BY KURT SCHRECKLING

THE
s
MODELLER'
e:::-
R-
S WORLD
, e:::- s
 Home Built

MODEL
TURBINES
 ODEL
TURBI ES

BY KURT SCHRECKLING
 © Auflage 2004 by Verlag Fiir Technik und Handwerk
Postfach 227'1, 7h492 Bade n-Haden

Translated from the original German by Nigel Price

© 2005 Traplel 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 hook is true to the best of o ur knowledge at the time of compilation. Recommendations
are made without any guarantee. implied or otherwise. o n the part of the author or publisher, who also disclaim any
liability incurred in connection with the use of data or specific info rmation contained within this publication.

Published by Traplet Publications Limited 2005

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

ISBN 1 900371 37 5

Front Cover:

''KJ66 engine designed by Kurt Schreckling and manufactured in kitform hv Jesus Artes".

Back Cover:

''KJ66 engine I'iewedfrom the rear".

T RAP LET
~~
P U lI l l t: AT I O N S

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

Contents
Foreword .... .. ............................ ........................................................................................ ................. ...... ................................ 9
Chapter l. Physical-Technical Principles of Model Jet Turbines ....................................................................................... 11
What are we talking about? ........................... ...... ..... ............ ....................... ...... .... ......... .......... ... ...... ............................. 11
How does a model jet turbine work? ............. ..................... ............. ...... .... .............................. ........................... .......... .11
The most important physical parameters ....................................................................................................................... 11
Suitable fuels ........ .................................. ... .... ..... ....... ........ ...... ...... ...... ..................... ....... ..... ... .......... ............. .... .............. 13
Description of components ........... .. ................ ....................................................................... .. .............. ......................... 13
The cOlnpressor stage ................................................................................................................................................. 13
The turbine stage ............................. ............ ............... ... ......... .... .................... ............................ ............................ .... 15
Bearings. 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? ......................................................... ... .............. ... ........... ... ......... ..... .................. .24
Fuel consumption ................................................................................ ... ................. ................... ............ .................... 25
Influence of weather and altitude .............................................................................................................................. 26
Correlation between thrust and flight velocity ............................................................... ............ ......... ... .... .... ........... 27
Noise development ................................................. .............. ......... ..... ..... ..... ................. ................ ....... .... ...... ............ 27
Chapter 2. Necessary Accessories ...... .................................................................................................................................. 2R
Different types of starter. ........ .. ...... ....... ..... ..... ..... ..... ......... .................... .. .................... .... ................. ...... ........................ 2H
An essential: a fire extinguisher ...................................................................................................................................... 29
The fuel plllnp ......................................................................................................................................... .... .................... 29
Fuel tank with feed lines .......................................................... ....................... ................................... ............... ...... ........ 30
Cartridge-fed auxiliary gas .............................................................................................................................................. 30
Electrically-powered glow plug ......... .............................................. .. ................... .. ..... ................... .... ...... ...................... 30
Calibrating of the restrictor for the supply of lubricant.. ............................................................................................... 30
Electronic regulation and control ........ ................................................................................................................... ....... .30
Chapter 3. Test Stand and Measuring Equipment .............................................................................................................. 32
The engine on the test sta nd .............................. ...... ......... ..... ...... ...... ........ .......... ..... ......... ..... ................... ............ ........ 32
Measuring the thnlst ... ............................. .......... .. ............................ .... ................... ......................................................... 33
Measuring rotational velocity and pressure ................................................................................................................... 33
Temperature measurement .. ..... ... ... .............................................. ...... .............. ......... ....... ................................... ..... ..... .34
Chapter 4. Which Turb ine, Which Model? .......................................................................................................................... 35
Chapter 5. Home-Built Jet Engines ............................................................. ..... ...... ......... ........ ........ ... ....................... ...... .... .40
Comparative technical data .. .. .. ................................................. .... ..................... ............................................................. 40
Kit version of the Behotec J-66 jet turbine .................................................................................................................... .41
The construction kit - a detailed look ..... ... ........ ........ ...... ...... .................. .... ........... .. .......... .............. ........................ 41
General points on the construction of the KJ-66 and TK-50 ... ...... ...... ............. .......... ............................... ................... Lt't
Balancing the rotor .......... ................................................... ........................................................................................ 44
The home-built TK-50 jet turbine, made from a thermos flask ................... .................. ....... ........................ ...... ......... .44
How it evolved ..... ..... ... ... ............... ............................................. ..... .................... ... ................................. .......... ...... . .44
Construction requirenlents .. ........ ................. ......... ....... ........................... ............................................. ...................... 45
Parts list and drawings ............................................................................................................ ........................................'16
Constructing individual components .............................................................................................................................. 63
Rotor, bearings a nd shaft tunnel ... ..... ... ..................................................................................................................... 63
Turbine guide systenl ................................... .......... ..... ............................................................................................... 63
Housing ................................................................... ........................................... ........ ................................................. 64
Conlpressor guide system .. ........... ... .......................................................................................................................... 6LJ
Intake nozzle ............................................. ... ........ ........ ... ........ ..... ........ ....... ........... ......... ...... ...................................... 65
Compressor guide vanes ..... .............................. ........ .... ..................... ........ .......... ..... ................... .. ............................ 65
Connecting the compressor guide vanes to the guide vane holder ...... ... ... ............. ................. ........... ................... 66
The lid ....................................... .. ..... ..... ......................... ..... ....................................................................................... .66
 Aligning the intake nozzle with the compre~s()r wheel and adju~ting the size o f the gap ................................ ... .66
Combustio n chambe r. glow plug ............................................. ............ .............................. .............................. .......... 67
Supply lines fo r fuel, auxilia ry gas a nd lubrica nt .......................... ..................................... ...... .. ............................. .68
Exhaust gas nozzle .............................................. ......... ............ ....................................... ................................. .......... 69
Calibrating the diame te r of the turbine wheel ........................................ ... ........................ ...................... ......... ... ..... 70
Connecting the exhaust gas nozzle to the housing ............ ........................ ..............................................................70
Final assemhly ........................ ................................. .................. ......................................................................... ..... .... 70
Home-built KJ-66 je t turb ine ................. ........................... ....... ............... .......................................... ............................... 71
How it evolved .......... .. ....................... ........ ....... .. ........ .. ............ ........... .. .......................... ................................... ....... 71
De mands on the home builde r ....... ......... ...... ......... ............................................................................. ..... ................. 72
Parts list and drawings .............. ............................. .. .......... ..................... ...................... .. ................................................73
Constructing individual components .......... ............... ........ ............. ......................... ................. ...................... ................ 92
Rotor (1.1 to 1.9) ......................................... ........ ............................. .......... .. .............. ...... ........... .............................. .. 92
Shaft tunnel (2.1 to 2.3) .......................... ................................................ ......................... .. ............... .. .... .. .. ...... ..........92
Intake no zzle a nd lid (3.1 to 3.3 >... ........... ........ ....... ................................ ... ........... ... .............. .... ............................... 92
Compression gUide system ..................... .................................................... ..... ............ ... ................. .. ......... ................92
Co mbustio n cha mber (5.1 to 5.9. 6.1. 6.2) ................................ .... .............................................................. .............. 92
Fuel supply system G .l to 7.4) ..................................... ................... ... ....... ................................ .. ........................ .. .... 93
Auxiliary gas system. oil supply system (8.1 to 8.4.9.1 to 9.3) ......................................... ..................................... .93
Turbine guide system (10.1 to 10.4) ............................................................ .. .......... ......... ...... ................................... 93
Housing (11) ....................................... ....... .................... .. ........ ........... ............... .............................................. .. ... ..... .93
Flange A, fla nge B 02.1. 12. 2) .......................................... ................. ........ .................... .... ............ ............................ 9.j
Exhaust gas nozzle ............... ......... .................. .............. .......... ............. .......... ............................................ .... .. .......... 93
Final assembly ............. ....... ................... ........ ............. .................. ... ........ .. ........... .. ....................... .............................. 94
Chapte r 6. Important Safety Instructions ........... ........................... ......................... ............ ....... .. ......................................... 95
Danger of fire .................................................................. ............................................... ............................................ .95
Danger o f sucking in foreig n obje cts ... ................. .. .. ......... ..................... .............................................. .......... ..........95
Danger due to exhaust gases ........................................ ........ .... ......... ...................................................................... ..95
Danger of rotating parts .............. ................................................ ........................ ........... .......... ........................ ......... .95
Da nger of insufficient profiCiency in flying models ........... ............ ........... ............. ......... ................ ......... .. .............. 95
Chapter 7. What Does The Future Have in Sto re? ... ........................ ........... .............. ........... .. ......... ................................... 96
Appendix ................................................................ .................................... .... ....................................... ...................... 98
Potential supplie rs ....... .... ........... ......... .................................... ......... .................................................... ...... ................98
Refe rences a nd sources of information ............................ ........ ....... .. .......... .......... ................. .......... .. ............. ....... ... ........ 100
Books. Magazine s ................................................ ................................................ ..................................................... 100
O rganisations '" ............ ...... ............... .. ......... ......... ............................. ...................... ................................................. .......... 101
About The Author
II1 Schreckling was born in 1939. His first practi-

K cal experience of model aircraft came at the age

)f five, when he transformed a tangled-up kite
into an aeroplane. Over the yea rs that followed, not o nly
did he build a great numbe r of model aircraft, h e also
developed several of his own remote controllers.
He was aged eleven w hen he first saw Vampire jet
planes in the s ky . That tu rned out to he a d efin ing
moment in his life. Study of a small e ncyclopedia gave
him the belief that he could come up w ith a simple way
of constructing a turbine. However, it took almost fo ur
decades before he fina lly started w ork in earnest at ful-
fi lling his youthful dream. Today, people like 10 refer to
him as the '" inventor", the "pope of turbines" or also as
the "father of turbines". None of that is really true .
Instead . he prefers to see himself as one in a long line of
fathers of model jet turbines.
He received a hasic technical education and went on
to study physics at university . He then worked for 32
years as a qualified e ngineer for a large Rhine-h ased
chemical company. In his job he gained expe rie nce of
diffe re nt technical areas, no ne o f w hich ever involved
turbines. He was happy to take early retirement in 1999.
Having completed his h ook a b out turbo props , he
fea red that he might have to retire as turbine developer
as well. However. as it turned o ut. this was not the case.
Kul1 Schreck ling cannot deny his special love of good
food . Indeed, flying model 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 has managed to come through il
all unscathed.

