BY KURT SCHRECKLING

THE MODELLER'S WORLD

s e:::-- R- ' e:::-- s

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 Home Built

MODEL
TURBINES

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 MODEL
TURBINES

BY KURT SCHRECKLING

www.ASEC.ir
 © Auflage 2004 by Verlag Fi.ir Technik und Handwerk
Posrfach 227"1, 76492 Baden-Haden

Translated from rhe original German by Nigel Price

© 2005 Traplet Publications Ltd

All rights reserved. All trademarks and registered names acknowledged. No part of this book may be copied,
reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the Publishers.
The information in this book is true to the best of our knowledge at the time of compilation. Recommendations
are made without any guarnntee. implied or otherwise. on the part of the author or publisher, who also disclaim any
liability incurred in connection with the use of data or specific information contained within this publication.

Published by Traplel Publications Limited 2005

Traplet House.
Pendragon Close,
Malvern,
Worcestershire. WR14 lGA
United Kingdom.

ISBN I 900371 37 5

Front Cover:

"KJ66 engine designed by Kurt Schreckling and manufactured in kit.form hy Jesus Artes".

Back Cover.-

"KJ66 engine 11iewedfrom the rear".

TRAPLET
~~
_P U R I. I (._" A T I O N S

Printed by Wa Fai Graphic Arts Printing Co., Hong Kong

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Contents
Foreword ..................................................................................................... ...... .... ............... ................................................... 9
Chapter I. Physical-Technical Principles of Mcxlel Jet Turbines ................ ......... .... ..... .... .. ............................................... 11
What are we talking ahout? ................................................................ .................... ....... ............. ...... ..... ............... ........ ... 11
How does a model jet turbine work? ....... ...... ........................................ ....... ........... ....................... ............................... 11
The most important physical parameters ............................................. .... ... ......... ........ ....................... .... ........ ............... 11
Suirahle fuels ........... ... ................. .... .............. ........... .. ........................ ....................................... ........ ................ ....... ..... ... 13
Description of components ..................................................... ...... .................................................................................. 13
The compressor stage ...................... ......... ......... ....................... ........... .... ................. ............................................. .... . 13
The turbine stage ............................................................................................. ......... ...................... ........ .................... 15
Hearings, counteracting resonance vibration and lubricating the rotor. ........... .. ..... ..... ... ........... ............................. 17
Combustion chamber and ignition ................ .............................. ............ ....... ........... .. .................. ............................ 20
The thrust nozzle ................................. .................................................. ................... ... ............................................... 21
Operational performance ............................................................................................. ... ........ ....................................... .22
Correlation of rotational velocity, air mass flow, compressor pressure, thrust and temperature .......................... 22
Reactions to changes in fuel flow 1 ............................................................................................................................. 24
Fuel consumption .. .............................. ................... .. .. ....................... ..... .................. ................... ...................... ......... 25
Influence of weather and altitudc ............................ ............................................................................... ................... 26
Correlation between thrust and flight velocity ................ ...... ........... ......................................................................... 27
Noise Jevelopment ......................................................... .................... .................. .......... .................... ........................ 27
Chapter 2. Necessary Accessories ..................................................................... ................. .. ................................................ 28
Different iypes of st:arrer.. ....................................................................................................................... .................. ....... 28
An essential: a fire extinguisher .............................. ................................ ......... ....... ............. .. .. ........ ....... .......... ... ........... 29
TI1e fuel pump .................................. ......................... .............................................. .............. .................. ........... ..... ........ 29
Fuel tank with feed lines .................................................................... ........ .. ............. .. ..... ........... ............ ...... ... ............... 30
Cartridge-fed auxiliary gas ............... ........................................................................................................ ....................... 30
Electrically-powered glow plug ........................................................... .... ... ........ .. ........... .... ...... ..... .... ...... ............. ......... 30
Calibrating of the restrict or for the supply of lubricant.. ............................. ................... ................................. ...... .... .... 30
Electronic regulation and control .................................................... ...... .... ................... ........ .... .. ... .... .................... ......... 30
Chapter 3. Test Stand and Measuring Equipment ............................. ............... ............ ..... ................. ......... ............ .... ....... 32
The engine on the test stand ................................................................................................................. ................. ........ 32
Measuring the 1hnist ......................................................................................... .... ....................... ....... .. .... .. ... ...... ............ 33
Mea.o;uring rotational velocity and pressure .................................................................... ...................... ... .............. ........ 33
Temperature measurement ..................................... ....................................................................... ............. .... ................ 34
Chapter 4. Which Turbine, Which Model? ........................ ....................... ................................ .................. ........ ................. 35
Chapter 5. Home-Built Jet Engines ............................. .......................... ...... ........................... .............. ................ ................ 40
Comparative technical dara .......................................................... .... ............... ................ .................... ...... ...................... 40
Kit version of the l:lehotec J-66 jet turhine ..................................... .............................................................. ............... ... 41
The construction kit - a detailed look .................... ................................ ....... ...................... ...... .................. .............. 41
General point-; on the constru(1ion of the KJ-66 and TK-50 .. ...................................................................................... +i
Ha lancing the rotor ......... .................................................. .... ................................ ............................................. ........ .44
The home-built TK-50 jct turbine, made from a thermos flask ................................................................................... .44
How it evolved ............. .... ........... ................................................................. ... ......... .. .... .... .... .................................... 44
Construction requirement<; .................................................... ........................... ......... ......... .... ........................... .. ...... .45
Parts list and drawings ........... ... .. ............. ....................................... ...................................................................... ... ...... A6
Constructing individual components ................................ ......... ... ...................................................................... ............ 63
Hot o r, hearings and shaft tunnel ................................. .... ........................................................................................... 63
Turbine guide system .................. ............... ............. ............ ......................... .............................................................. 63
Housing .. ............. ................... ............... ...... .................................................. .. ........ ......................................... .. .. ...... .64
Compressc>r guide system ......... ........ ........... ................... .... ..................... .... ......................... ............ ..... .... .. .............. 6 1~
Intake nozzle ................. .. ........................... ........................................................................... ...................................... 65
Compressor guide vanes ..... .. ........... ................... ......................................... ............................. .................. ...... ......... 65
Connecting the compressor guide vanes to the guide vane holder .......................................... ............ ..... ....... ...... 66
The lid ....... .................................................................................................................................................................. 66

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 Aligning the intake nozzle with the compressor wheel and adjusting the size of the gap ... ............................... ..66
O,mbustion chamber. glow plug .... ..... ............... ..................... ........... ................ .... ...... ..... ............ ............ ... ............. 67
Supply lines for fuel, auxiliary gas and lubricant ......... .. ........... ............... ............. .... ................. ................ .............. 68
Exhaust gas nozzle ........... ..... ... ..... ....... ........ ... ......... .................. ... ........ ..................... ................. ........................ .......69
Calibrating the diameter of the turbine wheel .............. ...................................... .............................. ................ ........ 70
Connecting the exhaust gas nozzle to the housing ... .............................. .. ............................................................... 70
Final assemhly ...................................... ..................... .............................. ......... ................ .... ....... ...... .................... .. .... 70
Home-built KJ-66 jet turbine .......... ........... .......... ........... .. ......... ....... .... ........... ...... ........ ...... ............... ............ ............... .. 71
How it evolved .. .... ............................. ........ ... ....................... ..... ......... ................. ............... .............. ... ............. ...... .... 71
Demands on the home builder ..... ..................... ..... ...... ............... ..... ......... .. ................................ .............. ................ 72
Parts list and drawings ... ................. ... .......................... .. ........ .... ..................................... ...................................... ..........73
Constructing individual components .......... .. ...... ........... ... .......... ....... ... ...... .......... .... ........ ......... ......... ... ....... ..... ...... ....... 92
Rotor (I.I to l .9) ......... .... ............................. ........................ .................................................... ... ..... ....................... .... 92
Shaft tunnel (21 to 2.3) ..... ...... ..................... .......... ....... ............ .......................... .. .... ................ ........... ....... .. ............. 92
Intake nozzle and lid (3.1 to 3.3) ............................................................................. ................. ................................. 92
Compression guide system ... ................ .... ............ ................ .. ............. ............................................. ................ .......... 92
Combustion chamber (5.1 to 5.9. 6.1, 6.2) ....... ..................... ... .. ................ ..................... .......................................... 92
Fuel supply system (7.1 to 7.4) .. ........................................... .............. .... ................... ...................................... ... .......93
Auxiliary gas system, oil supply system (8.1 to 8.4. 9.1 to 9.3) ........... ............................. ....................................... 93
Turbine guide system (IO.I to 10.4) .......................... ........... ... ... .............. ... .. ....... ... .............. .... ............ .. ............... ... 93
Housing (11) ...... .. ............... ...... ........ ..... ................. ......................................... .......................... ......................... ... ..... 93
Flange A, flange B (12.1. 12.2) ... ................. ............... ................... ............ ... ................ .............. ............. ................... 93
Exhaust gas nozzle ... ......... .................... ... ........ .................... ........... .... .......... .. ............ ....... ... ........... ........ .. ...... ..... ..... 93
Final as.-;embly ................... ................................................ ........................................... .... ............ ... ............................ 94
Chapter 6. Important Safety Instructions ........................................ .................................. ............ ................................... .... 95
Danger of fire ....................... .......... .. .. ................. ............ ............. ....... .............. .......... ... ...... ....................................... 95
Danger of sucking in foreign ohjects ..... ...... .............. ............... ... .......... ... ............... ... .......................... .... ......... .. ..... 95
Danger due to exhaust gases ........... ................ ...... ........................... .. ........... .................................... ........................ 95
Danger of rotating parts .. ............ ........ ...................................... .............. ....................................... ............................ 95
Danger of insufficient proficiency in flying models .......... ... ..................................... ....... ............ .. ......... .... .... .... ..... 95
Chapter 7. What Does The Future Have in Store? ................... ............................ ................... ............................................ %
Appendix ............... ...................................................... ... .... ...... ..... .. ........... .......... ..... ........... ............... .................... .. .. 98
Potential suppliers ............ ................ ............... ............... ................... .......... ................. .................. ............. ... ............ 98
Refe rences and sources of information ................ ............. ................ ... ....... ....... .................. .......... .. ......... ......... ..... .... .. .... 100
Books. Magazines ... ................. .............. ................ ..... ............... ...... ...... ..... ......... ............ ............ ..... ... ............... ...... 100
Organisations ...... ..... ...... .............. ........ ....... .......... ... .. ........... .............. ......... .. ......... ........... .. .................................... .......... . 10 I

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About The Author
iri Schreckling was born in 1939. His first practi-

K c;d experience of model aircraft came at the age

,f five, when he transformed a tangled-up kite
into an ;ieroplane. Over the years th:ll followed, not only
did he build a great numher of model :,ircr:1ft, he also
developed several of his own remote controllers.
He was aged eleven when he first saw Vampire jet
planes in the sky. That turned out to he a defining
moment in his life. Study of a small encydopeclia gave
him the belief that he could come up with a simple way
of constn1cting a turbine. However. it took almost four
decades before he finally started work in earnest at ful-
filling his youthful dream. Today, people like tu refer to
him as the "inventor", the ··pope of turbines•· or also as
the "father of turbines ... None of that is really true.
lnsteacl. he prefers to see himself as one in a long line of
fathers of mcxld jct turbines .
He received a basic technical education and went on
to study physics at university. He then worked for 32
years as a qualified engineer for a large Rhine-hased
chemical company. In his job he gained experience of
different technical areas. none of which ever involved
turbines. He was happy to rake early retirement in 1999.
Having completed his hook about turbo props, he
feared that he might have to retire as turbine developer
as well. However. as it turned out. this was not the case.
Ku1t Schreckling cannot deny his special love or good
food. Indeed, flying mcxlel aircraft is not his only vice.
He was also tempted into off-the-wall experiments with
skis in the snow, exploring the effects of gravitational
forces. l~p until now he h:1.~ managed to come through ii
all unscathed.

Home Built ,\1odel Turbines 7

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 By Farshad at 6:32 pm, Oct 27, 2010
Foreword
T
he inventor, Or. Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain
( l911-19H8), develof)t:'J the first jet turbine which
flew for the first time in August 19.W. I w:1s only
three months old at the time and still in nappies. As far
as I am concerned. the history of scale models of jet tur-
bines began at the end of the 1980s. In 1988 I hegan
putting some ideas into practicc that were to produce
the first simply constrnctt:d model jet turbines capable of
flight. I <lesnihed the methods and the first trials in 1992
in the first edition of the Moclcll-Technik-&rater No. 20
'Home-built jet turbines for model planes·. published by
the ·Verlag ftir Tcchnik um! Handwerk' German text.
This herakk:cJ a f-:x,om in the development of model
turhines. with strong support coming from Thomas
Kamps· hook "M<Xlel Jet Engines· puhlbhed hy Traplet
Publications. Of course. activity was not simply restricted
to those writing hooks. Other people, all of them ama-
teurs in the field. were equally busy developing model
turbines and contributing greatly to their popularity.
Rainer Binczyk. for example, m1velled widely and ignit-
ed the turbine craze. p;1rticularly in Austria . The first per-
.son to succumb was Hermann Mite from Graz and today
he is still infected with the hug. He was the first to
launch a twin-jet semi-sc:,le model incorporating home-
built turbines. He developed a top-secret fommlae for
high performance compressor and turbine wheels and is
now working on a vertical take-off model with
adjustable nozzles.
Over the last five years several smaller companies
worldwide have made effective use of the work pio-
neered hy these amateurs. Today the y produce quite
In 19881 began experimenting with a view lo
establishing a simple and effective method of
building a mode/jet turbi11e-as l/:,e result shows, 1
succeeded.
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reliable model jet turbines in a variety of sizes. The
range includes everything from ready-to-assemble
engines to kit versions and individual components. In
addition, there is now an adequate selection of essential
accessories such as fuel pumps. electronic devices,
starters and other hits and pieces. The same is true of
suitable model aircrati. whether these he training aircraft
or scale models. At the same time, for non-engineers,
and that includes the majority of model airnaft pilots,
there is a continual flood of new and more comprehen-
sive information sources. Whilst I was working on this
hook, it came as a surprise to learn from the publisher
Greetings lo the Germa11father ofjel turbines. He
dei,eu,ped the He S3B e11gi11e that 011 27th August
1939 helped pilot Erich Warsitz to become the first
person lo fly an aeroplane by jet propulsion. Both
the engine a11d the prototype He 178 aeropla11e
were constructed in the Heinke/factory.
OHAIN WHff!lf · TRCffe
1994
llt't t fl
Pcil1.o.,[ ·1 1tm o/wi11
11 11 ;)n
_Jtl 111111 ,. , "''ii r•t •tt ii< 11 lri/m411 u
O Ii \11' - \ \ "t t. i , I l rno1·1 l'I
/ ttr ,1,1,tml•im·11,jlll"lt'l>c 11t• i:/i1<Jllltli'l'lft.
( '()Ill 0-I- o<;. Jtmi llll'-J
9
T/.Je Kohler ft1111i(J 1, a team offatber ,md tll'o sons. Al t/Je Ohai11 Wbittle Tropby in the summer of 1998 they
captured tbe spectators i111aginillio11 u•il/.1 their tl,ree Hei11kel 'Sillamander'.

that he was ahour to puhlish the first magazine in to build his own high thrust and reliable jel propulsion
Gennan on the subject of model jct turbines ;ind their must come to terms with constructing to higher stan-
use: The .JETMAG. dards. l 1nfortunarely, the very simple approach. as
Today. of course, a model jet turbine is expected to tl<:'scribed in my first hook. is no longer enough.
he capable of a lot more than it w:1s tl'n years ago. As a The chapter that explains basic principles is written
rl'sult, specifications are higher and anyone who wants with the 111:1jority of home builders in mind, whose pro-
fessional career has not
17.Jis is tbe FD-2, probabfJ• t/Jefirsl mode/jet turbi11efuelled by kerosene tbat involved any aspects of
u•as capable ,iffli!!,bl. Its succes.efulfirst fligbt took place on 1 Otb September physics or engineering
1989. sciences. Consequently.
I do nor spend rime
using formulae to dis-
cuss in dct:1il the corre-
la I ion of physical
values. Indeed, this
would cxc<:'ed the scope
of this hook in any case.
It is all too easy for spe-
cialists to forget that you
need years to learn the
language of formulae
and that it is not possi-
hk ro adequately impart
this knowledge between
the covers of just one
hook. Anyone who
wishes to learn about
theoretica 1 principles in
more detail can fine.I ref-
erences to the appropri-
~1 te literature in the
appendix. I will disph1y
the results and calcula-
tions that are relevant
for the practical aspects
uf model jct turbines in
the form of diagrams
and their practical appli-
cation.

10 Homf' Bui/I Jlodel Turhines

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Physical-Technical
Principles of Model]et
Turbines
What are we talking about?
It is a curious poirn of fact that yo u will not find the
term ·turbine' in most physics hooks. In the new Fischer
encyclopedia under the entry ·1urhine' is written: ·power
machine in which the energy of a flowing medium
(water, steam, gas) is transformed into usdul energy;
precursors we re windmills and waterwheels'. Specialist
technical hooks on the suhject explain the variety of tur-
bines in snme derail under the main heading of ·flow
machines'. In Dubbel's pocket book of engineering you
find the definition: "the gas turbine is a machine that
uses heat to ddiver mechanical energy (shaft power) or
thrust (e.g. aircraft engines)". Accordingly, the term -g;1s
turbine' is the generic term for all types of turbo jet
engines. jet turbines as well as turbo -prop drives.
They are all deemed to be ·gas turbines'; from the
model engines such as JPX. ff). micro-turbines .
Turhomin and Pegasus as well as the K_l-66. J-66 and TK-
50 rurbo engines fearured in this hook, up ro :md includ-
ing any such machine type that either curre ntly exists or
is yet to be invented. They are all ·gas turbines· , anti
they all generate thmst! In fact. an alternative anti more
proper name for such devices b turbo air jct engines. I
prefer the term often used by experts: •jet turbines'.
Some people also call them jct engines. However, the jet
is actually just the hack part of such an engine.
As you can see, we already have more than enough
definitions at o ur disposal. There is no need to come up
with any new definitions . Unfortunately. technical
experts do not always speak a language that is logically
correct and clear. Of course, to aid the understanding of
readers who do not have special prior knowledge. it is
essential to always state exactly what is meant by the
word ·turbines'. Is char the complete unit , the turbine
wheel, a turbine stage or something else perha ps?
How does a model jet turbine work?
The diagram ( Fig. 1) shows the rypical construction in
a very simplified form. The same fundamental laws of
physics apply to model jet turbines as they do to the
large jet engines or in general to all air-breathing gas tur-
bines. The air is sucked in hy the compressor wheel and
compressed. The introduction of combustion heat in the
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Chapter 1
combustion chamber increases the work cornent of the
air i.e . the compressed anti heated :1ir can now perform
more work than w:1s necessary to compress it. As the air
flows past the turbine wheel it gives up the energy
required lo drivl.' the compressor wheel. The exe<: ss
energy acceler:11es the air to very high velocity in an
axial direction opposite to the direction or flight. An
exhaust gas nozzle improves the efficiency of the
process.
The most important pb3,sical
parameters
A jet turbine generates thrust hy accele,~lling air mass-
es. Whl'n m.isses of air are accelerated. they cie1tc force
effects. Forces are measured in newtons not in kilo-
grams' 171e force of 1 newton <signified hy the letter N l
acts ;11 the pn:cise point in time when the mass ot 1 kg
accelerates or decelerates by 1 nvs'. The change in
sp<.:<.:d per unit of time is defined as acceleration and
me:,sured in mi s' . Mass. i.e. the material weight of a
body, is measured in kilograms. Acceleration dul.' to
gravity causes a fixed mass to exert a force on the sur-
face it stands on. Scales use this so-called ·weight-force·
to compare difk·rent weights. Spring balances t:1ke the
deflection of a spring and translate it into a measure-
ment on a scale. Take such a spring balance lo the
moon to measure the same mass and the result would
he completely differe nt from th:1t on ea rth. even though
the mass itself would not have changed in any way.
You just have to pick up a hammer to be aware of
the very disparate forces it can generate. If you hold it
still in your hand. you just feel the weigl11-force . When
you take the hammer back. so as to bring it down, i.e.
when you accelerate it. dearly you must expend more
force. When the hammer strikes, it develops a force that
we are not at all able to replicate with our muscles
alone . _lust try to push in a nail into a piece of wood
with your hand and you c;111 begin to imagine the kind
of force generated by a hammer when it is decelerated.
In all instances the actual mass of rhe hammer rem;1ins
unaltered. Now let us apply our theorem that force
equals mass times acceleration to our jet turbine . For
example, an engine sucks in air at a speed of 0.25
kg;sccond and accek-rates it at the same time to a speed
11
 Auxiliary gas Glou,plug
~=
Fuel& oil
Restrictor - -- -
[
_______,.
Air Shaft
- - - - BaUbeari,rgs - ------
/,rtake 11ozzle
Compressor wheel Compre.<i.<iOr guide Combustion
l'a,res chamber
Fig. 1: Diagram of a model jet turbine.
of 400 m/ s. Therefore, the static thrust is JOO N. For
those with a long 111cmory. you c;in also say 10 Kp hut
definitely not 10 kg! Admittedly, it is helter to work in N
or in genernl in SJ units. Let us cause a thrust of 100 N to
act on a model with an initial mass of 12 kg to give a
maximum possible initial acceleration of llJU .;. 12 m, s' =
8 ..3.3 nvs'. This value is the true value. provided that the
forces associated with rolling friction and air resistance
Jt the start are ignored.
\Vhenever masses come together. it always results in
a change in the direction of velocity. As a consequence.
the forces that act are what we call centrifugal forces.
111c wheels of our turbine and compressor are rotating
so quickly that they rum the air masses at a very high
velocity. resulting in high centrifugal forces. _lust imag-
ine: a typical turbine wheel for a model jet turbine has a
cli:11netcr of 66 111111. The centre point of the turbine
vanes is at a diameter of S5 mm . Such a v,me weighs
only 1 gram. You may be already aware that such tur-
bine vanes can he driven at velocities of up to approxi-
mately 120.000 revolutions/ min . This implies that the
vanes hurtle at :J velocity of 3,45 m, s. the equivalent of
1,242 km hon a circular path with a cli;11neter of only 55
mm. So just imagine the force that acts on the connec-
tion between the turbine vane and the wheel disk - it is
4,430 N. That is approximately the s:1me as lifting ,14 ten-
litre buckets of water at the ;.ame time. This illustrates
very clearly that the rotational velocity of a turbine
wheel docs have its limits and that these must he
respected at all costs for reasons of safety.
In physics, work is determined as force times dis-
tance. measured in the <lirection of travel. Energy is the
ability to undertake work. To take a flying model up to
a certain height requires a specific amounc of work. In
this instance the force is the weight-force of the model
and the distance up into the air. Flying over a specific
distance in a straight line at a constant height, a model is
12
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/ Distributor ri,rg
r
Nozzle
,
'rurbi,re wheel
Turbi11e guide 11a,res
Sticks Housi,rg
subject to the constant force of air r<.:;.istance and the
path covered is the distance. This makes it possihle to
calculate the work required . In both cases we have only
taken into consideration the actu:11 work that is per-
formed on the model. This effective work is generated
from the hear energy of the fuel burnt. Unfortunately.
only part of the hear energy can he transformed into
effective work .
Power is the work divided by the time period in
which this work was completed. What is the power of a
jet turbine? There are many different ways of answering
this question :
We are interested in the rower that the engine gives
to the model. This constitutes thrust times tlight velocity.
As long as the model is ftxed to the ground, it will not
fly no matcer how high the thrust.
The power of the exhaust gas tlow, also called jet-
stream power, is velocity squared, times half the mas.~
flow rate.
It is likewise possible to calculate the necessary ther-
mal power to be provided hy the fuel, although this is
somewhat more complicated.
Finally. a little :1d<litional effort is required to calculate
the power with which the turhinc wheel drives the com-
pressor.
A physicist would not understand the term ·thrust-
power": it would sound to him like a contrncliction in
terms.
Suitable fuels
Most model jet turbines are pretty indiscriminating in
terms of the quality of the fuel. You can even go as far
as saying: you c:m use anything that is fluid. combustible
and not more volatile than diesel fuel. Compared to all
the other available fuels. diesel or similar matcri;1ls, such
as kerosene or paraffin. have more or less the highest
Home Built Mudel Turbines
calorific value and are therefore the best to use. Type Jet
A 1 kerosene is specially formulated as an aircraft fuel
and is therefore preferred. If you cannot get hold of that.
then paraffin comes closest to kerosene hut is quite
expensive. At this present time the most cosr-dlective
fuel is biodiesel. Some engines have start problems with
diesel or biodiesel and splutter under a partial load. You
can solve these problems by adding 15 to 20% of regular
petrol or 20 to 30% of paraffin. It is similarly possible to
use regular petrol on its own, although ii has a slightly
lower calorific-value-to-volume ratio. What is more, in
unfortunate circumstances it can also cause explosive
mixtures of air and petrol outside the jet turbine. For
these reasons it is nor recommended to use regular
petrol on its own.
There are no additives of any kind that can he used
to increase the thrust performance of the fuel. The only
way to get more thrust is to burn more fuel. l11e maxi-
mum thrust that can he achieved hy a particular jet tur-
hine is determined hy the physical and technical
characteristics of its construction and the quality of the
materials used.
A model jet turbine will also work with liquid
propane gas. However, this requires the fitting of a com-
plicated, pressure resistant tank system, not forgetting
the need to carry large propane gas bottles around with
you. whilst taking the corresponding safety precautions.
For these reasons I feel that ii is not ,1dvisable to use
propane gas as a fuel.
Description of components
Let us rake another look at the previous diagrammatic
drawing (Fig. ll. It represents a basic design common to
all model jet turbines that are currently available and
applies in equal measure to both professionally and
home-huilr engines. For
this reason, ii is our Fig. 2 Air flow at the compressor wheel
intention to take this
diagram as a model
design for the following
commentary. The most
appropriate way to
describe our model jet
turhines is as a cross
between the first Ohain
engines, and that of Sir
Frank Whittle (1907-
1996). Whittle was an
,1rranged in rotation,,! symmetry and replaced the radial
turbine wheel with an ,1xial turbine wheel. Our model
jet turbines have a radial compressor stage. a ring com-
hustion chamher and an axial rurhine stage. The comhi-
nation of compressor. shaft and turbine wheel is called a
rotor.
The compressor stage
The compressor stage consist-; of a compressor wheel
and the compressor guide system through which the air
subsequently flows. l11e wheels found in motor vehicle
turbo chargers make excellent compressor wheels. They
act only in a radial direction and are available in differ-
ent dimensions. Other than a fine balancing, no other
machining is required. This obviates the need, therefore,
to construct special components for model jet rurhines.
111e drawing (Fig. 2) shows the typical vane shape of
the compressor wheel. l11e vanes are bent slightly back-
wards towards the outflow. This is clone to achieve a
better internal efficiency.
The intake diameter of the vanes is considerably
smaller than the external diameter of the wheel. You can
also think of the wheel as a combination of a small axial
compressor wheel and a large radial compressor wheel.
l11e wheel sucks in the air in an axial direction and
accelerates it between the vanes in a radial direction.
l11is results in the air already being partially compressed
hetween the vanes of the compressor wheel and. as it
flows out, it has been accelerated to an extremely high
velocity.
Let us look again at the drawing and the ratios on the
outflow edge of a paddle. w is the velocity of the air at
the tip of the vanes. The tip of the vanes turns with the
circumferential velocity u, c is the resulting velocity.
Because the vanes are bent backwards, this is only
around 70% of the circumferential velocity. The permit-
0~ Et /
u
Cu
Flow velocities at tbe intake
to the compressor guide
system

