Yesterday afternoon, I rushed to Jason Locklin's building right after school on my bicycle and my father (not rushing) brought my Stirling engine prototype from home. Jason had told some of his lab graduate students about the engine, and we ended up spending the whole afternoon, and some of the evening working on this engine. By the way, the engine doesn't work. And still doesn't. We found that the pressure vessel had some air leaks, and the power piston baloon was too loose, and then leaking air as well, and we changed the balance of the leverage on the flywheel. That sounds like a lot, and it was -- we spent nearly three hours working -- sometimes consulting the web to look at the instructions, and the Stirling cycle (I have been getting great practice explaining the Stirling engine to people via explanations of the weird contraption I have been carrying around town) but mostly looked at the engine as the candle heated beneath it, and turning the flywhell, and watching it not go. There were about four of us around it, and around 6:15, my father came looking for me and joined the party. We got it almost working, and the leaks sealed, but something still seems to be off. I tried it this morning (didn't work) after some new glue had dried but it turns out that the super glue we tried stiffened up the balloon, so I am thinking: replacement. This will be my third balloon sacrifice.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007 4-6:45p.m.
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