Sunnytech Mini Hot Air Stirling Engine Motor Model Educational Toy Kits Electricity HA001

This thing is amazing! First off, it came packaged in 3 boxes. A fairly large box with air packets for cushioning, then there was a smaller box with yet a third smaller box within it! I did notice all Oriental (Chinese per chance?) writing on all of the boxes, but the very small engine was found intact. I was a little concerned by the negative reviews I've read, but I am very pleased with the quality control on this item. There was also a slip of paper written in English with simple instructions inside the box. All the screws were in place, all the rods, linkages were intact, everything was tight and looked ready to go....... and (being a 62 yr. old kid) I simply had to fire it up immediately! I poured a little alcohol in the alcohol lamp, threaded the wick, placed it in position and lit it up. Within half a minute (the directions say 20 secs.) I gave the flywheel a spin and it took off like a champ. If you leave the flame in direct contact with the motor, it keeps gaining RPM until it could vibrate off of the table. I merely moved the lamp away a wee bit and it slowed down to a manageable speed. I, too had a problem with the magnet falling off of the alcohol lamp, so I put a drop of Gorilla glue on it and set the lamp on top and it is quite solid there this morning. I had some trouble with the wick working down inside of the lamp due to vibration. As the wick is made of several strands of string, I thought I could tie a simple knot in it to hold it in place. If I failed, I figured I could replace the string. This simple knot seems to work pretty good as the wick now stays in position better. It did shorten the wick somewhat, but it still seems to work pretty good. I can always replace it with a longer wick. I couldn't help myself, but I ran two full tanks of alcohol through the lamp just watching this thing run. It seems impossible that it could operate, yet it does! Back to the review...... It came with a small foam wrap that had two glass bulbs and two O-rings in it, When I first opened the third box, a very small nut fell onto the table. I couldn't find where one was missing on the engine, so I simply double-nutted it on one of the screws to keep it from getting lost. I assumed that it is also a spare part? Tighten with care as this is a very small nut/screw. The base measures 1-7/8" by 4" and the engine stands about 2" tall overall. It appears to be built pretty good for a toy, the fit and finish being very good on the machined parts. It has only one flywheel (the catalogue description claims "twin flywheels". The base is either stainless or nickel plated steel. The Stamped parts are well made of fairly thick steel (again, these too look stainless) with a brass 1/4" elbow for an engine housing! It looks to have glass cylinders with a metal piston on the hot (top) side and a plastic piston/cylinder on the cold side of the engine. The connecting rods have ingenious linkages to the crankshaft with keepers to hold them in place. The unit came fully assembled, all nuts/screws were tight, and the unit is pleasing to the eye. It seems that Sunny Tech got their quality control straightened out. To me, this is an amazing work of science at a very affordable price. I highly recommend it to anyone with a mechanical aptitude. -------> I'll be quiet now. ;-)

When I saw this item, I was excited by the photos and low price. I've always been fascinated by these "hobby grade" model engines including the Jensen Steam Engines. I received the engine quickly and packaged in a double box (nesting doll arrangement) that was very secure and insured the item was 100% undamaged during shipping. I connected the main piston connecting rod by simple finger pressure, filled the bottle with 90% alcohol, lit it and waited about 30 seconds before giving the flywheel a spin. Instantly, the engine began to spin, slowly at first, then accelerated gradually to quite a high RPM! In fact, the RPM was beginning to be so high that I blew the flame out to adjust the wick lower in the bottle. Re-lit and restarted and the RPM's were slower and seemed to be just fast enough to prevent over-speed or damage to the detailed mechanism. My 14 year old son was instantly amazed at it's performance and was very curious about how it worked. This little engine provided a father-son moment that will never be forgotten. I provided the physics explanation of how it worked and the differences between internal combustion engines vs. external combustion engine (which this is). We played with the engine for at least an hour, experimenting with different wick settings, fuel bottle position (which affects RPM's) and fuel types (190 proof grain alcohol). Overall, I am MORE than satisfied with everything this engine represents. The engine also came with a spare main piston bulb should the one installed break or crack and a spare fuel bottle. I have fired up this engine every day since it arrived and it seems only to run better and faster each time! I'm not sure why other owners have posted negative reviews of this engine and can only speculate they might have done so because they lack the knowledge of basic mechanics or physics and have little experience with "hobby grade" models. I have years of experience with R/C models (including a $5000.00+ Traxxas T-Maxx with an OS .30RG upgrade) and planes, trains and cars. If you understand the hobby type models and are willing to accept the fact that mechanical things can and do break, then this model engine will satisfy your curiosity and stand as an extremely well made addition to your collection. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another engine today! Honestly, I am extremely impressed with this engine and the manufacturers!

