Customer Reviews

Grizzly H8102 Horizontal Stirling Engine Machined Kit

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The kit I received was extremely well packaged and arranged. All the parts seemed to be made very well. There is a step in the assembly instructions which requires 2 parts to be pressed together, then a specific size hole drilled thru them at a specific angle to reach a center cavity. If you were looking for simple assembly, this required step blows that out of the water. Most everything is done for you to have a great looking result, but this metal drilling requirement may kill the project for many. Hole must be drilled for functioning result. I deducted 2 stars for this, which should have been predrilled in the 2 parts to eliminate that step.

Length:: 2:20 Mins

This is the walking beam Stirling material and plans kit. The kit is very complete although a bit on weak side for instructions. It's not very complicated though, so not many instructions are needed. The plans have metric dimensions which was fine until I noticed they called out a few close tolerance holes. I ended up buying some drill rod to convert a few parts to English size so that I didn't have buy any metric reamers or taps. I single pointed all the threading on the lathe.

One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that I changed how the heating cylinder is bolted onto the frame in conjunction with the pressed on cooling fin. This makes it easier to disassemble if needed.

The plans could definitely be improved by putting the part number on each drawing. You'll see what I mean.

All in all I had a blast making this engine love to watch it run. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the machining kit.

This is not a simple kit and require proper equipment to get it done. As one reviewer already mentioned the step for drilling the hole is not trivial. Overall it is properly packaged kit but the instruction is light. I for one could not get the kit running. That is probably my fault but I am not a machinist and don't have all the proper tools. That is why I bought the kit or otherwise I would have built it.

Have also recently received this kit. Looks great, BUT.

Have been in contact with Grizzly several times including receiving a call. People were helpful and needed replacement parts are being shipped. Customer service rep I spoke with acknowledged some problems from the supplier.

Instructions are VERY light on helpful information and less than that on critical crank assembly. The problems I found all centers on the crank assembly. Alignment of the 2 main rods are critical to insure smooth rotation. Wasn't possible on the kit I received. Also EVERY part that is to be a slip fit on the crank came with undersized holes, six hole that needed to be enlarged. Oh, the piston for the cool cyl in the kit I received, brass, was corroded and wouldn't slip in the cyl. Instructed to remove corrosion.

Have suggested to Grizzly the hole that must be drilled by customer have that hole pre-drilled in the main block and only needs to be finished after the customer has pressed the cool cyl into place.

Will see what I receive from Grizzly and how successful I am in getting the engine running.

This is a BEAUTIFUL kit, but as others have pointed out, it seems like they got tired of writing the instruction manual. It has 2 steps and it needs about 40.

I would suggest comparing all parts in your kit to the schematic as soon as you can. One of the little connectors in my kit was wrong. I called Grizzly and they got the right part out to me with no hassle.

I managed to built my kit and get it running using simple tools. I used a bench vise to press the crank parts together. The hardest part is drilling the 30 degree air shaft. I have a junky 10" drill press I used. I would not suggest doing this with a hand drill. The only modification I made is I drilled the mounting blocks (that hold the crank shaft to the frame) up one size - they were very tight.

I had problems getting it to run. I decided I had an air leak so I removed the front cylinder and applied automotive gasket tack. This may or maynot have helped, I can't really tell. I also found that the walking beam and associated parts fit too tight so I sanded them down. In the end it came down to just running it. The more I ran it the better it ran. I think it just needed to break-in.

It runs really great now and I'm very glad I got this kit. It would not have been fun if it had worked without any problems.

The machining and packaging of this kit is excellent, however the crankshaft is designed for a press fit assessembly which is not doable in a normal home shop environment and the flywheel slips on the axel after assessembly. The result is that I have not been able to operate the machine and probably will have to redesign the crankshaft to a threaded axle in order to do so.

I read all the reviews and I agree that this is a challenging kit to build. The instructions are very sparse. It really helps to know what Stirling engines are and how they work before you start building this kit. The hardest step for me was making the press fit between the cool cylinder and the engine block. I also have no idea how the designer wanted the crankshaft to be fastened together. So far my method works OK.

Some of the holes are not at right angles, and some of the small parts need to be dressed before they will fit properly. It takes a little more work than just putting the parts together. But if you are patient and careful you will build a really cool motor! I clocked mine at 1100 rpm, and I think it would go faster if I built the crankshaft a little better and balanced the flywheel.

Very well package. Still have not been able to get the unit running. Will continue to tweak different parts of the machine. There's not a review on here that claims to have succeeded. Is there anyone that has theirs working? If I get mine working I will update my review.