'Not sure why I'm posting this -- nothing better to do at the moment, I guess.
Years ago I built this reciprocating electric engine as a lark, and an exercise in electronics design.
Here it is running.
Engine speed is in the neighbourhood of 800 rpm. All moving parts want plenty of WD-40 lubrication for the engine to run smoothly and fast.
And here's a view of the interior of the power supply/control box.
I got the idea for the engine from an old industrial arts[1] textbook. (Copyright date is 1964.)
My physical execution of the engine isn't as elegant as that in the book, but it works.
My first iteration of the engine was functionally pretty close to what's in the book. Power was from a six volt lantern battery, and coil switching was mechanical by way of a lever-fitted microswitch. That worked after a fashion, but the mechanical switching tended to 'float' from inertia at top engine speed. So, I decided to give the engine fully electronic coil switching, and a line-powered power supply that would do away with the lantern battery. The result is seen in the first three photos above.
I have a rough, half-baked schematic sketch for the thing. I really ought to clean it up and publish it here. If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll get right on that.
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NOTE:
[1] There's a term that you don't hear anymore, 'industrial arts'. The school I attended for grades seven and eight had industrial arts courses -- woodworking and metalworking. The shops were well-equipped and the teachers were superb. That's about the only part of my 'education' that I look back on fondly. The shops are abandoned now. Progress.
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