Home Built Model Turbines 7

Foreword
T he inventor, Or. Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain
(l 'J11- 19Hl'3),developed the first jet turbine which
flew for the first time in August 1939. I was only
three months old at the time and still in nappies. As far
as I am concerned, the hisrory of scale models of jet tur-
reliable model je t turbines in a variety of sizes . The
rang e includes everything from ready-to-assemble
engines to kil versions and individual compone nts. In
addition, there is now an adequate selection of essential
accessories such as fuel pumps . electronic devices ,
bines began at the end of the 19HOs. In 19HH I began starters and other bits and pieces. The same is true of
putting some ideas into practice that were to produce suitable model aircraft, whether these he training aircraft
the first simply constructed model jet turbines capable of or scale models. At the same time, for non-engineers,
flight. I descrihed the methods and the first trials in 1992 and that includes the majority of model aircraft pilots,
in the first edition of the Modell-Technik-Berater No. 20 there is a continual flood of new and more comprehen-
'Home-huilt jet turhines for model planes', published by sive information sources. Whilsl I was working on this
the 'Verlag fi.ir Technik und Handwerk' German text. hook, it came as a surprise tn learn from the publisher
This heralded a boom in the development of model
turbines , with strong su pport coming from Thomas Greetings to the Germa1lfather ofjet turbilles. He
Kamps' book 'Model Jet Engines' published hy Traplet delle/oped the He S3B ellgi1le that Oil 27th August
Publications. Of course, activity was not simply restricted 1939 helped pilot Erich Warsitz to become the first
to those writing hooks. Uther people , all of them ama- perso1l to fly an aeroplalle by jet propulsiOlI. Both
tellr,~ in the field , were equally busy developing model the ellgine a"d the prototype He 178 aeropla1le
turbines and contributing greatly to their popularity . were constructed in the Heinkelfactory.
Rainer Binczyk. for example, travelled widely and ignit-
ed the turbine craze, particularly 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-scale mode l incorporating home-
OHAIN WHrmE· rRCM
huilt turbines. He developed a top-secret t(lrmulae for
high performance compressor and turbine wheels and is
now working on a vertical take -off mod e l with
1994
Ill'llll
adjustable nozzles.
Over the lasl five years several smaller companies p{lh" '1 '(m O{JlI i 11
worldwide have made effective use of the work pio-
neered by these amateurs . Today they produce quite =111 '"1111'11111., [~1I1 "'II It'i/lld}llIUII,\('1"
()I/ \/f" - 'W I \. ,'1 [I rt~OI'l t)

In 19881 began experimentillg with a view to '11,. .,,,,/m (,jlll'l "Id m'/'clll' 1'1 Lt"lIIl1lklil'
establishing a simple alld effectilJe method of C""" 0-1- os. ]!llli 1004
buildillg a modeljet turbine -as the result shows, 1
succeeded.

Home Buill .Wodel Turbines 9

Tile Kobler fmni(JI, a leam offatller tmd two sons. At tbe Ohaill Whittle Trophy i" the summer of 1998 they
ct,ptured tbe spectators imagilltltioll U'ilb their three Hei"kel 'St,lamander'.

that he was a hout to puhli sh the first m agazine in to build his own high thrust a nd reliahle je l p ropulsion
German o n the subject of model jet turbines and their must come to terms with constructing to higher sta n-
use: The J ETMAG. dard s . l lnfo rtun ately , t he very simple a pproach , as
Today. of cou rse, a model jet turhine is expected to d escribed in my firs1 book. is no longer enough .
~ capable of a lot more than it was te n years ago. As a The c hapter that explains hasic principles is written
result, specifications are higher and anyone w ho wants with the ma jority of home builders in mind, whose pro-
fessiona l career has not
This is tbe FD-2, probably tbefirst motleljet turbillefuelled by keroselle tbat involved a ny aspects of
lI'as capable ~ifflight. lis sllccessfulfirstflight took place Oil lOti} September physics or e ngineering
1989. sciences. Consequently ,
I do not s p e nd time
u si ng formulae to dis-
cuss in d e tai l the corre-
la tion of physica l
value s. Ind ee d , t h is
would exceed the 'icope
of this hook in a ny case.
It is a ll too easy for spe-
cialists to fo rget tha t you
need years to lea rn the
langu a g e of formul ae
and that it is not possi-
ble to adequately impa rt
this knowledge between
the covers of just one
hook . Anyone who
wishes to learn about
theoretical principles in
more dera il can find ref-
e rel1l'es to rhe appropri-
ate litera t u re in th e
appendix, I will display
the res ults a nd calcula-
tions that a re releva nt
for the practical aspects
()f model je t nlfbines in
the form of di a gra ms
a nd the ir practical appli-
cation.

10 Home Buill .Hodel Tlirhines

- -- -- - .- - -- - -- - -- - - -- -- -

Physical-Technical
Principles of ModelJet
Turbines
What are we talking about?
It is a curious point of fact that you will not find the
term 'turhine' in most physics books. [n the ne w Fischer
encyclopedia under the e ntry ·turbine' is written : 'power
machine in wh ic h the energy of a flowing m e dium
(water, steam, gas) is transforme d into useful e nergy;
precursors were windmills and warerwheels'. Specialist
technical books on the suhject explain the variety o f tur-
hines in some de rail under the main heading of 'flow
machines'. In Dubbel 's pocket Ixx)k of enginee ring you
find the definition: .. the gas turhine is a machine that
uses heat to deliver mechanical e ne rgy (shaft power) or
thrust (e.g. aircraft e ngines)" . Accordingly , the term 'gas
turbine' is the generic term for a ll types of turho jet
engines. jet turhines as well as turbo -prop drives.
They a re a ll deemed to be 'gas turbines'; frolll the
model engines such as JPX . fD . micro- turbines .
Turhomin and Pegasus as well as the KJ-66, J -(J(J and TK-
50 turbo engines featured in this hook, up to a nd includ-
ing any such machine type that either cu rrently exists or
is yet to be invented . They a re all 'gas turbines', and
they all generate thmst! In fact. an alternative and more
proper na me for s uch devices is turbo air jet engines. I
prefer the rerm often used by ex perts : ' jet turhines' .
Some people also call them jet engines. However, the jet
is actually just the back part of such a n engine.
As you can see. we already have more than e nough
de finitions at our disposal. There is no need to come up
with a ny new d e finitions . Unfortunately. tech nica l
experts do not always speak a la nguage that is logically
correct and dear. Of course , to aid the understanding of
readers who do not have special prior knowledge. it is
essential to always state exactly what is mea nt by the
word ·turhines'. Is tha r the complete unit, the turbine
wheel, a nlrbine stage or something e lse perhaps?
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 d o to the
large jet engines or in general to a ll air-breathing gas tur-
bines. The air is sucked in by the compressor wheel and
compressed. The introduction of comhustion heat in the
Home Built Model Turhines
Chapter 1
combustion chambe r increases the work content of the
air i.e . the compressed a nd heated a ir can now perform
more work than was necessary to compress it. As the ai r
flow s past the turbin e wheel it gives up th e e n ergy
required to drive the compressor wheel. The excess
energy accelerates the air to very h ig h velOCity in a n
axia l dire ction opposite to the d irection of flight. An
exh a ust gas nozzle improves th e efficiency o f the
process.
The most important physical
parameters
A je t turbine ge nerates thrust by accelerating air mass-
es. When m a sse~ of air are accelerated . they create force
effects . Forces are measure d in n ewtons not in kil o-
grams! The force of 1 newton (signified by the leuer N)
acts a t the precise point in time when the mass of 1 kg
a ccelera tes or decelerates by 1 m / s'. The change in
~peed per unit of ti me is defined ; IS acceleration a nd
measured in m / s' . Mass. i.e . th e m ate rial weight of a
body . is measured in kilogra ms . Acceleration du e to
gra vity causes a fixe d mass to exert a to rce on the s ur-
fa ce it stands on. Scales use this so-called 'weight-force '
to compare different weights. Spring hala nces ta ke the
deflectio n of a spring and translate it into a meas ure-
ment on a scale . Take such a spring b a lance to the
moo n to measure the same mass and the result would
h e completely d iffe re nt from tha t o n ea rth . e ven though
the mass ibelf would not have changed in a ny way.
You just have to pick up a ha mmer to be ;I\va re of
the ve ry disparate forces it can generate. If you hold it
still in your hand . you just feel the weight-force. Whe n
you ta ke the ha mmer hack . so as to bring it down , i.e.
when you accelerate it. dea rly you mus. expend more
force. When the hammer strikes, it d evelops a force that
we a re nor at a ll a hle [Cl replicate with our muscles
alone. Just try to push in a nail into a piece of wood
with your hand and you can hegin to imagine the kind
of force generated by a ha mmer when it i~ decelerated .
In a ll insta nces the aerual mass of the hammer re mains
unalte red. Now let us apply our theorem that fo rce
equa ls mass times acceleration to our jet turbine . For
example , an engine s ucks in air a t a speed of 0.25
kg/ second a nd accelerate~ it at the same time to a speed
11
 Auxiliary gas Glow plug
Fuel & oil~~
- ·~~~=;
=4:~~~~~~~~~~~~
..........
,d= , ~::::;:~
\~ r--;;i~j../~·srz
[ Exhaust gas flow
Air Shajl -
Shaft tmmel
------1--+---
- - - Ball'!!.arings
Intake 1lozzle
Compressor wheel COlllpre. .sor guide eombustio1l
l'a1leS chamber
Fig. 1: Diagram of a modeljet turbille.
of 400 m/ s. Therefore, the sta tic thrust is 100 N. For
those with a long mcmory. you can also say 10 Kp but
definitely not 10 kg! Admittedly, it is hetter to work in N
or in general in SI units. Let us cause a thrust of JOO N to
act on a model w ith an initial mass of 12 kg to give a
maximum possible initial accderation of Iou 7 12 m, s' =
8.33 1l1/ S'. This value i~ the true \-alue. provided that the
forces associated with rolling triction and air resistance
at the start are ignored.
\Vhenever masses come together. it a lways results in
a change in the direction of velOCIty. As a consequence.
the forces that act are what we call ce ntrifugal forces.
111e wheels of our turhine and compressor are rotating
so quickly that they turn the air masses at a very high
velocity. resulting in high centrifuga l forces . .lust imag-
ine: a typical turbine whed for a mode l jet turbine has a
diameter of 66 111111. The centre point of the turhin e
vanes is at a diameter of ")') mm. Such a vane weighs
o nly 1 gra m . 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 tha t the
vane~ hurtle at a velocity of 34") 111/ s. the equivalent of
1.242 km h on a circular path with a diameter of only 55
m111. So just imagine the force that ans nn the connec-
tion betwee n the turbine vane a nd the wheel disk - it is
4.430 N. That is approximately the same as lifting '14 ten-
litre buckets of water :1t the :-.ame time . This illustrates
very clea rly that the ro tational velocity of a turbine
wheel does have its limits and th at these 111ust he
respected at all costs for reasons of safety.
In physics, work is determined as force times dis-
rance. measured in the direction of travel. Energy is the
ability to undertake work. To take a nying m(xlel up to
a certai n height requires a s pecific amount of work. In
this insta nce the force is the weight-force of the mode l
and the distance up into the air. Flying over a specific
distance in a straight line at a consta nt height, a model is
12
Vi t 'b t .
u rzng
or
Nozzle
./
-+--'-----
-
Turbi1le u,heel
Turbi1le guide valles
Sticks Housi1lg
subjecr to the constant force of air re~istance a nd the
path covered is the dista nce. This makes it possihle to
ca lculate the work required . In both cases we have only
taken into cunsidera tion the actual 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 heat energy can be 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 turbin e? T here are many different w ays of answering
this question:
We are interested in the power that the engine gives
to the model. This constitutes thmsl times tlight velocity.
As long as the model is fixed to the ground. it will not
fly no matter how high the thrust.
The power of the exhausl gas flow , a lso called jet-
stream powe r, is velocity squared, times half the m ass
now rate.
II is likewise possible to calculate the necessary ther-
mal power to be provided hy the fuel , although this is
somewha t more complicated .
Finally. a little additional effort is required to calcula te
the power with which the turhine wheel drives the com-
pressor.
A physicist would not llnderstand the term 'thrust-
power'; it wou ld sound to him like a contrJcl iction in
terms.
Suitable fuels
Most mo del jet turhines a re pretty indiscriminating in
terms of the quality of the fuel. You can even go as far
as saying: you can use anything that is tlu id . comhustible
and not more volatile than diesel fu el. Compa red to all
the other a vailable fuels, diesel or similar materials, sllch
as kerosene or paraffin, have more or less the highest
Home Bllilf Mudel Turbines
calorific value and are therefore the hest to use . Type Jet a rranged in rotational symmetry a nd replaced the radial
A ] kerosene is specially formulated as an aircraft fuel tu rhine wheel with an axial turhine wheeL Our model
and is therefore preferred. If you cannot get hold of that. je t turbines have a rad ial compressor stage. a ring com-
then p araffin comes close st to kerosene but is quite bustion chamber a nd an axial turbine stage. The combi-
expensive. At this pre sent time the most cost-effective nation of compressor. shaft a nd turhine wheel is calle d a
fuel is biodieseL Some engines have sta rt problems with rotor.
d iesel or biodiesel and splutter under a p artial load . You
can solve these problems by adding 15 to 200/0 of regular The compressor stage
petrol or 20 to :30% of paraffin. It is similarly possible to The compressor stage consists of a compressor wheel
use regular petrol on its own, although it has a slightly a nd the compressor guide system through which the air
lower calorific-value-to-volume ratio. What is more, in subsequently flows. The wheels found in motor vehicle
unfortunate circumstances it can also ca use explosive turbo chargers make excellent compressor wheels . They
mixtures of air and petrol outside the jet turbine. For act only in a radial direction and are available in ditler-
these reasons it is not recomme nded to u se regular ent dimensions. Othe r tha n a fine ba lancing, no other
pe trol on its own. machining is required. This ohviates the need, therefore,
There are no additives of any kind that can be used to construct special components for model jet turbines .
to increase the thrust performance of the fueL The only The drawing (Fig. 2) shows the typical vane shape of
way to get more thrust is to burn more fueL The maxi- the compressor wheeL The vanes are bent slightly back-
m um thrust that can be achieved by a p a rticular jet tur- wards towards the outt1ow. This is done to achieve a
b ine is d e te rm ined b y the physical and technica l h etter inte rnal efficiency.
characteristics of its construction a nd the quality of th e The intake d iamete r of the vanes is conside rably
materials used. sm a ller tha n the external d iameter of the wheeL You can
A mode l jet turbine will also work with liquid also think of the wheel as a combination of a small axial
propane gas. However, this requires the fitting of a com- compressor wheel and a large radial compressor wheeL
plicated, pressu re resistant ta nk system , not forgetting The wheel sucks in the air in an axial direction a nd
the need to carry large propane gas bottles around with accelerates it hetween the va nes in a radial direction.
you. whilst taking the co rresponding safety precautions. This results in the air already heing p artially compressed
For these reasons I feel that it is not advisable to use between the va nes of the compressor wheel and. as it
propane gas as a fueL flo w s out, it h as been accelerated to a n extremely high
velocity.
Description of components Let us look again at the d rawing and the ratio s on the
outflow edge of a paddle. w is the velocity of the a ir at
Let us take another look at the previous diagrammatic the tip of the va nes. The tip of the va nes turns with the
drawing (Fig. 1). It represents a basic design common to c ircumferentia l velocity u , c is the resulting velocity.
all model jet turhines that are currently ava ilable a nd Because the va nes a re hent h ac kwa rds , th is is only
applies in e qual measure to both professiona lly a nd around 70% of the circ umferential velocity. The permit-
home-built engines. For
this reason , it is our Fig. 2 Air flow at the compressor wheel
intention to take this
d iagra m as a model
design for the following
commenta ry. Th e most
approp r iate way to
describe our mode l jet
turhine s is a s a cross
between the first Oha in
engines, and that of Sir u
JV e
Flow velocities at the intake
F ra nk Whittle (1907-
to the compressor guide
1996) . Whittle was an
system
officer in the British Air
Force , who likewise
developed a jet engine
in the 1930s and there-
fore became one of the
founding fathers of this
type of propulsion. Von
Ohain u s ed a ra di a l
compressor stage. a ring
combu s tion chamber
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 curved backwards.
bu s tion chambers