-~-,'@ •
officer in the British Air
Force, who likewise
developed a jet engine -r-b
9----
in the 1930s and there-
fore became one of the 1

founding fathers of this

type of propulsion. Von
Ohain used a radial
compressor :-,tage. a ring
comhustion chamher
and a turbine stage with
a radial turbine wheel.
Whittle, on the other
hand, instead uf the ring
combustion chamber, Velocities at the outflow of a radial compressor
used several single com- wheel with vanes curoed backwards.
bu st ion chambers

Home Built Model Turhines 13

www.ASEC.ir

How compressor wheels have clear/31 developed:
top left a relic from the plywood age uf model jet
t11rbines; top right a wheel made from carbon
fibres 1vith an aluminium hub; below the KKK
wheels for the TK-50 and KJ-66.
Abm•e you ca,r see the compressor guide system
prototypes for the KJ-66 and the TK-50. Below is
how they were finished accordi11g to the
construction plans.
led circumferenlial vcloci1y is approxunately ,uo 111,s.
Thal means. lhe air leaves the wheel wilh a velocity of
approximately c = 280 m/s.
You can conceive of 1he direction of this flow as a
comhinalion of flows from lwo directions. firslly it is Cu,
1he circumferemial direc1ion of 1he rorntion and secomlly
Cm, a precise radial direClion away from the axis of rota-
tion. The flow in llw circumferenlial dirce1ion is also
c1lled swirl flow. For our wheels the swirl flow is slighl-
ly less 1han 1he circumferential velocity. In the case of
the compr<.:.'>S<>r wheel the air flows wi1hou1 swirling into
the channels crea1ed by 1he compressor vanes and
14
www.ASEC.ir
A cast compressor guide system for the KJ-66 or
similar turbines, built by Hermann Michelic.
leaves them. as imlkated above, with a high degree of
swirl.
Once in the compressnr guide system. the high veloc-
ity of 280 m/s is transformed as effectively as possihle
into pressure. The photos show that several differenl
designs of compressor guide system are possihle. A
common feature they all share is first that the guide
vanes are localed in the rotational plane of the wheel.
The flow on 1he outside is redireclecl in the direction of
the combustion chamber. To the best of my knowledge
there has been no suhstan1iated analysis as to which
design is 1he most efficienl. Un the basis that all the
de:,igns shown here work effectively, it can be conclud-
ed thal the differences in terms of efficiency are negligi-
bk· for our purposes. As a result, you are free to choose
a design that is hest suited to the production facilities
you have at your disposal. It follows, therefore, that the
compressor guide sys1em for 1he KJ-66 and olher similar
turhines cm be nwchined on a CNC lathe in one single
piece. You can identify wedge-shaped primary vanes
and curved St'.condary vanes.
The Kamps design provides ;1 good solution for home
builders. h has curved steel vanes which are fixed into a
guide vane holder using :1dhesive. 111e primary and sec-
ondary vanes are cons1ructed in one piece.
I 'nfortunatcly, this melhod has ils limitalions. When air
is compressed, there is an inevitable rise in lemperature.
This rapidly reduces 1he c:1pacity of the adhesive to
withstand higher loads. As an ahernalive to fixing the
guide vanes wilh adhesive, for example, you can use
screws to secure them to 1he guide vane holder.
Tests that I undertook wi1h the guide system for 1he
design of my new TK-"i0 engine showed that the axial
length of the secondary vanes is nol al all critical. You
will find a detailed description or this system in the con-
struction manual.
Each closed channel that continuously expands has
the effect of decelerating the flow. This leads to the
intended increase in pressure. Such a system is called a
diffuser. A diffuser lakes the energy of motion, or, to be
more precise. the kinetic energy out of the air and trans-
forms it inlo pressure energy. Accordingly, the cross-sec-
tional shape of the channel is of lesser significance. In
praclice the guide systems used can he understood as a
Home Built Model Turbines
ring of diffusers that capture the flow of the compressor •~•dial turbine wheel for the purpo:-es of model jct tur-
wheel. It is imperative that the diffusers are arranged in bines docs have its complications. in particul:Jr in terms
such a way that their axes are aligned as closely as pos- of the hearings. As a consL"quence. in the following sec-
sible with the tlow of air from the compres:mr wheel. tion we will only consider turbine stage., thal havt' ;m
Otherwise, the result will he a loss of thrust, i.e . a reduc- axial turhint' wheel and acceler:ne rhe gas as it flows
tion in efficiency. This implies less pressure, with some through the system.
of the kinetic energy in the air being transformed instead As indicated in rhc drawing, to ensure that the whole
into additional heat energy. mass uf gas flows axially through the turbine vanes.
In a diffuser. once the flow of air detaches itself from these must he largely dosed on the outside. When the
the wall ii begins to swirl. This tendency is greater, the turbine wheel is fined into the housing. it is necessary,
larger the expansion angle of the diffuser. If you con- rherefore. to make the gap het..,veen the tips of the vanes
struct the diffuser to be particularly long and thin, then and the housing as small as possible. To increase the
friction loss on the necessarily large wall surfaces addi- effect of the wheel. the gas is caused to swirl strongly
tionally reduces efficiency. Consequently there's no prior to entering the v:mes of rhe turbine wheel. This
sense at all in constructing particular!)' long extended swirl is produced hy the fixed v;mes of the turbine guide
diffusers. system. The key f:ictor is their shape. The correct vane
The efficiency of our compressor stage or, more angle on the turbine wheel and guide system makes it
to the point. the total efficiency of the compressor possible to design a system that crnnpletely disp<:ls rhe
wheel and guide system, is between 65 and 75%. This swirl cre:1ted in the guide syst<.:m so as to straighten the
value is also dependent on the working condition of the Jlow at rhe outlet of rhe rurhine wheel. This adjustment
engine. to the flow of gas that emanares from the compressor
Thl' compressor wheel will only work properly if the wheel and is heated by the combustion chamber
air really does flow through the vanes. TI1is is ensur<:d involves determining th<.: correct diameter of the turbine
by the intake nozzle and its specially fitred lid. The wheel. the length ol the vanes as well as the swirl from
sh:1pe of the intake nozzle is not particularly imporrant
:md is more a matter of personal taste. However, the
internal contour of the lid must he adjusted to the exter-
nal contour of the vane edges. Based on our wheel
sizes, the gap at the outk:t of the vanes should he
between 0.1 and 0.2 111111, and even 0.2 10 .).0 111111 ar rhe
intake. \Vhilst smaller gaps do not result in noticeable
improvements in efficiency, they do increase the risk of
the vanes rubbing on rhe lid.
One question remains to be answered: why not use
axial compressor wheels as in the large mcxlern turbo-jet
engines? There is a simple answer: it would be far too
complicated to build such an engine to the scale of a
model. The pressure r:ltio generated hy axial compres-
sors with the same circumferential velocity is much less
than that of the compressor wheels. mentioned above.
As a result. instead of :1 radial compressor stage you
would have to combine at le:1st four axi:il compressor
stages compressors with four guide systems. Moreover. it
can be assumed that this would he consider..1hly less effi-
cient due to the lower Reynolds numbers. Ultimately.
there art' no physic:11 reasons why it would not he po:-.si- Fig. 3: Flow t/:Jroug/:, a11 axial turbi11e U'/:Jeel
hle to construct a model jet turbine with an axial com-
pressor. Fig. 4: Flow t/:Jrough LI raLliLll t11rbi11e ll'heel.

T/:Je turbi11e stage

The turbine stage must generate the power to drive
the compressor wheel. The drawing (Fig. j) demon-
strates the flow through an ;1xi::tl turbine wheel. It is
called ·axial' because the air flows in the direction of the
axis.
The next drawing ( Fig. 4) shows how the air tlows
through a radial turbine wheel. In this case thl' change
in swirl and the resulting circumferential force from the
through-flow is generated from outside to inside, thal is
to say in a radial direcrion. TI1is rype of wheel is rypical-
ly used for exhaust gas turbo chargers. In fact. there are
a few model jel turbines thm do use a complete rotor
with a radial turbine wheel takl:n from exhaust gas tur-
bochargers. From an efficiency aspect a radi;il turhine
wheel is no worse than an axi:d turbine wheel.
However, converting an exhaust gas turbocharger with a

Hnme Huilt Model Turbines 15

www.ASEC.ir
the turbine guide system. for the KJ-66. for example. the
following estimated rcsuhs were obtained by means of
calculation:
Turbine wheel diameter ()() mm
Vane length 11 mm
Vane angle: guide system 35°
Mean vane angle: turbine wheel ~oo
The vane angle is measured in relation to the rota-
tional plane at the outlet of the vanes. In the case of the
turbine wheel vanes, the angle at the toot of the vane is
slightly steeper than that at its tip. As a resulr. you calcu-
late using the mean vane angle or outlet diameter. The
prohlem with these calculations is that it is not possible
to know precisely rhe actual effective values. However.
practice has shown that if the engine deviates only mini-
mally fro m the values above, it does not immediately
hecome inoperative. There arc no fixed limits.
Experience shows that deviations uf ± 1 mm in the
diameter or ± 2° in the angle ;1re nol sufficiently signifi-
cant.
Ma{fu1,ctio11s such as this led to the developme11t of
1urbi11e wheels capable of taki11g hixher loads.
Depending on the condition of the turbine, the differ-
ential heat expansion characteristics of the housing and
the turbine wheel will necessitate a g:1p of between 0.15
and 0.20 mm. This will result in a small loss of the effec-
tive flow that generates power .it the turbine wheel. In
addition. there arc also friction losses in the flow on the
surfaces of the guide vanes and the turbine vanes. In
spite of this, the efficiency of a turbine stage is some-
what better than that of a compressor stage. TI1e turbine
stage design shown above results in perfect nozzle flow,
both in the guide system as well as between the turbine
vanes . No losses occur clue to the flow becoming
detached.
The building instructions show turbine guide systems
that arc built by fitting together single rings and guide
vanes and welding them in place . This design does
enable subsequent partial correction of the outlet angle
of the turbine guide vanes.
It is relatively easy to cakubte the number anJ pro-
file as well as the width of the vanes. However. these
calcuh11ions provide only very approximate values. This
is true both for the turbine wheels and the guide system.
Consequently, it should be noted that the designs fea-
tured here are based on estimations, even though these
have been proven to work in practice.
16
www.ASEC.ir
A step 011 the way to high pe,:forma11ce lurbi11e
wheels. For trial purposes profil.ed vanes are fitted
inlo the disk and welded ill place. Such a
co11structi-011 is 11-0t suilabl.e for a i>ery high
rotati-011al velocity. However, it provides a way of
gaining valuabl.e knowl.edge for the design of a ce1sl
wheel
From Marti11 Lambert's workshop comes a model
of a turbine wheel made from special CNC-milled
plastic. The su,:face is smoothed in a second
process. This tech11ique a1Joids the lime it takes tu
design a11d construct moulds 111 the development of
11ew turbine wheels. Tbe plastic model is used to
cast a turbi11e wheel from very high temperature
materials usi11g the melted wa.-ic metbod.
Today, factory built turbine wheels are available. The
wheels come in different dimensions and with a certifi-
c1te of quality. They can he purchased from ;1 number
of Jifferent suppliers, either as a c1st blank or reacly-to-
fit component. The wheels are vacuum-cast from very
high tcmperature nickel-based alloys using the melted
w,o< method. Turbine wheels that are well-designed anJ
cleanly cast will achieve a permitted circumferential
velocity of 400 m/s, which is as high as that of the com-
pressor wheels. Admittedly. there are re,,trictions: the
temperature of the turbine disk should not exceed 400°C
and that of the vanes not exceed 600°C. If you huy a
hi.ink. you need first to bore it and then to calibrate and
balance the external di:1meter. A--; a rule it is not neces-
sary to rework the vanes. In any case you should get the
supplier to confirm the permitted maximum rotational
Home Built ,'v/ode/ Turhines
Turbines from tbe col/ectio11s of Lt1111bert a11d Schreckli11g.
011 the left a turbi11efor the TK-50 by Mt1rti11
Lambert, 011 the 1-ight a radial turbi11efro111 a small
turbochttrger.
velocity and operating tempL'r:tture for the particular tur-
bine wheel.
Recently , ii has also been rossible to find turbine
guide systems that have been produced as castings for
the mosl rorular sizes with a turbine wheel diameter of
66111111.
Beari11gs, cou11teracli11g reso11ance vibration and
lub1-icati11g the rotor
The shati transmits the moment of force and hence
the power from the turbine wheel to the compressor
wheel. Looking :11 the design drawing. the diameter of
the shaft appears surrrisingly large. However. its very
high rigidity is necessary . Otherwise. even if the rotor
were pe rfectly balanced, it would still he susceptible to
resonance vibration at high rotational velocities. As a
consequence. the maximum permitted operating rota-
Home Built .Hodel Turbines
www.ASEC.ir
tional velocity is ~t at a level bdow the onset of reso-
nance vihr:1tion. In our building instructions the rotor
specification represents a suhcritical vl.'lncity. In other
words. the maximum permitted rotational velocity is
lower th:m the rotational velocity at which resonance
vibration occurs.
'\Jore: resonance vibration leads spontaneously to the
destTuction of the engine. I 1nfortunatdy, ii is only possi-
ble to approxi111:1te the critical rotation;d velocity. As a
resuh it should not he specified on any accounl for rea-
sons of sAety. Hohl and Duhhel provide a more detailed
explanation (see references in the appendix). Any of the
following changes to a given design will result in a
reduction in the critical rotational velocity and. likewise.
the permitted m:1ximum rotational velocity:
• Reducing the diameter of the sh:1ft.
• ,\bking the shaft from a material \Vith a low elasticity
modulus.
• Lengthening the shati.
• Increasing the wheel mass.
• Increasing the distance between the centre of gravity
of the wheel mass from the centre of the hearings.
Of course. high roution;d velocities necessitate preci-
sion hall hearings. At the st:111 such ball hearings were so
expensive that few could afford them. We had to make
do with standard versions. All the same, with an engine
such ;1s the KJ-6'1 it w:1s still possible to run at rotational
velocities of as high as 90,000 revolutions / min.
Nevertheless. fitting the same jet turbine with modern
turbine wheels made from very high temperature ;1lloys,
its capability is increased to rotational velocities of
120.000 revolutions; min. Indeed. the smaller TK-50 and
similar engines cm even re:1d1 1'>0.000 revolutions min.
Clearly, standard hall bearings are no longer suitable for
such applications.
17
 To ensure that the balls do run truly in the bearing
carrier, it is imperative that they are axially pre-loaded.
Failure to do this leads to rapid destruction of the bear-
ing carriers, whether they are well lubricated or not.
When you look for practical ways of calculating the pre-
load force for our application, you will find that none
exist. Specialist catalogues and books on the subject fail
to provide any answer. The simple fact is that we have
insufficient experimental data to develop adequately
robust calculation models.
However, in Germany we are blessed, for example,
with GRW (Gebri.ider Reinfurt, Wi.irzburg). This compa-
ny has addressed this problem and now manufactures
bearings in a range of sizes that are appropriate for our
purposes. Versions without a cage, so-called full com-
plement ball bearings, are particularly interesting ta cage
that does not exist, cannor go wrong!).
In this regard we reproduce the following exchange
of letters between myself and Mr. Sender, the engineer-
ing consultant at GRW:
Dear .\1r. Sender
As you are aware, I am writing a nell' hook on the
subject of model jet turhines. Naturally. this includes a
chapter on the subject of bearinf!,s. I would be very grate-
ful ifyou could help me by answerin[? the following ques-
tions to tbe best of your knowledge and providinP,
additional information where applicable.
What types of hearing does your company produce for
the above application?
Do you have catalogue sheets available that include
all the most important data such as dimensions, with
details of tolerances for the bearings and their fit, permit-
ted rotational velocities, minimum/maximum pre-load-
ing, lubrication and lubricant, method of assemh(y?
Prices and terms and conditions of delivery.
In the cast! uf cageless hearings it is not possihle to pre-
vent the balls touching during operation. I have been
told that this causes micro-damage to the hearings that
leads to rapid wear of the hearin[< carrier. What is your
position on this point?
The maximum shaft pou•er of our engines. tbat is the
power transmitted }rum the turhine wheel to the com-
pressor wheel, is in the order of magnitude of several
tens of kilowatls. For example, the smallest engine has a
shaft power ofapprox. 10 KW at 150,000 revolutions/min.
This results in a torque of around 0.64 Nm. To transmit
tbis torque via the internal race of the bearing, it must be
force-fit to the shaft (see drawing 1 {jig 5}). I estimate
tbat a force of around 1,000 N is required between the
face side of tbe internal race and the corresponding con-
tact areas uf the shaft.
Is there a risk that these forces will cause the internal
rings to unduly deform? Do you need to use the rather
more complicated construction as shown in drawing 2
{Fig 5}?
Without dismantling tbe assembly, what is the easiest
way of identifying whether or not a bearing is already
damaged?
Do you have any other information that you believe
could be important for users?
Thank you very much in advance for your answers.
Yours sincere(y,
Kurt Schreck/ing
18
www.ASEC.ir
Shaft tunnel
Nut
-·-·- -·-•-\- -·-·-· ·-·-·-·
Shaft Spacer bush
Drawing I: the necessary pressjit connection
between turbine wheel and shaft is via both the
spacer bush and the internal race of the bearing.
At a load of around 1,000 N does this cause
undue deformation?
Shaft tunnel
---·--\-·-·-·-· ·-·---·
Shaft Spacer bush
Drawing 2: press.fit connection between turbine
wheel and shaft is via the spacer bushes. The
on{y wad on the internal race comes from the
i,ulependent{y adjustable axial pre-wading.
Fig. 5 Drawings relating to the enquiry sent to
GRW.
And this was the reply I received:
Dear Mr. Schreckling
We are pleased to answer your questions as fol/oil's:
Re: Q 1. and part of Q 2.- see the attached fl received
data sheets detailing a total of six different bearing
types/.
With regard lo the issue of pre-loading, we can pro-
vide the following infonnalion.- as far as miniature bear-
ings are concerned, the rule of thumh is that the hare
diameter in mm equates to the pre-loading in N. This
force is sufficient to reduce the extent to uihich the ball~
in the bearing slip and spin. so as lo ensure that they last
for an acceptable length of lime. For example, a pre-
loading of 8 N is sufficient for the 608 bearing
Admitted(y, a much higher pre-/oadinf!, is necessary to
give the hearing a higher level of resilience. The standard
pre-load values are hetween approx. 20 lo 50 N. We
believe that this Jorce is su{ficient. Instead of employing
higher forces, ii lt'Ould be heller to devote greater effort to
balancing the turbines. Whilst higher pre-loading can be
used to conceal the tendency of the turhine lo vibrate,
the vibrations are ullimate(y still there and they still add
load to the bearing What is nwre, the high pre-loading
artificially creates a still greater load.
Home Built Model Turbines
 Fur all hearings designed e.,pecia/11•.for 111udel jet tur-
bines, the hore and tbe external diameter are co11str11ct-
ed to a tu/erance o_f 0/-q µ,m.
Tbe sba/i should be constructed to a tolerance of
approximatel1• -5/-9 JJ.111 and +II+ 5 for the> housing.
Precision-built cu111pu11ents should 1101 he press:fitted.
That is tbe principle. Tbe illfention is to a1 1oid nm1-cen-
tricities and tensions in the bea1i11gs. Ve,y t(qht, hut J,-ee-
fitt i ng components necessitate 1•er1-' high le1•e/s of
precision. Furthermore. a tightfittin!!, ojfen, the best pro-
tectiun against cunvsiun. Should this rust occw: it can
be counteracted brfitting or coating the bearings appru-
primelr or bv 111m111ti11P, them 011 O-rings.
Tbe bearings rotate at such high 1•elucities in the t11r-
hi11es, that ii is scarce!)' possihle or practical to estahlish
ill tbeory their 111a:1:i11111111 rotatiuua/ 11elucities.
Some ralues acbie1•ed in practice.-
T1pe 111i11-J (approx.)
D60R/602 60.! 15'>.()()0
1)608/60.! 839 155,000
D60R!60.! 976 .200.()00
D/1.!!6()3 0R9 90.000
With feu• exceptions, the most co111111011l1' used luhri-
cants are standard 1111-hine oils. £1,en though the!' cume
ji-0,11 different 111c111u/i1cturers, mos1 oils are basical~v
similar in type and 11iscosity. Since ll'e do not ba1 1e a
preference for une 111a1u~facturer in particular, ll'e
wuuld pre.fer not tu reco111111e11d a specific hrand.
A, far as ll'e are a!l'are, neither of the fll'0 standard
methods of luhrication (separate luhrica1ion or as an
addition tu_(lie/) appears tu hm•e anr negatil 1e e.Oect un
the bearing According.Iv, ll'e are prepared to ad1•ise that
butb method, can he used.
Q(a/1 the bearings u•e produce, uur AC (f11ll-cumple-
111ent) hearings are the 111os1 popular. When _fill in!!, these
bearings, you should onlv load them a-..:ial~v Otherwise,
you 111av end up with the hearings alrea~r_(alling apart
e1'e11 as yuu _fit them. The ultimate rule is that furce-flull's
u 1i/l soon lead to indentations in tbe hearing grom·es
and should be m•uided.
Re. Q 3: See attached.
Re: Q --1.- With rep,ard tu full co111pleme111 bearinp,s it is
defi11itelr the case that the halls ll'ill tuuch each other
repeated/1•. Furthermore, u•ear is caused to the ceramics
at the poi111s u•here the halls 111h agai11s1 each mher, i.e.
these hearings are in principle also sul?ject to a process
of u•ear.
Nel'ertheless, these 11ersions ha1 1e more ad1•a11tages
than disadrantages.
The ceramic halls ll'eigh 1•ery little compared to steel
bearings. Consequent~v the11 exert comparatil'e/1• little
centrffugal force or load on the outer races.
Furthermore, they are che111icall1' inert in re/atinu In the
steel races. Com 1e11tional ball bearings are almost
inel'itah~l' suhject to 111icm-11'elding caused hy direct
material contact. This effect dues not occur bet11•ee11
ceramic balls and steel races, ll'hich eliminates one of
the main causes of ll'ear.
The absence u.f a cage is also heneficial. A ca[<e need,
to be madefi-0111 materials that are resistant to butb high-
er rotational relocities and temperatures. Ho11•e1•er. tbis
is practical(v impossihle. Constructing the caf!,e fi-0111
either hrass nr hronze ll'ill result in imbalances, depend-
Home Huilt ,Hodel Turbines
www.ASEC.ir
i11g u11 the pmticu/ar design. Tbere needs to he a gap
het11'ee11 the cages and tbe hearing races as u 1ell as the
halls. Hou•e1•er, this leads tu ll'eight displacement and
therefure tu the abu1•e-111entioned operational imbal-
ance.
In s11111111a1y therefore, tbeury folluu•s practice. Hased
on hath our current understanding and 111an11(act11rinP,
possihilities, ftdl complement hall hearings pro1 1ide the
optimum solution in terms of hath peiformance and
lifespan.
Re-Q 5.- Wben an tn-ia/ luad uf 1.000 N is exerted un
the inner race, the swjace pressure at its weakest point is
.25 N/111111.l and there.fore considerah~v he/ow the permit-
ted limits i.e. it is not expected that there ll'OU!d he a 11eg-
ati1•e effect on the hearing
Re-Q 6: A guud hearing runs smuothfv and uniform~v.
A~ a consequence, noises or 11ibrations coming from the
hearing are certainl11 not insignificant. Equal~v. ohsen 1a-
tion of the imbalance u•ill certain~v highlight an i~:me.
Sensiti1 1e balance measurements 11•ill instantl1 1 rei 1eal
ll'hether the hall hearing is subject tu sume degree uf
11 1ear.
Re-Q 7: This letter and the pages attached pro1•ide
information on hall hearings. Ho11 1ever, u•e are keen to
point out hall' we relv on the ideas and e.-...perience o_f
users to help us continue the de1·elopment and uptimisa-
tion uf hall hearings. For example, we are current~]' in
the initial stages of trials with neu• materials and a/ter-
11atire sets of ball bearings. (fs11cce.,:~f11/. these u•ill lead to
a 1vhu/e nell' generation uf ball bearings.
We hope that the information u•e have prul'ided has
heen helpft,I and 11 1ish you et'el)' success in completing
and puhlishing your hook. Do not hesitate to contact w,
ifyuu bm•e any other questions.
}'ours sincere/11,
Gebr. Rei11fi1rt Gmhl I & Co. KG
pp. Otll'in Sender
Now let us turn to the question of lubrication and
look at how the lubricant gets to the bearings by return-
ing to the di:1gra111 of our engine (Fig. 1 ). In the jet tur-
bine the pressure ratios are such that the pressure on the
back face of the compressor wheel is greater than the
pressure between the turbine guide vanes and the tur-
bine wheel. As a result, a part of the air flows through
the front bearing, the shaft tunnel and the hack hearing
as far as the turbine wheel. The idea, therefore, is to
r::ike the lubricant line to just in front of the front bear-
ing. automatically feeding lubricant into the air flow. Of
course. this is providing that the pressure of the lubri-
cant feed is higher than the pressure al the point at
which it is drawn.
The diagrammatic drawing (Fig. 6) shows how. in
order to provide lubrication. fuel containing approx. 5%
oil is branched off via a restrictor. Turbine oil is suitable
for this purpose. The pressure of the fuel pump is
,ilways higher than that of the compressor in the engine,
otherwise the fuel would not tlow. 1l1is method ensures
that the hearings are kept lubricated. Setting the required
level of lubrication requires a one-off adjustment of the
restrictor. For an engine such as KJ-66 the tlow of lubri-
cant at a full throttle should not be greater than 10
ml min. Flooding the hearings produces an effect similar
to that of a hydr.1ulic brake. The only disadvantage of
this method is th;1t a relatively high percentage of oil is
19
 Rotalio1utl
Blower
Touch switc/J
Pump
Fig. 6: Supply line ,liagram.
unused and is burnt in the co111bw,1ion chamber with the
main part of the fuel.
To overcome this disadvant;1ge. there is rhe option of
feeding pure. type 2 turbine oil into rhe lubricant line
from a separ.1te tank. In this case. the pressure differen-
tial betiveen the housing and the <:nd of the lubricant
line is used to provide the delivery pressure.
Furthermore. the <:ngine must he fitted with an addition-
al connection un rhe housing to discharge the pressure
for the oil t;mk. The restrictor is adjusted so th;lt approx-
imately "i ml min of oil is consum<:d al full throttle.
This method of delivery cm lead to a lubrication defi-
ciency, should the engine run at idle for some time. The
situarion is made worse by a low idle setting.
Alternatively. ~me turbine pilots choose to use syn-
thetic oil for two-srroke motor:-. insread or turbine oil.
Currenrly there is no dear evidence as to whether or nm
this is harmful for the hearings.
20
www.ASEC.ir
ri::::O Gloff' Ph<R batt,ry
·-·-------·-·-·- ·-·- -1---
Auxiliary 8aS
bottle
Combuslio11 chamber a11d ig11itio11
The combustion ch;11nher is nothing other than an
oven, whose purpose is to heat the compressed air to
the rernperature allowed by the staged turbine. That
sounds very simple. However. during the construction
of the first model jel lllrhines, it was the development
of a functional co111bustion chamber that took the
longest time. To understand why this should he so, you
jusr have to look at the important role it is required to
pby.
The temperature at rhe intake to the turbine stage, the
so-called fresh-mixture te111perature, should remain as
constant as possible ;md not exceed 700°C during accel-
eration or deceleration.
• A:-. much of the fuel as possible should be combusted.
• The dimensions of the combustion chamber should
not irn.:rea:-.<: the size of the engine unnecessarily.
Home Huilt Model Turbines
• It :-,houlcl run using fuels that are readily available such sticks from the back of the combustion chamber as
as diesel or similar. straight tubes. as .shown in our engine diagram (Fig. 1 ).
• Combustion must he guaranteed at all load conditions. This provided a simple solution to the main problem:
i.e. the flame should not he extinguished. how to reliably develop the fuel-air mixture :me.I at the
• Ignition should not require any special auxiliary same time ensure near 100% fuel combustion. Based on
means. experience at that rime. six sticks seemed lo he the opti-
mum number.
Let us sta11 at the front. According to the design. we Ignition is provided by a glow plug. The coil of the
can calculate the mass flow through the engine. plug protrudes into the combustion chamber. To facili-
Likewise we can arrive at an approximate value for the tate the ignition process, propane or. altern.Jtively.
so-called fresh-mixture temper:11ure, which is the tem- butane gas is introduced into the combustion chamber
perature before the entrance to the turbine stage. For an as an auxiliary gas through two or three sticks. The sub~
aver:1ge engine such as the KJ-66. when you calculate sequent section entitled ·111e st:lrt procedure· describes
the heating power, you come to a figure of approxi- thi~ in more detail.
mately 140.000 watts! That is :ibout seven times the Likewise, you can use high-current glow plugs for the
capacity of an oil-ba.sed home central heating boiler. ignition. However. this is much more complicated. What
Since the combustion chamber of the jet turbine has a is more, the high current cm interfere with the remote
volume of only approx. 500 ml. the flame has to he control function.
extremely intensive and therefore very hot.
Subsequently, the exhaust gases from this flame must he The thrust 11ozzle
cooled down to the temperature of the fresh-mixture A channel that narrow:,, creates a nozzle effect. This is
using excess air. The temperature in the tlame zones providing that the tlow velocity does not exceed the
must be around 1"00°C. Clearly, it is necessary to cool speed of sound. The speed of sound is dependent on
the combustion chamber. This is ad1ieved by using th:1t temperature. i\t an exhaust gas temperature of 600°C it
part of the air flow that streams along th<.> outside of the is 'WO m/s. Our nozzles have an outflow velocity of
combustion chamber to the secondary air bore holes. between _j-'iO and :iOO m's. which is somf'what less than
When you calculate the aver:1ge tlow velocity in the the speed of sound.
flame zone, you would normally take our the flame. This A nozzle h;1s the effect of accelerating a medium. For
is effectively prevented hy the position and size of the a given mass flow this produces a corre:,,ponding
secondary air bore holes. Part of the second:11-y air tlow increase in thrust. Th<:> energy required to do this must
enters in a radial direction. This is the p..lrt that is not come from the engine. Fitting a nozzle behind the tur-
involved in the combustion process. It is automatically bine wheel automatically increases th e temperature of
swirled towards the front :ind in so doing also forces hot
combustion ga:-,ses hack intu the flame zone. TI1e com- Nice curi•es do 11ot ah1•11ys pro,1e to be the best
bustion chambers of large turbo engine~ likewise tech11iet1l so/11tio11.
employ this same effect. Whilst it i~ true that each tur-
bine necessitates its own p:1rticular hole geometry and
configur..llion, something that is only possible through
prolongecl trial and error, it should not he forgotten that.
having established the correct hole geometry, you will
never need to reconfigure the combustion chamber
again. Of course. when you reproduce an engine to a
plan. this problem has already been solved for you.
When I built my first functional combustion chamber
for my FD-turbines, I incorpor;ned a convoluted vaporis-
er tube to prepare the fuel-air mixture. This system was
not particularly robust and did not last ve1y long due to
progressive carbonisation of the fuel.
Thomas Kamps learnt from these shortcomings. He
became the first person to use so-called ·sticks'. These
took the form of small curved tubes and worked much
more effectively. Less pump pressure was required than
was the case with the vaporiser tube. For my first
attempt I fitted only three such tubes into the good old
FD-3/64. The result was pretty convincing. Whilst it was
apparent that three were not enough, the engine ran
without hot spots. even though it did produce a visible
white exhaust gas plume. When I used six ·sticks', the
FD-3 combustion chamber worked really well. I lowever.
subsequent development work was based on the Kamps
turbine, i.e. with compres.snr wheels from rurbo charg-
ers.
TI1e curved sticks needed to be manufactured from a
material with a high temperature resistance. otherwise
they tended to comhust rapidly. Alfred Kittelberger from
Hamburg then had the brilliant idea of introducing the

