Farmboy Ring Groove Question

I had a caller a few weeks ago who stated the plans said to make a piston ring groove .105" wide by .110" deep for a .094" section by 1" diameter Buna-N "O" ring.  Sure enough, I checked the plans (Sheet #5), and this is what it shows.  The callers question was how could this seal the cylinder?

Does anyone have an answer for this, or is there an error in the plans?

Please advise.

Thanks...

Allen

---------------------------------

Yep, the sizes are correct. I thought they were incorrect also. But after making the groove to size everything works just fine. I have noticed that the "o" ring swells when in contact with acetone or alcohol.
I wouldn't change a thing on the plans as there correct.
Jim G

--------------------------------

Jim - I wondered if the perhaps the "O" ring would swell up to make the seal.  Now I (and future builders) will know!

Thanks...

Allen

Dana Hall's Super-Duper Fan! (SUPERFAN)

From an e-mail he sent me:

--------------------------

My name is Dana Hall and I am in Florida...

I would like to pass on my condolences as to the passing of Jerry...
I never met him, but we exchanged a number of emails, and he was always very prompt with his replies back to me... And his knowledge on the engines he designed is very impressive...

A while back I built Jerry's Super stirling engine and it works beautifully... Then I thought I would build another fan but doubling all of the engine dimensions times 2...

The pictures are deceiving as to the size of the fan... The blade diameter is 18 inches and from the bottom to the top of the fan blades is 31.5 inches... It has a maximum rpm of 245 and runs quite nicely on a .5 inch tall flame... The base stand for the engine is my own design...

Enclosed are 2 pictures of the fan...
I thought you might like to see them...

I would like to thank you for keeping Jerry's web site and business going...
His plans and engine designs are by far the best on the Internet market...

Dana Hall

Vintage by Franco

Finally  I found some time to post pics of my version of the Vintage. It was truly a pleasure to work from these outstanding plans. Learned a lot in the process. Mr. Howell was truly a genius.

Click here to go to a Google album with pics of the different parts and stages.

Dave Sage's "Howell V-Eight" !!

Yes that's right. I'm building a V8 version of Jerry's V4. It's coming along well. I had to design some additional custom crankshft components. It and it's been a continuous thinking process to be sure I'm not making any mistakes. The block, heads, crank, cam, lifters, push rods, con rods and a few other parts are finished. I guess I'm about about 1/2 finished at this point.

I showed Jerry the progress I had back at January 2009 cabin fever. I think he was impresssed. I hope I can make it run.

Sage

Engine Maker's Farm Boy Youtube Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTJF6JEffp0

University of Idaho Advanced CAD Project - Very Cool!

Very impressive CAD video of the Howell V4.

This is the University of Idaho's ME404 Advanced CAD final project. The engine was developed all in CATIA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzOlnpWU1Vs

V4 - Running video and group project

The Howell V4 was built as a group project by the members of the craftsmanshipmuseum.com.  Go to this link for details, and to see the video of the original being run.  It sounds awesome, especially when idling.  Very deep, throaty sound - all just from 32 cc's!

Click here:

http://craftsmanshipmuseum.com/HowellV4.htm

Enjoy!