Home Built ;Wodel Tztrhines 13


Holl' compressor wheels have clearly developed:
top left a relic from the plywood age of model jet
turbines; top right a wheel made from carbon
fibres with an aluminium hub; below the KKK
ll'beelsfor the TK-50 and KJ-66.
AbOl'e you can see the compressor guide system
prolotypesfor tbe KJ-66 and the TK-50. Below is
holl' they were finis/Jed accordi1lg 10 the
constructioll plans.
ted circumfe re ntial velocity is approxImately IUO nt s.
That means. the a ir leaves the w heel with a velocity of
approximatel y c = 2HO m/s.
You can conceive of the direction of this flow as a
combination of flows from two directions. f irstly it is Cu,
the circumferentia l direction of the rotation a nd secondly
Cm, a precise radial direction away from the axis of rota-
tion . The flow in th e circumferential direction is a Iso
called swirl flow. For our wheels the swirl flow is slight-
ly le~s than the circumferential vel(X'ity. In the case o f
the compre~sor wheel the air flows without SWirling into
the channels created by the compressor vanes an d
14
A cast compressor guide system for the KJ-66 or
similar turbines, built by Herma1ln Michelic.
leaves them. as indicated above, with a high degree o f
swirl.
O nce in tlll: compressor guide syste m . the high veloc-
ity of 2HO m/s is transfo rmed as effectively as possihle
into pressure. The photos s how that several different
d esigns of compressor guide system a re possible . A
common feature they a ll share is first that the guide
vanes are located in the rotational plane of the wheel.
The flow on the outside is redirected in the direction o f
the co mbustion chamber. To the best of my knowledge
the re has b een no suhstantiated analysis as to which
design is the m o st efficient . On the basis that all the
design s shown here work effectively, it can be conclud-
ed that the differences in terms of efficiency are negligi-
bit: for our purposes. As a result, you are free to choose
a d esign th at is best suited to the productio n facilities
you have at your disposal. It follows, therefore, that the
compressor guide syste m for the KJ-66 and o ther simila r
turhines can be machined on a CNC lathe in one single
piece . You can identify wedge-shaped primary vanes
and curved secondary va nes.
The Kamps design provides a good solution for home
builders . It has curved steel vanes which are fixed into a
guide vane holde r using adhesive. The primmy and sec-
ondary v a n es a re co n s tructe d in o n e piec e .
l 'nfortunatcly, this metho d has its limitations. When a ir
is compressed, there is an inevitable rise in temperature .
This rapidly reduces the capacity of the adhesive to
withstand higher loads . As an alte rnative to fixing the
guide vanes with adhesive, for example, you can use
screws to secure them to the guide vane holder.
Tests that J undertook with the gUide system for the
design of my new TK-';O e ngine showed that the axial
le ngth of the secondary vanes is not at a ll critical. Yo u
will find a deta iled description of this system in the co n-
struction manual.
Each closed channel that continuously expands h as
the e ffect o f d ecelera ting the flow. Th b leads to the
intended increase in pressure. Such a system is called a
diffuser. A diffuser takes the energy of motion, or, to be
more precise. the kinetic e nergy out of the air and trans-
forms it into pressure e ne rgy. Accordingly, the cross-sec-
tion al shape of the channel is of lesser significance. Tn
practice the guide systems used can be understood as a
Home Built Model Turhines
ring of d iffusers that capture the flow of the compressor mdial turl)ine wheel for the purpo~e~ of model jet tur-
wheeL It is imperative that the di ffusers are arranged in bines does have its complications. in particular in terms
such a way that their axes a re aligned as closely as pos- of the hearings. As a con,. ,equence. in the following sec-
sible with the tlow of air from the compressor wheel. tio n we will only consider turbine stage~ that have an
Otherwise, the result will h e a loss of thrust, i.e. a redu c- ax ial turbine wheel a nd accelerate the gas as il flows
tion in efficiency. This implies less pressure, with some through the system.
of the kinetic energy in the a ir being transformed instead As indicated in the drawing , to e nsure that the whole
into additional hea t energy. mass uf gas tlo w s axia lly through the turbine vanes.
In a diffuser, once the flow of air detaches itself from these m usl be largely dosed on the outside. When the
the wa ll il begins to swirl. This te ndency is greater, the turhine wheel is fitted into the housing, it is necessary,
larger the expansion angle of the d iffuser. If you con- the refore. to m a ke the gap between the tips of the vanes
struct the ditfuser to IX' particularly long and thin, then and the housing as s mall ;IS possible. To increase the
friction loss on the necessa rily large wall surfaces addi- effect of the wheel. the gas is caused to swirl strongly
tionally reduces efficiency . Consequently there 's n o prior to entering th e va nes of the turbine wheel. This
sense al all in constructing particularly long extende d swirl is produced by the fixed vanes of the turbine guide
diffusers. system. The key factor is their shape. The correct va ne
The efficiency of our com pressor stage or, more angle on the turhine wheel and guide system m akes it
to the point . the total efficiency of the compressor pussihk to design a system thaI completely dispels the
wheel and gUide system, is between 65 and 75%. This s"vir! created in the g u ide system so as to straighten the
value is also depende nt on the working condition of the flow al the outiel of [he turhine w heel. This adjustment
engine. to the flow of gas that e mana tes from the compressor
The compressor wheel will only work properly if the whe e l a nd is heated b y the c ombustion c h a mbe r
air really does flow through the vanes. This is ensured involves determining the correct di ame ter of the turbine
by th e intake nozzle and its specia lly fi tted lid . The wheel. the length of the va nes as well as the swirl from
shape of the intake nozzle is not pa rticularly imporranr
and is more a matter of p e rsonal taste. However, th e
internal contour of the lid must be adjusted to the exter-
n al contour of the vane edges. Based on our wheel
sizes. the gap at the outlet of the vanes should be
between 0.1 and 0.2 nun , and e ve n 0 .2 [0 3.0 mm at the
inta ke. Whilst smaller g;'ps d o not result in noticeahle
improvements in effiCiency, they do increase the risk of
the vanes rubbing on the lid .
One question remains to be a nswered: why not use
axial compressor wheels as in the large modern turho-jet
engines? There is a simple answer: it would be far too
complicated to build such a n e ngine to the scale of a
model. The pressure ratio generated hy axia l compres-
sors with the same Circumferential velocity is much less
than that of the compressor wheels, mentioned a hove .
As a result, instead of a rad ial compressor stage you
would have to combine at least four axial compressor
stages compressors with four guide systems. Moreover. it
can be assumed thaI this would be considerahly less effi-
cient due to the lower Reynolds numbers. lJltimately.
the re are no physical reasons why it would not be possi- Fig. 3: Flow through all axial turbille wheel.
ble to construct a model jet turbine with a n axial com-
pressor. Fig. 4: Flow througl:J Il rallial tllrbille ,,'heeL

