilities to cut a good circle with scissors only, You may
omit this procedure.
It might be better to make a number of reserve wheels at this step. Further on it will be clear why.

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 12


Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 13
Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 14
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Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 16
Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FQM/J8EC/JOYNZ0BA/FQMJ8ECJOYNZ0BA.doc

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FMV/6LH7/JOYNZ0BC/FMV6LH7JOYNZ0BC.doc

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FDI/1FGR/JOYNZ0BD/FDI1FGRJOYNZ0BD.pdf

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FB4/D8YR/JOYNZ0BG/FB4D8YRJOYNZ0BG.pdf

Step 5: Pressform Turbine and NGV Wheels

Freshly cut wheels are hard to be placed into the pressing matrices. To do the job use pliers to twist the vanes a bit. The
wheels with pre-twisted vanes match the matrices much more easily. Clamp the wheel between halves of the press
matrix and compress in vise. It really helps if the matrices have been lubricated with machine oil beforehand.
Vise is rather poor press machine, so, most probably, You will need to hit the assembly with a hammer to compress it
further. Use some wooden pads in order for not to break the plastic matrices.
One may try to save some e orts by shaping the vanes using only the 2-nd pass press-matrices. However the
aerodynamics of the blades will be a bit worse this case. The exhaust temperature will then be a bit higher.
Two stage shaping (using 1st pass matrices rst and 2nd pass matrices to nalize the shape) gives de nitely better
results.

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 17


Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 18
Step 6: Make a Support Tripod

The doc le with template for the support tripod is here:


support_tripod.doc or support_tripod.pdf
Cut the part from a sheet of stainless steel, drill the necessary holes and bend the part as shown on the photos.
Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 19
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Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 25
Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FUW/BIF4/JP4DBCB2/FUWBIF4JP4DBCB2.doc

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FWA/S2F6/JP4DBCB3/FWAS2F6JP4DBCB3.pdf

Step 7: Make a Set of Metal Spacers

If You had a lathe, You could make the whole part from some bulk material. However not many people have a lathe at
home. The DIY way to do it is to cut a number of planar discs from a sheet of metal put them one onto another and bolt
them tightly to obtain a volumetic part.
These parts stay comparatively cold, so there is no need to make them of the expensive stainless steel. Use 1 mm thick
sheet of mild (or galvanized) steel here.
The doc les with templates for the spacers are here:
spacer_big.doc or spacer_big.pdf - for the bigger one
spacer_small.doc or spacer_small.pdf - for the smaller one

You will need 2 smaller discs and 12 bigger ones. The numbers are given for 1 mm thick sheet of metal. If You use thinner
or thicker one, You'll need to adjust the amount of discs to obtain the correct total thickness.
Cut the discs and drill the holes. It's also a good idea to bolt the same discs together, to clamp the bolt in Your drill and to
grind them round. In such a way You can get a set of discs with equal diameter.

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 26


Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 27
Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 28
Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 29
Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FJ0/U50F/JP4DCYTQ/FJ0U50FJP4DCYTQ.doc

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FMW/AF3K/JP4DCYTR/FMWAF3KJP4DCYTR.doc

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FFG/FDEI/JP4DCYVT/FFGFDEIJP4DCYVT.pdf

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FLB/VX6U/JP4DCYVU/FLBVX6UJP4DCYVU.pdf

Step 8: Make a Support Collar

As the support collar keeps the whole NGV assy, You should use some thick material here. You can use some suitable steel
spacer, or some sheet of (black) steel not thinner than 2 mm.
The doc le with template for the support collar is here:
NGV_support_collar.doc or NGV_support_collar.pdf

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 30


Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 31
Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 32
Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/F2C/PEKQ/JP4DCZQE/F2CPEKQJP4DCZQE.doc

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FHS/OM2W/JP4DCZQF/FHSOM2WJP4DCZQF.pdf

Step 9: Assemble the NGV Inner Part

Now You have all the parts to assemble the NGV inner. Install them on the hub as it is shown on photos.

