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Andrew de Halas, Colorado Springs, CO Andrew@lookingglass.com 6/14/2004

Mini V1, Vertical CO2 type compressed air engine 6/14/2004

Here is a picture of my engine.

It is built from the plans of David Kerzel's Mini V1
I changed some things including adding ball bearings, springs , and a compete crankshaft.
This was all changed to allow the engine to run at VERY high speeds (I tached 13,000 rpm), with pressures over 140 lbs/sq. in
I also neglected to add fins, as this is my first engine, and I do not want to complicate things. I bought a casting kit from Bob Shores,
as this will be my second engine, and I know kinda what I am doing, I can make it look very pretty.

This is a picture of all the parts of the engine. You can see the changes I made, including a much longer crankcase to hold the bearing mount. (That aluminum looking thing with the ball bearing pressed into it.) You can also see the spring, the other part of the crankshaft, and a deeper drilled head to incorporate the spring.
One of the disadvantages of running the engine ridiculously fast is if you look closely at the piston pin you will see it is starting to resemble a mushroom. I think I might try and heat the pin red hot and dip it into some water to try and harden it. Might make it brittle, which is just as bad.

This is a picture of my crankshaft fully assembled. You can notice both sides, and the fact the side with the crankpin is the one that is attached to the aluminum to make it easily maintanceable. The aluminum bearing case has 2 ball bearings and so does the crankcase.

This engine can run extremely fast for long periods of time ( I let it run over 8 hours without the pressure dropping below 80psi). It is reliable, and a very fun project to work on. I would like to thank David, for his help from phone calls and countless emails, that turned a hardly recognizable chunk of brass into a absolutely stellar speedy engine.

If anybody has any questions or comments please email me.