3D Printing a Functional Wankel Engine
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 9 июн 2024
- Meet my FDM 3D printed, compressed air powered wankel/rotary engine. This project was a huge challenge which pushed my mechanical design skills to the max, but the result is really neat. Even if it may be less efficient than just about any other compressed air engine around.
The engine relies almost entirely on FDM printed parts with minimal post-processing after printing. O-rings are attached to some surfaces to act as sealing surfaces and other smaller o-rings are embedded into the engine housing during assembly for the valves. The engine runs on compressed air, minimum of about 40psi. All of the clips in this video used only 1L of air for the supply, a bigger tank would result in far longer run times.
What did you think of the new video style, with more of an engineering and education focus than previously? Please let me know in the comments!
Come join the fun on my Discord Server! / discord
The project is open-sourced!
github.com/DDeGonge/AirWankel...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A huge thanks to all my Patreon Supporters!
- Mom & Dad
- Trent Waddington
- Nullun
- Barb
- Jake
- Amy
- Ayydan
- Eric
- TrueCarry
If you'd like to support plus receive some exclusive perks, you can do so here!
/ 3dprintedlife
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter! / 3dprintedlife_official
/ 3dprintedlife
Chapters
Intro: 0:00
Background: 0:43
Early Versions: 2:15
How It Works: 2:58
Later Versions: 4:40
First Success! 5:05
Fixing the Piston: 6:47
Newest Failures: 8:12
Final Version: 9:19
IT WORKS: 10:07
Gross: 10:45
Engine Testing: 11:23
Come at me Tom: 11:54
Outro: 12:58
#3dprintedlife #airengine #wankel #rotary 
Наука
Seriously impressive work!! The struggle of air engine development is all too relatable, and you covered it really well in this video! p.s. I finally plucked up the courage ;)
Well well well, look who decided to show up...Haha thanks for stopping by Tom! Looking forward to your next build
Gonna be mad disappointed if you don’t put this engine on a plane...
Well there we go! How cool is that! Tom ur awesome! I love ur videos!!
@@drewanderson8279 I admire his production too.
Hi tom
You did an mazing job ! That is just awesome! Also I really like the way you edit and pace your videos
Why thank you tomato man, I loved your new video as well! So much fire makes me a happy person.
Edit. Oh gosh this is awkward, just realized I hadn't subscribed to you and I was just using the algorithm to get your vids. You now have one more warrior in your fight against the tomatoes.
Hey integza how you doing mate
Inetzga the tomato salesman😂😂😂
Tomato Lord junior is gonna get you one day inetzga
Hi integza
“Air is useless” *takes breath of air*
yeah who needs breathing in this day and age.
Breathing is so yesterday
Breathing, burning, powering windmills, saturating liquids... yeah, completely useless xD
technically breathing is compressing air in your lungs
Sincerest apologies for calling the rotor a piston. Ill make it up by building a V2 :)
What did you think of this more engineering focused video? Let me know!
Also, subscribe and join my Discord channel while you're at it! discord.gg/aWBAfk3
do itttttt
Really like the engineering focus.
Very good!
And there are a lot, A LOT more types of rotary engines. You can make and show another one =)
I personally like the idea of engine, based on reversed gear pump. May be actually simpler to made than Wankel.
@@shurmurray Oh, I think one was enough for me for the time being...perhaps I'll try another in a few months after I've stopped hating Felix with all my heart.
love it
@J M p......piston?
Welp, the algorithm got you. Keep uploading and ride the wave to the top. Congrats on your algorithm epoch.
That's the plan, thanks! :D
@@3DprintedLife yep this was on top of my suggestions today. Thanks for the cool video
2:39 call the rotor piston again ....
Hahah yeah... My bad 😅
@Rich Silva I refuse (:
Not to.be confused with the wanker engine which is slightly more satisfying
Wank, wank
Does it Frap instead of Brapp?
sometimes called your right hand
@@cheerdiver
Ye!
You're the GOAT of 3d printing projects, really impressive !
Hah thanks!