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 33


Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 34
Step 10: Make a Turbine Shroud Spacer

As all predecessors we use a reaction type turbine. The reaction turbine needs some pressure to operate properly. And to
keep the hot gases from expanding freely we need so called "turbine shroud". Otherwise the gases will loose the
pressure immediately after coming through the NGV. To function properly the shroud has to match the turbine with a
small clearance. Since we have the turbine wheel and the NGV wheel having exactly the same diameter we need
something to provide the necessary clearance. This 'something' s the turbine shroud spacer. It is just a stripe of metal that
would be rolled over the NGV wheel. The thickness of this sheet determines the clearance value. Use 0.5 mm here.
I think there's no need to provide a template here. Just cut a stripe 10 mm wide and 214 mm long from a sheet of any
steel 0.5 mm thick. Note that You do not really need stainless here.

Step 11: Make the Turbine Shroud

The turbine shroud itself will again be a piece of metal to be rolled over the NGV wheel. Or, better, a pair of pieces. Here
You have more freedom to choose the thickness. The shroud is not simply a stripe since it has attachement ears.
The doc le with template for the turbine shroud is here:
shroud_template.doc or shroud_template.pdf

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 35


Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FQK/KY9Z/JP6T9YFE/FQKKY9ZJP6T9YFE.doc

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/F1M/WF5X/JP6T9YFF/F1MWF5XJP6T9YFF.pdf

Step 12: Roll the Turbine Shroud Spacer and the Turbine Shroud Over the NGV Inner
Part

Roll the shroud spacer over the NGV blades. Fasten with some steel wire. Find a way to x the spacer, to keep it from
motion when the wire will be removed. You may use soldering or brazing here.
Then remove the wire and roll the turbine shroud over the spacer. Again use some wire to make the wrap tight.

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 36


Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 37
Step 13: Assemble the NGV Assy

Just do as shown on the photos. The sole connection between the NGV and the hub is those three M3 screws. It limits the
heat ow from the hot NGV to the cold hub and keeps the ballraces (rather) safe.
At this step You can Use Your shaft with the turbine wheel to check if the turbine can spin freely. If not - make the
alignment of the NGV shroud by changing the position of xing nuts on those three M3 screws. Vary the tilt of the NGV
until the turbine can spin freely.

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 38


Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 39
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Step 14: Make the Combustion Liner

The doc le with template for the main part of the liner is here:
liner_main.doc or liner_main.pdf

Glue this paper over a sheet of steel. Drill the holes and cut the shape. It is not necessary to use stainless here. It appears
that liner works good even if made of galvanized (roof cover) steel. Roll the cut into a cone. Nothe that to keep it from
unrolling we use curling here. If the steel is soft enough You may curl even with pliers.
The front part of the liner is here:
liner_front.doc or liner_front.pdf

Again use this template to make a cone. Use a chisel to make the wedge slits and then roll the thing into a cone too. Fix
the cone with curling. Both parts are kept together only by friction in the complete engine. So no need to think how to
attach them at this step.

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 42


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Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/F90/LIVX/JP6TA14A/F90LIVXJP6TA14A.doc

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/F1W/DV6W/JP6TA14B/F1WDV6WJP6TA14B.doc

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FCS/O6F1/JP6TA14G/FCSO6F1JP6TA14G.pdf

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FT6/AEJU/JP6TA14J/FT6AEJUJP6TA14J.pdf

Step 15: 3D Print the Impeller

The impeller consists of two parts:


impeller_base.STL - this one is the disc with blades
impeller_up.STL - this one is the covering (shroud)

This is Kurt Schreckling's impeller, having been modi ed heavily by me in order to be more tolerant to the longitudinal
displacements. Note the labyrith, preventing the air from coming back due to the backpressure.
3D print both parts and glue the covering onto the disc with blades. The best results can be obtained using an acrylic
epoxy here. But You may also try other glues.