Home Built Model Turbines 21

www.ASEC.ir
the gas. Although the pressure remains cons1am. more
energy is made available. However. it is not possible to
keep on increasing the nozzle effect. since account must
he taken of rhe rempL'rature limits. particularly with
respect to the turbine wheel. Experkncl:' shows that the
cross section of the nozzle should Ix: approximarely IO%
less than the ring cross section of the vanes of the tur-
bine wheel.
The core of rhe nozzle acts to prevent the exhaust
gasses swirling hehind the disk of tlu.- turhine wheel.
TI1is in itself results in a partial increase in rhrusr. TIH:
core and sheath of the nozzle togL'ther form a ring noz-
zle. The ahove-mentioned 10% reduction in thL' nozzle
cross section results in a gain in thrnst of between 30
and --10%. The reason for this may not he dear at first
sight. However. the physical explanation for this effecr is
relatively simple: having passed through the nozzle the
air flow first follows thL' direction of the nozzle sheath.
as shown in our diagram of our engine. This implies that
the effective nozzle <.Toss section is .somewhat smaller
than would be presumed on the hasis of the geomerrical
cross sl:'ction. 171is is also dependent on the shape of the
nozzle itself. The more conically the nozzle is tapered.
thL' greater is the nozzle dlect. When it comes to design-
ing the sh;1pe of the nozzle. there is no hard and fast
rule. You just have to remember not to exaggerate rhe
nozzle effect to such an extent that ii exceeds the per-
mitted temperature limits of the turbine wheel.
The nozzle componenrs can IX' made from stainless
steel sheeting. The connections must he welded with
shielding gas or spot-welded. In this case. h:1rd-soklering
is nor sufficiently reliable.
Reiko Hoft's SU-35 turns up the 110/ume.
22
www.ASEC.ir
Operational pet:formance
ThL' so-called inrernational standard atmosphere. in
short lSA provides the basis for all Gtlculations and mea-
.surements. Tht' ISA determines physical values as:
Air pressure: 101.3 kl'a (equates to
1.013 mhar or 1.013 bar)
Temperature: 1 ;;oc
Densiry: 1.225 kg;m·
Correlalio11 of rotalional ,,etocit_1•, air mass flow,
compressor pressure, t/:,rust and temperature
lf you want to compa,·e rotating components of the
same shape and construction, yet of dilferenr sizes. then
it is best to calculate on the h:rsis of circumferenti:d
velocity. -n1is is the velocity at the utmost circumferl:'nce
of the compressor or turhinL' wheel. Due to the effect of
centrifugal forces. ::it the same circumferential velocity
each rotating component is subject ro the same load. As
menti<>nl:'d previously, for our wheels the maximum per-
mined circumferential velocity should he ser at approx.
4tJO m/s. To make things dearer, I will begin by dealing
only with relative rotational velocities, i.e. the maximum
permissible rotational velocity is equal ro 100%. I will
rdcr to this hy its shortened form: n100%. Subsequently,
the same arguments can he applied to model jet turbines
of different sizes.
Minimum rotational velocity is the lowest possible
velocity at which the turbine will srill run. TI1is repre-
senrs the hnrrom end of the scale and is set :ii around
nl0%. Any lower and rhe turbine wheel would generate
Home Hui/I ,1,1odel Turhi11es
insufficient power to overcome friction losses in the Diagram 1
hearings when nmning at acceptable temperatures in the Air mass flow and pre.,'liiure ratio in rdation to relative rotational velocity
turbine stage. In practice the rorational velocity at idle is --~------------------- 3,0
-=
£.
set as high as n30% to n.35%. n35% is more applicable to ~ 180 u ~
smaller jet turbines such as the TK-50. It is easy to calcu-
C
c:: ... ,.. C
;i
late the corresponding rotational velocities measured in ~ 140 ... ~
0
revolutions per minute. Our turbine and compressor -; ,.,
wheels have a maximum permissible circumferential .;" 120

velocity of 400 mis. You use this figure and the chosen .!3
.
IOI) 2.0
,li!
wheel diameter. The table below illustrates {rounded) ...
figures as calculatec.l for the home-built turbines that are
described later.
. 1,e

One thing is obvious. As the rotarional velociry ... u

increases. so does the air-mass flow and the pressure 20 1,2

after the compressor stage. The air-mass flow increases 1.0

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ m ~ ~ 100 no 121)
roughly proportionately to the rotational velocity. When. Relative rotational velocity[%)
for example, the compressor wheel impels 0.07 kg/s at
n300/o, at nlO0O/o it woulc.l impel 0.23 kg/s. However,
pressure increases much more rapidly. For this calcula- Diagram2
tion you need to use, not the compressor pressure, but Rotational velocity and pressure ratio for the KJ-M, J--06 and 11'.-~0
OU
rather what is known as the pressure ratio. Diagram I "! ZA
demonstrates the relationship between rotational velocity ~u
and both the air mass flow and the pressure ratio. The
pressure ratio is the air pressure after the compressor i~ z
divided hy the ambient air pressure. If you measure, for ...
example, 1.2 bar positive pressure after the compressor, ...,.,
the total pressure is 2.2 bar, since the atmospheric pres-
sure at sea level is approximately I bar. Therefore, the ...
pressure ratio is 2.2 bar. This factor is non-dimensional.
...
IA
For practical applications it can be noted that: the com- u
pressor pressure in bar equals the pressure ratio minus u
I, as long as you are at sea level. Diagram 2 shows the 1,1

results that were actually recordec.l for the jet turbines
KJ-66. J-66 and TK-50.
The Swiss mathematician, Leonarc.l Euler (1707-1783),
discovered that the power generated by a compressor
wheel equals the mass flow multiplied by the circumfer-
ential velocity u of the wheel and the change in swirl.
Based on Euler's equations the power requirec.l to c.lrive
the KJ-66 compressor wheel must be around 25,000
watt! In fact, the turbine wheel is indeed capable of
achieving this level of power. However, when throttled
back ro n.300/o, the power reduces to only around 500
watt.
When air is compressec.l rnpic.lly, it heats up. Using d1e
pressure values indicated in diagram 2, if we know the
efficiency of the compressor stage, we are able to calcu-
late the temperature as shown in diagram 3. It is appar-
ent that at nlOOO/o the temperature of the compressed air
is already 120°C. This value is true for ISA conditions
anc.l assumes that the compressor stage operates at an
internal efficiency of 70%. If the temperature of the
intake air is higher or the compressor is less efficient,
the temperature after the compressor would he signifi-
cantly higher than 120°C. Consideration has to he given
to the fact that the only air available to cool the combus-
tion chamber anc.l the bearings has already been pre-
heatec.l. It is technically possible to increase the pressure
ratio by redesigning the compressor wheels. However,
1+--+---+-+--+--+-+--+--+---------~-<
0 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ eo N • • ~ m ~ - * - -
Rotational veloc.ity (1,000 rev/ mln)
this inevitably leac.ls to cooling prohlems. particularly at
the combustion chamber.
A greater rotational velocity increases the pressure
ratio, which in turn improves the thermal efficiency of a
turbo engine. It follows that increasing rotational veloci-
ty also results in an ever steeper increase in thrust. The
graph in diagram 4 plots values measured from the
afore-mentioned jet turbines. When you compare dia-
gram 2 with diagram 4, it is apparent that thrnst and
pressure increase along a similarly steep curve.
Technical reasons prevent the turbine from withstanc.1-
ing particularly high temperatures. This is particularly
true of the turbine stage. Clearly, the relation between
temperature anc.l rotational velocity is of major signifi-
cance. The easiest methoc.l of establishing the tempera-
ture in the turbine stage is to measure the temperature
of the exhaust gas, since these are directly relatec.l.
Diagram 5 shows values recorc.lec.l for exhaust gas tem-
perature for our turbines.
The start procedure
Starting the turbine requires the use of an auxiliary
c.lrive to accelerate the rotor to at least nHl%. A velocity
of n 100/o does not necessitate a particularly powerful

Jet turbine Wheel diameter (mm) n10% (rev/min) n100% (rev/min) n30% (rev/min)
Behotcc J-66 66 12,000 120,000 36,000
KJ-66 66 12,000 120,000 36,000
TK-50 50 ]',,000 Vi0,000 ',0,000

Home Built Model Turbines 23

www.ASEC.ir
 Diagram 3 European summe r. Therefore, to produce an ignitable
Air temperature after the compf'\-'"SSOr st~c mixture. the combustion chamber is heated from the
~ 200.0
inside by a propane- butane gas flame (auxiliary gas
~ UMJ.0
method). Within ;1 few seconds of the introduction of
sufficient auxiliary g;1s the roror will accelerate to n:10%.
e,eo.o
~

However. providing th:11 the fuel is finely metered it is

" 140.o
C.
E possible to switch on the fuel pump betore the turbine
=,zo.o
~
reaches n;\0% . At n3()'Jlo the engine will he self-sustain-
ing. According to the tlow of fuel. it will continue to nm
[ 100,0
without either auxiliary gas or starter :1ssistance. The
E
5 eo.o supply of electricity to the glow plug cm he switched
.... off immediately after ignition , although this is nor
ahsolutely nece.......,ary.
""·· Ignition is ;1lso possible without using a glow or high-
,0,0 1----- current plug. Ar a rotational velocity of <n10% you intro-
0.0 , _ _ -- ~- - - - - --
~ ro ~ ,IO ~
- - -- - - - - - - ~
00 ~ 00 ~

Rclalivt:" rotational vcloc-ity (%)

~ M = dut:e auxiliary gas and then hold a lighter flame to the
nozzle outlet. On most occ:1...,ions a gas flame ignites ;II
the nozzle outlet. By adju~ting the flow of auxiliary gas it
is possible to get the llame to jump into the combustion
chamher. This ignition method can he employed if )i<>U
Diagram 4
have open :.K cess to the jet turbine. Howc\'er, if the tur-
Routional velocity and thrust of the KJ-66. J-66 and 'l'K-50
bine is mounted in the hotly of the model, you will nor
he ;1hle to see for sure whether the flame is ;1ctually
burning in the combustion chamber or whether it only
continues to burn outside in the thrust tube. If the larrer
is true and the pump carries on injecting fuel. the com-
bustion chamber will becom(.' fl<xx.led. This will contin-
ue until e,·cnrually the flame of auxiliary gas burning
TK-'SOwilh
outside the combustion ch:unhcr ignites the excess of
nnr.zk kerosene or diesd . At that pnilll your only recourse is lo
have a fire extinguisher at hand. otherwise the whole

___ _ :.~~~M•
. . . . . . - . - - - -- - --
. ,__
~~'"'""

~
Ro1alional vclodt)' U.000 rev/ min]
starter motor. A small dectric motor with a shaft pow(.'r
of 20 wan would he sufficient. provided it were coupled
directly to tl1e rotor shaft via a slipping clutch. In any
case, turning the romr immediately caw,e~ air to he
drawn into the combustion chamber. Consequently. igni-
tion can take pbce as soon as the rotor starts to turn.
This produces an immediate turbine effect that in rum
lend~ greater force to the starter.
Experience shows that the combustion chamber must
be pre-heated. This is true even if every effort is made to
inject fuel in the form of a very fin(.' mist and likewise
applies even at the average temperatures of a central
Diagram 5
Exhaust Wt-'- l.cmperarurc of the TK-50 and J-66
J--66wilhnouk
'fK-50 without nozzk·
model will he lost. In short. it is better to use a glow
plug.
Immediately prior to ignition, it is recommended th:11
you test the supply of lubricant ro the turbine . To do
this. you need to shut off the fuel feed before it enters
the engine. release the connections between the throttle
and engine and start the fuel pump at reduced power.
If an engine has not run for some time. there are
occasions when il will have problems starting. This is
potentially c1uset.l by viscous or sticky r(.'sidues that
impede the movement of tht:' gears. In most cases the
solution is to introduce a small .,mount of new luhricmt.
Then you hridly start the engine with auxiliary gas, hut
do not intr<x.luce any fuel. Once the he;iring..., are luhri-
c1ted and warmed through, you need IO w:1it a fev.,· min-
utes before starting the jet turbine as usual.
Reaction.-. to c/Ja11ges infueljloll'?
Case 1: Let us assume that the rotor run~ at ~ome
arbitrary rotational velocity within the permined velocity
range. Fuel is supplied at a certain rate and the exh;1ust
gas remperature is constant. Increasing the fuel llow rate
abruptly by a relatively small amount such as l<Jl1,,, will
immediately cause the flame in rhe combustion chamber
to increase in size. As a result. the temperature of the
fresh mixture will increase and the rotor will accelerate.
In turn. this causes a greater in1;1ke of air and the tem-
perature drops again to approximately the same level as
before. The turbine then runs uniformly at a higher rota-
tiomtl velocity and produces more thrust. Reducing the
rare of fuel tlrnN by the same amount inverts the process.
The time ii takes to :1ccelerate or decdcr;ne the engine is

-~---------- -- --------~*
0 • • • • • - • - - - N - - - -
considerably less at higher rotational veltx.·ities than it is
at around n3U%. This is due ro increased thermal effi-
Rotational veloclly (J.000 rev/min} ciency.

24 Home Built .Hodel Turhiues

www.ASEC.ir
 Case 2: The roto r turns at n30%. l11e r:1te of fuel flow
is increased abruptly to nlO<J0/4. In this case , the combus-
tion chamber cannot cope e ffe ctively w ith the sudtk:n
increase in fuel. A pan will burn outside the engine.
Conversely, this will use up almost all rhe e xcess of air
in the combustion ch:11nhe r a nd will lead to an instanta-
neous increase in tempe r..1ture of the fresh mixture to
more than 1.000°C. Howe ver, the turbine stage is not
designed for such te mperatures. In all prolx1hility it will
result in deformation of the turbine stage guide vanes. In
the worst case scenario the guide vanes on the turbine
wheel would become damaged, even to the point that
the engine seizes.
Case 3: The rotor turns at a constant rate of n100%.
Fuel tlow is reduced abruptly to a rate equivalent to
n.:SOo/o. l11is causes e xtre me starvatio n of the fuel-air mix-
ture in the combustio n zone with tlw potential that the
combustio n flame is extinguished. Large air pockets in
the fuel feed can have the same e ffect.
Case lJ : The roto r turns at a constant rare of nluu%.
The fuel flow rate is increased . The rotor reacts sponta-
neo usly with an increase in rot :Jtional velocity. This
causes the engine to e nter the re d zone 1 The higher
the fuel flow rate, th e g reate r th e rotational velocity. At
some point a cen:tin component will fail. This guaran-
tees the immediate and total destruction of the engine .
What is worse : components are catapulted through
the air w ith threat of inju1y to hoth oper:Jtors and spect:1 -
to rs.
From these we learn : Case lJ must IX' preventnl at all
costs. Whe n used appropriatelv. m<xlern electronic con-
trols can b e re lie d o n to prevent total destruction.
Changes ro the rate of fuel flow to regubte thrust must
be made ove r an appropriate time interval. taking into
account th e w o rking co ndition of the engine at that
time . It is possible tu make abrupt changcs. hut these
should he in small ste ps and spread over an interval of
time . An e lectronic control that is correctly adjusted will
e nable an:ele r:1ti o n rates from idle to full rotational
velocity within 3 seconds. However, acceleration at
lo we r ve lu citics will he relatively sluggish. Throttling
back fro m full thrust to residual thrust takes even less
time.
Fuel co'1sumplio11
Diagram 6 shows thc fud consumption of the J-66
a nd TK-50 e ngines measured indqx-ndent of thrust. The
J-66 is designed for a maximum thrusr of 75 N = 100%
1hrus1. Al 10()''/o thrust the curve shows fuel consumption
10 be 260 litres/ min. Decelerating to 50%, the equivale nt
o f Y' .5 N. reduces fud co nsumption to l,.:S litres/ min.
Clearly. this is more th:m half of the co nsumption at
100% thrust. Ir is apparent that fuel consumptio n does
no l increase proportionally to thrust. l11is is the case for
Diagram 6
Thrust anc.1 fud consumption o r the J-66 and TK-50
""~--------------------~
J -'>6consumrt1o na1100,,.1hm'4 /
~
,s
§
.
-~--------~------~-~
,. .,
Thrusc [NJ
.
Ler us take an e\'en clusl'r look at the gr..1phs we plot-
ted. The TK-50 is cons1runed for a m;1ximum thrust of
iON. This value is very close ro rhe 37.7N which equates
to 50% thrust for the J-6<>. Ho weve r the TK-50 only con-
sumes U5 ml min. l11ar is o nly 7H% of the consumption
of the J-66 for the same thrust of 37:SN. from this you
could draw th e co nclusio n that the TK-50 is designed to
have particularly lov- fuel co nsumption. To this end, let
us look at diagram 7. This shows the specific fuel con-
sumption of borh engines in relation to thrust. The
graphs have been generated hy conve ning the data mea-
surements from diagram 6 anti in e ach case dividing the
measured fuel consumption by the respective thrust.
This likewise shows 1ha1 the fuel consumption of the
TK-50 is much less in the r:mge up to "JON. In contrast.
,,·he n we look :tt lhe specific consumption for each at
maximum thrust. i.e. at 40 N17 5N. there are no longer
a ny diffe re nce s w ithin the sco pe o f our meas urement
accu1: 1cy.
Why do o ur jet turbines have relatively high fuel con-
sump1io n? By means of measuring exhaust gas tempera-
ture and :1ir mass flow and thrust . it is comparativel y
easy lo es1imate 1he theore tical minimum fuel consump-
tion .
This is illustrated hy the following example : at a
thrust o f -:75 N the J-66 has an air mass flow of 0 .j'l kg; s
anti an e xhaust g:1s tempe r..tture of 570°C. In addition .
the outflow velocity is j 15 m/s. U l k\X. of power b
require u to he at chis air flow. The required heating
powe r can be clearly calculated from the specific he at
c:tpadry of rhe air C-1.00'1 kJ · kg*Kl, the air m;1ss flow and
Diagram 7
Spc-clfic fuel consumption for the J-66 and rK-50
C:"
•e tO
>(

horh jel turbines. The physic:11 explanarion is as follows : :z •

the higher the pressure ratio. the greater the the rmal effi- I.
C:
cie ncy and the less the specific fuel consumplio n . For .2
this reason, large engines oper..tte vv"ith a high pressure a
c •
ratio anti a simultaneously high operaring temper.. ttun:. ~ '
In addition, they require considerably more co mple x, 8. - - - - - 1 - ( , (, _ _ __

multi-stage compressors anti turbines. Increasing th e "

,c:
·.:; '
o utfl o w velocity of our turbines leads to an increase in 8. 2

exhaust gas temperature, which in turn resulrs in a n "'

improvement in specific fuel consumption. 1lowe ve r,
this improvement is only moderate :md is de pe nd e nt o n • " . .
,~-~-~------------~---~
20
" Thrust(N]
. .
increasing the compression ratio.