Nah, Tom is
As my mechanics professor said, the piston engine is the most inefficient mechanism created by human beings, transforming an alternative rectilinear movement into a circular movement, the Wankel engine was a creation ahead of its time, do not worry about the amount of prototypes, Toyo Kogyo, who later became Mazda who received the manufacturing patent, manufactured more than 5000 prototypes. Excellent video thanks for sharing.
Yeah it's true, one day someone will figure out how to make the rotary a viable option. Just, not today. Glad you enjoyed!
I actually made a working air powered Wankel engine (vid on my channel), the difference being there are only two lobes on the rotor instead of three since air engines only really have an expansion and exhaust stroke. This means you only need one intake and one exhaust, and can get a very high displacement with the same size engine.
Just checked it out, pretty cool! The rotor may not look as cool but definitely a better design for a rotary air engine. Did you use any sort of valves to control input or just let it rip?
@@3DprintedLife no valves, just full tank pressure throughout the expansion stroke. The engine had really terrible efficiency because of this so I should really incorporate some kind of intake valve
@@3DprintedLife For proper lexicon: Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) convert chemical energy into kinetic energy.
Where as motors convert potential energy (from an outside source) into kinetic energy. Steam would be an example of an External Combustion Engine.
This is actually very neat! I really like this video, I think it does a great job in taking me through the highs and lows of this project.
Thanks, appreciate the input!
You can really tell how much work this took - congratulations! I appreciated the walk through the challenges and solving each one. So much more realistic and informative than videos which skip to the end and then stay there. Glad we got to see the CAD as an aid to the explanation too.
Thanks, and I appreciate all the feedback! I'll likely continue in a similar style for future videos
Maybe use a small pressure regulator just at the end of the air feed tube and see if restricting the airflow will slow it down but extend the use time... but nice jib!
this ^^^^ I was about to comment the same. he should try a constant pressure with the same air supply on both his, and tom's engine for comparison
Yes
I applaud your patience.
Well done!
How truly inspirational, a young person who isn't afraid to admit he makes mistakes (and learns from them).
I truly am a professional at failing!
@@3DprintedLife Bless ya man. I wish you could see my "failed" parts pile! Like you I learn from those mistakes but the only issue with 3D FDM printing is the time it takes to do a part of any significant size.
My daughter's b/f wants to make a Proton Pack (Ghostbusters) and with a 0.4mm nozzle it will take something like two WEEKS to print all the parts assuming I can get a decent run at it.
Far better to use a 1mm nozzle but I don't have one or a hotend capable of delivering it.
I've (partly) redesigned the cooling setup for the old printer - an Ender 3 clone - because it's laughably bad. Unfortunately being an unusual model TronxXY Pro 2, there's nothing on Thingiverse. Funny thing is, it would be an excellent printer if they'd only spent some time on the cooling design which looks like it was thrown together at the last moment.
But all of that aside, showing people your mistakes sets a damn good example because it shows that even someone with your considerable talent has to iterate a design.
Even Einstein fiddled with his equations before he settled on one. Iterative design is normal and we should not be ashamed of it.
As a rotary enthouiast these kind of videos make me happy! It also highlight the biggest flaws but I just call them engineering challenges.
Haha yeah, I was actually a little surprised at how well the same exact issues scaled down :D
I agree with most comments, very good work. And a very enjoyable experience to watch. Thank you.
Thanks glad you enjoyed!
I really like your pacing and editing. I also appreciate how you went over what went wrong with each attempt.
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed and I appreciate the feedback!
This project is cool as all heck. Nice job. Good video as well. The thumbnail made it look like it was a wristwatch, that would have been cool for sure!
Thanks! Glad you liked it. And oh man, a wankel-style watch movement would be incredible....I really need to buy a resin printer
Really high quality vid, can see your channel going places!!
Thanks for that, and I hope it does! :D
Ever since I bought my 05 RX8 I've been hooked on rotary engines! This video is awesome, dude! And yeah, rotaries are stupid inefficient and were designed to break your soul in 100 different ways... but when it IS working- you get smiles for miles!
They really are such cool engines, it's just a shame technology still hasn't advanced enough to make them as practical as piston engines.
I’ve been waiting for someone to make this, now I can go buy a 3D printer and make a keychain. Thanks friend.
