Engineer 3D Prints Entire Working Engine -- A Locomotive is Next

[Wolfie]

Not the engine you think. Its not an internal combustion engine nor is it what appears to be a steam engine. From everything shown, its being run off compressed air. Its simply a compressed air reciprocating device. Not that that isn't an achievement itself.

But I would love to see what happens if he really fed it from a steam boiler. I would bet it would warp beyond function in very short order. The melting point of ABS is around 105c. Steam starts at 100c (212F) and goes up from there when it becomes super-heated steam. There is a mere 5C margin of error here before the steam can actually melt ABS parts. I suspect warping will occur at far less than 105c.

It doesn't say what he printed it from, looks like ABS. Doesn't look like any high temp stuff like Nylon.


Most of the time if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, its a duck. This time I think its a chicken.

[GSchulz]

You totally missed the point in this project. This was intended to be a fit-check of the parts before machining out of metal. Further, it was used as an educational aid to show my son how steam engines work and how they can be reversed. This was never expected to be a practical "Steam" driven engine. The fact that it runs on compressed air doesn't make it less of a "Steam" engine. If you are going to play word games, you can discuss it with the dozens of 3D printed "Steam" engines shown on YouTube. Have you printed a working "Steam" engine? For an "Engineer-In-Training", you should show more respect to those of us that have been doing this for a long time, even though my expertise is as a EE not a ME. As an engineer, I hope you pay closer attention to the details of your projects than this. I would say it's sour grapes, but I think it's just chicken.