Ho me Built }Hodel Turbines 25

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 Diagrams J1iflue,1ce of weather a11d ahitude
Correlation between specific consumption. stepped etficit'ncy and Air pressure and temperature are derendent on the
relati~e rotational velocity height above 1-.ea level and they in turn affect air density.
The atmosrheric pressure at a particular location can
vary hy ± 5% from the mean, depending on weather
conditions. Variances in air temperature from the stan-
dard value of l 5°C can cause changes in density in
the opposite sense. A1-, a nilc of thumb you can note
that:
A variance of plus or minus 1 °C from the standar<l
value of l 5°C. at a constant air pressure, will result in a
change in thrust of -0.3% or +0.:3% at a constant rota-
tional velocity.
An increase in altitude of 100 m at a constant temper-
ature and rotational velodry causes a reduction of 1.2%
in thrust.
It is a little easier to read off the correction factor for
thrnst from diagram 9. If the air pressure is 990 millibar
and the air temperature is 25°C, the actual thrust at
0 1--- - ~ - ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ n 100% should he multiplied by the value of 0.94. Instead
w m ~ m ~ M ro oo oo ~ m
Reial ive rolat ional velocity (%]
of :5 N. the jet turbine now only achieves a thrust of
70.5 N. Uy way of completeness, it should be noted that
a rropdler driven by a piston engine loses thrust in the
the temperature difference ( 570°C-l 5°C). Added to this is same way.
the jet fX>wer of the exhaust g;1s. Therefore: However, air temperarure also has a hig effect on the
temperature of the exhaust gas and, therefore, likewise
Heating rower: 0.24 x 555 x 1.005 kW= (j--1 kW on the criticd temperature of the turbine vanes. A 1 °C
plus change in rhe temperature of the intake air results in a
Jet rower: 0.2--1: 2 x 3152 W = 12 kW corresrxmding 2°C to 3°C change in the temperature at
equals: 1-16 kW. the inlet to the turbine. This change is equally apparent
in the temperature of the exhaust gas. The turbine is
This 146 kW of power must I~ met by burning fuel. designed to operate at a temperature of I 5°C. At 30°C in
Burning one gram of kerosene per second, produces the shade the air temper.Hure in the sun. close to the
4-l.000 watts of heat. Therefore. it is necess:1ry to hum at ground, can he 40°C or higher. As a result, the vanes of
least 3 .:32 grams. the equiv:1lent of 4.15 millilitres per the turbine wheel are then around 7C:,°C hotter than they
second. This equates to a fuel now ,~1te of 249 ml/ min . would he in normal conditions. Measuring a particu-
According to diagram 7 the KJ-66 uses 260 ml/min, i.e. larly low exhaust gas temperature in winter should not
the measured data value is only slightly higher rhan the fool you into making the nozzle narrower so as to
value that we calculated. On this basis it could not he achieve a greater thrust. Things will get critical in the
expected that an improvement in the combustion summer.
process would hring an appreciable reduction in fuel Driving a jet turbine without being able to regulate
consumption. Differences in consumption between dif- rotational vekx:ity is more complicated. This could in-
ferent fuels such as diesel, kerosene, paraffin or volve the use of a limiter tu 1-,et a maximum rate of fuel
hiodb,el are also negligible. flow or a control device for compressor pressure.
Therefore, if the air
Diagram9 pressure drops and/or
Thrust correction at con~tanl rotational "cloctty, lndc_pcndc..-nt or air pr~urc and tempcrarur._.. the temper:1ture increas-
es, the engine will turn
appreciably faster, due
to the correspondingly
lower air density.
Accelerating the engine
to a cunstant pressure.
while the ambient pres-
sure is less than stan-
dard pressure, will
inevitably result in a
higher compression
ratio. However, this also
implies a higher ruta-
tional velocity. An
increase in rotational
velocity can lead to an
increase in temperature
750 800 850 900 950 1000 1050 at the turbine stage due
Air Pressure [mhar] to the intake air being

26 Home Built Model Turbines

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hotter and it would not take long to exceed the maxi- Diagram 10
mum loading on turhine wheel. J •66 jt:l turbine - increa..w in the sound prc.~-urc lt.~el. relative to thrust
For a more precise investigation 11 1s necessary lo 40 ·

measure the air pressure :md temperature on site and

work out the actual air density hy means of the gas
bws. It has been possible to fly model jet turbines at
some high-altitude locations e.g. close to Mexico City at
a height of 2.500 111 above sea level. Before take-off the
oper.ltors were fully aw:ire of the aforementioned rules
and actu:dly put them into rrnctice. There is a some-
times quoted theory that model jet turbines cannot oper-
ate at high altitudes . Clearly, there is undeniable
evidence to the contrary. .5 10

Of course the reduced air pressure, or more precisely

the reduced air density. also means that the aerofoil pro-
tluces less lift. As a consequence. a correspondingly
greater take-off sreed is required, even though at the
., 20 ,. 40
Tluusl(N)
.. . TO . .
same time one h:1s less thrust. This inevitably results in
the need for a longer ground nm to take off. As a rule of
thumb it can he stated: for every 100 m increase in :ilri- noise, or, technically -;peaking, the sound pressure level,
tude you need 2% to 3% more ground run. This rule increases proportionally to the air mass tlow. However.
applies similarly ro both large and small aircraft. Modern any increase in outflow velocity cau:ses a much bigger
jet turbines have considerable thrust reserves to com- increase in the sound pressure level. Consequently. for
pletely overcome this rrohlem. any particular engine the sound pressure level increases
in line with thrusl. Diagram 10 shows the relative noise
Corre/at/011 betwee11 thrust and flight rielocity increase in relation to thrust. The scale for the sound
l 1p until now we have only looked at the engine's pressure level at a minimal rotational velocity is arhitr.tri-
static thrus1. This equals outflow velcx:ity times air mass ly set to zero. from this you c;m cle;irly see hem the
flow. However, for a mcxld in flight we h:1ve to use a sound pressure level incrl.'ases more steeply at higher
value of velocity that is cakulated from outtlow velocity levels of thrust.
minus flight velocity. We already t..now that the olHflow It can he assumec..l that anyone who rem:1ins in close
velocity e.g. for the _J-66 is around 315 111/ s , or 1.134 proximity to the test stand for any length of time. with
km/ h . Let us say that the mcx.lel is flying at a very high the turbine running at full thrust. would suffer hearing
fli!J.ht velocity of 300 km h. the equivalent of 83.3 m 1s. /\ damage due to the high sound pressure. Consequently,
simple calculation shows that thrust is reduced to 73.5%. in :such conditions it is strongly recommended to wear
Instead of 75 N. we arc left with only 55.2 N. The net hearing protection .
rower of the jet turbine is then thrust [NJ x tlight velocity The data reading of the sound pressure level depends
[nvsl = '1 598 watt' on both the distance from the jet turbine and the propa-
In point of fact. a higher llight velocity increases the gation conditions. To determine the sound pressure level
impact pressure and this has the effect of slightly at a particular location it is necessary to perform com-
improving the efficiency of the compressor stage. plex measurements with precise measurement equip-
Likewise. this results effectively in a slightly higher out- melll and to calculate propagation using a recognised
flow velocity and consL'quently :1lso marginally greater method.
thrnsl. To achieve the :1forementioned flight power with
a propeller or impeller drive, the engine required to do
so would require a higher shaft power. This is because a
propeller or impeller is inherently less efficient and
resulcs in a partial loss of thrust.
At n30%, which is the minimum rotational velocity
that is possible in practice, the outflow velocity is
arproximately 50% of the maximum velocity. i.e. around
340 km. h. However, it will generate thrust as long as the
outflow velocity is higher than the flight velocity. This
means that when a jet model makes it:s approach for
landing, the jet turbine still provides minimum forward
propulsion. In contr~1st. when you throttle hack the rota-
tional velocity of a propeller engine, it act:s a:s an air
brake.

Noise development
If a jet turbine emits a high-pitched whistle, it should
he switched off immediately. This kind of noise is
caused by badly-balanced wheels and ·or hy the wheels
rubbing.
Air flowing through the turbine ;,ilw:1ys makes a rush-
ing sound. This is unavoidable. The volume of this

Home Built .'vlodel Turbines 27

www.ASEC.ir
 Chapter 2

Necessary Accessories
Di.fferent types of starter compressor o r a bottle of compressed -air. you decide to
use a h<::l\'):-duty foot pump. It has its advantages: the
For test stand trials it is best to use a mains-ope rated pump never runs out and it provides healthy e xe rcise
co mpressor with a pressure t;tnk of approximately 10 for the pe rson who operates it. I trialled my turbo- prop
litres. A pres.sure of 5 to 6 bar is sufficie nt. O f course, engine using this method. However, tn employ it on
there is nothing to sto p you using compressed air in bot- your own. you ne<.:d to be ve ry fleet of foot.
tl ed form. Nevertheless. you do have to be quite fit. If you do not want to mess around with compressed
since honles of comp res.sed ;1ir are not e xactl y light. On ;1ir. the n yo u need a mechanical solution. The drawing
no account should pure oxygen he used instead of com- (Fig. 7) shows the diagrammatic construction of a starter
pressed air. l:nless it is your intention to mis;1ppropriate blow e r. The power input of the electric motor is
the L"ngine as some kind o f firework. hetwee n 100 and 120 watt. It should be possible to push
Physical fitness is likewise required if, instead of a the adaptor <.:asily ov<.:r the intake nozzle. The diame ter
of the blower wheel is
Fig 7. Drawing of starter blower. based on the ope rating
rotational velocity o f the
Blo11•er Wbeel Guitle Va11es Adaptor electric motor. The gap
bet,veen th e blower
wheel and th e ho using
is nol critical. Eight
straight guide vanes are
required to re duc<.: the
swirl behind the blowe r
wheel and th<.:r<.:fore to
Motor improve th e perfor-
mance of the blowe r. I
recommended fitting a
protective grate in front
of the blow<.:r whee l tu
prevent any injury to
fing1..-rs.
Anoth<.:r pos.sibility is
to build your o wn elec-
tric start e r motor.
Motors us e d in model
18 Vt111es cars are ;:i goo d option.
They do not hav<.: to be
the exp<.:nsive racing car

/~
//,.-------P?~'
-- - -
-,
·,'\
\
~ I
II
versions. First and fore-
most. the motor sho uld
have a rotational ve loci-
ty at idle that is ;1pproxi-
/ \ I
; , ..>__,,, / ;1 , ' \\ 11 mately n.30% of that of

-+-~-~--j- --: -)----!\}--~

\
i

'

/
~ I

~~/
I
I I I
I I
I

'l.. ~
the jet turbine 's rotor. A
small oute r race with an
internal rubber ring
serves as a dutch; the
principle i.s similar to
\ ~ - ; I
I I
\ ~/ I that of piston e ngine

~
starter mot o rs. If the
--, //
_ __ ., i I rotational velocity of the
------1----·' ~ motor at idle is not sut~
Main body of tl.1e blower wheel ficient, e. g. to start a
sm,tll je t turbine. vou

28 Home Built .11odel Turbines

www.ASEC.ir
Starter blower working with a Kamps turbine.

can replace the race clutch hy a disc with an external
rubber ring. l11e diameter of the ring should he approxi-
mately twice the size of the compressor nut. In spite of
the relatively low rotational velocity ot th<.' motor, the
coupling effect will be sufficient to transmit the required
rotational velocity to the rotor.
Suitable starters are now available on the market.
They are :tlso fitted with a manually adjustable soft-
switch. This avoids slippage when accelerating. It is
even possible to buy kits also for home-huilt engines to
retrofit jet turbines with an automatic start. They require
the starter motor to be permanently fixed to the jet tur-
bine and fitted with an automatic dutch.
An essential· afire extinguisher
the fire extinguisher to spray from the front into the suc-
tion opening. Otherwise you would force the hot
exhaust fumes from the fire back into the cold zones of
the body and. for example, electric and pneumatic feed
lines cnukl sc>on become charred.
The fuel pump
Fuel is injected into the combustion chamber by
means of a geared pump. This is a standard solution for
all turbines. The pump must generate a pressure that is
A small electric motor used tis a starter. A spinner
ll'ith an 0-ring is mounted onto the motor and
pressed diagonally against t/:,e compressor nut.

During the start procedure there is a great risk of the

model catching fire and possihly setting light to the d1y
grass runway. For this reason a fire extinguisher is
essential. Anyone who flies model turbines should
always have one at hand. Preferably it should contain
carbon dioxide. Of course, fire extinguishers may con-
tain other chemicals. However. these have the disadvan-
tage of leaving residues when used. Afterwards you
have no other option than to take the whole engine
apart to dean it all down, including the internal mecha-
nisms. In any case. after having used the fire extinguish-
er. it is imperative to check the model for internal fire
damage before having another attempt al starting it.
If the model cacches fire internally, you should use

Home Built /Hodel Turbines 29

www.ASEC.ir
s0mewhar greater th;m the pre:,sure in the combustion
chamber and the pressure required to convey the fuel
down the feed lines and through rlu.· capillary tubes
added together. It is not a problem k>r geared pumps to
generate adequate pressure or convey a sufficient quan-
tity of fuel. The required maximum delivery pressure is
around 4 bar. Take care! If the fuel flow is blocked, very
good, i.e. hermetically-sealed. geared pumps can cause a
very large buikl-up of pressure. In the worst case sce-
nario this cm result in damage to connecting lines or
seals inside the pump. The standard drive for a geared
pump is a small electric motor. Like all electric motors
on hoard a model aircraft. it must be installed with noise
suppression. It is imperative that it is not installed in
close proximity to the receiver. The best position would
be for the pump to he lower in the model than the fuel
tank. This would avoid any possibility of suction prob-
lems. should the pump run dry.
There are many sources that can provide ready-to-
install fuel pumps complete with drive motors that arc
fitted with noise suppression.
Fuel tank with feed lines
A good solution is to use a plastic tank with a felt
·clunk'. Its vr,Iume should he based on the size of the
engine and the desired flight time. One thousand milli-
litres is adequate for small jet turbines. Larger ones
would require a minimum volume of 1.500 ml. Some
moc.lels are designed in such a way that the total volume
of fuel has to he divided between sever;il different tanks.
The fuel lines must be made of materials that are
resistant to hoth petrol and pressure. On the pressure
side, that is tu say between the pump outlet and the
engine, you shoukl estim;tte a rressurc of around 5 bar.
You can use thick-walled hoses with an internal diame-
ter of 1. 5 to 2.0 mm, the type that is used for petrol
engines. Of course, it is also possible to use thin metal
pipes. You can make the hose/metal connections suffi-
ciently pressure-resistant by winding wire around the
connection.
Rubber is never permanently resistant to both petrol
and pressure. As a consequence, it is necessary to
replace the hoses every two to three months.
Polyurethane connecting pipes are not particularly
heat-resistant and therefore are not really suitable for use
in proximity to the jet turbine. Our model colleagues
from the steam guild use metal fittings and glands to cre-
ate pressure-resistant fuel lines th;tt are totally plastic
free. A turbine manufacturer will also have a stock of
suitable fuel hoses, the corresponding quick-release cou-
plings as well as T-pieces, magnetic valves and shut-off
valves. Likewise, it is possible to use fuel filters designed
for comhustion engines as well as shut-off valves with a
Teflon seat. It should be noted that fuel filters have a
high through-flow and therefore tend to get clogged in
n0 time at all. The solution is to fill up with pre-filtered
fuel. The restrictors are m;ide from approx. 60 mm long
capillary tubes ( injection needles) with an internal diam-
eter of 0.5 to 0.6 mm. A steel wire is used to adjust the
flow resistance. Adjustment to the required resistance is
achieved by inserting the wire, to a greater or lesser dis-
tance. inro the capilh1ries. In order to connect the feed
lines, the capillaries arc soldered into tubes with an
external diameter of 2 to 3 mm, corresponding to the
internal diameter of the connection lines.
30
www.ASEC.ir
Cartridge-fed auxiliary gas
l'sing handy gas cartridges for gas torches is a
good idea. Cartridges filled with a propane/ but:ine
mixture will also gu:iramee sufficient auxiliary gas
pressure even when the weather is cold. You need to
fit a nipple where the hurner would normally he in
order to enable connection tu the jel turbine. The vol-
ume of auxiliary gas required is minimal. providing that
you do not forget to dose the valve aher starting the jet
turbine.
Electrically-powered glow plugs
l11e best ones to use are srandard quality ·cold' glow
plugs. These have a spiral-wound filament which you
need to pull out slightly. To bring about ignition the fila-
ment must glow bright yellow. It is possible to check the
ignition properties before fitting the plug. This requires
the use of a gas lighter. You light it, hlow out the flame
and while the gas continues to flow, you bring the glow-
ing filament towards the gas. If the glow temperature is
set correctly, it will ignite the gas emanating from the
lighter.
If you do not have an ECU (elecrronic control unit -
see the section helovv· on 'electronic regubtion and con-
trol') with a glow plug output. it would be sufficient to
use ;1 2 volr lead hanery or two NiCd cells with a capaci-
ty of at least 1.5 Ah connected in series. If you use NiCd
cells, you will need to incorporate a pre-resistor to
reduce the voltage slightly. An insulated two-core cable
made from 0.5 mm" wire would do the job. You just
need to find the right length hy a process uf trial and
error. As a guide you can assume a length of around 1
m. It goes without saying that you can also use an
adju::.table current glov.· rlug driver which you can buy
from specialist ret:tilers.
Calibrating of the restrictor for the
supply of lubricant
It is essential that the fuel contains turbine uil at a
level of approx. 5%. Hetween 3 and 5% of this mixture
should be fed as a lubricant through the restrictor.
Calibration is performed at :1 pressure of approximately
I bar. This is achieved with the pump under partial load.
The easiest method of calibration is to use two measur-
ing cylinders. Failing this. you can use a letter balance to
weigh how much fuel you collect.
After the pump has been running for I minute you
should measure 100 g for the main fuel tlow and 3 to 5
g through the resrricror.
Electronic regulation and control
The first models that were built incorporated nothing
more th:m a simple drive controller. This was all that
was needed to remotely regulate the fuel pump and
hence the thrust. The pilot had an accele1~1tion lever. He
always had to take the working condition of the turbine
into account. Too much or too abrupt acceleration leads
inevitably to destruction of the engine. Moreover. it is
dangerous. In this case, hy accelerator lever we mean
the control stick found in most motorised models and
used to adjust the fud flow. In a turbine the operation
//0111e Built Model Turhines
of the fuel pump is regulated by the accelerator channel, engine. Nevertheless, I would recommend that you do
in a similar way to controlling electric model aircraft so.
using so-called drive controllers. The respective manuf:icturers have gone on tu intro-
There are a few model turbine enthusiasts who know duce some additional functions. When the model is not
a thing or two about electronics. So this really gave them in operation, the supply of fuel to the engine is safely
something worthwhile to sink their teeth into. shut off by means of a magnetic valve. This reliably pre-
Unfortunately, what first emerged appeared to seasoned vents the engine being flooded unintentionally when fill-
campaigners to he some kind of computer game. ing up with fuel.
Anyone who tlew turbines, hut did not happen to be an The Orbit electronics measures the time it takes for
electronic engineer at the same time, had no chance. the rotor to stop turning afrer it has been deliberately
However, it was not long before things changed for the switched off. This is used to monitor the condition of the
bener. Today I have no compunction in recommending bearings. What is more, both manufacturers enable data
that everyone. old-hands included. uses a modern regu- terminal read-outs to he taken. even retrospectively. so
lation and control unit. We have adopted the abbreviat- as to he able to identify operational problems such as an
ed term for this, an ECU, from the English 'electronic unexpected engine shut-off. There is the option of fitting
control unit'. the ECU with a chip for a maximum of 120,000 or
Modern ECUs are connected at the very least to a 160,U00 rev/min. The 12U,000 rev/min are perfect for use
temper,tlure and rotationa I velocity sensor. Rotationa I with engines that have a whL"el diameter of 66 mm or
velocity sensors almost always consist of info1-red photo- greater, while the 160,000 revlinin are intended for
electric barriers. For temperature measurement, thermo- smaller jet turbines, whose maximum permitted rotation-
couples with a thin protective tube (approx. 1.5 mm al velocity is, of course, higher. However, on no account
diameter) have proven a reliable solution. should you misuse this higher velocity chip. Getting an
The safety imperative is such that. should the sensur engine designed for 120.000 re\·/min to turn faster is not
or parts of the electronics fail, the pump is automatically a good idea.
switched off and with it the engine. To provide 1he fuel TI1e Jemmie has an extremely praccical range of addi-
pump with power, you need a separate battery. The tional functions. For example, the system enables the
capacity and number of cells is dependent on the drive fully automatic start of a jet turbine by means of its own
motor for the pump and the type of ECl: fitted. ECUs on-board starter motor. This includes the power supply
perform the following basic functions: to the glow plug. Then:" are also the options of using a
To be able to start the fuel pump, the rotor must be speed sensor to control the tlight velocity or also to take
turning and the temperature at the engine outflow must a read-out of the maximum flight velocity after the flight.
have reached its minimum setting. Another magnetic valve can be used for the remote acti-
In the start phase the pump is automatically adjusted vation of a smoke generator.
in line with acceleration.
The rotational velocity of the engine is regulated
according to the setting on the acceleration lever within
the permitted r.mge, i.e. the minimum and maximum
permitted rotational velocity can he set electronically.
During operation, both the temperature of the
exhaust gas and the rotational velocity are monitored. If
limit values are exceeded. in some cases the supply of
fuel nm be cut. The temperature regulator works in the
same way, by stopping the flow of fuel. This can occur,
for example, when there are air pockets in the fuel line
that lead to combustion being extinguished.
TI1e engine is accelerated or decelerated by changing
the position of the acceleration lever. This automatically
regulates the flow of fuel to prevent any risk of over-
heating or flame failure.
To programme and read the data generated by the
ECUs. you need to have an additional data terminal. This
does not have to be, but can be, installed on board.
Before running the jet turbine for the first time, you
should adjust the ECU nor only to the turbine, hut also
to the remote control equipment. This involves a rather
complirnted technical procedure. However, for the ECUs
with which I am familiar, supplied by Cat/Jetrunic and
Orbit, the process is largely automated. This includes
provision of the corresponding data terminals and, pro-
viding rhar you follow rhe operating insrrucrions, even
those of us who are not electronic engineers, can usually
get it right first time. In any case, they are foolproof in
so far as it is impossible to destroy anything by incorrect
operation. Once they are programmed and adjusted, the
ECUs work on rheir own, i.e. you do nor necessarily
have to switch on the data terminal when starting the

Home Built Model Turbines 31

www.ASEC.ir

Test Stand and
Measuring Equipment
The engine on the test stand
If you build .i copy of a proven jet turbine and
operate it using modern electronics, there is no real
need to go to the effort of building a te:-.t stand. Having
said th:1t. you should in that case already have some
experience of working with jct turbines. Of course. a
trainer model, designed so th:11 there is open access to
the engine, can :1lso he used as a test stand. Providing
that electronic measurement of rotational velocities and
temperatures gives satisfactrny results. the jet turbine 's
thrust will not fluctuate hy itself. You c:.111 read more
about changes to the thrust brought about by
atmospheric conditions in the chapter entitled ·physical-
te c hn ical principles· in the section ·operating
performance'.
Two test stands for mode/jet turbi11es. Do 11otforget the.fire exli11guisher!
32
www.ASEC.ir
Chapter 3
However. for anyone who wants to trial hi:-. own
development work or test improvements to a jct turbine,
constructing a test stand is a must. As a general rule. you
will want to measure thrust. rotational velocity. exhaust
gas temperature and fuel consumption. The connection
diagram for the operation of an engine is shown (Fig. 6)
in the above- mentioned chapter under th e section
headed ·description of components·.
Please note a few important safety rules for :Ill test
stand trials:
If you use a normal t:,ble for a test stand, RO N of
thrust are more than capable of turning it over. This can
h:1ppcn without any warning. You need to determine
the required level of o.;tahility before you start.
A jct turbine of the size of the KJ-66 requires
approximately 200 litres of air per second. Y<Ju cm
110111.e Built .l1odel Turbines
Full size test stand for Rolls Royce in Hucknall/England.
imagine that in terms of 20 buckets! Certainly , exhaust
fumes are harmful to health in a dosed room. TI1erefore,
never carry out test st;md trials in a closed room.
At full throttle the noise in close proximity to the
engine can damage your hearing. Consequently. for test
runs you should use hearing protection or at leas! ear
plugs. You can get the latter from the chemist.
• Always have a fire extinguisher at hand.
• Keep out of the area of the rotor's rotational plane.
• l1o not ;11low any spectators dose to the test stand.
• Secure all cables and feed lines so that they cannol he
sucked in by the engine.
Measuring the thrust
In certain cases kitchen scales, mounted horizontally,
can be used to measure thrust. Admittedly, this may not
work with all scales, because it might cause the
measuring system to malfunction. A heller option is to
construct a spring halance from a long tension spring.
This can he calibrated using weights. You hang weights
on the tension spring and measure the length of the
spring with and without the weight. The exact weight
force is calculated from acceleration due to gravity. 9.81
m s' times the attached weight in kilograms. For a 5 kg
weight that is exactly:
9.81 x 5 = 49.05 N
Using a simple calculation rule. 1 kg is equal to IO N,
the error is less than 2%.
When you later come to take the rc;1ding at the test
stand, you want it to be sufficiently precise. To ensure
that this is the case, you should aim for an elongation of
100 111111 for the intended measurement range. e.g. 100
Home Buill Model Turbines
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111111 at 100 N. Mounting it to the test stand is relalively
simple. The jet turbine is fastened to the part that is
flexibly mounted on rollers. The spring halance is
attached to the back of the turbine. In from you fix a
pointer that slides along a millimetre rule mounted on
the table. Providing that the spring balance is correctly
dimensioned. the elongation is proportional to the force.
i.e. double the force means double the elongation in the
length of the spring. TI1is is easy to determine. Different
weights arc used for calibration within the required
measurement range. To help you in your search for an
appropriate spring. hnc is the data that I use for thrust
measurement up to 50 N.
Length 1'10 mm
External diameter 1'1111111
Wire thickness 1.5 111111
At a force of "i0 N these springs are extended to a
length of approx . •400 mm.
Measuring rotational velocity and
pressure
The hest way to measure rotational velocity is to use
an ECU, as dcscrihed in the previous chapter.
St;indard manometers provide a good way of
measuring compressor pressure, as long as they cJo not
have hysterics, i.e. pointer flutter due to oversensitivity
to minor changes in pressure. They are inexpensive and
have a measurement range up to 2 bar l2,000 hPa).
Furthermore. the zero point of the scale should he fixed.
otherwise measurements taken in the engine's lower
range of oper..llional velocities may be erroneous. You
can test the responsiveness of the manometer by
33
blowing inro it. II i.s only suitable if it rea cts to breath
pressure. Alternatively. you can use electronic measuring
devices with a digital re.solution of 0.01 bar, although it
must he !-.aid that stanc.brcl instruments pro vide a
strong er visual recogniti o n of pote ntial faults in the
combustion process. clue to rapid pointer flutter.
Another important piece of :1dvice on the subject of
pressur<:> measureme nt: at sea le vel the numerical value
of the pressuri:- ratio is one unit more th a n the actual
pressure measured in bar. A measure ment of 1.2 bar is
th e equivalent o f a pre s.s ure ratio of 2.2 at sea kvd.
Pressure ratio b understood as a ratio between two
quantities of the same type and is therefore non-
climensional. A turbo engine that has been designed for
a compression rati o of 2.2 sho uld n o t be run to a
pressure of 2.2 bar. No matcer what type of engine it is,
accelerating to a pressure of 2.2 w o uld send it into the
red :1rea. providing that it does not go bang first.
Modern watches with a cdibrate d digital di s play
provide a good way of me asuring a ir press ure and
altitude.
A manometer is also us e d to measure fuel rump
pressure. It should have a measure ment ra nge of c; to 6
bar. Othe rw ise the spec ification is as above.

