Incredible home made miniature engines

On the heels of a small stirling engine we featured, an astute Hackaday reader sent in a few awesome builds from HMEM, the home model engine machinist forum.

First up is a fantastic looking stirling engine made entirely from scratch. The build is modeled on a Moriya Hot Air Fan, but instead of making a fan spin around, [IronHorse] put a flywheel on the engine. It also uses propane instead of an alcohol or other liquid fuel lamp for the heat source.

Next up is a pee-wee sized V8 engine by [stevehuckss396]. Unlike the model engines we’re used to, this one runs on gasoline. The engine started out as a 3 x 3 x 5 inch block of aluminum. This thread goes on an amazing 85 (!) pages and makes for great afternoon reading, but here’s a video of the engine in action.

Last is [keith5700]’s amazing 1/4 scale V8. Not only is this [keith]’s first project, he also completed this entire project on manual mills and lathes. There’s an electric starter thrown in there, and the pictures are simply incredible.

Thanks to [Norberto] for sending this one in, and if you’ve got an example of amazing machining skill, send it on it to the tip line.