The turbine stage

The turbine stage must generate the power to drive
the compressor wheel. The drawing (Fig. 3) demon-
strates the flow through a n axial turbine wheel. It is
called 'axial' because the air flows in the directio n of the
axis.
The next drawing (Fig. 4 ) shows how the air flows
through a radial turhine wheel. In this case the change
in swirl and the resulting circ umferential force from the
through-flow is generated from outside to inside, thaI is
to say in a radial direcrion . This type of wheel is typical-
ly used for exhaust gas turbo c hargers. In fact , th e re are
a few mcxlel jel turbines that do use a complete rotor
with a radial turbine wheel taken from exhaust gas tur-
bochargers. From an efficie n cy aspect a radial turbine
wheel is no worse tha n an a xial turhine wheel.
However, converting an exhaust gas turbocharger with a

Hnme Buill Model Turhines 15

the tu rhine guide system . For the KJ-66. for example . the
following estimated results were obtained b y means of
calculation:
Turbine wheel diameter 6b mm
Vane le ngth 11 mm
Vane angle: gUide system 35°
Mean vane angle: turbine wheel '10°
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 foot of the vane is
slightly steepe r than that at its tip. As a result, you calcu-
late using the mean va ne angle or outlet diameter. The
problem with these calculations is that it is not possible
to know precisely the actual effective values. However.
practice has shown that if the e ngine deviates only mini-
mally from the va lues above, it does not immediately
hecome inope rative . Th e re are no fixed limits .
Experience shows that d ev iations of ± 1 mm in the
diameter or ± 2° in the angle are nOl suffiCie ntly signifi-
cant.
MalfUlIctiofls such as this led to the developmeflt of
turbille wheels capable oftakillg hixher loads.
Depending a ll the condition of the turbine , the diffe r-
ential heat expansion characteristics of the ho using and
the turhine wheel will necessitate a gap of between 0. 15
and 0.20 mm . This will result in a small loss o f the effec-
tive flow that generates power at the turbine wheel. In
addition, there are also friction losses in the flow on the
surfaces of the guide vanes and the turbine vanes. In
spite o f this, the effiCiency of a turbine stage is some-
whal hetter than that of a compressor stage. The 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 du e to the flow becoming
detached .
The huikling instructions show turhine gUide systems
that are built by fitting together single rings and guide
vane~ a nd welding them in place . This design does
enable subsequent partial correction o f the outlet angle
of the turbine guide vanes.
It is relatively easy to calculate the number and pro-
file as well as the width of the vanes. However, tht:se
calculations provide only very approximate values. This
is true both fo r the turbine wheels and the gUide system.
Consequently, il should be no ted that the d eSigns fea-
tured here are based on estimations, even though these
have been proven to work in practice.
16
A step 011 the way to high performallce turbille
wheels. For trial purposes profiled vafleS arefitted
illto the disk alld welded in place. Such a
constructioll is not suitable for a fIery high
rotational velocity. However, it provides a way of
gaining valuable kllowledge for the design of a cast
wheel
From Marti'l Lambert's workshop comes a model
of a turbille wheel made from speCial CNC-milled
plastic. The suiface is smoothed in a second
process. This technique avoids the time it takes to
desigll alld cOllstruct moulds in the development of
neu' turbine wheels. The plastic model is used to
cast a turbine wheelfrom very high temperature
materials usillg the melted Ulax method.
Today, factory built turbine wheels are available. The
wheels come in different dime nsions a nd w ith a certifi-
cate of quality. They G ill he purchased from a number
o f different suppliers, e ither as a cast blank or ready-to-
fit component. The w hee l~ are vacuum-cast frum very
high temperature nickel-b ased alloys using the melted
wax method . Turbine wheels that are well-deSigned and
cleanly cast will a c hievt: a permitted circumferential
velocity of 400 mi s, which is as high as that of the com-
pressor wheels. Adminedly. the re are restrictions : the
temperature of the turbine disk should not exceed 400°C
and that of the vanes not exceed 6()()°C. If you huy a
blank, you need first to bore it and the n to calibrate and
balance the external diameter. As a rule it is nol neces-
sary to rework the vanes. In any case you sh o uld get the
supplier to confirm the permitted m aximum rotatio nal
liome Built Model Turhines
- -- - - - - - -- - - - - -- -
Turbines from tbe collections of Lumbert und Scbrecklillg.
On tbe left u turbine for tbe TK·50 by Murtin
Lumbert, on tbe right u rudiul turbilw from u smull
turbocbarger.
velocity and operating temperature for the particular tur-
bine wheel.
Recently, it has also been possible to find turbine
guide systems that have been produced as castings t<lr
the most popular sizes with a turbine wheel diameter of
66 111m.
Beurings, counteructillg reSOllallCe vibration and
lubricating tbe rotor
The shaft transmits the moment of force and hence
the power from the turbine wheel to the compressor
wheel. Looking at the design drawing. the diameter of
the shaft appears surpri~ingly large. However, its very
high rigidity is necessa ry. Otherwise, even if the rotor
were perfectly balanced, it would still be susceptible to
resonance vibration at high rotational velocities. As a
consequence. the maximu m permitted operati ng rota-
Home Built .Hodel Turbines
tional velocity is set at a level below the onset of reso-
nance vibra tion. In our building instructions the rotor
specification represents a subcritical velocity . In other
words , the m a ximum permitted rotati onal velocity is
lower tha n the rotational velocity at which resonance
vibration occurs.
Note: resonance vibration leads spontaneously to the
destruction o f the engine. l lnfortunately, it is only possi-
ble to a pproximate the critical rotational velocity. As a
result it should not be specified on any account for rea-
sons of safety. Bohl and Dubbel 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 maximum rotational velocity:
• Reducing the d iameter of the shaft.
• Making the shaft from a m ate rial with a low elasticity
modulus.
• Lengthening the shaft.
• Increasing the wheel mass .
• Increasing the distance between the centre of gravity
of the wheel m ass from the centre of the bearings.
Of course. high rotational velocities necessitate pn:ci-
sion ball be arings. At the ~talt such ball bearings were so
expensive that few could afford them. We had to make
do with sta ndard versions. All the same. with an engine
such as the KJ-(i6 it was still possible to run at rotational
velocit ies of as high as 90 ,000 revolutions / min .
Nevertheless, fitting the same jet turbine with modern
turbine wheels made from very high temperature alloys,
its capability is increased to rota tional velocities o f
l20,OOO revolutions/ min. Indeed. the smaller TK-SO and
similar engines can even reach 1'10,000 revolutions min.
Clearly, standard b all 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 hooks 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 (Gebriider Reinfurt, Wurzhurg). 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 fuJI com-
plement ball bearings, are particularly interesting ta cage
that does not exist, cannot go wrong!).
In this regard we reproduce the following exchange
of letters between myself and Mr. Sender, the engineer-
ing consultant at GRW:
Dear .lfr. Sender
As you are aware, I am writing a nell' book on the
subject of model jet turhines. Naturally. this includes a
chapter on the subject of bearinf1,s. I would be very grate-
jit! ifyou could help me by answering the following ques-
tions to the best of your knowledge and providinf1,
additional infonnation where applicable.
What ~l'pes of hem'ing 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, pennit-
ted rotational velocities. minimum/maximum pre-load-
ing, lubrication and lubricant, method of assemb~l'?
Prices and terms and conditions ofdelivery.
In the case of 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 bearings that
leads to rapid wear of the bearinf1, carrier. What is your
position on this point?
The maximum shaft power of our engines, that is the
power transmitted from the turhine wheel to the com-
pressor wheel, is in the order of magnitude of several
tens of kilowatts. 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
this torque via the internal race of the bearing, it must be
force-fit to the shaft (see drawing I [fig. 5J). I estimate
that a force of around 1,000 N is required between the
face side of the internal race and the corresponding con-
tact areas of the shaft.
Is there a risk that these forces will cause the internal
rings to unduly def01m? Do you need to use the rather
more complicated construction as shown in draWing 2
[Fig. 5j?
Without dismantlinf1, the assembly. what is the easiest
way of idenli/Yinf1, 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~l',
Kurt Schreckling
18
Shaft tunnel
_._.- _._._.\_._._._. ._._._.
Shaft Spacer bush
Drawing 1: the necessary press-jit 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
Turbine wheel
_._._.\._._._._. ._._._._.
Shaft Spacer bush
Drawing 2: press fit connection between turbine
wheel and shaft is via the spacer bushes. The
only load on the internal race comes from the
independently adjustable axial pre-loading.
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 follows:
Re: Q 1. and part of Q 2: see the attached [1 received
data sheets detailinf1, a total of six different bearing
~ypesj.
With regard to the issue of pre-loading, we can pro-
vide the following infonnation: as far as miniature bear-
inf1,s are concerned, the rule of thumb is that the hare
diameter in mm equates to the pre-loading in N. This
force is suffiCient to reduce the extent to which the balls
in the bearing slip and spin. so as to ensure that they last
for an acceptable length of time. For example, a pre-
loading of 8 N is suffiCient fnr the 608 bearing.
Mmitted~y, a much higher pre-loadinl? is necessary to
f1,ive the hearing a hif1,her level of resilience. The standard
pre-load values are hetween approx. 20 to 50 N. We
believe that this .Iorce is sufficient. Instead of employing
higher forces, it would be hetter to devote greater effort to
balancing the turbines. Whilst higher pre-loading can be
used to conceal the tendency of the turhine to vibrate,
the vibrations are ultimate~l' still there and they still add
load to the bearing What is more, the high pre-loading
artificially creates a still greater load.
Home Built Model Turbines
 Fur all hearings designed e"pecia/~v for lIIudel jet tur-
bines, Ihe hare and Ibe eXlernal diameler are cOllslrllcl-
ed to a tulerance ofO/-q /.un.
The sbaji sbuuld be cunslructed 10 a lolerance of
appro.Yimalelv -5/-9 /.un and + 11 + 5jar Ihe hOllsing.
Precisiun-built cumpunents should not he press~fitted.
Tbal is the principle. The illlelllion is to atloid non-cen-
tricities and tensiolls in the hearillgs. Vel)1 tight. but free-
fitting cOlllponents necessitate I'ery high le l' ets of
p recision. Furiberlllore, a tigbt .fitting c!ffe/:~ the best pro-
tectiull against currusiun. Sbuuld tbis rust OCClll: it call
be counteracted b.V.filling or cOllling the bearings appro-
prilllelv or bv mOllnting Ihem on a -rings.
Tbe bearings rotate at sllch bigh l'elucities in the tllr-
bines, Ihat il is scarcelv possible or practical 10 eslablish
in tbeOl}' their ma.yilllllm rotatiullall'elucities.