Temperature measurement
For the pra c tical requirements of flying , the
temperantre sensor \vithin the F.Cl: is sufficient. The tip
of the m e asurem e nt sensor must he located a few
millimetres behind the trailing edges of che rurhine
,·anes. De viations of ± 50°C from the mean are norma l
and not significarn for flight opera tio n . Howe ver. should
yo u require m o re exact measurement uf the average
exhaust gas tempe rature for your o wn deve lo pment
work. you ,vould ne ed to take.- measure menrs ar several
points :tround the o utflow plane in orde r to establish a
mean valu e . To do this you need a s econd digital
thermometer with a thermocouple.

34 I lame Built /Hodel Turhines

www.ASEC.ir

Which Turbine, Which
Model?
T homas Kamps dealr wilh 1h1s subjecl in some con-
siderable detail in his h1x>k ·' How lo build your
own radio-conlrolled jcr model - (Verlag ff1r
Tedmik und Handwerk. Haden-Raden. Order No. 310
2103) German rexr. See ;ilso rhe references in rhe appen-
dix. For rhis reason, I do 1101 intend ro go through all rhe
different models you could build lnsread. I warn ro
encourage you lo rhink :,hour how powcrtul your
engine should he. l11e desire ro fir your modc:J wirh rhe
mos! powerful engine possible is undersrandahle.
However. rhis is nor necessarily rhe righ1 approach.
especially if you warn ro fly 1rue-ro-sc1lc models or even
race rhem compe1irively. In 1his regard here is a short
srory of something 1har happened ro m e. In 1995. shortly
before rhe firsr jel world championships. I was invited ro
a meeting in Enns. Austria. Ar rhar rime I already owned
an average-sized F 100 wirh a wingspan of l ."i m, a fuse-
111ef11rther detrelopment of the FD-3 model jet t11rbi11es required the construct/011 of sel'eral e.-..:peri111e11tal
nuxlels, each capable offlight.
Home Built ,Hodel Turhines
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Chapter 4
1:tge ll'ngrh of 1.-5 m and a rake off wl.'ighr of 6 kg,
including its I litre of fuel on board. The model \Vas nl-
red wilh an improved 1e1 turbine of rhe rype fl)-:$/64.
which supplied 30 N of constant 1hrusr. Taking off from
grass was nor a problem and required neither wind nor
catapult .
II tr:inspired rhar rhe :tforementioned meeting was to
take the form of a competition . I had no prior knowl-
edge of this, bm was cordially invited to take pare in the
action, which I did. With no special training, I gained
sixth place out of rwelve parricipanrs. even though my
model picked up zero points tor design due to a roral
lack of documentation. In each of the thrc.-e heat:s my
fuel supply of only I litre proved sufficient. I crnnpletl.'d
all the flight manoeuvres and each time w:1s able to land
cleanly with the engine running.
Larcr I acquirc.-d a much larger F 100. Whilst ir
35
Back i111991 Rainer Binczyk had eq11ipped this F-16 u•ith his RB-007 e11gil1e. 32 N of t/:,rust were sufficie11t
lo gel Ibis 7 kg lll<><lel airborne. Later I used the same 1110,lelfor the del'elopmenl <!f the KJ-66. The new
engi11e lt'as.filled i11 April 1997 ,md it be,:ame the first semi-scale jet 1110,lel with"" obstinate te11de11cyfor
,•erticaljlight. II slilljlies today and will soon be filled with the more appropriate TK-50.

h1sicle the F-16 shows the clesigtt of the thrust tube. Toclay thi.'t design is still co111111011 lo most jet models
that hm•e the jet turhine incorporated inside the body of tl:,e aircraft.

36 Hn111e Built ,l1odel Turbines

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 Diagram 11
Flight data calculated for a model FIOO aircraft with a TK-50 je t turbine
40

----------thrust

30 +-- - - -

air res istance

20

10

o~-~-- - -+--------,--------
0 50 100 150
-----~-
200
-----250
--------'~300
Flight velocity [km/h]

Nitro Dt1J', Punitz 1992. 111 ll1eforeg 1·01111tl Herma1111 Mic/Jelic's t11•i11-jet A-JU, at tl:wt time still equipped
11•itl1 llt'o home-built jet turbi11es similar to the FD-3 type. prod11ci11g appro.,·. 25 N oftln·11st.

Home Huilt ,'11odel Turhines 37

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Hennan11 Michelic startirtg t/Je e11gi11es of bis AJO.

38 Home Huilt ,Wudel Turbines

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Three a,,erage-sized semi-scale jet models: in the foreground Ber11d Bi11czyk's Skystreak. 11ext to it, bis
Sta,fighter. Ber11d also had a big part in the F 100. All three models ha,1e 30 .V of thrust. They fly
brillia11tly and are capable of all kinds of aerobatics. Ber11d has published a constructio11 pla11for the
Sky streak

weighed 12 kg ;1t takl'.-off. thanks to thl'. 80 N thnist from Moder11jet turbi11es hcll'e a high thrust capabilit)•.
a K_J-66, _Jetcat 80 or similar, it lwd no problems getting This enabled the construction of /c,rger models.
airborne. Nevertheless, it did have a much greater sur- Here you ca11 see my larger F 100 packaged up as
face area loading. So whenever I began my bnding flight luggage.
approach to rathe r narrow model airfie lds, I always had
my hear! in my mouth. It was for this n::1son that I
decided to equip my old F 100. which I mentioned :II
the start, with a small modern TK'i0 jet turbine. designed
to provide <10 N of thnist. Including the on-board fuel,
the model then we ighed less than (1 kg and the fuel was
sufficient for 8 minutes of flight. I calculated the follow-
ing flight data, shown in diagram I I . The cl:lta inclicated
that at full thrust the ma ximum velocity in horizomal
flight would be almost 300 km h. This is already a lot
more than b required to reproduce a re:1sonably realistic
flight experience.
Engines today are capable of high levels of thrust.
Unfortunately, the y also increase the te mpt:1tion co over-
load the model. In my o pinio n there arc many reasons
why this is a risk to safety. There is something definitely
amiss with a model thal has a surface area loading of
200 g 'dm' more. Whilst your model may look fantastic,
when you come to fill ii up for a competition and you
disco ver that a full tank would t:1ke it over the 20 kg
(including fuel!) weight limit. it may be that it does not
look quite that fantastic after all. Sm:1ller jet turbines do
produce les.~ thrust, hut they weigh less and consume
less fuel. Two of them might prove a hcner snlurion.
p:1rticularly if you have a twin-engine model.
By the way, each one of the models shown in this
book is equipptd with a home-built engine. Many more
such models exist, I know . We could probably fill a
whole hook with their photos, and what is more, home-
built engines are just as competitive . Patrick Reichstetter
has a Mirnge powered by a jet turbine developed by his
father Rudi. In the World Championships of 1999 he
achieved third place in the Expert-Class and :11 the same
time first place in the Team Prize.

Home Built ,Hodel Turbines .:W

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 Chapter S

Home BuiltJet Engines

Comparative technical data
The foll o wing tahle lists importa nt techn ical data to
compare se veral mcxlern home-built je t turbine s together
with their predecessor, the FD-:V64. The most striking
diffe rence is ho w the J -66.' K_l-66 engines provide an
enormo w, increase in thrust, but witho ut a correspond-
ing increase in we ight or dimensions. The dimensions
and we ig ht of the TK-50 are some what le ss than the fD-
3/ 04. Howeve r, the reduction in its size and weight w;1s
more than co mpensated fo r by an increase in thrust. The candidates from left to right: KJ-66, TK-50 a11d
Some tests are still outstanding for the TK-50. As a Behotecj-66.
result . reliable dara is missing with regard tu the maxi-
mum recomme nded thrust and p e rmitted rotational of the <>6 e ngines. All the same, the data measuremenrs
velocity. Likewise, work on optimising the exhausr ga.'i for the TK-50 l·oincide clo sely with the calculated data
nozzle is not yd complete . This is evident from the (no t shown in d<.'lail>. It is e xpected that this engine will
exhaust gas temperature which is much lower than that achieve at least 40 N of thrust.

Technical data for jet turbines

Units FD-3 64 Beho tec J-66 KJ--66 TK-50
We ight g 870 1,040 930 H20
Max. diameter 111111 1 IO 113 112 98
Length 111111 265 230 2.30 206
Wheel dfam1eter lllm 64 6h 66 50
Weight of compressor wheel g 30 67 67 30
Weight of turbine wheel g 40 68 68 34
Combustion chamber volume ml '-05 i30 (30 27::,
Intake diame ter mm 33 16 :i6 33.5
Ring cross-sectio n turbine wheel cm 18.1 19 19 10.8
Ring cross-section thnisr nozzle cm ' 1' 18.5 17.9 10.2

Max. pe rmined rotational velocity rev.min 75.000 120.000 120,000 150.000

Data at max. rotational velocity

TI1rust N 24 84 .2 84.5 40
Exhaust gas temperature oc 6,iO 575 'i80 19",
1

Pressure ratio 1., 2.19 2.15 1.95

Outflow velocity m .1 s 209 350 365 270
Kerose ne consumptio n ml; min 160 300 300 120
Lubricant consumption ml/ min 2 10 10 7
Air flow rate kg/s 0.115 0.24 0.23 0126

Recommended max. thrust

Rota tional velocity at reco mmended max. thnist
N
rev; min
24
7"i,OOO
'.,
7-
114,600
75
114.600

Minimum roratio nal velocity rev/min 2(J,Olill 52,(J00-3\000 '!li,000 60,000

-,
Residual thrust N 2 5 4
Exhaust g;is temp. at min. rotational velocit y oc 500 550 550 "i8S

Acceleration : ic.lle to full load s 2 3.5---! 3 2.5

Deceleration: full load to idle s j 2.5-j 3 2
.\fax. te mperature during accelerntinn oc ~50 approx. 700 750 '50

40 Home Built Model Turhines

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Kit version of
the Behotec J-66
jet turbine
Behotec is based in
Hergkirchen. It supplies
products to the en-
gineering industry
amongst others and is
equipped with modern
CNC machine,. Thi:--
enables them to build
small jet turbines, hut
the story does not end
there. More important is
the fact that within their
midst they have some-
one who is a model jet
turbine and model air-
craft enthusiast, Thomas
Berktokl. He also hap-
pens to he the boss of
the company and is def-
initely the right m:m in
the right place. He
developed his first This is the cu11structio11 kit fur the J-66. Nut shou•11 are the small ,:umpo11e11ts
flight-worthy jet turbine a11d the Orbit electronics that are supplied as part ufthe kit.
hack in 1992 and pre-
sented it at the Whinle Ohain Trophy. This engine had :1vaibble to fit the engine. Mr. Herktolt decided that they
100 N of static thrust and weighed 2.5 kg. At that time it were not good <:nough. His solution was for Behot<:c to
,vas too big and too heavy for most model jet aircraft. have its own mould to m:mufactun:: th<: wax modd of
It took many attempts and untold practical develop- the turbine wheel. I k went to a company c1lled Zollern
ment work before nehotec finally brought out the _J-(i6. for the vacuum lost-wax casting. It then comes hack ro
launching it as both a finished engine and in kit version. Ikhotec for further rrocessing. i.e. for boring. diameter
They do have a more powerful version which, although calibration and balancing.
the same size, produces 1,'10 N of thrust. However. this is The consrruction kit includes fuel rumr, filter, shut-
only available as a finished engine. off valve. connenion pieces, hoses. as well as tried-and-
It should nor be long before a starter is like,vise avail- test<:d Orbit electronics. Please as!,. the manufacturer for
able in kit version. 171is is intended for retrofirring an the current price of the construnion kit. At the s:1me
autostart to the J-66 turbine construction kir and other time it is worthwhile comparing prices wirh ready-to-run
similar jer turbines. It should enable a fully :1utn111:1tic turbines or those of other manuf~1cturers. You could save
starter procedure after activation of a switch on the up to €500.00 in no time.
transmitter. Finished turbine or consrruction kit~ - allov. me to
Behotec always has an ear open to the concerns of assist you ,vith your decision: look at the photo that
those of us who fly home-built model turbine engines. :-hows the tools necessa1y for the assembly of the _J-66.
The company is able to supply almost any component If ir takes you longer than five seconds to spot a spion
required for a turbo engine, including standard acces- and a c:illirx:r. you had better purchas<: :1 ready-to-run jer
sories. In addition. it offers a balancing service for turbine. By the w:1y, a srion is also called a feeler gauge
home-builders. or thickness template and ;1 callirer is also called a
vemier.
The c011structio11 kit - a detailed look It took you longer than five seconds and now you
The T in the product designation stands for Jetstream. have made ur your mind. for sure. that you will order a
the ·66' for rhe diameter of the wheels in millimetres. finished turbine. 13efure yuu do so. 1 recommend one
That there is de:ir similarity between both the design:1- mor<: test: look at the rhotograrh ag:1in and see how
tion and technical design of the _J-66 and K_]-66 is coinci- quickly you c:1n pick out a socket wrench. If it takes you
dent:1I. Quite simply. it happens thar from a current longer than one .~eumd. you are not quite ready to tack-
technological perspective different designers. when le any kind of turbine. However. if you already h:1ve
given the same remit, come to similar solurion:--. Clearly some experience of fa:sr model :1ircraft. you probably
the open discussion between hobby engineer:-- :ind com- have what it takes to become a successful rilot of tur-
merci:d companies pbyed no small rart in the develor- bine ,urcraft.
ment. If you n<:(:"d more information to make your decision.
Let us look at the construction kit in detail. It certainly the best idea would he to watch the video lilm showing
lives up to its name as a ·complete construction kit'. No all srages of assembly. Ir is included as ran of the con-
need to waste time talking about the quality. It is top struction kit. hut can he obtained serarately for a nomi-
draw. It uses the same comronent<; that are used for rhe nal charge of €15, which is refunded if you purchase
finished turbines. Although turbine wheels were already the J-66.

Home Built .Hodel Turbines 41

www.ASEC.ir

Tools used in the assembly oftheJ-66. The engine can be bought ready for use.
Of course. I took time to watch the film and subse-
quently assembled the J-66 according to the construction
instructions enclosed. In the course of doing so, I took
some photos to use in the hook. From start to finish,
including taking the rhotos, ii took me no more than
four ho urs. Incidentally. the last photograph in this
series is the test photograph shown ahove. Ir shows all
the resource.., and tools actually required to assemble the
engine. None of the tools shown, it seems to me, would
he either unknown tn an average model-builder or
impossible to o btain.
All through-hares and thn:;tds are cleanly drilled .
They do not require any reworking.
The rotor is supplied in assembled form with stan-
dard 608 hall bearings. The rotor is aln:;1dy balanced . To
secure it in position, there are marks o n the wheels and
the sru,ft as well as on the nut to fasten the compressor
wheel. At last I h.id the chance lo try out my own finger-
tip method (see next diapler) on a professionally manu-
factured rotor. Of course, there was nothing to improve.
Having said that, I only needed to attach a ') x 5 mm
piece of fabric tape to any pan of the compressor or tur-
bine wheel ;tnd my fingenip meth<XI could detect the
deterior.llion.
In some respects the J-66 is very different from the
KJ-66. The housing is machined from a single picce of
aluminium alloy. Once connected ro the compressor
guide system it creates a very rigid structure. Specially
adarted angle mounts are fixed to every joint. They are
used to mount the engine inside the model o r 10 the test
stand. The aforementioned rigidity enables the shaft tun-
42
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777
nel to just he screwed to the compres.-;or guide system.
'J11e hack end of the shaft tunne l is float fitted in the
ce ntral section of the turbine guide syste m. This pre-
ve nts any heat transmissio n from the turbine guide sys-
tem to the shaft tunnel.
TI1ere is an excellent fit hetwecn the front lid and the
ho using. An 0-ring seal is included hut you can almost
d o without it. The J-66 has exactly th e same extcrnal
dia meter as the KJ-66, yet the internal diameter is 2 mm
larger. i.e. leaving more roo m for the combustion cham-
be r.
The n1rbine guide syste m is likewise machined from a
heat-resistant steel alloy. It fits ve1y well into th e prore r
turhine ho using and is already secured in place. l11e
hack of the comhustion chamber, which contains the six
sticks. is firmly fastened to the fro nt flange of the turbine
guide syste m. The rcmainder of the combustion c ham-
ber is screwed to the hack. The internal surface of the
sticks is constrncted as a threaded bore. l11e idea is that
it provides hetter combustion at lower rotational vclo<:i-
tics. The whole construction, including complete com-
bustion c hamber and turbine guide system. is screwed to
th e housing via the ha c k nange. This process also
involves aligning the turbine whe el to the turhine hous-
ing.
In th e final assemhly it is necessa,y lo rephtL·e th e
hcarings mentio ned previously with the full compliment
hall bearings that are supplied. The wheels and the cor-
responding seats on thc shaft have bee n machined with
extreme precision. For instance, o nce heated, the turbine
w heel should fall almost automatically into the correct
H ome Huilt ,Wadel Turbines
position on the shaft.
Yet , when cold, it
should adhere tightly.
For the final assembly
you jus1 need to make
sure th;11 the corre-
s po nding markings are
aligned again, as indicat-
e d in th e instructions.
This maintains the high
quality of the rotor bal-
ancing.
Apart from simply
scre v,; in g the compo-
ne nts together, you also
need to do the follow-
ing : drill a hole in th e
combustion chamber to
take the glow plu g.
p o sition the fuel line s
and auxiliary gas line
and hard solder them to
th e combustion cham-
ber. If you do not have
much experience of
hard soldering small
components. all is not
lost . You can us e an
alternative technolog y to
assemble the engin e. The turbine guid.e system oftheJ-66 is screwed to the combustio11 chamber.
This involves securing
the line for the auxiliary gas to the hack section of the the gap should he be twee n 0 .15 and 0 .2 mm. Of course,
combustion chambe r using a damp and the inte nd ed the only wa y to eliminate this fault invol ved taking most
screvv fitting. Another p ossibility is to secure the fuel dis- of the engine apart . Unfortunately , there w e re no
tributor simply by clamping it tightly to the three loops instructions as to how to do this. Whe n I .-1ske d the
yo u will find on the co mbustion chamber. question, I was given the following advi ce : open the
To test the e ngine, I faste ned it to my we ll-equipped engine, unscre w the compressor whee l, ho using and
test stand. Although the
photo in tlte instrnctions T11rbi11e wheel with nut. special clampi11g nut and shaflfor theJ-66.
does indeed s h ow to
which side the co nnec-
tion nipple for fuel a nd
oil should be atuched, I
managed to re v e rs e
them. The engine spat
out fire and smo ke a nd
the Orbit ECL' took the
correct decision : switc h
off pump! After the sec-
ond failed attempt, I
pa used for re fl ec ti o n
and quickly found th e
error.
The constructio n kit I
tested still comained the
old turbine wheel that
1:khotec has since
updated technically. The
gap hetween the van es
of the turbine w h ee l
and the housing was
only 0.1 mm. The result
was that the turbine
wheel seized up instant-
ly in th e start phase.
According rn He hote c,

Home Built ,Hodel Turbines 43

www.ASEC.ir
noale and rhen heat the n.:maining assembly 10 200°C
in an nven. Using protective gloves, you can then pull
the turbine wheel, together with the shaft and hearings,
our of the shaft tunnel. Admittedly, you have to he pre-
pared for the hearings to fall apart in the proces.<;. This
need not be a c.lisaster. if you take precautions. For this
reason you should take the engine :ipart over a large
tray. which is coverec.l with de,1n. soft p:iper or ,1 doth .
lf things go wrong. you catch :ill the halls anc.l put the
hearing hack together. The best way to do this is to
cover the bearing races and halls thickly with grease :ind
inselt the halb between the races using tweezers.
After these initi,il problems, it was all plain sailing.
The engine performed well on the test stand. The Orbit
Ect· natur:illy fits very well. These systems regulate the
rotational \"(:>locity in proportion to the setting of the
throttle lever, i.e. at ,1 certain throttle lever setting the
rotational velocity of the engine remains constant. Of
course that makes ii an awful lot ea.sier to create the
graphs. See the section on ·operating performance· in
the chapter entitled ·physical-technical principles· for
c.letailed measurement result-;.
General points on the construction of
the KJ-66 and TK-50
For the housing you du not need to use the blanks
mentioned in the instructions. Stainless steel cylinders
are equ;1lly effective. These cornainers have a fl<x>r :ind
a wall thickness of O.~ lo 0.6 mm. Certainly. you should
not reduce the inlt"rnal diameter of tht' KJ-66. The larger
the internal diameter of the housing, the less is the need
to alter the diameter ot the combustion ch,unber. It goes
without saying that you need ro adapc the dimensions of
the corresponding compressor guide system and lid so
that they fit.
The instructions on how to build the KJ-66 and TK-50
jet turbines are intended for a model builder with a solid
grasp of metal working. As a minimum you would
require a l;uhe and MIG welding apparatus. fhe net'cl
for special tools is specified in the corresponding chap-
ters. If you ~\"ant lo make the cumpres.<;or guide system
for the KJ-66 yourself. ,1 milling machine is essential . I
built the Th-50 without rLTr>urse ro a milling machine.
Some of the components are designed in such a way as
lo enable this.
When you fit the rotor and similarly for balancing
worl-.. it is recommended to first use repl:icement hall
bearings. 1-'or the TK-50 you need st:1mbrd 688 serie~
hall hearings, the principal dimensions of which are:
external diameter = 16 mm. internal diameter = 8 mm,
width = 6 mm. Th<: KJ-66 w,<::s 608 series hearings with
an external diameter of 22 111111. an inrernal diameter of 8
mm and a width of R 111111.
There :ire several pages of scale drawings. Each is
denoted hy ·sheet 1 etc. of the drawing for jet rnr-
bine ... ·. The description •view from the front ' me;ms
viewed in the direction of the airflow. In the assembly
drawing on sheet I it equa1es to the view from the left.
This is important. Otherwise there is a risk of installing
some components the wrong way around.
No measurements are given for the bevelled edges
:md 1ransition points of machined pans. Clearly. it is
necessary to turn the hearing seats :II the transition
points. Advice on toler:mces for the hall hearing se;Us is
best obtained from GRW and is contained in their manu-
44
www.ASEC.ir
facrurer in~rrunions in the section ·Bearing.s, counter-
acting resonance vihr:1tion ... · in the chapter ·physical-
technical principles·. No specific dimensional drawings
were produced for the hall be;trings. screws and nuts
used. Unless otherwise stated. the dr..iwings are in a
scale <>f 1:1.
To the best of my knowledge, the drawings :rnd
descriptions are correct. However, 1 offer no guar:mtee
as to tht'ir accuracy and : or accept no liability with
respect to any claims for 1.bmage due to crrr>rs.
Reproduction of the Th:-~o ,md K_l-66 jet turbines for
commercial purposes is not permitted without my
express :1greement.
Balancing t/Je rotor
As far a.~ I :1m aware Behotec, :me! Cat lxith offer a
balancing service. I cannot comment on the details apart
from saying that rhere is little chance of being able to
balance a rotor satisfactorily. if it does not fit properly.
As a result. 1 first recommend h:.i lancing the rotor using
the fingertip merhoJ (sec hdow). If this proves to be
reasonably successful, run the jct turbine briefly at a
reduced rotational velocity ( up to n70% approx . ). Use
the replacement ball bearings for this trial. hut without
cover disks. This will give you a prerty good idea of
whether or not the routing parts ruh and whether you
need to rework them. Subsequently. once the rotor has
been professionally balanced , it will run perfectly.
In my experience the compressor wheel is usually
pretty well-balanced. Therefore, the main concern is the
turbine wheel. After the finge11ip test. the next stage in
the lx1l:111cing process is as follows: screw the turbine
wheel together with the shaft. replacement hall bearings.
spacer bush and turbine nuts. Hold the hall hearing
between your two most sensitive fingers. Blow air into
the rurbine wheel using a compressed air pump. The air
pressure should he low to begin with :1s you work up to
the required rotational velocity. \}vha1 vibration do you
feel in your fingertips~ Stick a pit'ce of fabric tape
(approx. 2 x 2 cm) anywhere on the turbine vane as a
babncing weighr. Blow air into the turbine :1gain. as
before. Change the position of tht' balancing weight.
The best pbce would be 1he point nppo.'>ite the heavy
side of the turbine disk . If you cannot sense a difference,
change the position of the balancing weight by approx .
900_
111e objective is to establish the position al which the
balancing weight causes the 111os1 noticeable reduction
of vibration in your fingeltips. Having done this. grind a
little aw:1y from the habncc ring at the point that lies
opposire the balancing weight. Bdcire stalting grinding,
protect the hall bearing hy wrapping it in a thick doth.
Repeat the proces.~. ch:inging che position ,incl the
weight of the habncing weight and grinding down the
balance ring little by little. Eventually you will achieve
an optimally balan,L'd turbine wheel. You will h:1ve
reached this point when you c:m only just still sense the
effect of a balancing weigh1 of approx 'ix 5 111111 .
The home-built TK-50 jet turbine. made
from a thermos flask
HoU' it ei•olvecl
The forerunner of thL' TK-50 was built many years
ago. At rhat time my ;1im was to develop a sm:1ller iet
turbine than the K_l -66 as the basis for an engine to drive
Home Built ,Hodel Turhi11es
a ,-,haft ( I explain the results in detail in my hook ·TI1e
turboprop engine for home-built models'. See references
in the appendix,_
At that time the engine had exactly the same com-
pre!->sor wheel as the Th-50. The turbine wheel had a
diameter of 50 mm, and, admittedly. was hand made
from material that was not particularly heat-resistant. It
gener;Jted 23 N :.1s ;1 jet turbine at around 120,0UO
rev 1 min. The hearings I used at that time could not with-
stand a rotational velocity that was any greater.
During the Whittle Ohain Trophy in .WOO Martin
Lambert showed me a similar jet turbine that he was
working on. He had already got as for as designing sev-
eral turbine wheel prototypes and getting them manufac-
tured professionally. These wheels \Vere made from
material with a very high heat resist;mce and I used one
of them and the new GHW hall hearing to construct the
TK-50 . .\1artin Lambert helped me christen it: TK st;mds
quilt' simply for ·thermos flask'. the 50 indicates the
wheel diameter in millimetres.
The idea behind my design was to build a sm;1II 1mxl-
ern jet turbine that retjuired the use of as little machin-
ery as possible. Providing that you are not going to
attempt to hre:1k any s1x.-cd records, a thrust of 40 N is
in my opinion perfectly suitable for 111<..·dium-sized ,mxlel
and training aircraft th;ll ;1re not too heavy.
I did not try to make the housing and combustion
cham~r as small as possible. If you ;1re a home-builder
and you like experimenting. this provides a certain free-
dom in the size of the rotor. The compressor guide sys-
tem is new and is compar:.1tively easy to m:.1nufacture. It
enahles you to experiment at establishing the best possi-
ble efficiency rate. You do not have to alter :.1ny compo-
nents. just the position uf the guid<: vane,.

