[HN Gopher] Making tiny 0.1cc two stroke engine from scratch
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Making tiny 0.1cc two stroke engine from scratch
Author : pillars
Score : 141 points
Date : 2025-11-30 17:34 UTC (6 days ago)
(HTM) web link (youtu.be)
(TXT) w3m dump (youtu.be)
| pillars wrote:
| Some Model Engineering related resources:
|
| 1. Engineering drawings of small model engines used for model
| aircrafts. They are designed for manufacturing and working, not
| not like showcase item. We can actually build them.
|
| https://outerzone.co.uk/plans.asp?cat=Engines&Xcardsperpage=...
|
| 2. https://modelenginenews.org/midge/index.html
| WalterBright wrote:
| I still have a Cox .049 engine in the basement somewhere.
| tlb wrote:
| Of course that's .049 cubic inches (~ 0.82 cc), huge compared
| to the one in the article.
| WalterBright wrote:
| I also had an .020 engine, but it never ran very well, and
| I don't know what happened to it.
|
| I had a lot of fun designing my own airplanes and flying
| them with the .049. Modern electric airplanes are too easy.
| greenbit wrote:
| Used to see adverts for those in magazines and even (iirc)
| comic books
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| Outerzone is a great site for (mostly vintage) model aircraft
| plans.
|
| Cut my fingers up many times as a kid trying to start Cox model
| airplane engines...
| xseer wrote:
| I went down a rabbit hole lately and found this article on tiny
| diesel engines built throughout the past decades, most of them
| model engines: https://modelenginenews.org/techniques/minid.html
|
| > I've seen collectors turn a greenish blue and stammer out crazy
| offers on sight of my 0.1cc Nano, pictured here. But as the size
| goes down, construction difficulty and criticality of "fits" goes
| up exponentially.
| jiggawatts wrote:
| I just noticed that this channel has 2 million views and only
| four videos, all from about a year ago!
| wcrossbow wrote:
| This is great. If you enjoyed it you should check
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IEGmD_aV3w . Next to that it's
| child's play. That's a whole trasatlantic's engine room from
| scratch.
| WanderPanda wrote:
| Wait but the one you linked seems to be pneumatically driven,
| while the op one is an actual combustion engine, right?
| wcrossbow wrote:
| That's true! Sorry for not mentioning that.
| antonvs wrote:
| I skipped some bits of the video so probably missed this, but: in
| the beginning he mentioned no spark or glow plugs and said
| "similar to a diesel", but in the end that didn't work and he had
| to resort to a glow plug.
|
| Did he mention what fuel he was using for the compression-only
| attempts? If not actual diesel, it seems like he would have had
| to use ether or something like that.
| Frenchgeek wrote:
| He did: It was just warm enough for the ether in the mix to
| evaporate long before it reached the engine, so it couldn't
| run.
| RossBencina wrote:
| It was a mixture of ether, castor oil, and something else. He
| theorised that the ether was boiling off in the tank before it
| made it to the engine.
| antonvs wrote:
| Ah thanks - I was imagining that perhaps the engine didn't
| have high enough compression to achieve ignition.
| vessenes wrote:
| https://modelenginenews.org/techniques/minid.html Mentions that
| this engine needs a spring start and 50% ether and it runs up
| to 40k rpm(!) seems like it's finicky, which makes sense given
| its size
| antonvs wrote:
| The spring start makes a lot of sense, thanks.
| N_Lens wrote:
| If you want to see the engine running it's at 30:12
| acomjean wrote:
| Last century I was gifted a gas powered model helicopter with one
| of these small gas engines. It had a propeller would fly up, run
| out of gas and fall back down (it had some larger blades to slow
| its decent).
|
| You started by spinning the propeller and letting it spring back.
|
| How I didn't loose a finger...
|
| They're remarkable little devices.
| noefingway wrote:
| Brings back memories from childhood. I used to build and fly
| model airplanes (by wire not rc). Starting those engines was
| also a challenge. I still have a scar on one finger from an
| engine kicking back when trying to flip the propeller.
| kotaKat wrote:
| I would love to couple one of these mini-engines to an electric
| motor and... build a cursed USB-C "generator"... ;)
| jakedata wrote:
| The second I heard that engine fire it was 1986 in my brain
| again. I could smell the fuel and feel the finger damage from
| repeatedly trying to get the darned thing to start. Followed by
| damage on the other side of the finger when it actually did.
| Ouch.
| jaredhallen wrote:
| Cox 0.049?
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| Me too, brother.
| mycall wrote:
| Flick a pen on it instead.
| greenbit wrote:
| Ah, the classic "chicken stick" approach. No shame in that!
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| Related? Blondihacks [1] has been working through machining a
| live-steam powered scale locomotive.
|
| Has it been three years now? She easily has another year of work
| ahead of her before she has live, rolling stock. Wild dedication
| to a project that could perhaps consume half a decade of your
| life.
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/@Blondihacks
| pillars wrote:
| Sorry for offtopic, I want to share,
|
| Some Machining related channels on youtube:
|
| this old tony, Chronova engineering, cylo's garage, inheritance
| machining, breaking taps, blondie hacks, tarkka, dan gelbert,
| Jonesey Makes, Eric(with a K), Clough42, Alec steele, NBR Works,
| Not An engineer, Stefan Gotteswinter, oxtoolco, ROBRENZ,
| MrCrispin, Clickspring, Artisan Makes, MH Anything, Jellyfish
| machine,Maker B,
|
| And also there is great course on precision engineering by Alex
| slocum:
|
| https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLksE8LDXGXl_MQHKr2DqhfD...
| echelon_musk wrote:
| https://www.youtube.com/@thisoldtony
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@Chronovaengineering
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@cylosgarage
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@inheritancemachining
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@breakingtaps
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@blondihacks
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@tarkka
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@dgelbart
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@JoneseyMakes
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@Erik-not-Eric
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@Clough42
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@Alecsteele
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@NBRWorks
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@NoEngineerHere
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@StefanGotteswinter
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@oxtoolco
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@ROBRENZ
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@MrCrispin
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@Clickspring
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@ArtisanMakes
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@MHAnything
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@Jellyfishmachine
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@MakerB
| pillars wrote:
| Thank you!
| johnohara wrote:
| Have to recommend TryAlly. He makes it look easy and
| straightforward. It's not.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@tryally
| chongli wrote:
| Thank you for the Alex Slocum link. I was aware of a lot of
| those other machinist channels but the engineering course is
| new to me. This looks incredible. Alex is a fantastic teacher!
| Cockbrand wrote:
| As someone who always thought that it'd be cool to create my own
| parts and components by milling, but who never actually had
| access to a milling workshop, I find this video extremely
| satisfying to watch. Thank you!
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