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 51


Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 52
View in 3D Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FT0/VW9K/JP6TADHZ/FT0VW9KJP6TADHZ.stl

View in 3D Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FOF/RAHV/JP6TADI1/FOFRAHVJP6TADI1.stl

Step 16: 3D Print the Compressor Stator (the Diffuser)

The thing has very complicated shape. And when the other parts can be (at least in theory) produced in DIY conditions
without the use of precise machinery, this one can not. To make the things worse this part is responsible to the e ciency
of the compressor to the most extent. It means that the fact whether the whole engine will be operational or not
depends strongly to the quality and precision of the di user. That's why don't even try to make it manually.
Entrust Your robotic printer with the job.
For the sake of 3D printing convinience, the compressor stator has been divided into several parts. Here are the STL les
for the:
re_cone_mount.STL
case.STL
connector.STL
intrake.STL
stator_base1.STL
stator_base2.STL

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 53


3D print and assemble as shown on the photos. Note that a nut with 1/2" pipe thread is to be attached to the central
body of the compressor stator. It is used to keep the hub in place. In this example the nut is attached by 3 pcs M3 screws.
Here is the template, where to drill the holes in the nut:
compressor_nut.doc or compressor_nut.pdf
Alternatively You may nd another way to keep the nut inplace. You may try to epoxy glue it if Your epoxy is good
enough.
Also note a heat screening aluminum foil cone. It is used to prevent PLA parts from softening due to heat radiation from
the combustion liner. As a source of the aluminum foil one can use any pare beer can here.

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 54


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Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FXC/S8WF/JP6TAFBR/FXCS8WFJP6TAFBR.doc

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FWY/Y92V/JP6TAFC0/FWYY92VJP6TAFC0.doc

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FCM/8MI2/JP6TAFC7/FCM8MI2JP6TAFC7.pdf

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FOE/4PE1/JP6TAFCE/FOE4PE1JP6TAFCE.pdf

View in 3D Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/F6K/KINX/JP6TAFCL/F6KKINXJP6TAFCL.stl

View in 3D Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/F8X/BXIR/JP6TAFCS/F8XBXIRJP6TAFCS.stl

View in 3D Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FUF/KYYW/JP6TAFCZ/FUFKYYWJP6TAFCZ.stl

View in 3D Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/F4Z/N6LZ/JP6TAFD6/F4ZN6LZJP6TAFD6.stl

View in 3D Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FZ8/5OF4/JP6TAFDH/FZ85OF4JP6TAFDH.stl

View in 3D Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FLN/XLXY/JP6TAFDU/FLNXLXYJP6TAFDU.stl

Step 17: Prepare the Tin Can

You will need a tin can 145 mm long and 100 mm in diameter. Better if You can use a can with some lid. Otherwise You
will need to install NGV with the hub into the bottom of the tin can itself, and have further problems with reassembling
the engine for service.
Cut o one bottoms of the tin can. In the other bottom (or better in the lid) cut a 52 mm circular hole. Then cut its border
into the leafs as shown on the photos.
Insert the NGV assembly into the hole with leafed border. Wrap the leafs with a steel wire tightly.

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Step 18: Make and Install the Fuel Spray

Make a copper tube (6mm outer dia, 3.7mm inner dia) ring. Or better You may use a stainless steel tubing. The fuel ring
should t tightly into Your tin can internals. Solder (or weld) a fuel support pipe to the ring.
Drill fuel spray nozzles. These are just 16 pcs of 0.5 mm holes evenly spread over the ring. The direction of the holes
should be orthogonal to the air ow. I.e. You should drill the holes on the inner side of the ring.
Please note that the presence of so called "hot spots" in the exhaust of the engine depend almost solely to the quality of
the fuel ring. Dirty holes, or uneven holes and You will end up with the engine that brings a pair of NGV vanes to white
glow, while all the other gases are still cold. Such an engine will just destroy itself in bare tries to start it up. The presence
of the hot spots depends much less to the liner quality than others try to say. But the fuel spray ring is essential.
Check the quality of the fuel spray by the test re. The amelets should be equal to each other.
Once completed, install the fuel spray ring into the tin can body.

