After spending some time working with rocket power I decided
to have a look at gas turbine engines.
After spending a lot of time looking about and dealing
with some tyre kickers, I managed to find a small
gas turbine engine from a Scout helicopter. The engine
produces around 650 shaft horse power.
A Westland Scout helicopter
Here is the engine being unloaded it comes in a sealed
bag that keeps it dry
it is then fitted into a carriage frame that is a nice
peace of engineering on its own.
the whole lot also fits in a large box, this was too
big for the van.
Here is the engine unwrapped and ready for a run.
Another view from the exhaust of the engine.
note the home made fuel tank to the right of the picture,
and also the fire extinguisher, a "must have type thing"
for this sort of work.
After spending a little time bleeding the fuel system,
the engine was ready to start.
Starting the engine was no problem, it fired up first
time.
The engine ran straight up to idle speed (16450 rpm or
47%)
We ran the engine to the fuel was just about to run out
about 4 min.
After we shut the engine down we noticed a crowd of people
had gathered around
we ran the engine two more times then put it out of harms
way.
The next step was to remove the free turbine and gear box and turn it into a jet engine.
After a great deal of work the engine was turned into
a thrust engine.
Here is the engine with the gear box and free turbine
removed.
It was a real big problem to sort all the plumbing out
on the engine
as it was all linked in with the free turbine workings.
:-(
A common problem with the nimbus engine is the oil seals
on the rear
bearings, as the photo shows the oil burning it the casing.
I spent a lot of time on this engine solving all the problems
I had with it,
the engine runs just fine now and I have ran it up to
80% (28000 rpm)
It's strange how it makes the ground shake...!
I could write pages on the problems I had with it, but
I don't feel the need
for it on this web page, you can always drop me a email
if you need to know more
information on the subject.
Here is the set-up for running the engine
Fuel tank on the left (gravity fed)
Digital Thermometer (small yellow and black box)
Starter panel and rpm gauge (front)
Engine (centre)
Battery box (2 X 105 APH)
Downloads
Geek stuff...! geek.zip (1,098
KB)
More pictures...! nimbus.zip
(1,274 KB)
Engine start up...! start.mp3 (755
KB)