FenglinTechStirling Engine Kit, DIY Assembly Stirling Engine Generator Model Toy

Updated at the endNot bad for what you pay for. First off for being a DIY model engine there wasn't a lot of Y, it came almost complete. Also the shortest glass piece arrived broken in two. That is a critical piece for it to run. Hopefully I can get a replacement from the seller, but I won't hold my breath I received it about 4 months ago and just now opened it, work has kept me so busy I haven't had and time to build this. The model itself seems like it has some durability, the metal is of a decent thickness. I will give a new rating if I can get a new glass piece, and start it.UPDATE: After I wrote that review I sent a msg to the seller asking if I could purchase a replacement glass piece. The next morning I had received a response, asking for pics. Sent pics, later that day I got a second msg asking if I still used the same shipping address. Shortly after I replied I received my final msg saying I would receive a replacement. Little did I know they meant a second complete engine. Needless to say in my eyes they deserve 10 stars. Not often are you sent an entire replacement, four months after receiving the original, over a small piece of glass. Top tier seller. Will check their store for more products

Kit arrived today. Was going to wait to assemble but curiosity got the better of me. Opened the box, sorted components, and looked at the instructions.The instructions are poorly translated from the original Chinese. The kit is largely assembled for you though so figuring out how to screw the major assemblies into the brass base plate is pretty simple.One thing that is not made clear is that you need to use ethanol to heat the compression cylinder. Do not do what I did and use Ronsol Lighter Fluid.I nearly burned down my apartment through this one bit of lacking info.After assembly, I added lighter fluid to the wick/tin and set it alight. I was greeted with a 1' flame. It was warm which was nice, but it didn't get the cylinder to turn. After attempting to blow it out (resulting in a whoosh and nearly lighting my workstation on fire) I moved everything to the bathroom. Resulting in my smoke alarms going off. A quick run under the sink faucet resulted in my sink being on fire (Ronsol is apparently oil based). This, thankfully, burned off relatively quickly.Lacking better ideas I moved the engine (now nearly completely engulfed to varying degrees) into the bathtub and removed all flammables from the tub.My roommate decided then would be a good idea to try to pour an entire pot of water over the flame. After waving him off (gods knows I don't need to light my plumbing afire), we settled on covering my portable fire hazard with a cooking pot. Thus, the photo.

The kit I received may have been one someone sent back since it was about half assembled and the glass cylinder was broken. The company was very helpful and replaced the glass pieces promptly. The engine worked very well the first try running fast and smooth for this type of engine. It lit the LED quite brightly. When assembling the kit, you need to lubricate the metal pistons to get the o-rings into the glass tubes, other than that it is a fairly simple build. It makes a beautiful display on your desk. A great science project for school kids, but it does use fire so teach them to take care. I would give top ratings to the product and to the company behind it.

The media could not be loaded.  The instructions were not written clearly at all, and one of the glass tubes came broken, but we were able to make it work. I gave it as a gift and he was quite pleased after it was assembled, but getting there was quite a triumph. I’m not sure why they want me to “mention” thickness in this review, but it’s not flimsy, just regular thin metal.

easy to assemble. parts missing.

Two glass pistons are missing. Tryin to figure out how to purchase spare parts or return.

Could not get to run..the cool side got too hot very fast for it to run. I am going to build a water jacket around it to keep it cool.

It was easy to put together after you figure it out. Problems I had was tge glass tubed were cracked. I still built it, however after trying different heat sources. It never worked. The glass tubed were not sealed, the glass OD and metal ID didn't match up well. For the cost I was expecting it to work. After trying to tweak it-fund the sweet spot with the pistons, the cracked tubes broke.