Jet powered cigar lighter

[strewth]

Hi,

I have recently decided that actually having my own jet to fly is going to be quite some way in the future, so I was wondering if anyone knows how to build your own?

I have heard of people building hand sized jet engines (usually pulse jets) out of bits and pieces found around the house.

Does anyone have any good ideas, or tried anything that turned into a good idea at the time?

[henry crun]

Miniature centrifugal jet engines are available now in various sizes and thrusts, and being used by many modellers.
They can be bought complete but are expensive, typically around $3000US.

Kit sets are also available or you can buy the hard to construct parts like the turbine and the compressor and make the rest yourself.

It depends on how deep your pocket is and what sort of engineering facilities and skills you possess.

There are several magazines devoted entirely to the subject, browse or ask your local book shop.

[Knold]

Considering how important balance is to a big jet engine, I assume that the margins with a “hand size” jet engine are pretty narrow.
Unless you have Boeing field as your neighbour, I don’t think you can build it with bits and pieces from around the house. But hey, I’ve seen Mac Guyver make a helicopter from a birthday cake and a two pounds of salmon… :D :D

[ft]

Good bits and pieces to have lying around the house if you want to build a jet engine would be a car turbo. How small do they make those?

I would probably go with a design similar to the Sundstrand APS1000 APU - weld the (centrifugal) compressor and (ditto) turbine together, lead the air past the combustion chamber lining for cooling (add cooling air holes) and let it enter the flame tube at the far end of the combustion chamber as it turns around back to the turbine.

Compact and not a long shaft to complicate things like lubrication.

Cheers,
/ft

[Knold]

A bloke I once went to school with made a MIG 15 model aircraft and used a fan from a vacuum cleaner, driven by a ordinary model aircraft engine.
Very high bypass ratio :D :D

I don't know if this fits your purpos.

[ 14 November 2001: Message edited by: Knold ]

[slim_slag]

AMT Turbines (http://www.amtjets.com/) make small turbines, I've seen a single seater homebuilt with two of their turbines strapped up front, cannot find a pic of it on the Net, but it's been done.

I've also met guys who put APU's into an airframe but it's not ideal as APU's were not designed for this job.

If you want to do it yourself, ft is on the right track, head down to your local scrap yard and pull a turbocharger. Just keep away from my gaff, not that you will ever get the beast off the ground, you might just burn my house down :) Best thing to put in a homebuilt right now is a used Lycoming IMO, but then I'm a puss. Where I live it's important to know your motor isn't going to go tits up, it interferes with my snoozing having to keep an eye out for emergency landing sites.

[ 14 November 2001: Message edited by: slim_slag ]

[alanbur]

Here is the accessory you have all been waiting for: The jet powered beer cooler (http://www.asciimation.co.nz/beer/)

People *do* build their own jet turbines, usually using a car or truck turbocharger 'in reverse' as the turbine. Go to your favorite search engine and search for 'jet turbine' and 'turbocharger'.

[strewth]

I have a tube of metal about 3cm wide and about 15cm long and am going to build a venturi into it. My biggest problem is working out how to build the valve system required for a pulse jet. I figure a can of deoderant or flyspray will be suitable as a fuel supply and use the glow plug from an RC engine as an ignition source......

ahhh the fun of having nothing to do :D

[henry crun]

Strewth. If you decide on a gas turbine there is a book titled "gas turbine engines for model aircraft" by Kurt Streckling,
isb 0951058991. This is a good primer on the subject with complete plans/instructions on how to build one at home.

If you go the pulse jet way just put the words in any decent search engine and you will find plenty of sites with plans.
They are very thirsty so you might want to consider using ordinary petrol for fuel.

Be warned though, they are very very noisy, so unless you live several miles from the nearest house you could have trouble with the neighbours.

[strewth]

3 acres of bushland... and only 3 dogs to scare the hell out of!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just did a search and found heaps of stuff, one guy was even building a pulse jet driven VW beetle. Impressive

Has anyone actually built one themselves? Problems?

[DeepC]

Bob Violett Models are the major players in the model jet airframes and JPX and AMT are 2 of the biggest model gas turbine makers. Get a copy of RCJI (Radio Control Jet International) magazine for an insight into the world of miniature jets. Looks like a seriously expensive hobby to me!

[Cyclic Hotline]

The ViperJet might be the solution to your requirements. Bit more expensive than chucking one together from surplus household items, but a real airplane! Plus it has the advantage of being powered by one of the best engines around, and there are ton's of them and parts too!!! ;)
http://www.viper-aircraft.com/main.html

[FlightSimFreak]

Hah... Y'know I've heard of the Viperjet... in fact, it was designed and built at my home airport, and I sometimes get to see it fly. Interesting that others have heard of it. Is the markiting on it very good? Also, I heard that the're going to start giving demo rides. Sorry if any of this is dificult to read or if there are any small errors, it's 2:20 AM here...