Finally someone who knows what functional means. Most of the other 3d printed engine videos are models, which is fine, but they shouldnt call them working/functional
Funny enough, a bunch of people commented here complaining that this isn't "functional". Like..what? Not practical fine, but it is functional!
Awesome build! Nicely done. Can't believe you only have 8.17K subs. Earned your two new subs!
If I build it, they will come. welcome! :)
Great video and narration. You should build a scale Mazda RX7 model to fit the engine into
Thank you, and that is a brilliant idea!
3:14 it looks like a typical lego set
I failed to make it start and quit, you made a fantastic job!
Thanks! It was definitely a lot of work :D
@@3DprintedLife I want to give my thoughts to you! You don’t need a valve, it can be 2 intake and 2 exhaust cross with each other, depending on it’s space expansion! Then it can be a whole piece so no need to worry about seal the intake. I dealt with it for a while, and found it’s hard to set the place for the intake holes, it can easily go through. Those holes have to be too close to each other to get sealed by the rotor. Otherwise, you can try to make printed on edge seal on the rotor to make the seal~ hope these can help you make a better air rotary engine!
1:15 The Wankel was patented in 1929, the Dorito was born 1964. Thus, nobody calls it a Dorito. The proper name is rotor.
Kudos for some more engineering and an awesome build!
Wonderful if some manufacturer could perfect the seals. I had a 1973 Mazda RX2. With an amazing rotary engine, it had response like a slingshot, and a ridiculous power band. I could do 50 miles an hour in first gear, or be in fourth gear at 10 miles an hour and still have plenty of torque.
I would LOVE to see this with a stroboscope. Probably would need to use a rotary encoder because of the changing speed, but imagine seeing it work in real time!
This is an amazing idea
@@3DprintedLife why don’t you make some kind of clutch system on a lever to start the engine?
Hert would be so proud that you called it a Dorito!
Really cool video. And boy do you have a nice voice to listen to. Just stumbled by this video and got stuck :D Subscribed now ;)
Welcome aboard!
Really cool man keep up the great work
Thanks I will!
Great video. I found it because of Tom. Glad he found the courage.
As am I, welcome!
"The piston seal still blows" could've been a good opportunity for a pun, but either way, I find the video fascinating
haha yeah, could have been. And thanks!
Awesome build! And a well made video! You got a new subscriber 👍
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! Welcome!
Did anyone else notice the door move when the rotary finally fired right with the propellor on it?!?! Impressive!
Well...don't get too excited. It's only a curtain :) But it definitely does move a good amount of air, and this size propeller is barely putting any load on the motor. I probably could still run the engine on a propeller twice or maybe even triple the size. But that's a lil scary
@@3DprintedLife looked like a door to me...either way, I’m still impressed. It’s obviously moving a decent amount of air.
Excellent work engineer!!
Thank you!
Tom sent me. Glad he did. 👍
Awesome, glad you enjoyed!
Hahahaha rotary go: Brrrraap pop brrrrap popopop brruuuuuurrruuurrrreeeeee
Way cool bro!! I really enjoy tom Stanton's vlogs also. I love rotary engines there amazing
Thank you, and same here!
Really great video 👍
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it
Tom sent me here! Awesome build, I see an "Air war" in the making.
Tom's the man! But oh yes, this is only the beginning.
A bunch of new air engines I've seen on RUclips forego seals, like o-rings or apex seals in this case, in favor of diaphragms.
Not sure what the wankle equivalent would be, but you're a smart guy.
Hmmm yeah that may be very difficult.... But interesting idea
Can you imagine machining this engine from scratch? I mean, when you first came up with the idea of a rotary engine. No CAD. Just drawing and failures. Failures continued through all of the Mazda cars even.
Somehow your account name was very familiar to me...
Only half way through the video (which i really liked!) I realised I was watching the guy who designed and sold a 3D printer from his dorm room some 4-6 years ago!
I haven't watched any of your video's for about 4 years and I'm glad to have found you again!
Hahah yep, that's me :) I've come a long way, but still printing on my Eclips3D2 of course!
Efficiency and performance are simply put two points of a scale on each end, so you have to lose performance to get it more efficient or go smaller to get more rpm’s for same amount of air
commenting again to feed the algo, good luck on your endevours!!!