it's about 4Lx2Wx2.5H inches. Well well packed in 3 boxes inside each other with ample foam padding and bubble pack. Although effort was made with a rubber band to prevent the hot cylinder linkage from disconnecting from the flywheel during shipment it did. the printed instructions indicate this as a problem and provide directions for correction. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you watch all the available videos (YouTube) before operation. i'm giving this a 4 only because mine only came with 1 alcohol bottle and it's advertised with 2. it did come with the 2 spare hot cylinder glass tubes and o-rings as advertised. in addition, unadvertised, it came with a little plastic fan assembly kit (just to give it some work to do) and a long plastic eye dropper like tube for filling the small alcohol bottle. the wick for the alcohol bottle appears to be nothing more than a piece of cut kite string. i am going to replace mine with an old cotton shoe lace. NOW, on to the good stuff. this is a gorgeous miniature working model!. after reconnecting the disconnected linkage as mentioned above i gave the flywheel a slow 360 turn clockwise observing that all the moving parts moved freely with no apparent binding. then a quick spin of the flywheel to see that it would complete one revolution on its own momentum,it did. then i filled the little alcohol bottle using the provided eye dropper like tube. the alcohol bottle come with a small metal lid with a hole in the middle to insert the wick through. you do NOT need much of the wick exposed on the top for a nice small hot flame. use NOTHING LESS than 91% isopropyl alcohol that you can get at drug store. i intend to use 95% denatured alcohol, that you can get at any paint store, but haven't tried it yet. by now your wick should be thoroughly wet. turn the flywheel manually until the hot piston is all the way back in the cylinder exposing the most empty glass area. this will allow for the maximum volume of air in the cylinder to be heated. carefully light the wick and place the alcohol bottle on the metallic base (the bottle has a small magnet on the bottom to hold it in place) positioning the flame just short of the end of the cylinder tube centered underneath. the instructions say to give it 20 seconds to warm up. i found this insufficient on my model. give it at least 45 to 60 seconds to warm up and then give the flywheel a solid spin clockwise. VAVOOM! i feel fortunate that mine must be very well balanced because it didn't walk across the desk top at all, as many folks have reported. anyway this little thing really whirs away! ALL & ALL i would give this 5 STARS for design, craftsmanship, quality, aesthetics and functionality. if you're a big boy looking for a new toy, go for it! ps: ordered Amazon Prime and arrived in 2 days!

I bought the Sunnytech HA001 Mini hot Air together with the Sunnytech low temperature Lt001. Both where send almost immediately. Both came packed extremely well protected. The HA001 Mini Hot Air came with an additional spare glass tube, 2 spare rubber seals, a spare burner bottle (without magnet), and a spare wick. After attaching the upper piston arm to the crank I tried it right away with a candle as shown in another customer review. My candle was obviously of bad quality; the wick burnt down and left only a very very tiny flame. I was skeptical, but had no other, so I just put it on top of another such candle to get it closer to the glass cylinder. I didn't wait a minute until I gave the motor a first push - and it started running, speeding up rapidly! No lubrication, no adjustment. Amazing to watch it running. But as well it's just nice to look at this tiny little well built machine with it's many little details, standing at your desk or cabinet. Only thing I will probably change it the wick of the burner bottle which is just a very loose bundle of threads and doesn't look very convincing, but that certainly is not a big deal. 5 Stars+! The Lt001 low temperature needs you to install the flywheel and connect the two piston arms to the crank shaft. It definitely makes sense for a better protection at transport, and is not a big deal. Check for the bolts/screws which hold the base together. I found 1 loose screw, and 2 others also needed a bit tightening. I boiled some water, put it in a cup, and the stirling on top. Certainly here too I didn't wait a minute until giving it a push - and it started running! And runs and runs and runs. After a couple of minutes it started with a bit of a squeaking noise, but without slowing down. It surly will be gone with a bit of lubrication. This machine too is very nicely built, and joy to look at. 5 Stars + as well! Left to mention that both stirlings came with a instruction sheet, including email contact for customer service and promising immediate reply. I had no reason to try it, but based on the overall great experience I have no doubt about that. Very happy with that purchase!