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Step 19: Make the Final Assembling of the Engine

All You need to do at this step is to put all the parts together. If things went good, ther will be no problems in performing
this. Otherwise You will need to t the parts manually.
Lute the tin can lid with some kiln sealant. If You have no access to the kiln sealant, You can use a silicate glue (Yes, that
nasty o ce glue) with some heat resistant lling agent. One may use graphite dust, steel powder and so on.
After the engine has been assembled check if its rotor spins freely. If it does, make a preliminary re test. Use some
reasonably powerfull fan to blow into the intake or just rotate the shaft with dremel. Turn on the fuel slightly and ignite
the stream at the back end of the engine. Adjust the spinning to let the ame into combustion chamber.
PLEASE NOTE: at this step You are not trying to start the engine! The sole purpose of the re test is to heat it up and to look
whether it behaves good or not. At this step You can use a cylinder of butane, being commonly used for handheld torches. No
need for propane yet. If the fortune is on Your side, You can proceed to the next step. However it is better to seal the engine with
a kiln sealant (or with silicate glue, lled with some heat resistant powder).

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Step 20: Start the Engine

You can start the engine using any common procedure. Either by blowing air into its intake or by spinning its shaft with
some starter motor.
Be prepared to burn up several NGV (and maybe turbine) wheels while trying to start. (That's why at step 4 it was
recommended to make a few reserve ones.) Once You become convenient with the engine, You will be able to start it
awlessly at any time You want.
Usually You have to use propane as a fuel at this step. I suspect that if manufactured and assembled with extremely care
and accuracy this engine may self sustain on butane gas (for handheld lighters and torches) but commonly it can not.

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Step 21: Enjoy Yourself
Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 87
Please note, that at the present state the engine can serve mostly educational and recreational purposes. But this is a
fully functional turbo jet engine, able to spin up to any desired rpm (including the self destructive ones). Feel free to
improve and modify the design to ful ll your (RC- ight) goals. First of all You will need a thicker shaft to reach higher rpm
and therefore thrust. The second thing to try is to wrap the outer surface of the engine with metal pipe - fuel line and to
use it as vaporizer for liquid fuel. This is where the engine's design with hot outer wall comes handy. Yet another thing to
think about is a lubrication system. In the simplest case it may take a form of little bottle with some oil and two pipes -
one pipe to take pressure from the compressor and direct it to the bottle and another pipe is to direct the oil from the
pressurized bottle and to direct it to the rear ballrace. Without the lubrication the engine can only work for 1 to 5 minutes
dependently to its NGV temperature (the hotter NGV the shorter runtime). After that You need to oil the bearings all by
Yourselves. And with the lubrication system added the engine can run for a long time.
CREDITS:
Thanks to Kurt Schreckling and Thomas Kamps for their books.
Thanks to Axel Borg for the idea of 3D printed compressor and to Mike Everman for his excellent forum (pulse-jets.com),
where this idea was published.
SPECIAL THANKS to: bbewamit on Youtube for his video of a simple homemade turbine. From that is seen on the video
the turbine is doubtfully self-sustain but still the video is very encouraging.
Also note that I am NOT planning to sell and send the kits. Just get a 3D-printer and follow the instructable. Thanks for
understanding.
Note that in response to public demand I've added the cross sectional view of the engine with parts labeled.

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https://vimeo.com/304292316

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Built on and off again over the course of about 2 months. Completely done yet not yet tested.

I would love to see this running. Can you post a video on youtube? Vimeo never plays right. All I
get is "Player error: The player is having trouble. We’ll have it back up and running as soon as
possible." And of course they never do.
Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 90
Sorry
I have troubles with making account on youtube, so can not do this.
I can make 1 for you

I use Vimeo frequently but have never seen that error, are you sure it's not a technical issue or
firewall or similar issue causing that?
Its just a case of vimeo not having very bright programmers. I can play youtube videos with no
problem. If it was a firewall issue, it would be far better to simply say "Hey, port 1234 seems to be
blocked". The only way I can watch vimeo videos is to download them and then play them locally.
As such, unless I'm really interested, I don't bother. Disabling the windows firewall doesn't help.
Awesome! I go do this!