Co11struclion requireme11ls
A precision engineering lathe is absolutely essential,
along with at least a ,velding device using ~hielding gas
(J\IIG. MAG). A simple l\.1AG welding dl:'vice was used to
cre:11e tl1e welded joints for the prototype described in
the following seelion. A TIG welding device works bet-
ter wi1h thinner materials. Sometimes it is easier co create
a sheet joim by spot wdding {power: approx. 500 VA).
In case it is not pu,-,,-,ihle to use a bthe tu cut the thn:ad,
you need M5 left-hand threaded t.tps and dies. To bore
the turbine wheel, you need a 5.5 mm carbide drill.

Home Built .Hodel Turbines -15

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Parts list and drawings
Parts list: TK-50

llem Description No. 1vlaterial Sc:mi-finished Notes Drawing

tdimensions 111111) Sheet No.

Compressor nut Al-alloy Dural or similar Hound. 12 0 6

2 CompresM>r wheel Al-alloy Type 14/0.i, KKK 16
3 Spacer hush St C4:; or better Hound. 1:; 0 6
4 Compressor hearing Type 1)0881002 970. GR\V
5 Slide bush Sr C4<; or heu.:r Round. 18 0 6
6 Pre-load spring Spring steel Wire. 1 0 6
7 Shaft St C4<; nr hent·r Round. 15 0 3
8 Shaft tunnel Al-alloy Dural or :similar Hound. 100
9 Turbine hearing Type D688/ 602 976, GHW
10 Space bush St C4 5 or hen er Hound, 15 0 6
11 Turhine wheel Ni-basis Finished part-see :suppliers I6
12 Turhine nut CrNi ll 0 6
13 Intake nozzle Al -alloy 800 5
14 Lid Al , soft Sheet, I.:; thick 5
15 Front screw 10 St Hexagon socket .\12 x 11 G 8.8
16 Guide , ·ane holder Al-alloy Dural or similar Sheet, 8 thick 4
17 Connector :; Al-alloy Dural or similar Sheet, 3 thick 7
18 Screw 5 St Hexagon socket M3 x 5 G 8.8
19 Tooth wheel 5 St
20 Screw 6 St Hexagon ~ocket M2.5 x 8 G 8.8
21 Sooth wheel 6 St
22 Rivel 3 Al SK ·i 0
23 Hive1 3 Al SK 20
24 Compressor guide vane 10 Al-alloy Dural or similar Sheer. 3 thick 6
2:; Housing CrNi 18/ 10 or similar External part of thermos flask 1:;
26 Comb. chamber ext. wall CrNi IH/10 or similar Internal part of thermos tlask 12,13
r Comb. chamber int. wall CrNi 18/10 or similar Sht't't, 0.5 thick 11
28 Comb. ch,unher hack wall 1 CrNi 18-' Hl or similar Sheet. 0. 5 thick 14
29 Stick 6 CrNi 18/ 10 or similar Tube 5 x 0.4 12
30 Turhine guide vane ') Thermos or :similar Sheet, 0.6 thick 8
31 Turbine ring I CrNi 18/ 10 or similar Hound, 40 0 Heady-made, set· suppliers lbt 8
32 Central body CrNi 18/ 10 or similar Hound. 'iO 0 Ready-made, see supplier~ list 8
33 Disk CrNi 18/10 or similar Sheet, 3 thick 8
34 Nozzle sheath CrNi 18,' 10 or similar Sh.:et, OS thick Alternative bank - egg cup 10
35 Nozzle core CrNi 18/ )() or simil.ir Sheet, 0. <; thk-k Alternati\'e hank - egg cup ')
36 Radius arm 6 CrNi 18/10 or similar Sheet, 0.5 thick 7
37 2-connector 3 CrNi 18, 10 or similar Sheet. I thick
3H Nut 5 CrNi 18/ 10 or similar Mj 7
39 Screw s, Hexagon :socket M3 x <;
40 Lubricanr supply line Rrass Tuhe 2 x 0.-i 1:1
41 Tab Brass Sheet. 0.:; thick 13
42 Capillary Rrns., Tube 1 x 0.2 Not visible in St'<."lional view 1;:I
43 Auxiliary gas line Brass Tuhe 2 x 0.4 Not visible in sectional view 13
44 Conne<:ting piece Rras~ Tube 3 x 0.5 Not visible in sectional view 13
45 Gas capillary 2 Bra,,_, Tube 1 x 0.2 Nol visible in sectional view n
46 Fuel supply line Arass Tube l x 0.4 Not visible in sectional ,·iew 1,,
47 Distributor ring 1 Brass Tuhe 3 x 0.5 14
48 Fuel c:1pillary 6 Rrass Tube Ix 0.2 14
49 Glow plug Finished part 7
:;o Threaded hush St Hound, 10 0
51 Tab CrNi 18/ 10 or similar Sheet. 0.5 thick Nor visible in sectional view 12
52 Nut I CrNi 18, IO or similar M3. hidden in sectional view 12
53 Screw 1 CrNi 18/ 10 or similar Hexagon socket Mj x 5
54 Tooth wheel I St
55 IR-transmitter I Electronic control comronent
56 IH-receivcr l Electronic control component
57 Clamping jaw 3 St Sheet, l thick 7
58 J{estrictor line l Brass Tube 1 x 0 .2 approx. 200 mm long
59 Connetting piece 2 Arass Tube 2 x U.4 ;.ipprox. 10 mm long
60 Wire 1 Sc 0.5 0 approx. 200 mm long

-16 / lome Built ;vrodel Turbines

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 40 41 24 14 16 19 18 17 22 23 49 50 25 26 27 29 28 48 47 30 31 37 38 39 32 33
~....

•,

. 34
55 •,

13 . _.. 36
35

2 .. ..
1 .. .

12

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:~

56 ..

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 TK-50: Sheet 2

M
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48 Home Built ,\1ndel Turbines

www.ASEC.ir
 TK-50: Sheet 3

Cl)
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papue4-:ua1
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H om e Built ,1,,Jode/ Turbines -i9

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 P.16 Guide vane holder

.
0
a,

Section B-B
.....___ _ Scale= 2.5:1
'i' ·-·-
C

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~-------71
··-·-·-·-'-·-·-·
------·75

..,_- - - - - - 8 8 Scale= 2.5:1 Section C-C

-----94 (internal diameter of housing)

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 e-------------- TK-50: Sheet 5

1. S L - - - - - - - - - - - .....

·- . -0 ·- - - .- . -·- ·.
I

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a:
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Home Built Model Turbines 51

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TK-50: Sheet 6

.. - -.- .-. -. - ~~ ~--: "'1-'; - .-.- .- . -. -.- .-. -.- .- .-. -. - . -.- .- .- .- . -. - .- .
90R

3 thick P.24 Compressor guide vane

0
-~

P.1 Compressor nut P.12 Turbine nut

7.5 Wdg.1.4 0 wire

U> -- - -- - . ·- - ...,
Ill
t- co
....
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P.5 Slide bush P.6 Pre-load spring

118,S ....
f=Ej_---- _I--r-;
I 1 ·- t t
~.os-0,03

P.3 Spacer bush P.10 Spacer bush

I Jome Ruilt ,l1ode/ Turhines

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 TK-50: Sheet 7
1/4" Thread glow plug

It ~
It

tPII tf"I
· u -ou I ament approx. 1 mm

Scale= 2.5:1
1~18
~ ~
1

~1
It
I
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P.49 Glow plug

--10

P.50 Threaded bushing

3,2

-r--
~ j,_ - I

~j ~li~ 3

P.17 Connector
0-7 P.57 Clamping jaw

M3

-
0
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....
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0.5thick

P.37 Z-Connector P.36 Radius arm

P.38 Nut

H ome Built Mod el Turl?ines 53

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 TK-50: Sheet 8

15

3 7

P.31 Turbine ring P.32 Central body P.33 Radius arm

P.31
···-.
·- ......

., . . ·.,····.;-. ·
. P.32

·- . . . . . . :
, . . r. P.30
, ······· =i·· · ········ ············•·•······· ·

16,5
Q)

~;,7
11
3

P.30 Turbine guide vane

l -15

Section A-A
~
t

Scale= 2.5:1

54 Home Built Model Turbines

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 TK-50: Sheet 9
==
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iii
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Home Built ,'vfode/ Turbines 55

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 TK-50: Sheet 10

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56 Hnme Bui/I Mndel Turhines

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 ·- -- ----111,5 - - - - -

1,8 Pos. 27 combustion chamber

Internal wall
Nozzles
Constructing the nozzles Tool
Diameter of nozzle

Sheet ~ Hole 0.5 mm smaller than tool

\
["'777'.":~'777"7,r-;---'-777777,'7'77777,::'77"""7]
Section A-A and B-B
I R = O.Sx D Scale = 2.5:1

• 1 ~ Hard plywood

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 19 >;

\ -t-~-~~~·-
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I --~ - - I 'j>-

~ -----82 - - - - - - ~
~1• • : Pos. 26 External wall of I

66 - - - - ~ combustion chamber
P.58 P.59
0.5 thick
N

1 1
-8-~ 40 • -~ --i-r-;-------:~---------.1 ,-\0r- -=r- ~ --
I 1 ~"'-!>, .----.-~

Tool Pos. 29 Stick Tool CX) P.51 Tab (mounting P.52 Nut
link)

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- - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2 5 7 , 6 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~\

Developed view of hole plan for the external wall of

the combustion chamber

1 02
Brass - cap 2 x 0.4 Brass - cap 3 x 0.4 ~;~g~s - cap x - · ·- _ ___
100 lg. 25 lg. ___ ___ -·- ·· ·- --- -- ·- :
- • - - -· - ---·-·-·-·-···-·-·-t~•?~.---~:= - : .· .·- - - - - : - - - - - - ---:- - .
P.43 A~xiliary gas / Hard soldered P.4~-~-~-~-C-a-~il-1~~ ------ - ·· 2,6
supply line
P.44 Connecting piece
Brass - cap 2 x 0.4 140 long
r- 7

-() ·
Hard soldered

\ ; . Brass - cap 1 x 0.2 75 long

-i~:--------------------------- ---~-Y- · -· -· -·- - -·-·-·-·-·•·-.. ,·_:_,~_.,. , . .,. . . .,..... -~-
\ · l- - - - - 5 5 - - -
P.40 Lubricant supply line P.41 Tab P.42 Capillary

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 4
P.47 Distributor ring

-~etail Z
I
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P.46 Fuel supply line P.28 Combustion chamber wall

Thickness = 0.5 \ P.48 Fuel Capillary

Elongated length = 70 u;,. _
0
Hard soldered
Detail Y and Z. side view Detail X
Scale = 2.5:1 Scale = 2.5:1

Brass - plugs

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 TK-50: Sheet 15

II)

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H om e Hui/I .'Hodel Turbines 61

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 TK-50: Sheet 16

P.11 Turbine wheel

,1
~
i 15,5~

~~:
; 0,8

,4
I

17,8
------'26

------~o ---------

Pos. 2 Compressor wheel

62 Home Built J1ode/ Turbines

- - -- - - -- - - --

www.ASEC.ir
Constructing individual components
Rotor, beari11gs and shaft tunnel
The compressor ,vheel (part 2) is a Rnished compo-
nent. Whilst ii may require fine balance correction, it
does nut require further reworking.
o,, the le.fl, a hand-ma,le turbi11e u,/:,eelfor the
prototype ,.if the TK50; on the right, a
professionall__v cast wheel, based on Martin
Lambert's plastic model
We begin with the turbine wheel ( 11 ). The cast hlank
must he bored to a nominal bore diameter of 6 111111.
First you centre it on the lathe, then hore a through-hole
using a 5.5 111111 carhide drill hit (or alternatively a car-
bide reamer, if you have one availahle). With the wheel
still clamped in the same position on the lathe you Gm
finish the bored hok. The nominal bore diameter is 6
mm. You need to use a manually-operated mini grinding
machine and a small conical milling tool, followed by a
cylindrical grinding tool with a diameter uf 5 mm. The
lathe needs to he set to a low speed. The bored hole
should be slightly conic:il in shape. starting with the
nominal bore diameter at the front of the hole. l11e tur-
bine wheel should he loosely press-fit to the shaft, natu-
rally with the pre!->:-,-point at the narrowest part of the
bored-hole. The external diameter is finished at the same
time as the turbine guide system as pan of the final
assembly.
The spacer bushes (.~ lU) provide traction between
the compressor 'turbine wheel respectively. This ensures
that the inner races of the hall hearing are not crushed
when the shaft is clamped tight. It requires the bearing
seat to he made approximately 0.02 mm larger than the
length of the internal race. Each of the spacer bushes
can be manufactured in a single damping position. The
hole is bored with a centre drill, pre-drilled to 5.8 mm
and finished off with a 6H7 reamer.
The bearings (4 ·9) are carried in a diameter of 8 111111.
You can use a hall hearing with an internal diameter of
8 mm to calibrate this cross section. The bearings (4/9)
intended for this application are in fact not suitahle,
since rhey are extremely fragile and c.111 easily fall apart.
The shaft (l) is first pre-turned. Precision work is car-
ried out between centres to fit the spacer hushes (3, 10!,
compressor wheel and turhine wheel. An alternative to
employing a precision gauge is to use standard hall
bearings with the same internal or external diameter
as the hearing. The spacer hushes are constructed to
loosely press-fit the shaft. Special care should be taken
to ensun: that the front faces of the spacer rings are
coplanar to each other. Next, finish the shaft-seating for
the turbine wheel or compressor wheel to provide a
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lorn,e pre!->:-,-fit for both wheels. lbe adjustment b facili-
tated by heating the wheels to l 50°C. At this tempera-
ture: the wheels should slide easily into position. The
shaft-seating for the compressor is only required to fit at
the hack of the bore hole.
The compressor wheel ( 1) is pre-turned on the lathe
and a left-hand M5 thread cut. The external shape is not
significant. The maximum diameter should be adjusted
to the diameter of the compressor wheel. Consequently,
the nut should only be finished to its final shape once it
has been assembled with the shaft and the compressor
wheel.
Instead of the stated turhine nut ( 12) you can also use
a hexagonal M5 left-handed nut.
The push sleeve ( "i) serves to take the compressor
hearing (•1). The bearing should fit firmly in the push
sleeve. The external diameter of the push sleeve is pol-
ished.
The shaft tunnel (8) is machined from high-strength
aluminium alloy. A round blank is required with a diam-
eter of ,10 111111. First you bore a 14 111111 diameter hole
down the full length of the material. The 16 mm rear
bearing seat is machined to give a tight fit. A ball-bear-
ing with an external diameter of 16 mm can he used as a
gauge. The forward recess should have a diameter of 20
mm. First machine it to a length of only 2.3 mm. Do nut
determine the exact length of the recess until you come
to Rt the whole rotor assembly together, including com-
pressor guide system and intake nozzle.
The 18 mm bore hole is constructed to take the slide
hush ("i) as well as the pre-load spring (6). The slide
bush (5) should fit easily into the bore hole. A radial
bore hole is made in the flange to push through the cap-
illaries (·-i2). The exact diameter is dependent on the
external diameter or the capillaries.
It is necessary for luhricanr ro be able to escape from
between the slide hush and the shaft tunnel. For this
reason a channel approx. U.5 mm high and I mm wide
is milled in the 18 mm diameter bore. This is easy to do
with a shm1 l 111111 milling bit and a mini-drill. 111e six
2.6 mm diameter fixing holes are created together with
the corresponding threaded bore holes in the guide vane
holder ( 15).
The pre-load spring (6) can he wound from steel wire
with a diameter of l.4 to l.5 mm. It does not necessarily
have 10 he spring sreel wire. 111e spring is construcced
so that it is slightly conical in shape. This requires a con-
ical mandrel with a 5° chamfer. It is wound to a diame-
ter of between U and 13.5 mm. Due to variation in the
hardness of steel wire. you need to experiment to find
the precise diameter. When Rnishecl, the pre-load spring
should fit smoothly into the bore of the shaft tunnel.
The pre-loading when assembled should be 2U to 30 N.
Turbine guide system
The guide vanes <3m are cut and profiled according
to the drawing. You need to cut slits in the turhine ring
(31) and rhe central body (32! to take the guides. Laser
cutting equipment provides the easiest way of doing
this. Otherwise, if you have the possibility to use spark
erosion, this is the time lo do it. Manin Lambert (see
appendix for address), for example, can supply finished
rings with slits. If you have no other option. you can
also make straight slits using a mini cut-off wheel. In any
case the slit'i should he about 0.2 mm wider than the
thickness of the steel sheet of the guide vanes.
63
 The front edges of
the turbine ring (31) or
central body <32) are
machined to a 30°
chamfer in accordance
with the drawing. The
other edges are rounded
off. Do nor cm the cen-
tra I body to the right
length at this stage. You
need to fit together the
components so that they
can be welded in place.
Fir three or four vanes
in the slits and align the
Prepari11g lhe turbine guide 11a11es. turbine ring with the
central body using a
slide gauge for measuring. Now you can weld the vanes
onto the outside of the turbine ring or to the inside of
the centr..11 body. It is essential that the seams are gas
tight.
Once you have fitted all the vanes, you insert the pre-
pared disk (3:3) and weld it in position. NeXT, you damp
rh(.' whole guide system in the lathe. You first finish the
50.5 diameter to a length of 7 mm. before finishing the
bore-hole in the disk and machining the central body to
the right length. l11e step from a diameter of 50 mm to
one of 50. 5 111111 on the inside of the turbine ring does
not adversely affect the system. Finally you should
machine the outside of the turbine ring at the front and
back to a diameter of 54 mm.

Housi11g
A stainless sceel thermos flask <from Aldi, Conrad
Electronic) makes a very good housing (25). l11is com-
ponent has an internal diameter of 94 111111 . You first
begin by removing the base and the plastic strap. The
connecting piece for evacuation is now visible and you
need to open it up. Mark out the length of the housing
approx. 2 111111. ·n1e easiest way to separ..lle the p;irts is
Filli11g together the turbi11e ri11g, guide va11es a11d to use a mini-drill and a iO mm cutting disk. It now
ce11lral bod31. forms the blank for the housing. Drill it so that it can
take the turbine guide
A thermos flask of this type provides several co111po11e11lsfor the TK-50. system. At the same
rime make the bore
holes for the spark plug
or for the screws (18) to
the connectors l 17 ).

Compressor guide
system
For the guide vane
holder ( 16) you need a
high strength aluminium
alloy. Ir should have a
thickness of at least 6
mm and a diameter of
95 mm . Machine the
plate to create a plane
surface on one sic.le and
bore a 20 111111 hole in
the centre. The bore
should have the same
diameter as that of the
shaft tunnel (8). Next.
bore six holes in the

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 I11take nozzle machined from a solid piece of
material; 11ext to it is the lid.

Guide vane holder together with partially fitted nozzle to 3.:1.8 mm in the area of the inlake 10 the com-
guide vanes. pressor vanes. ·me gap between the inlake nozzle and
1he outle1 of 1he compressor wheel vanes is achieved
plale for 1he M 2.5 fixing screws 10 male with the corre- hy axial adjus11nent of the: rotor. The inlel opening of
sponding holes in 1he shah lunnel. Finally, bore a total the nozzle at the front is less critical. Working 10 the
of forty 5 mm holes around the edge al a diameter of 8H c.limensions indicated in the drawing. you just need IO
mm. create an approximately elliptical curve as vou feel
Once you have screwed the guide vane holder lo the a ppropriaie.
shaft lunnel, clamp it in the lathe so that ii is perfectly
aligned. cemrecl and suppotted in the tailstock using a Compressor guide r•anes
live cen1re. This enables you to machine the external The compressor guide vanes ( 24) arc made from 3
diameter of the guide vane hokier so 1ha1 ii fits perfeclly mm !hick Dural plale. From this material machine a ring
lo the internal diameter of the housing. In the same with an imernal diameter of 180 mm and an external
posilion on the lathe, machine the profile according to diameter of 188 mm and cut from ii len segments, each
section A-A. leaving a slight positive toll.'ram:e . 24 mm long. Clamp 1hese 10 a disk to machine a 24 mm
The next stage is to finish machining 1he 40 bore radius (see photo). Use a file to round the fronl edges of
holes. As indicated in the drawing (viewed from the the vanc.:s to a radius of approx . 0 .'I mm. while leaving
front), you need to lake a file and smooth down the ldi-
hand edges of the remaining pattition walls as well as Machining the external radius of the guide vane.
lhe edges on the lower part of each bore. The right-
hand edge of 1he parlition wall remains sharp-edged.
The rounded edges c;1n he finished off using a polishing
cloth or ahernatively with silicon polishing disks and a
mini-drill.
Drill holes in the four connectors (17) lo mate with
the corresponding holes in the guide vane holder. TI1en.
river the connectors in place. You need 10 make sure
that the outer shank of each connector extends beyond
lhe edge of the guide system by around 0.2 mm. Finally,
screw 1he shaft 1unnd and the guide vane holder logeth-
er and chuck the whole assembly in 1he lathe . This
chuck configuralion should permit 1he external diame1er
of 1he connectors to he machined lo fit 1he internal
diameler of the housing.

Intake nozzle
The inlake nozzle 03> is machined from an RO mm
solid blank. It is important that the profile of 1he nozzle
ma1ches 1he compressor wheel. Firs!. bore a hole..·
through the blank to a diameter of 33.5 mm. This is
exactly lhe same diameter as that of the from of the
compressor vanes. Next machine 1he profile to fil 1he
radius of 12 mm. It is necessary for !here to be a gap al
the outlet of the vane be1ween the vane edges of the
compressor wheel and the intake nozzle. When lhe
engine is operalional, this gap should be between 0.1
and 0 .2 mm.
Once lhe profile of the intake nozzle fits tha1 of 1he
compressor wheel, increase the diameler of the intake

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the back edges as they ;ire. Finally you just need tu drill
2 mm holes in the vanes to fit them.
Co1111ecli11g the compressor guide va11es to the
guide va11e holder
The guide vanes (24) are fitted to the guide vane
holder and held in place with adhesive. The contact sur-
faces must he cleaned so that they are free from grease
and roughened using a fine 400 grit emery paper. A ve1y
thin layer of epoxy adhesive. applied to the contact sur-
faces of the guide vanes, is sufficient. Avoid getting
adhesive anywhere near the holes. As indicated in the
photo. to adjust the guide vanes tu the correct position ,
you need a gauge. This is damped to a mandrel that can
be centred in rhe hore of the shaft tunnel and turned.
Acnirding to the dr;1wing. the top part of the gauge
should have a chamfer of 15°. Once positioned accon.1-
ingly, the guide vanes can he fixed using the M2 screws.
These can be removed as soon as the adhesive has
hardened.
The guide va11es are positioned on the guide va11e
holder usi11g a template. Here the edges of the
guide 11ane holder have not bee11 shaped exactly as
indicated in the co11structio11 plan.
The/id
The lid (Jq) is spun from a soft. non-alloy sheet of
aluminium with a thickness of 1.5 mm. If you can only
get hold of a semi-rigid quality, you need to heat the
sheet momentarily to a temperature of between 250 and
300°C and then leave it to cool before working on it.
The blank plate should have a dia1neter of I IO mm. The
spinning mould can be made from hard plywood. First
machine the mould lo the same external diameter as the
external diameter of the housing (25).
A rectangular rod made from plywood makes a good
spinning tool. The lathe should be set to a low speed. A
few drops of oil are necessary fur luhricatiun.
The lie.I should fit tightly tu the housing. If tlwre is too
much play, you need to reduce the external diameter of
66
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Spimling mould for the lid of 11,e TK-50 prototype.
The lid is spu11 al a low lathe speed. An oiled
rectangular hardwood rud serves as a tool
the spinning mould by 0 .1 111111 at a rime and rework the
lid. If the lid fits well. it requires nu additional sealing.
Finally spin out the diameter of 75 mm. nefore further
assembly, you need to de-burr ;ind dean the edges.
Alig11ing the intake nozzle with the compressor
wheel a11d adjusting the size of the gap
This requires the whole rotor to he inserted into the
finished assembly of the compressor guide system and
shan tunnel. In the area of the intake diameter of the
compressor vanes you insert an approx. 0.1 to 0.2 mm
thick strip of paper. Ne xt you place the intake nuzzle
03) on the compressor wheel and, using a 1.5 mm cen-
tre-punch (sharpen a piece of spring steel wire), mark
the position of three of the threaded holes on the hack
of the intake nozzle. Having marked how the inflow
nozzle fits the guide system, you drill out these holes in
the intake nozzle to a diameter of 2.1 mm.
Next you attach the nozzle using three front screws
(15) and align the intake nozzle with the vanes of the
compressor wheel. This requires the use of feeler
gauges. The gap between the nozzle and the front of the
compressor wheel vanes should never he less than 0.1
mm. If neces.'iary, you will have tu slightly rework the
three 2.1 111111 holes.
Once the gap is perfectly concentric, you need to fin-
ish drilling the missing through-holes in the intake noz-
zle.
Home Huill Model Tu,·bines
 The other task
remaining is to acljust
the gap between the
s.,,
.
outlet of the compressor
guide vanes and the
.....c,,, tJ
0

intake nozzle. This 0.s"I.,.

again requires assemhly ,., ·r
•
of the complete rotor
...,
0. s-,,,
with the guide system -t-

and the intake nozzle.