Some l'alues achiel'ed in practice:
T,lpe l11in-1 (approx.)
D60RI602 602 15').000
D608/602839 155,000
D60R/602976 200.000
D1,2/6030R9 90.000
With fell' exceptions, the mosl cOllllllOnlv llsed luhri-
cants are standard turbine oils. Ellen tbough they cOllie
from diflerelll m{ml~faClllren~ mOSl oils are basica/~v
similar in type and lliscosity. Since ll'e do not b{// Ie a
preference for une manl~facturer in particular, we
wuuld prefer not to recommend a specific hrand.
A, far as Ice are all'are, neither of the fll'O standard
metbods of luhrication (separate luhriclllion o r as an
addition to file/) appears to hat'e {/}~r negatil'e eflect un
the bearing. According~v, ll'e are prepared 10 adl'ise tbat
botb metbods can be used.
Ql all tbe bearings we produce, our AC (fiill-comple-
ment) hearillgs are the most popular. Wben .filling tbese
bearings, YOll sho1lld on(v load them a.yial(v. Otherwise,
you lIIay end up witb the hearings alreac(v falling apal1
el'ell as you fit tbem. The ultimate rllie is that forcejloll's
will soon lead to indentations in the hearing groOl les
and sbould be lIl loided.
Re: Q 3: !',ee attached.
Re: Q --I: Witb rep,ard to jidl complemelll bearings it is
definite(l! the case that the halls iI'ill tUllcb eacb other
repeated(}'. Furtbermore, ll'ear is caused to the ceramics
at the points ll'here the halls rub agaill.~l each other, i.e.
these bearings are in prinCiple also suliject 10 a process
ofll'ear:
Nel'ertheless, these llersions halle more adl'antages
tban disadl 'antages.
Tbe ceramic halls lI 'eigb l'el), lillie compared to steel
bearings. Conseqllent~l' Ihev exerl comparatil 'e~I ' /illie
cenl r(/ilgal force or load on Ihe outer races.
Fw1bermore, tbey are cbemica/~l' illert in relatioll to Ibe
steel races. COI11!entional ball bearings are almost
inel'itahZv suhject to micro-ll'elding caused hy direct
material contact. This ejfect does not OCClir betlceell
ceramic balls and steel races, ll'bicb eliminates one 0/
the main causes of [{'ear.
Tbe ahsence of a cage is also benefi·cial. A ca[<e needs
to be madeJi-om materials Ibat are resislant 10 bOlb high-
er rotalionall'elocilies and temperatures. HOIl'el 'er. tbis
is praclicalZv impossible. Conslrllctillg tbe cage ./i-OII1
either hrass or hrnl/z e leill result in i11lbalallce~~ depend-
Home Built ,Hodel Turbines
ing Ull the particular d esign. Tbere needs to he a gap
hetll'eell Ibe cages and the hearing races as well as the
halls. Howel'er, tbis leads to weight di~placement and
Ihere/ure to tbe abol'e-mentioned operational imbal-
ance.
In SWII11UI1Y therefore, theOl)' jollull's practice. Based
on holb our current understanding and manulacturing
possihilities, fitll complement hall hearings prollide the
optimum solution in terms of hotb performance and
I(fespan.
Re-Q 5: When an Cl.yialload of 1.000 N is e;Yerted un
tbe inner race, the swjace pressure at its weakest point is
25 N/mm2 and therefore considerab~v heloll' the permit-
ted limits i.e. it is not expected that there ll 'ould be a neg-
alil'e e.fleci on the hearinp,.
Re-Q 6: A guud hearing runs smuoth(l' and 1Il1iform(v.
A~ a consequence, noises or Ilibrations coming from tbe
hearing are certainlv not insignificant. Equa/~v, ohserl'a-
tion of tbe imbalance will certain~v bighligbt an issue.
Sensitille balance measuremenls ll'ill instantlv relleal
lllbether the hall hearing is subject tu sume degree uf
wear.
Re-Q 7: Tbis leiter and tbe pages attached prOl'ide
ililormation on hall hearings. However, we are keen to
poilll out ball' we re(v on tbe ideas and e.' l.perience of
users to help llS continue tbe del 'elopment and uptimisa-
tion of hall hearings. For example, we are current~l' in
tbe initial stages 0/ trials witb nell' materials and alter-
nalil'e sels of ball bearings. !f sllccess.fiti, these ll'iIIlead to
a whole new generation o/ball bearings.
We hope Ihat tbe h?formation we bat.'e prul'ided has
heen belpfitl and wish you el'ery' success in compleling
and publishing your book. Do not hesitate to contact us
ifyou hm'e any otber questions.
}'o urs sincere(v,
Gebr. Reinjitrt Gmbll & 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 diagram of our engine (Fig. 1). In the jet tur-
bine the pressure ratios a re s uch 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 o f the air flows through
the front bearing, the shaft tunnel and the back bea ring
as far as the tu rbine wheel. The idea , therefore, is ro
take 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 tha n the press ure at the point at
which it is drawn.
The diagra mmatic draw ing (Fig. 6) s hows 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
always higher than that of the compressor in the engine,
otherwise the fuel would not flow. This method ensures
that the bearings are kept lubricated. Setting the required
level of lubrication requires a one-otT adjustment of the
restrictor. For an e ngine such as KJ-66 the flow of lubri-
cant at a fu ll throttle should not be greater than 10
m l min . Flooding the bearings produces an effect similar
to that of a hydraulic brake. The only disadvantage of
this method is that a relatively high percentage of oil is
19
 RotatiolU11
Blower
TouclJ switch <Fl "':
8/o .. ~rbaUery 0
Receiver
Fig. 6: Supply line
oR~ei,~
~1iagram.
balfery
Fuel tank
unused a nd is burnt in the comhustion chamber with the
main part of the fuel.
To overcome th is disadvantage. there is the option of
feeding pure. type 2 turbine oil into the lubrica nt line
from a sepa rate tank. In this case. the pressure diffe ren-
tial hetween the housing and the e nd of the lubricant
line is u sed to provide the delivery press ure .
Furthermore . the engine must he fitted with an addition-
al connection un the housing to d ischarge the pressure
for the oil ta nk . The restrictor is adjusted so that approx-
imately "i ml min of o il is consull1t'd at full throttle.
This method of de livery can lead to a luhrication defi -
ciency. should the e ngine run at idle for some time. The
situatio n is made worse by a low idle setting.
Alte rnatively. some turbine pilots choose to use syn-
thetic oil for two-.~[roke m o tors in.~tea d of turbine oil.
Currently there is no dear e vidence as to whether or not
this is harmfu l for the bearings.
20
Auxiliary gas
bottle
CombustiOlI chamber and igrlitioll
The combustion chamber is nothing other than an
oven, w hose purpose is to heat the compressed air to
the temperature a llowed by the staged turbine. Tha t
sounds very s imple. However. during the construction
of the first m odel jet turbin es. it w as the d e velopment
of a functional com bustion chamber that took the
longest time. To unde rstand why this s hould be so, you
just have to look at the important role it is required (0
play.
The temperature at the intake to the turbine stage. the
so-ca lle d fresh -mixture temperature , should remain as
constant as p ossible and not exceed 700°C during accel-
e ration or deceleration.
• As much of the fuel as possible s hould be combuste d .
• The dimensions of the combustion cha mber sho uld
not increase the size of the engine unnecessarily.
Home Built Model Turbines
• It ~hould run using fuels that are readily available such sticks from the hack of the comhustion chamher as
as diesel or similar. straight tuhes. as shown in our engine diagram (Fig. 1).
• Combustion must be guaranteed at all load conditions, This provided a simple solution to the main problem:
i.e. the flame should not be extinguished . how to reliably develop the fuel-air mixture and at the
• Ignition should not require any speCia l auxiliary same time ensure nea r 100% fuel combustion. Based on
means. experience at that time, six sticks ~eemed to he the opti-
mum number.
Let us start at the front . According to tilt' design. we Ignition is provided by a glow plug. The coil of the
can calculate the m ass 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 , propa ne or. alternatively,
so-called fresh-mixture temperarure, which is the tem- butane gas is introduced into the comhustion chamber
perature before the entrance to the turbine stage. For an as an auxiliary gas through two or three sticks. The suh-
average engine such as the KJ-66, when you calculate sequent section entitled The start procedure' describes
the heating power. you come to a figure of approxi- this in more detail.
mately 140.000 w a tts! Tha t is about seven times the Likewise, you can use high-current glow plugs for the
ca pacity of an oil-based home central heating hoiler. ignition. However. this is much more complicated. What
Since the combustion chamher of the jet turbine has a is more, the high current can interfere with the remote
volume of only a pprox . '500 ml , the tlame has to be control function.
extremely intensive and therefore very hot.
Subsequently, the exhaust gases from this flame must he Tl:Je tl:Jrust nozzle
cooled down to the temperature of the fresh-mixture A channel that narrow~ create~ a nozzle effect. This is
using excess air. The temperature in the flame zones providing that the flow velocity does not exceed the
must be around r'oo°c. Clearly, it is necessary to cool speed o f sound. The speed of sound is dependent on
the combustion chamber. This is achieved by using that temperature. At an exhaust gas temperature of 600°C it
part of the air tlow that streams along the outside of the is '590 m / s. Our nozzles have an outflow velocity of
combustion chamher to the secondary air bore holes. between :5')0 and ·100 m is. which is somewhat less than
When you calculate the average flow velocity in the the speed of sound.
flame zone, you would normally take out the flame. This A nozzle has the effect of accelerating a medium . For
is effectively prevented by the position and size of the a given mas~ flow this produces a corre~ponding
secondary air bore holes. Part of the secondary air flow increase in thrust. The energy required to do this must
enters in a radial direction . This is the part that is not come from the engine. Fitting a nozzle hehind the tur-
involved in the combustion process. It is a utomatically hine wheel automatically increases the temperatu re of
swirled towards the front and in so doing also forces hot
combustion ga~~e~ back into the flame zone. The com- Nice curt'es do IlOt allNI)'s pror'e to be tl:Je best
bustion chambers of large turbo engines likewise tecl:Jlliccll solutioll.
employ this same effect. Whilst it i~ true that each tur-
bine necessitates its own particular hole geometry and
configuration, something that is only possible through
prolonged trial and error, it should not he forgotten that.
having established the correct hole geometry, you will
never need to reconfigure the comhustion chamber
again. Of course. when you reproduce an engine to a
plan. this problem has already heen solved for you.
When I built my first functional combustion chamber
for my FD-turhines, I incorporated a convoluted va poris-
er tube to prepare the fuel -air mixture. This system w as
not particularly rohust and did not last very long due to
progressive carhonisation 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 cas e with the vaporiser tube . For my first
attempt I fitted only three ~uch tuhes 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 visihle
white exhaust gas plume. When 1 used six 'sticks', the
FD-3 comhustion chamber worked really well. However.
suhsequent development work was hased on the Kamps
turbine, i.e. with compressor wheels from turho charg-
ers.
The curved sticks needed to be manufactured from a
material with a high temperature resistance. otherwise
they tended to combust rapidly. Alfred Kittelberger from
Hamburg then had the hrilliant idea of introducing the