Nomnomnom
To get a longer run time ( without using a compressor) you could use a 2l bottle (maybe get an extra few seconds) or connect a few of the bottles together in series to increase the air reservoir, at least that's what I plan to do in the near future.
This looks great so I can't wait for the next one!
Good point, but that's twice as much pumping. Sounds like a lot of work :D I really should get one of those enormous 3L bottles for the next version hahah
@@3DprintedLife hey at least you get a workout in while you're pumping the engine up 🤣
I’m honestly going to try something. I’m going to try to print one of these for a moped, but I’m going to try and turbocharge it using a 3d printed turbo
really want to see it on a plane or some prolonged test runs. Cheers!
"...this piston has terrible seals." Wow, you really made it just like the full scale ones!
Hahah yeah, turns out the problems do scale XD
My son and I made an 3D printed engine based on steam engine tech. We struggled with seals and then he had the genius idea of running the engine on suction instead of compressed air. It fixed a host of issues and vacuums are easier to come by than air compressors. I would be interested to see how that works for you (impractical if you are going to use the engine, but for a demo its great).
Also: nice work on the wankel build! I enjoyed the vid!
Hmm that's really interesting, it would require some re-working but maybe that could still work, thanks for the suggestion and glad you enjoyed!
Pretty cool!
Very fun and well presented. I have been considering air engines for years and designing one now to 3D print. Glad you used both sides of the rotor housing. A thing to consider with air engines is whether the aim is to maximise power or economy. A really ideal air engine should have minimum headspace connected to the cylinder, and its power controlled by varying valve timing not by throttling. By varying inlet valve timing, you can operate the engine between the two extremes of economy vs power (high expansion ratio / low expansion ratio). A wankel is not well suited for this since the timing is traditionally fixed, or complex timing systems must be added. It's a very different way of thinking from ICE's despite the similar appearances.
Also, a one way check valve to recycle the air that's already been used might make it last longer
Good afternoon, the compressor turbine shown at the end of the video, will the STL plans be available for printing?
Pretty awesome job!!
hehe only took me 10 tries to get my pneumatic wankel engine working. Great job though! Can't wait to see more!
great job!
Just came across your channel, and I love it so far. One question though, what pressure were you running it at?
Awesome, welcome! Most tests were 1L of air at 60psi. It seems like it could handle more, but it's difficult to pump it too much higher with my bike pump haha. Also, I wanted to operate a decent margin below max tested pressure (80psi)
nice work
Thank you!
Rotary/Wankel engines used oil not because they were leaky, but because they needed oil in the combustion chamber to lubricate the seals. There was actually a pump on the engine to inject the oil.
Good point, thanks for sharing!
Wow this is awesome Wankel engines are not widely used today due to how hard it is to get that seal right the fact that you got it right using 3d printers is really impressive!
I now share a similar pain with most rx7 and rx8 owners. It's an honor :)
Not really, mazda fixed it a while ago. People just dont give them the special care they require and are surprised when they get compression issues
Very cool!!
You should build a Voron 2.4. It's a true tramming printer, and instead of tramming the bed to the gantry, which you may not have assembled properly, it's tramming the gantry to the mic6 precision milled tooling plate by having it suspended on 4 belts. Amazing stuff, absolutely worth building.
Considering I designed my printer, I think I assembled it properly ;)
This is so inspiring
Thanks, glad you enjoyed!
fantastic work really interesting problems, but you where able to push to succes.
Thanks!
time to design and print a pressure regulator.
Hah yeah...V2!
well said my man
Ah yes, the spicy Dorito, my favorite
It's alive!
Air engine go brrrrap
That was so cool 😀
Thanks glad you liked it!
3DPL / Stanton / Integza Hive-mind like brain-storming on this and / or other projects. Now that's what we're all waiting for, right?
Get your zoom out for the lads.
Also, quick quezzy - Regulation slash governing, Could you not introduce a first reservoir or other method to restrict the air-flow, in order to get a more controlled uniform influx? I'm sure you're way ahead of me on this, but I have an Old-school steam engine style governor type thingamebob in mind..? Best to have a regular constant flow rather than a massive initial spaff, right?
I look forward to more of your gubbins. Subscription earned.
Alanicus, Oxford UK.