0 """c>. :::\
You w,e a feeler gauge
to check the gap
between the outlet of
the compressor guide
vanes ancl the intake
nozzle. It should be
hetween 0.1 and 0.2
mm. To do this you
need to make a corre-
sponding correction to
the length of the 20 mm
diameter at the front
part of the shaft tunnel
(8) (nominal length is
2.5, according to draw-
ing).
Sticking a copy of the bole-plan 01110 the combustion chamber is a very simple
Combustion chamber, way to get the positioning of the boles exactly rig/:Jt.
glow plug
The comhustion chamber consists of the external wall nozzles according to section B-H (sheet 12) use a small
(26) the internal w:111 (27) ancl the hack wall (28). cutting-wheel to cut 12 slits approx. 5 111111 long. Next,
You have already taken the thermos flask apart for widen them using a m;indrel. Altern:1tively you can hard
the housing. Now you will find that its inner shell makes solder 12 nozzles, each with an internal tlia111<:IL'r of
a good external wall for the comhustion chamber. Since approx. 2.5 mm.
its hase is curved outwards, you first need to re-shape ii The threaded hush l50J is either welded or hard sol-
as shown in the drawing. Hold the thermos flask in the tkred to the comhustion chamher. This is intL'nded to
jaws of the lathe chuck and press in the base using a die take the glow plug (49) and al the same time it serves as
held in the taibtock .
This base will become The internal wall of the combustion chamber is readJ• lo join to t/:Je external
the front part of the wall
combustion chamber.
Next cul it to the
required length of 66
mm for the external wall
of the comhustion
chamber.
To avoid the need to
mark oul the bore holes,
stick a scale copy of the
developed view of the
hole plan (sheet 12) to
the external wall, punch
and then drill the holes.
The developed view is
applicable to an external
diameter of 82 mm.
You need Lo note that
the twelve 3.5 mm
drilled holes need to be
reshaped into inwards
pointing nozzles ( see
section A-A on sheet 12
and drawing on sheet
11 for manufacturing
instructions).
To form the swirl

Home Huill ,\tlodel Turbines 67

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a fixing for the housing. At the opposite end the fixing
component. consisting of tab (51) ;1nd nut (50>, is hard-
soldered or v,.,elded to th<.:' front of the combustion cham-
ber. To secure the hack wall of the combus-
tion chambL'r (28) you need to cut four slib of 8.0 x 0.5
mm in the back ;.md push the front L'dges of the slits
imvard:-. hee photo). A .i6 mm diamt:'ter hole is cut cen-
trally to take the intL'rnal wall of the combustion cham-
ber (27).
The internal wall of th<.:' combustion chambt:'r (27) is
drilled in accordance with the hole-plan. As mentiont:'d
above, for this you can w,e a scale copy of the devel-
oped view of the hole-plan. The drilled hob; marked
(DJ shoukl be shapt:'d imo nozzles as dcscribet.l al>OVL'
and in this case point outwart.ls.

Flame test for the fuel distributor using auxiliary

Ras (here for BehotecJ-66).

Slraigbt sticks are easy to make and work reliably.

Here you ca11 see lhe type used for the TK-50
logelher uritb lbe back u•all oflhe combustio11
cl,amber.

AJter completing the above, the next stage is to bend

it by hand :1round a mandrel. before butt welding the
seam. An alternative is to dose the scam by spot-weld-
ing a narrow plate strip. However, this should be
between the internal wall of the combustion chamber
and the shaft tunnel.
You now need to push the cylindrical internal wall of
the combustion chamber from the back through the
opening in the front of the combustion chamber and
bend the .i 111111 tabs on the front end outwards hy 90°.
Next. at these points weld. spot-weld or h:1rc.l-sokler the
internal wall to the front face.
The hack wall of the combustion chamber (28) is
pressed from a 90 mm diameter pbte as shown in the
drawing. The internal dimension of "i4 mm should fit
easily over the diameter in the front part of the turbine
guide system. The external diameter of 81 mm should
equate to the internal diameter of the inte rnal wall of the
combustion chamber.
The six sticks <29l arc made from "i3 mm long pien:s
of pipe 5.0 x 0.4 mm or similar material. This re<..juires a
small coll:lr to be formed on one sit.le using the rools
shown. The purpose of this colbr is to prevent the sticks
slipping out when they are inserted into the hack wall of
the combustion chamber. The sticks are l1;1rd-solderL"d in
the back-wall.
Once you have assembled the auxiliary gas and fuel
supply svstems. the combustion chamber is ready to be
incorporated in the housing.
The back of the TK-50combustio11 chamber. The
version you see here is dijJerentfrom the
construction plan in that only one small pipe is
used for the supply of auxiliary gas and the
dislributor ri11g is semi-circular in shape.
Supply lines for fuel, auxiliary gas alld lubricu11t
For the fuel supply line (46), the auxilia1y gas supply
line (43) and the lubricant supply line (40) you need
brass piping. The size should he 2.0 x 0.4 mm or similar.
For the capillaries ( 42, 4"i, 18) it is best to use brass
tubes or alternatively injection needles with an internal
cktmeter of 0.4 to 0.5 111111 .
The holes to take the fuel capillaries l48) and the fuel
supply line (46) in the distributor ring (47) should he
drilled to match the exrernal diameter of the pipes you
use. You need to file down the em.b of the fuel capillar-
ies so that they slope. Once the y have heen carefully de-
burred, they Gill be hard-soklered in the distributor ring.
After welding, check that the fuel distriburor has a uni-
form flame length using auxiliary gas (se e photo).
Next, fasten the distributor ring as well as the fuel

68 llvme Bui// Model Turbines

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supply line to the hack of the comhw,tion chamber and
insert the ends of the fuel capillaries to a length ot
approx. 'i mm in the sticks. The openings of the capillar-
ies should be in contact with the internal wall of the
sticks.
The distance between the distributor ring and the
back wall of the combustion chamber should he around
4 to 'i mm. Wire ribbons provide a good means of fas-
tening. They are likewise required to secure the hc1ck
wall of the combustion chamber.
TI1e fuel supply line (--i6) is shaped in such a way that
it can be run between the combustion chamber and the
housing in a slight S-shape ;ind bent forw;1rds. It is fed
through one of the gaps between the partitions on the
outsidt' of the guide vane holder. At this point you need
to drill a hole in the lid (14) to match the external diam-
eter of the fuel supply line.
The g:is cc1pillaries l45J are connected to the auxiliary
gas supply (43) hy means of the connecting piece (4--i).
Before soldering in the gas capillaries you need to insert
two steel wires with the same diameter as the external
diameter of the gas c;1pillaries into the connecting piece
and press it together in the middle. This ensures easy
access for the gas capillaries. 1 'se ribbon wire to fasten
the connecting piece to the end of the combustion
chamber and hard solder it in place . You should inse rt
the free encls of hoth gas capill:.iries in the two sticks
opposite so that they go in approxim:11ely 1U 111111.
Finally. run the auxiliary gas supply line on the ourside
as descrihecl ahove.
l11e luhricanr line (40). the lubricanr capilbrks ( 12) VieU' of the guide 11a11e /Jolder from t/Je back. You
as well as the tab (41) ;.ire soldered together and mount- ca11 see hou• t/Je lubricant supply li11e a11d the
ed to the back of the guicle vane holder (see photoJ. lubricant capillaries are fitted.
To restrict the now of lubricant you need a restrictor
line (58), to ,vhich c1re soldered connecting pieces (59). you pbce a rhick piect' of ;iluminium or copper under-
TI1e restricror effect is adjusted by insening a wire (6()) neath the welding seam .
in the line. The diameter of the wire should he around Having deaned and smoothed the se;1ms you can
0.1 111111 less that the intern:il diameter of the line. You shape the parts to form the pressed parts indicated in
can only establish the length of borh the restricror line the drawing. A hall IX'.aring is a good tool to use for this.
and the wire through
trial and error (approx . In the TK-50 a11 egg cup sen•es as a blank for the shec,t/J of the 1,ozzle_ ifJ•ou ctre
100 to 200 mm. depend- particularly clei•er you ca11 el'en use the middle part to make the 11ozzle core_
ing on the internal
diameter). This unit is
located outside the
engine.

E:\:haust gas nozzle

The exhau~t gas nuz-
zle consists of tilt' noz-
zle sheath (3 1~) and the
nozzle core (35) . floth
are pressed parts made
from 0.'i 111111 thick stain-
less steel plate. The egg
cups (shown in the
photo) make good
blanks. If you cannot
find anything simibr .
the drawings provide a
developed view that
you can cut olll :md roll
into cylinder stubs .
Next, you bun-weld the
:;earns by MIG or TIG.
Welding is e;isier when

Home Huitt Model Turbines 69

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On the l:tthe it functions as a steel tool on a hokier. Run
the lathe at a low sreed.
The develored view for the sheath of the nozzle is
dimensioned so that you have space to create three fas-
t<:'ning <:'yes drilling 3.2 mm holes.
Once the core and the sheath have heen formed into
the correct share, slits are cul to connect them to the 6
radiw, arms (36). They can be fixed in place using spot-
welding. MIG or also TIG welding.
Fi11ishing the diameter of the turbine wheel
Sere,'-· the turbine wh<:'el IO the shaft using a spacer
hush ( IO) and a r<:'rlacem<:'nt hearing. Next. turn down
the external diameter so that the vanes fit into the tur-
bine ring ( 31 ) of thl' finished turbin,.: guide system leav-
ing a gar of 0.05 mm. Once the turbine guide system
has been weld<:'d to the housing. you can machine it to
its final dimensions.
Co1111ecting the exhaust gas nozzle to the housing
Construct the three Z-connectors (:37) and strengthen
them with a hard soldered M.~ nut. You will then need
tu drill llllt and re-tap the threaded hole. 111e finished
connectors are S(:rewed to the exhaust gas nozzle. rosi-
Housi11g with 11 1elded htrbine guide system.
View of the TK-50from the front without intake
no=le.
70
www.ASEC.ir
tinned correctly and then hard soldered to the hack wall
of the housing (25).
If you have formed the sheath of the exhaust gas
nozzle from an egg-cup, you can use three clamping
jaws (57> for f:.1stening. Three M:3 nuts are used as fixing
points. They are hard soldered tu the hack of the hous-
ing (25). After soldering. you will need to drill the hole
in the housing and re-tap the thread.
Final assembly
111e finished turbine guide system is welded to the
housing, the compressor guide system is fitted to the
shaft tunnel and the rotor is assembled using the
rerlacement bearing. 1t is now possible to adjust the
position of the turbine wheel in an axial direction hy
corresponding re-alignment of the compressor guide sys-
tem. Take the rotor apart again and drill thc housing to
mate with the connectors. Having marked the position
you remove the compressor guide system again, tap the
connectors with an M3 thread and increase the size uf
the corresronding holes in the housing 10 3.2 mm.
A vieu.1 of the back
Our TK-50 is ready for operation, built to the
construction plan and.filled with sensors.
llome Built .\1odel Turbines
 The next step is to fit the completed combustion
chamber. Drill the through-holes for the glow plug and
screw (52) ;md fit the combustion chamber into the
housing.
l11e compressor guide system with the sh;1fr tunnel is
inserted into the housing and screwed in position tightly.
Next. reassemble th<.: rotor so as to enable the precise
adjustment of the turbine wheel"s external diameter. If
the turbine wheel scrapes on the one side, you must
work on these areas \Vith a grinding disk. Once the tur-
bine wheel turns freely , you can reduce its di:1meter to
leave a gap of U.15 to O. lU mm betWl"l'n the rurhinl'
vanl's and the turbine ring.
Having provisionally balanced the rotor. you c:m fin-

•
ish assembling the engine for trials at reduced rotational
velocity. 'G,1S TURBINE (SECTIONED)

Home-built KJ-66 jet turbine

How it ei>oll'ed
The first home-built turbines still used simply-formed
wheels from materials that were not particularly hear-
resisrant. l11e.,;e recordl'.d a surprisingly high level of effi-
ciency. In 1993 Thomas Kamps built his micro turbine
with turbo-charger compressor wheel which already
achieved 33 N of thrust (see literature references in the
appendix). At that time it was impossible ro find bear-
ings that were either suitable and or reasonably priced.
However Thomas Kamps' principle did herald the possi-
bility of successfully constructing a high-thrust jet curhim:'
without increasing either the weight or dimensions.
The 2038 compressor wheel from KKK seemed to he
a good solution, since its air throughput is approx. 20%
The information stand of the GTBA al the Jet World
Champio11ships i11 Zeltweg showed the in.dde of a
KJ-66.
higher than the Kamps turbine. The prototype of the KJ-
(J(i was fitted with a compressor guide system similar to
that of the old FD-3. It incorporated a size 608 hearing
with a C3 running clearance. The housing was made
from the same gas cartridge a-; the fl)-YCH. Although
the turhin<.: wh<.:d was manufactured from material
that was not particularly heat-resistant. it already had
a similar shap<.: to the modern turbine whl'.els USl.'.d
t<x.lay.
Its first test run was in the autumn of 199'i. The
l'.ngine generated 10 N of thrust at less than 100.000

n1e compo11ent parts of the KJ-66.

Home Built .'vlode/ Turbines 71

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rev,,min :1ml it weighed no more than 950 g' Of course,
the particularly low exhaust g;,s temperature of around
~60°C: was e,.pccially significant. Therefore. it was hardly
rocket science to work out that at a rotational velocity of
120,000. you could expen it lO produce 60 N or thrust.
It was Dr Jes(1s Artes de Arcos from Barcelona who
first did something about series-producing a turbine
\\'heel that wa,. both capahk- of withstanding a high load
and ,vas not too expensive. He sought cooperation from
111omas Kamps and me and this led to the manufacture
of a new turbine wheel. l11e intention was for it to fit
both micro-turbines as wdl ;1s the KJ-66. In fact. when
fitted with the Anes wheel. our engines generate 60 and
75 N of thrust respectively.
Huoyed by this success. l>r. Anes also set about 111:111-
ufacturing series components according to my con.struc-
tion plan for the K,1-6h. Whilst this successful
collaboration did come to an L'ml evL'ntually. in the
meantime sever;il other produn: rs have sprung up to
secure the supply of turbine wheels and other high qual-
ity components for home builders.

Dema,uls 011 the home builder

The construction plan includes all the details the
home builder needs texcept to those relating to the
compressor and turbine wheel as well as thL' hall hear-
ings). If you intend to scratch build your own comprt'.s-
sor guide system. the :1ssumptiun is that you are
cxperienct'.d in processing metal and havt'. access to high
quality machine tools. In addition. you should already
he familiar with small model jct turhine.s.

72 Home Built Model Turbines

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Parts list and drawings
Parts list KJ-66

Item Description No . Material Semi-finished Notes Drawing

tdimensions mm) Sheet No.

1.1 Comprcs.sor nut AIZnMb>Cu Hound, l'> 0 2

1.2 Compressor wheel Special Al Finished part No. 2038 KKK 18
1.3 Spacer ring C Tool steel Round, 20 0 2
1.4 H:111 hearing C Type 0608/602 839. GR\l( " 2
1.5 Shaft Tool .steel Round, 20 2
1.6 Ball bearing T Type D6U8/hU2 839. GR\X"
1.- Spacer ring ·r Tool steel Round. l'i 0
1.8 Turbine wheel lnconcl 7 13 Heady-made, see .suppliers list 18
1.9 Tu1hine nut High-1emp .steel Hound. I"> 0 2
2.1 Shaft tunnd AIZnMi-,.Cu Hound. 4t) 0 3
2.2 Spring Spring steel 3
2.3 Hush Tool,deel Hound. 25 0 3
31 lm:,ke nozzle Al 99.9 Sheet 1.5 thick l'i
32 Hing AIMg Hound, 60 0 l'i
3.3 Lid Al 99.9 Sheet 1.5 thick J'i
3.4 !make nozzle with lid AIMg Round, ll"i 0 Alternative to 3.1-3.:3 16
4 Compressor guide system AIZnMgCu Round. 120 0 Ready-made. see .supplier:; list i
5.1 Front part of comb.
chamber CrNi 18/ 111 Sheet 0.'l thick Ready-made, see suppliers list
5.2 Internal part of comb.
chamber CrNi 18/ 10 Sheet 0.3 thick Ready-made. see "uppliers list ')

'>3 Ex1ernal pan of comb.

chamber CrNi 18/ 10 Shcet 0.3 thick Ready-made, set· .suppliers list 6
5.4 Stick b CrNi 18/ IO Tube 6 x O.'> Ready-made, see suppliers list
'i.~ Back part of comh.
chamber CrNi Hl/ 10 Sheet 0.4 thick Ready-made, .see suppliers lisl 7
'i .6 Tab 'i CrNi 18/10 Sheet 0.'I thick 9
'i.7 fixing bracket I CrNi 18/10 Sheet 0.4 1hick 9
5.8 Nut 1 CrNi 18/10 Hound, l'i 0 9
5.9 Wire loop 6 CrNi 18/10 Wire 0.6 0
6.1 Glow plug Finished part, standard quali1y
6.2 Glow plug fitting Steel Hound, 10 0 9
7.1 Fuel connection Brnss Round, 10 0 13
7.2 Fud suppl} line Hras., Tube 2 x 0.4 l.~
7.3 Fuel dbtrihutur flr:1s,- Tube 3 x 0.4 13
7.4 Fuel pipe 6 Hras.s Tube Ix 0.2 13
8.1 Auxiliary gas conneelion 1 flr;1ss Round. 10 0 13
8.2 Auxiliary gas line Arass Tutx: 2 x 0.4 13
8.3 Auxiliary g.1s distributor 1 Bras., Tube :3 x 0.4 13
8.4 Ga" dosing tube 2 Hras.~ Tuhe 1 x 0.2 13
9.1 Oil connection l.lras., Hountl, 10 0 15
9.2 Oil line flras,- Tube 2 x 0.4 :3
9.3 Oil do.sing tube 2 8rnss Tuhe Ix 0.2 3
10. l Turhine guide vane l'i lnconel bOO Sheet 0.7 thick Heady-made, see supplier.- list 11
10.2 Turbine ring 1 CrNi 18'10 Shct·t 2 thick Ready-made, see suppliers list 10
10.3 Central body CrNi 18/ 10 Sheet 1 thick Ready-made. see suppliers list 10
I0.4 <:entring ring C:rNi 18/ 10 Sheet 1 thick Ready-made. see '-Uppliers list 10
II Housing Slee) Camping gas CV 470 J7
12. l Flange A CrNi 18/ 10 Sheet 2 thick 12
12.l Flange B CrNi 18i l0 Sheet .) thick 12
13.1 Nozzle sheath CrNi 18/ 10 Slwet 0.4 thick 8
13.2 Radius arm C:rNi 18/ 10 Sheet 0.6 thick 14
13.3 Cone I CrNi 18/10 Sheet 0.4 thick 14
14.I ~rew 9 St. 8.8 Hex.igon socket M3xl0
14.2 Screw 4 St. 8.8
14.3 Screw 12 CrNi 18/10 Hexagon socket M3x10
1'1.4 Screw I St 8.8 Hexagon socket M3x5

Home Built Model Turbines 73

www.ASEC.ir
 4

l.2 5.2
I

1.1

·-·-·-·-·-·-·- t ·-·- ·-·-·-·

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1.5 l.6

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, 8.1 \
\

14.4 8.2 8.3 5.6

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 Ig-66: Sheet 2
u,
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I
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@] 01

'O M 6 Left hand

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~1
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thread

Hom.e Built ,'11odel Turhines 75

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 KJ-66: Sheet 3

.c
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a.

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76 Home Built Mod el Turbi nes

www.ASEC.ir
 15 wedges equidistant

M3

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Lub;i~~n-t. ~hannel
M = 2,5:1

0
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M =2 :1

89
93

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~ - - - - 1 0 7 . 4 (diam. casing)

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 Zj
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138
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diam. nozzle ~-----

spot welded

iff~~
sheet C - C \/ B-B
: hole 0.5 mm smaller than tool
12 nozzles
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........___ .r,i;y~
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R =0.5x D I, ~

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hard plywood

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/ A -A

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~
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~ 94 inside
[ AA
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View from behind

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 6 nozzles
see Sheet 5

~ -· ,,_

spin chased from disk 103 mm diam.

68.5 inside

81

90 spin chased from disk 103 mm diam.

94 outside

spot welded

hard soldered
6 x 0.5 Cr-Ni

62

www.ASEC.ir
 KJ-66: Sheet 8

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66.4
68.5

Hume Built ,11odel Turbines 81

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 ;: ;
:. . :::,
/
thread for glow plug spot welded

'

~
A-A

. .. 1

/
!.,./
~/ \
combustion chamber fixed to casing by means of
parts 5.7 and 6.2
assembling comb.- chamber with fuel- gas supply

DetailZ

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 Centring device

2 mm sheet

240.5
Making the rings from sheet material: Cut the slots for the blades first. Bend strip to a ring.
Weld diagonal edges. Retouch slots to the right dimension.

www.ASEC.ir
 KJ-66: Sheet 11

Developed view 110.1 I

tip root
17
>I

base size 10
Full scale
1:1

A-------'A

B c=.=========- B

tip section

j10.1 I scale= 2 : 1

84 Home Built Mudel Turbines

www.ASEC.ir
 IQ-66 . Sheet 12

3 A-A

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, I
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82

76

82

t Turbines
Home Built Mod,,f 85

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 Iq-66: Sheet 13

2x0.5

24

z 3x0.4

140

~z

0
N
2x0.5

8.3 3x04
1 X 0.2

Scale= 2: 1

I1.1. 8.1; 9.11

86 Home Built Model Turbines

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 KJ-66: Sheet 14

spot welded

. .

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.
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1 13_2 1 developed view

+·- ·---·-·-·- -· - - - - - - - ~
1: 24 >1
102

Home Huilt ,Hodel Tu.rhines 87

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 KJ-66: Sheet 15
I
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Blip;e

22

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,
spin chased from disk 85 diam. 1,5 mm Al- sheet
~

spin chased from disk I 33 diam. I ,5 mm Al- sheet

88 Home Built Model Turbines

www.ASEC.ir
 KJ-66: Sheet 16

0
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Hom e Built ,Hodel Turbines 89

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 IQ-66.. Sheet 17

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 KJ-66: Sheet 18

.
.
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31

main dimensions
,6.~ -
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6,7

Home Built Model Turhines 91

www.ASEC.ir
Constructing individual components
Rotor (1.1 to 1.9)
To make the comrressor nut ( 1.1) you need a high-
strength aluminium alloy. In order to avoid balancing
difficulties. it is best to machine the final share when ii
is assembled with the compressor wheel ( 1.2 ). spacer
ring C (I ..:3l and the bearing C ( 1.4 l.
The compressor wheel ( 1.2) is a replacement pan for
the KKK turbo charger. It is supplied ready to use and
does not require any reworking until the fine-balancing
stage.
l11e shah ( 1.5) is 111ade from non-alloy or low-alloy
tool steel. Perfect cnncentricity between the components
is essential. Otherwise. when :1ssemhled. you will have
to battle with dynamic imbalances. This is achieved by
using a precision lathe. You first need to pre-turn
the shaft and carry oul the precision work between u:n-
tres. The bearing seats are turned down ro an oversize
of :1pprox. 0.01 mm. before being lapped to size. You
can use 608 size standard hearings as a calibration
gauge.
To make things easier, the sp:1eer ring C ( 1.3) and
.-spacer ring T 0.7) are madc from the same material as
the shaft. lmponant: the faces must be ex:1ctly coplanar
to each other.
The turbine wheel (l.8) is :n·ailahlc as a finishcd
co111ronent or as a Glsting. The casting needs to he
bored. machined to the correct diameter or better
ground down and finally, balanced. To drill thi:- hole you
need high-grade tool steel (TiN coated) or a c.1rbide
drill-bit. It can he drilled to a role,~ince of 0.01 mm and
an exact fit achieved hy grinding down the shaft. The
ideal fit is a light press-fit.
A low speed lathe and a carbide toul are uscd to
machine rhe turbine wheel to the correct external di:11ne-
ter. Screw the turbine wheel to the shaft, the spacer ring
T and an old ISO 608 hearing. To screw the components
together. chuck the shali in the lathe and turn the tur-
bine mu ( 1.9) tight using a T-handled :socket wrench.
This will prevent the shaft from bending when tighten-
ing. The external diameter of the rurhine wheel should
he 0.3 m111 less than the internal diameter of the outer
guide vane holder t 10.2). For this reason, only perform
this operation once the corresponding components arc
finished (see section ' fin:11 asse111bly' in the TK-<i0
instructions).
It is best to make the turbine nut ( 1.9) from heal-
resbtant steel; otherwise you can use nickel chromium
steel.
Now the turbine wheel can ht: pre-balanced. as
described in the section ·balancing the rotor"
Shaft Immel (2.1 to 2.3)
The shaft tunnel ( 2.1) should also be mad1ined from
high-strength ;1luminiu111 alloy. II should fit on the hall
hearing to give an easy push-fit . The spring (2.2) should
generate an axial pre-loading of al least --10 N. The exter-
nal surface of the bush (2.3) is polished.
h1take nozzle and lid (3.1 to 3.3)
The intake nozzle (3.1) and the lid ( 3.3 l are spun
components. For these you require soft aluminium
-;heeling. For rhe lid in panicular. the thickness should
he :It least I.', nun. Most stand;1rd :iluminium sheeting is
too hard. Consequently, it should he tempered for a few
92
www.ASEC.ir
minutes al around 2.~0°C. Subsequent quenching is not
necessary.
The main dimensions of the form tools should he the
same ;1s the internal contours of the components you
intend to spin. You can construct the l<x1ls from :;cveral
hard rlywood panels. The easiest thing ro use for a
press-rod is an oblong riece of wood. You need to
apply a little oil and run the lathe at a low speed. Hoth
spun components are connected using the ring (.~_2) and
epoxy adhesive, hut only during the final assembly of
the engine.
For best results, the gap between the blades of the
co111pressor wheel and the lid should he 0.2 mm. Of
course this can only he checked by fitting the corre-
sponding pans into the housing ( 11 ). If the fit between
the lid and the housing is nor tight enough. you should
reduce the external diameter of the form-tool by around
0.1 mm and repeat the spinning operation once again.
Hore the .~.2 mm holes into the lid. using the finished
compressor guide system as a marking temrlate.
Many people get a kick nut of machining vast
amounts of aluminium alloy on the lathe. If you are one
of these, you can follow the drawing on sheet 16 and
machine the lid (3.4) with the intake nozzle from one
single piece. The wall thickness should be approximate-
ly 1.5 mm.
Compressor guide system
To produce these components II 1s necessary to w,e
an accurate milling machine. You will find all the dimen-
sion details in the drawing. It is produced from one sin-
gle piece. In order to ensure the long term stability of
the M_'I threaded hole, it is recommended that you use
high-strength aluminium alloy.
Combustion chamber (5.1 to 5.9, 6.1, 6.2)
The thickness<:s stated in the pans list ar<: mm1mum
values. If you use a thicker material. ii does not reduce
the efficiency of the engine. However it does :1dd
weight. lnconel 600 or other similar material is likewise
suitable. Of course, in.-stead of sput welding you can use
TIG welding.
The front (<i.l) and the hack part (5.5) are press
formed at the edges. The radiuses are not critic::11. The
diameter of both the outer ran (<i.3) and inner rart (5.2)
is dependent on that of parts ( 5.1, ',_ 5 ).
The sticks (5.4l can he made fro111 rieces of ripe 6 x
3.0 mm or similar. They an: connected to the hack
On the left the compressor guide systemfor the
KJ-66 with minor modification; 011 the right a small
size guide system made by Martin Lambert.
1/ome Huilt /v!odel Turbines