Home Built Model Turbines 21

the gas. Although the pressure remains constant. more
energy is made available. However. it is nor possihle to
keep on increasing the nozzle effect. since account must
be taken of the tempe rature limits . particula rly with
respect to the turhine wheel. Experience shows that the
cross section o f the nozzle should be approximately l()C}o
less than the ring cross section of the vanes of the tur-
bine wheel.
The core of the nozzle acts to prevent the exha ust
gasses swirling hehind the disk o f the turhine wheel.
l11is in itself results in a partial increase in thrust. The
core and sheath of the nozzle together form a ring noz-
zle. The above-mentioned 10% reduction in the n ozzle
cross section results in a gain in thmst of betwee n 30
ancl -10"10. The reason for this may not be dear at first
sight. However. the physical explanation for this effect is
relatively simple: having passed through the nozzle the
air flow first follows the direction of the nozzle sheath.
as shown in o ur diagram of our e ngine. This implies that
the effective nozzle cross section is somewhat smaller
than would be presumed on the basis of the geometrical
cross section. This is also dependent on the shape of the
nozzle itself. The more conically the nozzle is tapered.
the greater is the nozzle effect. When it comes to design-
ing the shape of the nozzle. there is no hard and fast
mle. You just have to remember not to exaggerate the
nozzle effect to such an extent that it exceeds the per-
mitted tempe rature limits of the turhine "" heel.
The nozzle compo nents can be made from stainless
steel sheeting. The connections must b e welded with
shie lding gas or spot-wekled. In this case, hard-solde ring
is not sufficiently reliable.
Heiko Hoft's SU-35 turns up the lJolume.
22
Operational performance
The so-ca lled internationa l standard atmusphere . in
short (SA provides the basis for all calculations and mea-
sureme nts. The (SA dete rmines physical values as:
Air pressure: 101.3 kl'a (equates to
l.OB mba r or 1.013 bar)
Temperature: l"i°C
DenSity: 1.22'5 kg/ m '
Correlalio1l of rotalio1lal ,'e/oeity, air mass flow,
compressor pressure, thrust and temperature
If you want to compm'e rotating components of the
same shape and construction. yet o f differe nt sizes . the n
it is hest to calculate o n the hasis of circumferential
velOcity. This is the velocity at the utmost circu mfere nce
of the compressor or turhine wheel. Due to the effect of
centrifuga l forces . at the same circu mfere ntial velocity
each rotating component is subject to the same load . As
mentioned previously. for our whe els the m axi mum p er-
mitted circumfe rential velocity should he set at approx .
400 m/ s. To make th ings dearer. ( will hegin by dealing
only w ith rel ative rotational velocities. i.e. the maximum
permissihle rotational velocity is equ al to 100%. I will
n :fer 10 th is by its shortened form : nlOO%. Subsequentl y,
the same arguments can he applied to model je t turbines
of different sizes.
Minimum rotationa l velocity is the lowe st possible
velocity at which the turhine will still nm. This repre-
sents the bonom end of the scale a nd is set at a ro und
n10%. Any lower and the turbine wheel would gene rate
Home Buill ,Wodel Tu rhilles
insufficient power to overcome friction losses in the Diagram 1
hearings when mnning at acceptahle temperatures in the Air mass flow and pressure ratio in relation to relative rotational velocity
turbine stage. In practice the rotational velocity at idle is ~ 200 3,0 "1:1

set as high as n30% to n35%. n35% is more applicable to ~~ u~c

smaller jet turbines such as the TK-50. It is easy to calcu- =_
o
u~
late the corresponding rotational velocities measured in a 140 2.4 ~.
revolutions per minute . Our turhine and compressor 'a
~= ~
wheels have a maximum permissible circumferential
~
velocity of 400 mls. You use this figure and the chosen ~~ u
wheel diameter. The table below illustrates trounded) ~
.
figures as calculated for the home-built turbines that are ..
.
1 ••
described later.
One thing is obvious . As the rotational velocity
increases, so does the air-mass flow and the pressure 20 1,2

after the compressor stage. The air-mass flow increases ~~~~~~--------~~------~~~~~,~

roughly proportionately to the rotational velocity. When. w ~ ~ .. ~ eo ro

Relative rotational velocity [0/0]
.. eo ~ m =
for example, the compressor wheel impels 0.07 kg/s at
n30%, at nlOO% it would impel 0 .23 kg/ so However,
pressure increases much more rapidly. For this calcula- Diagram 2
tion you need to use, not the compressor pressure, hut Rotational velocity and pressure ratio for the KJ-66. J-66 and TK-50
o ,~

rather what is known as the pressure ratio. Diagram 1 ~ ,~

demonstrates the relationship between rotational velocity t2.3
and hoth the air mass flow and the pressure ratio. The ~'-'

pressure ratio is the air pressure after the compressor i! 2.1

'" 2
divided by the ambient air pressure . If you measure, for 1.'
example, 1.2 bar positive pressure after the compressor, U

the total pressure is 2.2 bar, since the atmospheric pres- 1.7
1,0
sure at sea level is approximately 1 har. Therefore, the
1~
pressure ratio is 2.2 bar. This factor is non-dimensionaL 1,4
For practical applications it can be noted that: the com- u
pressor pressure in bar equals the pressure ratio minus U

1, as long as you are at sea leveL Diagram 2 shows the 1.1

results that were actually recorded for the jet turbines
KJ-66, J-66 and TK-50.
The Swiss mathematician, Leonard Euler 0707-1783),
discovered that the power generated hy 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 required to drive
the KJ-66 compressor wheel must be around 25 ,UOO
watt! In fact , the turbine wheel is indeed capable of
achieving this level of power. However, when throttled
back to n30%, the power reduces to only around 500
watt.
When air is compressed rapidly, it heats up. Using the
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 nlOO% the temperature of the compressed air
is already 120°C, This value is tme for ISA conditions
and assumes that the cum pressor 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 be given
to the fact that the only air available to cool the combus-
tion chamber and the bearings has already been pre-
heated. It is technically possible to increase the pressure
ratio by redesigning the compressor wheels. However,
1 ~~-+--+-~-+--+-~-+--+-~__--+--r~--+-~
o w ~ ~ .. ~ .. ro .. • ~ m =_ ~ __
Rotational velocity (1,000 rev/ min)
this inevitably leads to cooling problems, particularly at
the combustion chamber.
A greate r 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 thmst. 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 tha t thmst and
pressure increase along a similarly steep curve.
Technical reasons prevent the turbine from withstand-
ing particularly high temperatures. This is particularly
tme of the turbine stage. Clearly, the relation between
temperature and rotational velocity is of major signifi-
ca nce. The easiest method of establishing the tempera-
ture in the turbine stage is to measure the temperature
of the exhaust gas, since these a re directly related .
Diagram 5 shows values recorded for exhaust gas tem-
perature for our turbines.
The start procedure
Starting the turbine requires the use of an auxiliary
drive to accelerate the rmor to at least n }()%. A velocity
of nlOO/O does not necessitate a particularly powerful

Jet turbine Wheel diameter (mm) nl0% (rev/min) nl00% (rev/min) n30% (rev/min)
Behotec J-66 66 12,000 120,000 36,00 0
KJ-66 66 12,000 120,000 36,000
TK-')O ')0 1'),000 ],)0,000 ')0,000

Home Built Model Turbines 23

 Diagram 3 European summer. Therefore, to produce an ignitable
Air temper.J.ture after the comlln~sor stafi:C mixture. the combustion c ha mher is hea te d from th e
E 200,0
inside by a propane-buta ne gas flame (a uxiliary gas
method). Within a few seconds of the introduction of
t UKI,O
~ sufficient auxiliary gas the rotor will accelerate to n30%.
~ lll0.o
~ However. proViding thaI the fuel is finely metered it is
Co
S 140,0 possible to ~"\'itch on the fuel pump before the turbine
=
~ 120,0
reaches n:\O%. At n30% the engine will be self-sustain-
~ ing. According to the tlow of fuel. it will continue to mn
~ 100,0
without either a uxilia ry gas or starter assistance . Th..,
~ eo,o supply of e lectricity to the glow plug can be switched
00,0 off immedi a tely aher ig n ition , a lthough thi~ is not
",0
ahsolutely n ece~~a ry ,
Ignition is also possible without using a glow or high-
20,0'--_--
currenr plug, At a rmational velocity of <n10% you intro-
0,0 L -_ _ ~ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _- - '

W 20 ~ ., ~ 00 ro 00 ~ 100 ~ m
duce a uxiliary gas a nd then hold a lighter flame to the
Relative rotational velocity (%) nozzle outlet. On most occa ~ions a gas flame ignites a t
the nozzle ourlet. By a dju~ting the flow of aux ilia ry gas it
is possible to gel the !lame to jump into the combustion
chamber. This ignition method can he employed if you
Diagram 4
have open access to th e jet turbine . However, if the tur-
Rotational velocity and thrlL·.t of the KJ -66. J-66 and TK-50
bine is mounted in the hody of the model, you will nm
he a hle to see for sure w hether the tlame is actually
burning in the combustion chamber or whether it only
continues to burn outside in the thrust tuhe . If the latter
is true and the pump carries on injecting ti.le!. the com -
hustion chamber will become floodecl. This will contin-
ue until eventually the thlIne of a uxiliary gas hurning
outside the comhustion chamber ignites the excess of
kerosene or diesel. At that point your only recourse is to
have a fire extinguis her at hand, o therwise the whole
model will he lost. In short. it is better to use a glow
o
,
~

....
_ _.
~ ~ .. - ~

Rutational velocity rl.ooo rev/ min)