Fantastic achievement, there may not be a direct application for this 'proof of concept' iteration but
with some minor engineering this could produce a simple yet effective working powerplant with
many applications, I guess the point here was to show what can be done with some basic and
attainable materials and some clever engineering....this opens up the previously exclusive
domain of Jet power to just about anyone. The next step for me would be to develop a gearbox to
turn a turboprop or helicopter rotor - superb instructable!
admirable cookie can

I would call it the Instructable project of the Year. When I was a child I was fascinated by jet
engines and read about them but believed I would never be able to build one. What you have
built there is really scary but totally brilliant. I like the way you sited your information. Your
minimalist approach is what makes this a truly fantastic instructable, NO I am not going to build it.
I absolutely LOVE this Instructable.

It shows a lot of ingenuity and is well presented.

I've always dreamed of building a jet engine, though I have absolutely no use for one.
Now I feel that I've built one vicariously through you!
21,000 RPM?
Did I miss the step where the rotating parts are balanced? What keeps the turbines and
compressors from shaking themselves apart?
What seems more likely to me is that what is being measured is blade passes and not
revolutions. I counted 28 blades, which would put the actual speed closer to 1000 rpm, which
seems a bit more realistic, especially given that the pressure is around 5 psig. If this actually did
21k rpm, it would sound like a screaming banshee.

Nevertheless, cool project and impressive that it all came together to work.
I think thats why the 'heavy' blade fell off' in the video? It's still impressive to get over 24,000rpm
from what is basically scrap. I have enough stainless sheet to make the parts, left over from a
project I did probably 35 yrs ago. Was pretty cheap then for a piece 2ftx2ft (plus IU saved leftover
3/32" copper sheet I bought in 1982) stuff is out there as long as you don't follow 'minimalist'
advice and throw everything away every 3~6 months
Generally 3Dprinter yields nicely uniform and symmetric part with low imbalance. The same can
be said about the turbine wheel: it is cut from a uniform sheet of metal and if the center hole is
centered perfectly the imbalance is minimal. Both wheels are also lightweight enough for not to
bother with additional balancing
Please post instructions for welding this onto my Prius.

Homemade Tin Can Turbine With 3d-printed Compressor: Page 91


;)
Amazing! I can't believe a functional engine this powerful can be made at home for relatively
cheap. Can you think of any uses for it (besides educational)? (I understand additions would be
necessary) Again, amazing job, (you also clearly spent a lot of time documenting the
instructable).
Amazing. I fly RC models, and was wondering if something like this could be done - congrats !
How much thrust do you get ?

