Halo-Radial Live Steam Engine PLANS no castings needed!

You can find more information on all the Liney Machine kits, engines and accessories at www.lineymachine.com

This Buy It Now item is the booklet of technical drawings, no materials, parts, or tools are included.

Please read the FAQ's at the bottom before emailing, thanks.

Here are two videos of the Halo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3E2tv8UgfU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voU3aRzOY7o

Below is a video of an award winning "Halo" built by a customer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUzBoTcyMhs

  This engine is the "HALO" five cylinder radial designed by Liney Machine.  The intent in designing the Halo was to make an external combustion (steam/compressed air) design that mimicked the operation of real radial aircraft engines as close as possible.  It has cams on the crank which operate the pushrods and in turn the rockerarms and the very unique ball bearing valves.  It has five 3/8th inch pistons linked to the single crank via a master rod and conecting rods just as would be expected in a full size radial. Best of all, the design allows you to see nearly every moving part while the engine is running.  Even the cams and pushrod end bearings can be seen.

Unlike a normal four stroke radial, every piston "fires" every revolution.  Five powerstrokes per revolution!

Some dimention:

The engine is just under 5 inches overall OD

The cylinders are .75 inches OD

The crankcase is 1.65 OD

The Drive shaft is 1/4"

Most of the picture are taken of the second prototype.   The final form is slightly different as the cylinders bolt on with a square flange as can be seen in the last picture. 

Building it-

The HALO is Liney Machine's most complex engine.  It would be a very good project for someone with a CNC mill but I took great care to ensure that every part can be done on manual equipment.  The last picture shown is a halo built by a customer using only a lathe with z-axis.  He took gold in a model engeneering show with that engine.  We recomend a lathe and mill with rotary table.  Sherline and Taig size equipment is excellent.  I would rate this as a fairly advanced level project, but with care and patience, I think that a fairly new hobby machinist could build it.  With these drawings and a little math you can build a 1,2,3,4, or 5 cylinder version. 

There are no instructions included with the drawings.  How to do the machining and assembly and tuning is up to you.  There are lots of assembled views to aide you.   As time goes on, I will be writing notes and tips and making them available under the Halo link at the Liney Machine home page.  I am also happy to help and answer question via email. 

This "Buy It Now" item is for the PLANS ONLY.  They are CAD drawn with clear easy to read dimensions.  They come bound in an 8-1/2 x 11 booklet.  It has 25 pages.  There is an individual drawing of each part as well as several orthographic views showing different parts groupings as they would be in the assembled engine.  These views are printed on transparencies so they can be overlaid on eachother.  This helps in understanding the operating principals, and how the parts are assembled.  Please note that these are technical drawings not machining how-to instructions.  There are often many viable approaches to making a part.  That challenge is left up to you.

There is also a kit available for this engine.  It is well worth the extra money.  I doubt you can get all the items you will need for anywhere close to the difference of upgrading to the kit.  When you order a kit, you will recieve the schematic drawings as well as all the hardware and metal you need to to build a complete running engine.  This includes all needed machine screws (the engine uses 112 machine screws), pins, springs, ball bearings,  and washers.  The machine screws included are not the cheap kind you see in most hardware stores.  They are high quality fasteners made of stainless steel.  See our Ebay store under "Steam engine kits" for the kit.

If you would like to have a set of 2 high quality made in USA taps added to your order (2-56 standard and 2-56 bottoming hand taps),  please add $20 to the total ($10 each)

We are also a Sherline machine tool dealer.  Please see our Ebay store for Sherline lathes and mills and our other plans and kits.

Some Frequently Asked Questions:

     I get this question quite often.  Yes, they can, but there are much better options out there.  Liney Machine engines are all about the "neato" factor, not maximum efficiency.

-  Can you lie on the customs form?

     No.

-  What was the P.S.I. in the video?

     About 15 - 70psi.

Any other questions, feel free to email:  info@lineymachine.com

Please, Take a look at our feedback!