,,JO
starter motor. A small electric motor with a shaft power
of 20 watt would be sufficient. provided it were coupled
directly to the rotor shaft via a slipping clutch, In a ny
case. turning the roror immedi ately caU~l:~ air to h..,
drawn into the comhustion chamber. Consequently. igni-
tion can take place as soon as the rotor starts [() turn.
This produce~ an immediate turbine effect that in turn
lend~ greater force to the starter.
Experience .. hows that the combustion chamber must
be pre-heated. This is true even if every eft<)f( is made to
inject fuel in the form o f a very fine mist a nd likewise
applies even at th.., average temperatures of a central
Diagram 5
Exhaust gaor; temperature ufthe TK-50 andJ-66
TK· 'SO with nUZL.k
J-66 ".·ith nouk
NO 'so ,eo
plug.
Immediately prior to ignition , it is recommended that
you test the s uppl y of lubrica nt to the turbine, To do
this. you need to shut off the fue l feed before it enters
the engil1l:. release the connectio ns hetween the throttle
and engine and statt the fuel pump at recluced power.
If a n engine has not run for some time . there are
occasions when it "viii have prohlems statting. This is
p otenti a lly ca u sed hy viscou s or sticky residues that
impede the movement of the gears. In most cases the
<;ol ution is to inrroduce a sma ll .Imount of new luhrica nt.
Then you briefly start the engine with a ux ilia lY gas, but
do not introduce any fuel. Once the hea ring~ are lu bri-
cated a nd w armed th rough , you need to wait a few min-
utes before starting the je t turbine as usual.
Reactions to clJallges ;nfueIJloll'?
Case 1: Let us assume that the rotor run~ a t ~()me
arbitrary rota tional velocity within the permitted velocity
range. Fuel i~ s upplied at a certain rate a nd the exhaust
gas temperature is constant. Increasing the fuel tlow rate
abruptly hy a relatively small amount such as LO"'i, will
immediately cause the na me in the comhustion chamber

-------- TK·50 without nozzle

to increase in size. As a result. the tempe ra ture of the
fresh mixture will increase a nd the rotor will accelerate.
In turn. th is causes a greater intake of air a nd the tem-
perature drops again to approximarely the same level as
be fore . The turbine then runs un iformly a t a hig her rota-
tional velocity and produces more thrust. Reducing the
rate of fuel tIow by the sa me amount inverts rhe process.
The time il takes to accelerate or decelerate the engine is

. .- .- - - ---- -
conSiderably less at higher rotational vel()(:ities than it is
"---------
10 2G •
- -~------'
at around n 3OO16, This is due to increased thermal effi-
Rotational velocity [I.OOO rev/ min] ciency.

24 Home Buill .Hotiel Tllrhilles

 Case 2: The rotor turns at n3001o. The rate of fuel flow Diagram 6
is increased abruptly to n100%. In this case, the combus- Thrust and fuel consumption of the J-66 and TK-50
tion chamber ca nnot cope effectively with the ~udden
increase in fuel. A part will burn outside the engine.
Conversely, this will use up almost all the excess of air ,, ""
in the combustion chamber and will lead to an instanta- ~ 250 ,«0---,----...,.-- J·66consumpUnn a. IOCI% .hn,,'. /

neous increase in temperature of the fresh mixture to .§.

m o re tha n 1.000°e. However, the turbine stage is not E 200
designed for such temperatures. In all probability it will
ae _
~
J-66 con!';umption at
50°/,.. thru~t

result in deformation of the turbine stage guide vanes. In =

!!l
o
the worst case scenario the guide vanes on the turbine " TK-50
wheel would become damaged, even to the point that
the engine seizes.
.
.~_ _ _ _ _ _ ____ ~_ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _L -_ _ _~

Case 3: The rotor turns at a constant rate of n 100%.

Fuel now is reduce d abruptly to a rate equivalent to
n30%. This ca uses extreme starvation of the fuel -air mix-
ture in the combustion zone with til(' potential that the
combustion flame is extinguished. Large air pocket~ in
the fuel feed can have the same effect.
Case -'I: The rotor turns at a constant rate of nluu%.
The fuel flow rate is increased . The rotor reacts sponta-
neous ly with an increase in rotational velocity . This
ca uses the engine to enter the red zone! The higher
the fuel flow rate, the greater the rotational velocity. At
some point a certa in component will fail. This guaran-
tees the immediate and total destruction of the engine.
What is worse : components are ca tapulted through
the air with threat of injllIy to both operators ancl specta-
tors.
From these we le arn: Case -'I must be pre vented at all
costs. When used appropriatelv. modern electronic con-
trols ca n be relied on to prevent tota l destruction.
Changes [() the fate of fuel flow to regulate thrust must
be made over an appropriate time intelval, taking into
account the work ing condition of the engine at that
time. It is possible to make abrupt changes. but these
should be in sma ll steps and spread over an intelval of
time. An electronic control that is correctly adjusted will
enable acce leration ra tes from idle to full rota tiona l
velocity within 3 seconds . However, a cceleration at
lower velocities will be re latively s luggis h . Throttling
back from full thrust to residua l thrust ta kes even less
time.
Fuel cOllSUmptioll
Diagram 6 ~ hows the fu el consumption of the J-66
and TK-50 engines measured independent of thrust. The
J-66 is designed for a maxim um thrust of 75 N = ] 00%
thrust. At 100% thrust the cu rve shows fuel consumption
to be 260 litres/ min. necelerating to 50%, the equiva lent
of 3'.5 N. reduces fud consumption to 1'3 litres!lnin .
Clearly. this is more than half of the consu m ption at
100% thrust. It is apparent that fuel co nsumption d o es
not increase proportiona lly to thrust. TIlis is the case for
both jet turbines. The physical explanation is as fo llow~ :
the higher the pressure ratio. the greater the therma l e ffi -
ciency and the less the specific fuel cons um ption . For
th is reaso n , large engines operate with a high pressure
ratio and a simultaneously high operating temperature .
In addition, they require conside rably more complex,
ThntstfNl
Let us take an e ven do~er look at the graph~ we plot-
ted. The TK-50 is constructed for a m a ximum thrust of
ION. This value is very close (0 the 37.7N which equates
to -SO% thrust ti:)r the J-66. However the TK-50 only con-
sumes 135 ml min. That is only 7H% of the consumption
of the ./-66 for the same thrust of 37."SN. From thb you
could draw the conclus ion that the TK-50 is designed to
have particularly lem fud consumption. To this end, let
us loo k at diagram 7 . This shows the specific fuel con-
sumption o f both engines in relat ion to thrust. The
graphs have bee n generated by converting the data mea-
surements from diagram 6 a nd in e ach case dividing the
meas ured fuel consumption by the respective thrust.
This likewise shows that the fuel consumption of the
TK-50 is much less in the range up to 40N. In contrast,
\\"hen we look at the specific consumption for e ach at
maximum thrust. i.e . at 40N, 75N, there are no longer
any d ifferences within the scope of o ur measurement
accuracy.
Why do our jet turbines have relatively high fud con-
sumption? By means of me asuring exhaust gas tempera-
ture a nd air m ass now and thru st . it is comparatively
easy to estimate the theoretical minimum fuel consump-
tion.
This is illustrated by the following example : at a
thruSI of --S N the J-66 has an air mass flow of O.3q kg/s
a nd an exhaust gas temperature of 570°e. In addition,
the outflow velocity is 315 m / s . 13·1 k\X" of power is
required to heat this air flow . The required heating
power can be clearly calculated from the specific heat
ca pacity of the air (1 .00-S kJ kg*Kl. the air mass flow and
Diagram 7
Specific fud consumption for the: J-66 and rK-50
- - - -__...1-66 _ _ __

multi-stage compressors and turbines . Increasing the

outflow velocity of our turbines lead s to <111 increase in
exha ust gas temperature, which in turn results in an
improvement in specific fu el consumption . However,
this improvement is only moderate and is dependent on
• .
.L-__- +__________________
20 3D ..
~

Thntst[Nl
50
____

..
~----~-- __ --~

increasing the compression ratio.

Home Buill Model Turbines 25

 DiagramS IFifluence of weather and altitude
Correlation between specific comrumption. stepped efficiency and Air pressllre and temperature are dependent on the
relative rotational velocity height above ~ea level and they in turn affect air den sity.
The atmospheric pressure at a particula r location can
vary by ± 5% from the mean, depending on weather
conditions. Va ria nces in air temperature from the stan-
dard value of 15°C ca n cause changes in density in
the opposite sense. A:-. .\ rule o f thumb you can note
that:
A variance of plus or minus ] °C from the standard
value of 1'5 °C. at a constant air pressure , will result in a
change in thrust of -0.3% o r +0.3% at a constant rota-
tional vcio<:ity.
An increase in altitude of 100 m at a constant temper-
ature and rotational velocity causes a reduction of 1.2%
in thrust.
It is a little easier to read off the correction factor for
thrust from diagram 9. If the air pressure is 990 millibar
and the air tem perature is 25°C, the actu a l thrust at
n100% sho uld he multiplied by the value of 0 .94. Instead
w ~ ~ ~ ~ M m M 90 100 11 0
Relative rotational velocity [0/ 01
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 propeller driven by a piston engine loses thrust in the
the temperature ditference ('570°C-15°C). Added to this is same way.
the jet [X>wer of the ex haust gas. Therefore: However, air temperature also has a big effect on the
temperature of the exhaust gas and, therefore, likewise
Heating power: 0.24 x 555 x 1.005 kW = 13~ kW on the critical temperature of the turbine vanes. A 1°C
plus change in the temperature of the intake a ir results in a
Jet power: 0 . 2~ : 2 x 3152 W = 12 kW corresponding 2°C to 3°C change in the temperature at
equals: 1.6 kW. the inlet to the turbine . This change is eq ually apparent
in the temperature of the exhaust gas. The turbine is
This 146 kW of power must be met by burning tuel. designed to operate at a temperature of 15°C. At 30°C in
Burning one gram of kerosene per second, produces the shade the air temperature in the sun. close to the
44.000 watts of heat. Therefore. it is necessary to burn at ground, can be 40°C or higher. As a result, the vanes of
least 3.32 grams. the equiva lent of 4.1 5 millilitres per the turbine wheel are then around 7c:,°C hotter than they
second. This equates to a fuel flow ralt: of 249 m llmin . would be in normal conditions. Measuring a partiClJ-
According to diagram '7 the KJ -66 uses 260 mllmin. i.e . larly low exhaust gas temperature in winter should not
the me'lsured data value is unly slightly higher than the fool you into making th e nozzle narrower so as to
value that we calculated. On th is basis it could not be achieve a greater thrust. Things will get critical in the
expected that an improvement in th e combustion SUI1Ul1er.
proces<; would hring an appreciable reduction in fuel Driving a jet turbine without being ahle to regulate
consumption. Differences in consumption between dif- rotational velocity is more complicated . This could in-
ferent fuels sllch as diesel , kerosene , paraffin or volve the use of a limiter tu ~d a maximum rate of fuel
biudie:-.e1 are also negligible . flow or a control d evice for compressor press ure .
Therefo re , if the air
Diagram 9 pressure drops and/ or
Thrust correction at constant rotational velocity. independent of air pressure and temperature the temperature increas-
1.1 , - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - -- - - - - -- - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , es, the engine will turn
appreciably faster, due
to the correspondingly
lower ai r density .
;: 1.0 Accelerating the engine
2 to a constant pressure.
-5
... while the ambient pres-
.E
sure is less than stan-
~
~ 0,9
d a rd pressure , wi ll
C inevita bl y re ~;u lt in a
.=1:: higher co mpressi on
!: ratio. However, this also
8 implies a higher rota-
0.8
tional velocity . An
increase in rotational
velocity can lead to a n
0 .7 ~~~------+_ __________+ _ - -_ _ _ __ _ _ _
~-- ________
~ ~________ ____________
~

increase in te mperature
750 800 850 900 .50 1000 1050 at the turhine stage due
Air Pressure [mbar] to the intake air being