Combustion chamber for the KJ-66 made by
.Jfichael Rang and Heiko Naupold.
part (5.5) by means of hard-soldering. spot or TIG weld-
ing.
The glow plug Atting (6.2) is either hard-soldered or
welded to the outsiue. You need to pull out the coil of
the glow plug (6.1) with ;1 pair of Ane tweezers, so that
it protrndes hy ;1pprox . 1 nun . If you do not want glow
plug ignition, you will need to weld two fixing struts
(5.-.) to the facing positions on the front part (5.ll. Six
ribbon-wires (5.9) complete the combustion chamber
assembly.
Fuel supply system (7.1 to 7.4)
An alternative option is to machine the fuel connec-
tion (7.1) from an M4 screw. Th<:' injection-pipes can
also be made from st;iinless steel. The internal dia1m:1er
should be lx:tween 0 .5 and 0.7 mm. The other dimen-
sions are less critical. Check each of the pipes for ;iny
blockage hy feeding through auxiliary gas at a low pres-
sure and igniting it. The flames from each of the pipes
should all be the same size± 10%.
Auxiliary gas system, oil supply system (8.1 to 8.4,
9.1 to9.3)
See the respective section in the description or how
tu construct the TK-50.
TurlJine guide system (10.1 to 10.4)
For theSt: components you c;in .ilso use steels of the
type 25% Cr, 2(l"k Ni and 2% Si. If you only have stan-
dard nickel chromium steel ( 18"/o Cr, Hl'hi Ni) available
for the vanes ( 10.1 ), you should choose a material thick-
ness of 0.8 mm instead of 0.7 111m .
Cut the vanes roughly to size. Thinly sharpen the
On the left a cast blank for the turbine guide
system of the KJ-66; next to it the finished
component; on the right a slolled ring to take the
turbine guide 11a11es.
Home Built Model Turbines
www.ASEC.ir
hack edges in the arl·a between the tip and the root line.
Round clown the front edge to the same surface area.
Hend the vanes as shown in the dr.1wing. The r:tdiuses
are not particularly critical in this case.
The most difAcult part is to create the slots in the
inner and outer guide vane holder ( 10.2. 10.3). The slots
must he around 0 . 1 mm wider and 0.5 mm longl"r
than the vanes at the respective points. If you do not
have access tu ;1 spark enxler, it is best to make these
components from strip plate and then either Tlli or MIG
weld.
The slots are cul out using a fret saw. Bend the strips
10 loops and weld and clean the joins.
To machine the external contour of the guide vane
hokier, press it onto a 6Ci.3 111111 mandrel. llse a mini
grinder and 0.5 111111 grinding disk to Ani.-..h off the slots.
Next the centring ring (10.4) is machined to a hole
size of 2c;.c; mm instead of 2(i.0 mm . Ilse a centring
device tu ;11ign the centring ring and the inner vane
holder, before joining lx>th components together using
15 spot welds. placed between the slots of the inner
v;111e holder.
Next the outer vane holder (10 ..2) is pressed 01110 the
centring device. You press the vanes from the outside
through the slots of the outer vane holder until th e y
snap into the slot~ of the inner vane holder. Once the
vanes havl" been shortened on the outside so that they
protrude only approx. 0.5 mm, weld the vanes 10 the
vane holders as hesl as possible. Next, turn the outer
welding seams, remove the centring device ;md com-
plete the welding hetween the vanes and the inner v:me
hokier.
TI1e next step is to centre the unit on the lathe. so as
to machine the vane hokier to an internal diameter of
li6.4 mm. A variance of between 0.1 and 0.2 mm from
the nominal size of 66.4 111111 is nut a problem. If the
diameter is already 6(>.4 m111 before it is machined, the
diameter of the turbine wheel cm he made around 0. I
10 0 ..2 mm bigger. With the assembly chucked in the
same position, machine the 2(> mm diameter of the cen-
tre ring (10. •) to press At the shaft tunnel (2.1).
Housing (11)
Before you start this joh, wke care tu ensure that the
CV •i70 gas c;1rtridge is completely empty!
It is only necessary to re111ove the paint on the ·hof
end. TI1e following operations are carried out on the
lathe: bore a 67 111111 hole; machine housing to the right
length; increase the di;11ne1er to (>8 mm using a •i5° man-
drel. This r<:'quires a ring with an internal diameter of
;.1 pprox. "0 mm lo be damped in the chuck and the
111:tndrel pressed from the inside against the 67 111111 hole
using the tailstock. The holes for the nipples l 7.1. 8.1,
9. U can he drilled :1t any position ;1round the circumfer-
ence at a distance of 16 111111 from the front edge of the
housing. If you ;1re not using a glow plug, you need to
hore a 3 ..2 mm hole instead of a 6.5 mm hole.
Flange A,famge B (12.1, 12.2)
The drawings are self-expbnatory. Alloys such as
25% Cr, 20% Ni, 2% Si, can also he used.
E.1Chaust gas nozzle
Instead of nickel chromium steel plate. you can use
lnconel 600 or some other similar material. To make the
nuzzle sheath ( U.1) and the cone (13.3) you need w
93
machine the corresponding spinning tools. The contours Once the drilled holes are in the right place, screw
are the same as the inner dimension-; of the spun com- together the housing and guide system. Screw tight the
ponents. Standard construction steel is sufficient for the oil pressure connection.
spinning toob. Both components are then prrn:essed in Complete the adjustment and balancing of the turbine
the same way. wheel as described for the TK-')0_ The most effective
Plates are cut according to the developed view: they gap size between the vane tips of the turbine wheel and
are bent into a cone and the join is welded (TIG) and the guide vane hokier ( 10.2) is 0.15 mm. For the purpos-
smoothed. Next, spin the cone into the corresponding es of adjustment the unit can be pushed from behind
shape, spinning the thicker end to the shape of the con- into the shaf1 tunnel, in the samt> way as you would do
tour. The easiest way to finish the edges is to use a mini for balancing.
grinder. Nozzle sheath and cone are joined together via Make sure that the lid (3.3) sits tightly on the housing.
three radius arms 03.2). Ir should require a medium force (hand pressure) to fit
it. Should it not fit tightly. rework it with the spinning
Fi11al assembl31 tool.
We advise you to carry out the tasks in the stated lnser1 the spring (2.2) and hush (2.3) in the shaft tun-
sequence' nel. Fit the shaft with ball bearing ( 1.6), spacer ring T
Test whether flange A (12.1) can he pushed freely to (1.7) and the turhine wheel in the shalt tunnel. Fit the
its end position on the guide vane holder (10.2). Press spacer ring C (1.3) to the shaft. Lightly oil the seating for
the turbine guide system from the inside through the the compressor wheel. Use hot air to heat the compres-
expanded 68 mm opening in the housing ( 11 ), until the sor wheel to 50°C and fit ii to the shaft. Pull the com-
rim of the guide vane holder ( 10.2) comes up against the pressor nut tight. This involves holding the shaft and
housing. Bore holes for the screws 04.3), using flange B using a T-handled socket wrench on the turbine nut.
(10.3) as a drill template. Insert flange A. Use longer M3 Check that the rotor turns freely. Put on the lid and
x 20 screws to securely fit together flanges, guide system screw it to the guide system. Check the gap between lid
and housing. Next, star1 to replace each of these longer and compressor vanes. Take off the lid again and glue it
screws one at a time by a shorter screw (14 ..3). to the intake nozzle (3.1) and the ring (3.2). Once the
Fasten the fuel supply system as well as the auxiliary adhesive has hardened and you have smoothed over the
gas system to the combustion chamber by means of the seam, you are ready to assemble the front part.
rahs (') _6) . Position the injector pipes (7.4, 8.4) in the Hefore running the engine for the first time the seat-
sticks. The ends of the injector pipes should penetrate ing between the lid and the housing should he sealed
around 3 to 4 mm into the sticks and lie against their using a silicon compound. To do this, loosen the front
inner edge. Bend the fuel and auxiliary gas supply lines screws approx. l mm and push the lid forward the same
in the shape of an ·s·, so that the connections are rough- distance. Apply a thin head of the silicon Staling com-
ly in the correct positions respective tu the correspond- pound round the edge of the lidr housing. Screw the lid
ing drilled holes in the housing ( 11 ). At the same time down again tightly and wipe off any excess silicon.
make sure you note the position of the fixing brackets Once the sealing compound has hardened, the engine
or glow plug fitting in relation to the housing. Insert the will be operational and you can give it a trial run. This
combustion chamber into the housing and screw togeth- will not require the exhaust gas nozzle to he fitted.
er. Feed through the connections and screw tight.
In accordance with sheet .3, fit the oil supply system
to the shaft tunnel (2.1 ). The oil supply pipe should
penetrate approx. I mm into the shaft tunnel. Test the
oil llow, by feeding through turbine oil at a pressure of
approx. 0. I bar. It should take only a few seconds for
the oil or the fuel/oil mixture to seep into the shaft tun-
nel.
Fit hall bearing C (I .4) into the shaft tunnel. Screw
the compressor guide system ( 4) to the shaft tunnel
using the screws (1'1.2) (not forgetting screw fixing e.g.
Loctite!>. Bend the oil supply line (9.2) so that the oil
connection ( 9.1) is roughly in the correct position
respective to the corresponding drilled hole in the hous-
ing. Oil the inside of the housing at the front. Insert the
complete unit, guide syste1TI1shafl tunnel. centrally in the
housing, but do not press it into its final position yet.
Push the oil connection through the drilled hole in the
housing. Adjust the unit so that the M3 threaded holes
on the guide system are aligned axially with the corre-
sponding drilled holes in the housing. Press the unit into
the housing to its final con(·entric position. If the posi-
tion of the drilled holes in the housing does not corre-
spond to the threaded holes in the comprL·ssor guide
system (4). you will have to remove the unit again. This
is easy to do hy using a plastic rod with a diameter of 21
mm as a driving mandrel, pushing it into the shaft tunnel
and forcing the unit out with soft caps of a hammer.

94 ! lame Built Model Turhines

www.ASEC.ir

Important Safety
Instructions
have compiled the following list of risks involved in
I working with model jet turbines. However I provide
no guarantee as to its completeness. Such is the
versatility uf the human imagination that it will never be
possible to foresee all potential occurrences. This is
particularly true of the myriad of possible mistakes.
Whilst one person might blow pure oxygen onto his jet
turbine instead of compressed air, someone else will
wipe away drops of oil from the suction area with a
cloth whilst the turbine is running or use his finger to
check the suction effect - needless to say, all these
experiment<; prcxluce<l unexpected results for the people
involved: the turbines did not take at all kindly to
concentrated oxygen, cloths or fingers and self-
destructed - taking fingers with them. These may be
rather eras.-; examples of the kind of mistakes people can
make with turbines, but believe me, they are not
invented! (Nute: in the presence of concentrated oxygen
combustion temperature is around 3000°C. This will
cause he:1te<l metal parts made from aluminium or steel
to combust with a bright flame).
Any engine that. for whatever reason. violently
<lestnicts whilst running, represents an unpredictable
source of clanger.
Likewise. it is not possible to predict technical
malfunctions with 100% certainty either. Consequently. if
you are intent on being 100% safe, you need to avoid
exposure to potential sources of clanger.
Anyone who does not have any practical experience
of working with turbo engines should carry out initial
trials only with the assistance of an experienced
colleague.
In particular. the following clangers must be
considered :
Danger offire
It is a basic fact that all models with an on-board
ignition source always have the potential of causing a
crash fire. Possible ignition sources include: hot running
turbines, electrical motors, piston motors or short-
circuited batteries. As a result, it is advisable to refrain
from flying ~my kind of mcxlel with an engine whenever
there is a risk of forest fire, or when the fields in the
flight path are hone dry. l11e biggest risk of fire when
opemting jet turbines is in the ignition stage. However,
having a hand-held fire extinguisher at hand reliably
mitigates this risk. In any case, if you need to use the
fire extinguisher. you must check the model for internal
fire damage before making another start ,1ttempt.
Danger of sucking in foreign objects
Foreign objects that are sucked into the engine
I Jome Built Model Turbines
www.ASEC.ir
Chapter 6
represent a special danger. l11ey are capable of causing
damage and are refe rred to in pilot speak as FOD
(foreign object damage). If you incorporate the engine
in the fuselage, there is a very good chance that it will
find all potential loose parts and the chance is just as
good that these will become FOD. Furthermore, foreign
particles whipped up by the undercarriage can also he
sucked in. l11is has a greater chance of occurring in
models where the nose-wheel is located in front of the
suction ducts or when the undercarriage duct-; are not
scaled off from the inside of the fuselage . You can
reduce this danger by incorporating a sieve in the
suction ducts . Water spray when driving through
puddles on the nmway can also cause FOD.
Danger due to exhaust gases
At a distance of around I 111 the exhaust gases are so
hot as to cause instant:;meous burn:-. tu bare skin. As a
consequence, they are clearly an ignition source for
easily inflamm.tble materials such :JS dried grass, spilled
fuel etc
l11e amount of exhaust gas given off is approximately
equivalent to that of a medium -sized car at full speed.
Obviously it has no relation to fresh air. Whe n you
operare an engine in a dosed or insufficiently ventilated
space, rhe air quickly becomes po.lluted to dangerous
levels. Therefore, only run engines outside in the open!
The jet of exhaust ga:-. c:m propel small parts with a
high velocity. As a consequence, do not turn the exhaust
gas jet in the direction of spectators'
Danger of rotating parts
When operating normally the rotating components
have very high circumferential velocities. Should a wheel
break, the wreckage is first propelled in the rotational
plane and indeed with a very high potential for
penetration . It is imperative to eliminate the risk to
people by following these comm;indment-;:
Keep everyone away from the rotational plane!
Carry out testing on a remote-activated test stand with
no spectators! It goes without saying that you must
yourself also keep out of the danger area .
You might h.we tested rhe engine ar maximum load
on the test stand, but do not do the same for normal
operation! Modern ECUs or pressure fuses help to
eliminate this risk.
Danger of insufficient proficiency in flying mudels
This is a decision that can only he made by each
responsible model aircraft pilot. Anyone whose maiden
flight is performed in front of spectators, is guilty, in my
book, of gross negligence.
95
 Chapter 7

What Does The Future

Have in Store?
T here is no doubt that there is :1 future for the type
of model jet turbines described in this hook.
Probably there will be greater di\'ersity in tcrn1s of
size. In Etct. r possess more than enough optimism to
belieYe that demand will be strong and 1ha1 this will
1101h Yitalise and enrich 1he markc1. opening up 1he
possibility !hat engines will become less expensive.
As pre\'iously mentioned. the first successful trials
have :ilready t:1ken place with 1urboshaft engines. ln all
probability higher rx-·rformance turlx>fan model engines
will soon take to the :-;kies. The n1m.:'nt large model
:iirliner:-; are crying out for such engines. I am sure tlut r
will ha\'e :-;ome involvement in this area in the future
and look fonv:ird to the auivc p :111icipation of other
hohhy modellers. As we have :-;een. 1he basic technical
principles :ilready exisl.
II is also certain that progn:'ss will likewise h.: made
in adapting turhoshaft engines to other :1pplications. i.e.
for the propulsion of model helicopt<:rs. If you consider
th:it almost all of the larger hL'licopters are turbine
driven , there is dearly an awful lot to do in the area of
scale modd helicopters with turbine propulsion.
Nevertheless . even in the case of th e jct turbines
them:-;clves, not all fX>:-;sihilities have been exhausted . I

A turboprop e11gine
belo11gi11g to Mike Murph)'
from England. Tbe propeller
is dri11e11 1•ia a gearbox
from a secondfree-ru,mi11g
turbine wheel I.first
described this principle in
my book 'The Turboprop
E11gi11e For Home-Built
Models' ( see literary•
refere11ces).

The turboprop engine from

Mike Murphy sucks in the
air from the back. Here J'OU
can see the on-board
starter.

96 I tome BHilt ,Wudel Turbines

www.ASEC.ir
My turbofan e,igine is not yet ready to be produced in series. However it already flew back in 1999.

am thinking, for ex;1mple, of the atljustahle thrust

nozzles with which Hermann Micheli<: has already
experimented. This method of nozzle control offers
benefits in ensuring a maximum level of responsiveness.
In fact. whatever happens in the future. we all know
it will be full of surprises. I wish everyone involved in
this area every success.
Shortly hefore finishing the manuscript for this hook.
in the secontl edition of JETMAG I reatl the article ·who
is who? - home-built turbines in Germany', by Rudi
Reichstetter with the quote, .. perhaps as a minimum we
will succeed in bringing about a kine.I of exchange of
ideas in Germany ... ". So, home-builders, get in contact
with Rue.Ii Reichstetter, Untergasse 32, D-648"i0
Schaafheim. e-mail: R.Reichstetter@t-online.de I strongly
support this call and look forward to a fruitful
tlevelnpment of our home-build activities.

The fathers of turbines never tire: Hennamz

Miche/ic devewped adjustable nozzles, intended for
use to propel a vertical take-off aircraft.

Home Built ."11odel Turbines 97

www.ASEC.ir
Appendix
Potential suppliers Conrad Electronic
Klaus-Conrad-Strasse 1
At this point in my first lx>ok I coulcl do no more than D-92240 Hirschau
appeal to the imagination of anyone interested in this Tel: 00 49 !HO 5 .=n 21 11
subjecc. Today, the situation is completely different. Due Internet: www.conrad.de
abo in part to the considerable fluctuation in suppliers, I Measuring devices, screws, steel sheets, capillary tubes.
am o nly able to list a limited number of supplier
sources. Alfred Frank
Tanneneckstr.1sse 27
D-934';3 Neukirchen
AMT Netherlands Tel: 00 49 99 47 13 17
Heistraat 89 Turbine components
NL-5701 HJ Helmond
Tel : 00 31 4 92 <;4 58 01 GRW
Fax: 00 31 4 92 55 03 79 Gebriider Reinfurt GmbH & Co. KG
E-mail: amt@amtjets.com Prazisionskugellager
Internet: www.amtjets.com Gneisenaustrasse 10
Finished jet turbine.~. turbines wheels, accessories. D-97074 Wi.irzburg
Tel: 00 49 931 79 52 444
High predsion bearings
Behotec GmbH
Sonnenstrasse 1 Martin Lambert
D-8';232 l:krgkirchen Gartenstrasse 11
Tel: 00 49 8131 8 04 00 D--06926 Breitenbach
Fax: 00 49 8131 8 04 05 Tel: 00 49 6386 11 16
Internet: www.hehotec.de Fax: 00 49 6386 99 91 87
Finished jet turbines, construction kits, single component Finished jet turbines, turbine wheels, constmction kits,
accessories, balancing service. milled and machined components to drawings. laser-cut
components for turbine guide system.

Alfred Buscher Helmut Leben

lndustriestrasse 8a Hosenweg 31
D-42477 Radevormwald D-85101 Lenting
Tel : 00 -i9 2195 20 25 Tel: 00 49 8456 35 97
Fax: 00 49 2195 4 03 49 Laser-cul component:; for turbine guide system, combus-
Shafts and shaft tunnels. milled and machined compo- tion chamher.
nents to drawings.
Orbit Electronic
Arno Hausmann
Ingenieurburo Cat Falkcnwcg 32
Markus Zipperer GmhH D-52379 Langerwehe
Etzenbach 16 Tel : 00 49 2409 75 93 70
D-79219 Staufen Fax: 00 49 2409 75 93 72
Tel: 00 49 7636 7 8 03 0 Internet: www.o rbitronic.de
Fax: 00 49 7636 78 03 45 Orbit Turbojet EC.IJ.
Internet: www.cat-ing.de
Finished jet turbines, turbine wheels, accessories, hahmc- Achin Pelzer
ing service, milled and machined components to draw- Tho mas Mann Strnsse 8
ings, JetCat turbine electronics. D-52353 Duren
Combustion chamber components, housings. thmst noz-
zles.

98 Home Built Model Turbines

www.ASEC.ir
Michael Rank Struck Turbotechnik GmbH
Mohlsdorfer Strasse 4 Erncsrine nsrrasse 11 S
0-09773 Greiz.'Raasdor 0-45141 Essen
Te l: 00 49 3661 43 41 39 Tel: OU 49 201 29 26 29
E-mail: Micael.Ranc@t-online.de Ct1mpress11r w heels
Together with:
Heiko Naupold Wren Turbines
Zoghaus 44 Unit 13
D-07957 Lange nwetzendorf New Century Business Centre
Tel: 00 49 Fl 9 95 97 53 Manvers \Xlay
Laser-cut combustion chamber sheets, combustion cham- Manvcrs
bers, turbine components, balancing service. Rotherham S63 50A
Internet: www. wren-turbines.corn
Plan and components for MW-54 jet turbine, wide range
of turbine wheels

Construction kit for the 6() Newton jet turbine manufactured by Wren in England; top left a wax modelfor
the turbine guide system, on the right the.finished component. below is the blank casting.

... . .
- . - --. -. -. --- -.,..~__,.,
.
,,,...,,..,.,..,..
-- .
···
. . .··...······
.. ...·········· ···-
... . . . .. . ....

Home Built Model Turbines 99

www.ASEC.ir
References and Sources
of Information
Books
It does not wke long to list some of th<:: specialist hcx,ks
that have been writte n for the intcrest<::d lay person:
Thomas Kamps: McKld _let Engines. Compone nts, home-
build. o peratio n . Puhlished by Trapkt Publications,
Traplct House, Pendragon Close. Malv<::rn. Worcs . WR1 4
IGA.
The autho r has hee n intensive ly involved in the further
development of m<xle l jet engines. His h<X,k contains all
the information required to build a high-pe rformance jct
engine using professionally manufactured turbocharger
compressor wheels. His design provides the basis for
most of the jct turbines that today are either ho me-built
or manufactured professionally. He is an engineer with a
ve ry good grasp of theory and co mmunicates the
nec<::ssary theoretical knowle dge in a very clear form.
The hook certainly lives up to the promise of its title .
Kurt :-ichreckling: The Model Turbo-prop Engine For
Home Constructio n. The co nstruction plan in the form o f
a hook . Published by Traplet Publications. Traplet
House. Pe ndragon Close. Malve rn. Worcs. WR14 IGA.
This contains the first ever description o f how to build a
functional dual shaft version of a turhoshaft engine. It
includes co mprehensive building instructions with
construction drawings and features solurions to physical
and technical problems. using diagrJms to demonstrate
the inte rrelations. It provides docume ntation of the first
experie nces of flying rurho-driven model helicopters.
turhoprop mcxlel aircr:.1ft and turbofan models.
Thomas Kamps: Radi o Controlled Model Jet Guide.
Published by Trapl e t Publications, Traplet Hou s e.
Pendragon Close, Malvern , Worcs. WR14 l(;A.
Kurt Sc hreckling : G:1s Turbine Engines for Model
Aircraft. Publishe d by Tra plet Publications , Traplet
House. Pe ndragon Close, Malvern, Worcs. WR14 IGA.
Mike Cherry: Mike's Jct Hook . Publish e d by Traplct
Publications. Traplct House, Pend1:1gon Close, Malve rn.
Worcs. WIH /4 IG A.
German Language Books
Thomas Kamps: Making your own RC-jet mtxlel, Verlag
fi.'lr Technik und Handwerk, Baden-H:,de n. Orde r no.
310 210:$.
JOO
www.ASEC.ir
Kurt Sc hreckling: Jct turbines for home-built model-
aircraft. Modell-Te chnik-Re rater 20, Verlag fi.ir Technik
und Handwerk. Raden-Bade n.
This is out of print at the publisher's.
Tho mas Kamps: The te chnology o f mode l turhines -
Volume 1. Engines and components. Verlag ffir Technik
und Handwerk. Baden-Bade n. Order no. 310 2105.
Thomas Kamps: The technology of model turhine.~ -
Volume 2. Home-build and practical tips, Ve rlag fi.ir
Technik und Handwe rk, Baden-Baden . Order no. 310
2101.
Of course, much can he learnt from large standard
turbines. The wo rks listed below re present o nly a small
selection of the comprehensive specialist literarnre from
which the authors Kamps and Schreckling have gained
their understanding of the subject. To he able to hilly
understand these hoo ks, you will require, without doubt.
an appropriate level of mathematical unde rstanding.
Willi Ro hl: Ventilators. Voge l Buchve rlag, Wurzhurg
H Cohen, G.F.C. Rogers, H. I. H. Sravanamuttuo:
Gas Turbine Theo ry. Addiso n Wesley, Boston. t:SA .
Fritz Dietzel: Gas turbines, sho rt and to the point, Vogel
Buchvcrlag, Wurzburg
Dubhel. Engineering Po cket Hook. Springer Verlag,
Berlin (The ·nuhbel' is the engineer's bible ).
Wolfgang Kalide: Introduction tu the technical theo ry of
flow. Carl Hanse r Verlag, Munich, Vie nna.
R.K. Turton: Principles of Turbomachinery. Second
edition. Chapman & Hall. London (amo ngst othe rs).
Magazines
Radio Control Jet International
Traple t Puhlicatio ns Ltd ..
Traplet House, Pendragon Close,
Malvern.
Worcestershire. WR14 IGA
United Kingdo m.
E-mail : rcji@trnplet.com
For more information and products visit the Traple t
website: ww.traplet.com
Home Built Model Turbines
Organisations
There are two assooallons that concern themselves
panicularly with the need-. of turhine model makers:

Ge rman M<x.lel Aircraft: Asso ciation

Rochusstrnsse 104-106
D-53123 Honn
Inte rnet: www.dmfv.de

Gas Turbine Ruiklers Associatio n (GTHA)

Internet: www.gtba.cnuce .co .uk

To promore the exchange of ideas amongst home-

builders there is:

Rudi Reichstcner
Unte rgasse 32
D-64850 Schaa fi1e im
E-mail : R. Reichsten e r@t-o nline.de

Home Built Model Turbines JOI

www.ASEC.ir
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HOME BUILT MODEL TURBINES
It was over 30 years ago when Kurt Schreckling first started developing model
turbines using simple means. He went on to build the first Right-worthy model
turbines, becoming one of the pioneers to bring this fascinating mode of
propulsion to model aircraft.

In the meantime the pace of development has increased. Engines ore now capable
of much greater performance and ore more reliable. Today, possibilities are wide
and varied: they include everything from complete construction sets to single
finished parts, not forgetting essential accessories such as fuel pumps or electronic
controls. These all provide an excellent basis for home-building, as Kurt
Schreckling describes here in great detail.

The book illustrates technical principles, whilst at the same time establishing
important operational parameters and safety measures. Extensive drawing plans,
a large number of photographs and detailed instructions enable the committed
model maker to eventually build his own model of the KJ-66 and TK-50, as well as
the J-66 kit version turbine from Behotec.

Three high-specification propulsion drives to fulfil your dream of building your very
own model turbine.

ISBN 1-900371-37-5

9 J,900 371377 >

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