After eyeing these sterling engines for a couple weeks I decided to jump on the bandwagon and go for this device. Only day two of being amazed at the engineering and operation of this one I’ll be in the market for probably a couple more variations on this engine. Something to do with squelching a bit of adhd only surpassed by my ocd, it almost becomes a necessity! It’s way cool to watch when running but also makes a great little piece to just look at! Perhaps I’m a bit of a simpleton but never the less it fits my NeoHippie geeky nerd center! The seller conveys an honest approach through a letter, boiler plate perhaps but guarantees satisfaction to us buyers. I am going to recommend this to quite a few friends and aquantences as I believe they too will enjoy its charm and beauty! PS I’m running mine on denatured alcohol, a clean burning fuel PPS the white powder on the base of the kinetic sculpture in the background is a dry lubricant not cocaine! LOL PPSS hope you like the Herman’s Hermits soundtrack-musical history!

Love It! But be sure to use the correct fuel. First of all, I paid full price ($39.99) and did not receive any compensation for writing this, nor do I have any relationship with the seller. I seldom write reviews, but this product is worth my time. This engine is a great value. You can of course spend over $200 for a precision made European product but as much as I like my science gadgets, I don't like to overspend on them. This product is well worth it. The seller has taken extra care to make sure the engine survives the long trip from China by double-boxing it. The inner box has the engine mounted to a substantial foam sheet with several cable ties, and the flywheel is tied down with a rubber band to prevent movement. You'll find 2 spare glass cylinders, 2 O-rings, and a spare fuel container carefully taped in foam--look for them. If you happen to have issues with your engine, the seller gives you an email and promises a response within 12 hours. You'll get a one page sheet of instructions, and another page for troubleshooting with links to videos, but I did not need the links nor try them. The translation to English on these sheets was very entertaining but understandable. Out of the box, the engine DID NOT WORK. But that's because there seems to be little information on the correct fuel to use. I used ordinary 70% isopropyl rubbing alcohol, and the only way to get it started was by "jump starting" it with a cigarette lighter. But this alcohol does not burn hot enough. I tried lighter fluid (naptha) which works great except that it turns the glass cylinder black with soot. Before I went out to buy a bottle of 91% rubbing alcohol, I did some research and found that there are 3 good choices for fuel: Heet, which is the antifreeze you put into your gas tank to remove moisture, pure grain alcohol (200 proof) which is available at liquor stores and pharmacies but is rather expensive, and denatured alcohol, which is often sold in expensive gallon sizes at hardware stores. I bought a bottle of Heet at the local gas station for a little more than $2 and it works great! A tip: the glass cylinder moves in and out. Rotate the flywheel until the piston is fully extended and if necessary, pull the cylinder away from the piston about 1/8 inch or so; just make sure that the piston does not strike the cylinder when running. The troubleshooting sheet provided refers to a problem that happens during shipping whereby the flywheel connector becomes disconnected from the piston shaft and it's just a matter of clicking them back together with sufficient force. I didn't have that problem. If you like geeky science gadgets at a bargain price, I urge you to buy this one!

It is a toy, for sure... but, what a toy!!! Wonderful, nicely (I mean, well) built (seems to last forever) and comes with a few spare parts. Works nicely. I am truly satisfied. A minor issue is the fact that due to vibration, the external jar (that contains alcohol or other) does not stay put. Perhaps, it could be made a small depression on the plate to hold it still. I only wish I could have bought one of the larger motors. Perhaps, next time. I had already lots of fun and so my (undergrad engineering) students that have a chance to visualize how may be the implementation of a Stirling cycle. I recommend it to everyone. Sure, there are many hints in the Internet on how to built one. Even though, this is much simpler and very cost efficient.

It’s smaller than I had anticipated and initially worked well. Not sure if something came loose or it sat too long but the next Time I went to start it I had pieces come falling Off and it wouldn’t start now I can’t even figure out where the pieces came from and can’t get it to run again so I guess if your ok with it being a one time use kind of thing go for It but it’s not very sturdy and is probably going to be much smaller than your expectations and the glass tube will break quickly And good luck replacing it without breaking the replacement one. Also the the little rubber seal Broke inside of it and is another reason why for $45 I would stay far away from this