Isn't there some mathematical way to figure that out, if you measure the opening and exhaust
diameter and how many rpm
Not really. There are way too many variables. The proper way is to put it on an engine sled. One
that has extrememly little resistance to linear movement. Then mount the engine on that sled and
attach your measuring device to the sled. For gross measurement, a fish scale would work, but if
your planning on flying it in RC, then you would need something far more accurate. THis is about
the only way to get a real measurement of thrust. The mathematical way you are talking about
only gets you close. From there, you can add more blades of finer size/distance to compress the
air more or add a larger intake or a smaller exhaust. But shy of the sled/scale, you wont get
anything accurate enough of a measurement of thrust other than ballpark.
I have built several small turbine engines as well as rebuilt, PMCS'd and maintained older
helicopter turbines for racing boats. We always had to use an accurate sled. Even A&P folks do it
that way. Maybe not to the gram with the real deal since they push many pounds, but same thing.
small engine - small scale; large engine - large scale.
Lastly, YES, I know. The turbo-fan jet engines on helicopters actually use the main shaft to turn
the transmission to turn the main rotor and tail. If you make minor changes to the engine so it
pushes air instead of power and speed to a shaft, then the same engine can push a vehicle, just
not as efficiently as spinning a shaft on a rotary wing or an impeller in the water.
All the essential variables are:
Impeller diameter - 64 mm
Impeller blade height - 7 mm
Impeller blade tip angle - 46.6o to the tangent of the wheel
Intake diameter = 1/2 of impeller diameter
Angle of compressor stator blades 20o
NGV and turbine diameters are both 68 mm
NGV and turbine blade heights (or length if u want):
10 mm clean (without twist)
11.2 mm dirty (with twist)
NGV exit angle 30o (income angle is of course 90o)
Turbine exit angle is 20o
Turbine shroud clearance 0.5 mm
Thats all. With this You should be able to calculate anything You want
Did not measure the thrust yet, since the shaft is too narrow to reach good rpm digits. The
_calculated_ thrust is 177 gramm-force at 21 krpm
Really neat. Worked on the real things for 40 years. But how about English units in addition to
metric. There are alot of people here that don't speak SI.
Well.... mmm.... Any help is appreciated... Im not strong in using the imperial system of units, so
U can help if U want
google "metric english converter" any number any number are available. I would say when
converting to inches go to 3 decimal places 0.00x. Our real jet engines are designed to this level.
Google converters are out of help here. To adapt a thing from metric system to imperial one, it

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takes not only to know all those BTU's psi's and slugs... One actually needs to dig through a
whole cultural layer. For example in range between 3 and 10 mm we have M3, M4, M5, M6, M8
and M10 threads. Note the absence of M7 and M9. And there's no specific reason for this. Its just
a tradition. I know that there exists a 1/8" thread, being more or less equivalent to our M3, but
concerning to M4 Im already not sure...
Очень впечатляет. Awesome!

I think this is the most detailed Instructable I've ever seen. Usually I ignore anything that says '3D
Printer' but I'm glad I went all the way through this one. I have no use for a turbo jet engine but
I'm sure I could make one if needed by downloading all the PDF files and find someone with a 3D
printer to make the other parts. Very Very impressive work
WOW! Just WOW! Absolutely incredible!

I was thinking the exact same thing ;o)

I would love one of these if only I could figure out what to use it for

I'm really amazed with your creatio. I'm a mechanical engineer and I'm really surprised about so
complex machine or aparatus can me made with simply parts and brain. Congratulations. I take
my hat off
I agree with everyone else: this project is fantastic! A true "tour de force"! As a fellow
engineer/physicist and maker/tinerer, I tip my hat to you with greatest respect. I've been wanting
to make a jet for a loooong time but it just never seemed to be quite practical for someone like
me--- THIS project has changed my mind. Again, kudos for an amazing success and, moreso, for
its simplicity and "do-ability".

Like everyone else, I too am interested in the thrust generated. Thoughts?


Okay, I'm going to assume this is real, and not a trick of some sort.
PLEASE.
PLEASE.
Please stay out of the plane of rotation of the compressor and turbine!

If either should fail, they will explode from the thinkg like a bomb, and all the shrapnel will be in
their plane of rotation. People have been killed by this. Do yourselves a favor, and KEEP OUT OF
THE PLANES OF ROTATION!
I was thinking exactly the same thing... a few more safety precautions with potential (likely?)
"explosive disassembly" in mind is certainly in order. But it IS a fantastic project!
Safety is 360 degrees Horizontally and Vertically!

GREAT PROJECT!!! Thanks for sharing. Takes a lot of work and ingenuity to make this.

Very well made. Frank Whittle would be proud (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Whittle).


I suggest making a intake cowling so the air flow will be smoother, and adding a small DC
motor/generator to the input shaft. That motor can spin the engine, and after it started, the motor
can be used to measure RPM and generate electricity.
Truely a Tinker.

This is incredible

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