Oh boy you're like a mind reader. Wait until next weekend, for both your comments ;)
1) Yes, that's pretty much the only reason to print on a raft (to decouple the bottom surface from bed irregularities)
2) I think "co-planar" means "in the same plane", so the top and bottom of your piston aren't co-planar. They're just parallel.
3) I don't think your engine is less-efficient than Tom's just because it didn't run as long. It produced a _lot_ more power over that shorter time. In fact, the fact that his engine didn't run as fast suggests that he might have more friction in his design, with the side-effect of it running slower and, hence, longer.
4) Incredible R&D work.
Ah yeah you're right I was using co-planar incorrectly, oops. But no, mine is definitely less efficient. Tom's engine is super low friction but still manages to have a decent piston seal. Performance varies a lot based on assembly though since you have to sand the piston and cylinder to fit perfectly together
Hell yea man 👏
What a great video I really enjoyed it and I was curious if there is a way of using small rotating cylinders for sealing so that they rotate inside the engine instead of fixed seals??
I hope I made it clear cause English is something I'm still working on 🙃
Yeah I know what you're saying! Maybe, but the features are so tiny it would be very difficult. A better option would be selecting a better gap filling, low friction material to use for seals.
Valve flappers are the inner ear bone on a human.🍀😂🤜🏼🤛🏼🤓
Amazing job man this is incredible! Can you try remaking it engine with resin printing? The tolerance could be much more tighter.
Thanks! And yeah you aren't the first person to suggest this, but I wanted the challenge of fdm. I'm considering designing V2 more for resin printers so I can take advantage of the far better tolerances
@@3DprintedLife heat resistant materials?
@@billbergen9169 No need, the constant supply of new air plus the fact that is expanding should mitigate any heat concerns from friction.
@@3DprintedLife I was wondering if you could make a ice engine
@@billbergen9169 Ahh, yeah not with fdm. Maybe with some resin materials. Maybe Integza can print one in ceramic, that seems easy enough! (kidding, definitely not easy!)
I never thought I'd see a meme about thermodynamics but 12:48 has proven me wrong. Biggest understatement ever :D
Anything can be a meme if you believe!
Why do you need the valves in the first place? it seems like they're a source of potential inefficiency. Half the beauty of the Wankel engine is that it is valveless, and where it saves the most weight, size, and complexity. Tuning your ports will also increase the efficiency such that it doesn't blow through so much air as the apex seal wipes past.
Nice. I think you should resin print the whole thing but shrink it down to about 70% on each dimension. Or 60% and add a rotor. Get it right and it will self start on pressure. I can see your frustration but I'm impressed with your result. Think bigger, cnc them in metal and test the market,
I feel your pain I have hundreds of failed prints.
hope you continue improving this design and making vids of your work. Question: why not use steam from a pressure cooker instead of air? It should give much longer run times but you may need to print with a higher temp material
Thanks I am! And good question, the main reason is heat. Steam is hothothot, and it can get well above boiling temperature. Even if I printed in ABS, it still might not be temperature resistant enough to avoid deformation. It's especially hard in an engine where there is lots of high pressure and cycling, so using regular compressed air is just easier. But maybe with a future version I can make it run on steam!
@@3DprintedLife Heat problem with steam. They made diesel wankel engines but had heat problems. They incorporated an air only cycle to cool the engine. Kind of a hit and miss cycle and it worked. Maybe it could work for steam too
Simply amazing!
Thank you! Cheers!
@@3DprintedLife You're welcome. I wouldn't believe it is possible to make such a precise thing on a FDM printer (and yes, I print a lot too). Thumbs up.
Really excellent engineering!
Tip for next video: Decrease the music volume, duck it relative to the VO, or forgo it entirely.
Thanks, and appreciate the feedback!
The real question is, why the heck your not using a resin 3d printer! 👽
I used my 4k mini (35µm)the first time a week ago... I can see the polygons in my high res 3d models.
I’ve dived in the deep end using an engineering resin that has a glass transition of 250C.
There was a little bit of dialing in the resin to start with, but now it’s dialed in my prints are bang-on!!
Food for thought
I didn't have one at the time, but I do now and I'll be using it for future air engine projects!
You should try making one of these with the liquid piston variation of the rotary...
Hah yeah some other people brought this design up too. I don't hate myself enough to take that on just yet :)
You should do one of those new style rotary motors where the apex seal is in the housing rather than on the rotor. It's a kickstarter design called the "LiquidPiston." It still uses 3 chambers but in intake and exhaust are on the rotor.
Yeah I have seen that, looks very interesting. I may take a crack at that soon!
@@3DprintedLife Drop me a line if you want some help modeling it. I only have Solidworks 2014, but it works.
I appreciate your tenacity!
I would like to see it run for a while powered by an actual air compressor. Like, I would enjoy to watch it run for 2 to 3 minutes and see what kind of wear you observe. Also, are your stl files available on thingiverse or similar site?
Oh I'd love to see that too, because it would almost definitely explode haha. All the files are on my github! github.com/DDeGonge/AirWankelEngine
Impressive, would be cool to see an optimized version that lasts longer with a bit less power as a tradeoff!!
Agreed, though all of the runs in this video were only using 1L of air. If only I had an air compressor! But for V2, I do hope to make a more efficient engine that won't have quite as much torque but hopefully will run a lot longer on the same amount of air
Nice project, try using resin printing or even cnc milling aluminum parts, even with a cheap CNC you can get nice tolerances
True, but that takes away the challenge of FDM!
Would love to see what would happen if you double the points of the piston (triangular) piece. Eg. from 3 edges -> 6 edges
Would it compress it more?
I think it would compress less but have less vibration and more compressions per cycle. Also the housing would probably look really weird. Interesting idea though!
Not gonna lie, the Thumbnail looks like a real Cool watchdesign
It really does, gives me some cool ideas....
This is fukin dope!!!! now I challenge you to build a 4 rotor lol, should work right since the valve controls timing. Im sure the center shaft would have to be balanced and metal
Hahaha do you want me to die
Ex- Mazda RX-7 owner here. Thanks for the video, I’m always interested in the Wankel, it seems to make sense to transfer power rotationally. We called that shape a trochoid. I did my own work on the engine. Iheard a lot about oil and apex seals for sure on my car. I changed the oil on a normal schedule and didn’t ever add any additional due to leakage or burning. Although at the time, that was probably twice as frequent as most recommendations for oil changes outside of enthusiasts it is pretty much what your dealer recommends for any car today! Go figure.
Did you try adding lubricant? just curious.
Oh nice, awesome car! And yeah I used a somewhat thick lubricant for both reducing friction and helping seal small gaps in the seals. I tried a thinner silicone oil, but for whatever reason this oil made the o-ring plastic interfaces super sticky, so I stuck with the grease. Unfortunately it's too thick to just put in the air intake between runs to self-lubricate, so I had to rebuild this engine quite a few times to re-pack with grease. But I've got a huge list of things like this to improve for V2!
Idea maybe make the exaust port adjustable bigger to smaller🙏👍
Oooo I like it!
Now you gotta hit up warped preception and make it run on gas
That would be awesome. I don't think it would last more than a second though without serious modifications haha
What’s wild is you designed an engine that wasnt ment to have valves, have valves and rockers
Very cool
Thank you!
nice work with the engine absolutely elegant engine replicated on such scale....i want to get into 3d printing but im looking for a reasonably good printer at a reasonable price that can be used to print hard wearing parts for semi functional cosplay and small scale engineering....do you have any suggestion's on what to look for?
Oh there's so many options! For functional parts, usually fdm printers are better (extruding plastic). Resin printers are good for higher detail high accuracy prints, but the materials can't compare to traditional thermoplastics for engineering purposes. And it gets messy and difficult when you start working with large parts. But the detail is incredible. As far as printer suggestions, the Ender 3 is a good starter printer for a low budget, prusa i3 is reputable for mid budget. High budget has lots of options depending on what you care most about. For resin printers, I'm not as familiar but google is your friend! You can also check out the 3dprinting subreddit for more advice, or ask some people on my discord channel! discord.gg/aWBAfk3
@@3DprintedLife thank you for the advice it will really help
Awesome engine!
Thank you!
@@3DprintedLife I hope you and Tom Stanton makes a colab. It would be interesting to see what ideas you two can come up with.