26 Home Buill M(}del Turhines

hotter and it would not take long to exceed the maxi- Diagram 10
mum loading o n turhine wheel. )-66 jet turbine - increase in the sound pressure level. relative to thnIst
For a more precise investigation it is nece:-.:-.ary to 40

measure the air pressure and temperature on site and

work out the actua l air densit) by means of the gas
laws. It has been possible to tly model jet turbines at
some high-altitude locations e .g . close to Mexico City at
a height o f 2. 'i00 m above sea level. Before take-off the
operators were fully aw a re of the aforementioned rules
and actually put them into practice . There is a some-
times quoted theory that model jet turbines cannot oper-
ate at hig h altitudes . Clea rly , there is unden ia ble
evidence to the contrary. .5 I.
Of course the reduced air pressu re, or more precisely
the reduced air density, a lso means that the aerofoil pro-
duces less lift. As a consequence , a corres pondingly
greater take-off speed is required, even though at the
I. 20 '" 40
Thrust[Nl
...
00 70 00 00

same time one has less thrust. This inevitably re:-.ults in

the need for a longer ground run to take otf. As a rule of
thumb it can be stated: for evef) 100 m increase in alti-
tude you need 2% to 3% more g round run. This rule
applies Similarly to both large and small aircraft. Modern
jet turbines have considerable thrust re:-.erves to com-
pletely overcome this problem.
Correlation between thrust and flight velocity
P p until now we have only looked at the engine's
static thrust. This equals outflow velocity times air mass
tlow. However, for a model in flight we have to use a
value of velocity that is calculated from outflo w velocity
minus flight velocity. We already know that the outflow
velocity e.g. for the ) -66 is around 315 nl, s , or 1,134
km/h. Let us say that the model is flying at a very high
flight velocity of .~OO km h , the equivalent of 83.3 m ' s . A
simp le calculation shows that thrust is reduced to 73.5%.
Instead of 75 N . w e are left with only 55 .2 N. The net
power of the jet turhine is then thrust [NJ x flight velocity
[n1lsJ = '15 98 watt!
In point of fact , a higher flight velocity increases the
impact press u re and thi s ha s the effect of s lightly
improving the effici ency of t he compresso r stage .
Likewise, this results effectively in a slightly higher out-
flow velocity and conseque ntly also marginally greater
thrust. To achieve the aforementioned flight power with
a propeller or impeller drive , the engine required to do
so would require a higher shaft power. This b beca use a
propeller or impeller is inherently less efficient and
resuirs in a p artial loss of thrust.
At n30%, which is the minimum rotational velocity
that is possible in practice , the outflow velocity is
approximately 30% of the maximum velocity, i.e. around
340 km h. However, it will generate thrust as long as the
outflow velo city is higher than the flight velocity. This
means that when a jet model m a kes its approach for
landing, the jet turbine still provides minim um forward
propulsion . In contrast, when you throttle hack the rota-
tional velOCity of a propeller engine, it acts as an air
brake.
noise, or, technically "peaking, the sound pressure level ,
increases proportionally to the air mass flow . However,
a ny increase in outflow velocity causes a much bigger
increase in the sound pressure level. Consequently, for
any p articula r engine the sound pressure level increases
in line with thrust. Diagram 10 shows the relative noise
increase in relation to thrust. The scale for the sound
pressure level at a minim al rotational velocity is a rhitrari-
ly set to zero. From this you ca n dea rly see how the
sound pressure level increases more steeply at higher
levels of thrust.
It ca n be assumed that anyone who remains in close
proximity to the test stand for any length of time, with
the turbine running a t full thrust, would suffer h earing
damage due to the high sound pressure. Consequently,
in such conditions it is strongly recommended to wear
hearing p rotection.
The d ata reading o f the sound pressure level depends
on both the distance from the jet turbine a nd the propa-
gation conditions. To determine the sound pressure level
a t a particular location it is necessary to perform com-
plex measurements with precise measurement equip-
ment and to calculate propagation using a recognised
method.

Noise development
If a jet turbine emits a high-pitched whistle, it should
he switched o ff immediately . This k ind of noise is
caused by badly-balanced wheels and or by the wheel:-.
rubbing.
Air flow ing through the turbine a lways m akes a rush-
ing sound. This is unavoidable . The vol ume of this

Hame Built :wadel Turbines 27

 Chapter 2

Necessary Accessories
Different types of starter compressor or a bottle of compressed -a ir. you decid e to
lise a heayy -duty foot pump. It has its advantages: the
For test stand trials it is best to use a mains-operated pump neve r runs out and it provides healthy exercise
co mpressor with a pressure tan k of app roximately 10 for the person who operates it. r tria lied my turbo-prop
litres. A pressure of '5 to 6 bar is sufficient. Of course , e ngine using this method . Howeve r, to e mploy it on
there is nothing to stop you u sing compressed air in bot- your own, you need to he very fleet of foot.
tled form . Nevertheless. you do ha ve to be quite fit . If you do not want to mess arou nd with compressed
since bottles of compressed air a re not exactly light. On air. then you need a mechanical solution . The drawing
no account sho uld pure oxygen be used instead of com- (Fig. 7) shows the diagra mmatic construction of a starter
pressed ,lic. l 'n1ess it is your intention to m isa ppropt'iate hl ower. The power input of the e lec tri c m ot o r is
the e ngine as some k ind o f firework. he tween 100 a nd 120 wa U. It should be p ossible to push
Physical fitness is like w ise require cl if, instead of a the ad a ptor easily over the intake nozzle . The diameter
o f the blower wheel is
Fig 7. Drawing of starter blower_ based on the operating
rota tional velocity of the
Bloll'er Wbeel Guide Vanes Adaptor electri c motor. The gap
betw ee n the blower
wheel a nd the housing
is no t criti cal. Eight
straight guide va nes a re
re quired to reduce the
swirl behind the blower
w heel a nd there fore to
improve t he perfor-
mance of the blower. I
recommended fitt ing a
protective grate in front
of the b lower wheel to
preve nt a ny injury to
finge rs.
Another possibility is
to huild your own elec-
tr ic starter motor.
Motors used in m o del
18 Vcmes cars a re a good o pti{ln.
They do not have to be
the expensive racing car
~ ---0
,/ , I
___ _ _ p ) 1

versions. First a nd fore-

/
,,/-- . I most . the motor s hould
have a rotational yeloci-
/"" - t- . " ', II
/ ~ I ' '. ty at idle that is a pproxi-

i
i
,
". {>:
~I
/ ;f \'. \\ ' I
I mately n:30% of that of
the jet turbine's rotor. A

-t--~ -~;;/~'-- --~-- -}-- ----1

\1---
I I
small outer race with an
intern a l rubber ring
\ . / I ! : : 'l. ~ serves as a dutc h ; the
\ .~ I / II principle is s imila r to
\ I . " I I t hat of pi s ton engine
" '-' '1 --
......., __ I _ ",/
/0/ !I I
I
s ta rt e r motors . If th e
rotational velocity of the
"'----t---_.. L-i motor at idle is not suf·
Main body oftl:Je blowe r lI'l:Jeel ficient , e .g . to start a
Slll ,l li je t turbine . you

28 Home Buill .Model Turbines

Starter blower working with a Kamps turbine.

can replace the race clutch hy a elise with an external
rubher ring. The diameter of the ring should be approxi-
mately twice the size of the compressor nut. In spite of
the relatively low rotational velocity ot thl.' motor, thl.'
coupling effect will be sufficient to transmit the required
rotational velocity to the rotor.
Suita ble startl.'rs arl.' now availabk on the markl.'t .
They a re also fitted with a manually adjustable soft-
switch . This avoids slippage when accelerating. It is
even possihle [0 buy kits also for home-built engines to
retrofit jet turbines with an automatic start. They require
the starter motor to be pl.'rmanentiy fixed to the jet tur-
bine and fitted with a n automatic dutch.
An essential' a fire extinguisher
the fire extinguisher to spray from the front into the suc-
t ion opening . Utherwi s e you wo u ld force the hot
exhaust fumes from the fire b ack into the cold zones of
the body and, for e xample, e lectric and pneumatic feed
lines could s()on become charred.
The fuel pump
Fuel is injected into the comhustion c h amber by
means of a gl.'arl.'d pump. This is a standard solurion for
all turbines. The pump must genera te a pressure that is
A small electric motor used tlS tl starter. A spinner
with tln O·ring is mounted onto the motor tlnd
pressed diagontlllJ/ tlgainst the compressor nut.

During the start procedure there is a gre at risk of the

model catching fire and possibly setting light to the dlY
grass runway. For th is re ason a fire extinguisher is
e ssential. Anyone who flies model tu rbines s hou ld
a lways have one at hand. Preferahly it should contain
carbon dioxide . Of course , fire extinguishers may con-
tain other chemicals. However. these have the disadvan-
tage of lea ving residues when used . Afterwards you
have no other option than to take the whole enginl.'
apart to clean it all down, including the intl.'rnal 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 at starting it.
If the model catches fire internally, you should use

Home Built iHodel Turbines 29

!'omewh:1£ greater than the pre,slIre in the cumbustion
chambt!r and the press ure required to convey the fuel
down the feed lines and through the ca pillary rubes
addeu together. It is not a problem for geared pumps to
generate adequate pressure or convey a sufficient quan-
tity of fuel. The required maximum del ivery pressure is
around 4 bar. Take care! If the fuel flow is blocked, vel)'
good, i.e. hermetically-sealed. ge:ued pumps can cause a
very large build-up of pressure. In the worst case sce-
nario this can 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 board a model aircraft. it must be insta lled with noise
suppre ssion . It is imperative that it is not installed in
close proximity to the receiver. The best position would
be for the pump to be lower in the model than the fuel
tank. This would avoid any possibility o f suction prob-
lems, should the pump run dl)'.
There are many sources that can provide ready-to -
install fuel pumps complete with drive motors that are
fitted with noise suppression .
Fuel tank with feed lines
A good solution is to use a plastic ta nk with a felt
'clunk'. Its V<Jlume should be 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 requ ire a minimum volume of 1.500 ml. Some
models are designed in such a way that the total volume
of fuel has to be divided be tween several ditferent tanks .
The fuel lines must be made of materials that are
resistant to both petrol a nd pressure. On the pressure
side, that is to say betwe en the pump outlet and the
engine , you should estimate a pressure of around 5 bar.
You can lise thick-walled hoses with an internal <.liame-
ter of 1. 5 to 2.0 mm , the type that is used for petrol
engines. of course, it is abo possible to uSt' thin metal
pipes. You can make the hose/ metal connections suffi-
ciently pressure-resista nt by winding wire around the
connection .
Rubber is never pe rmanently resistant to both p etrol
and pressure. As a con sequence , it is necessa ry to
replace the hose~ evel)' twu to three months.
Polyure thane connecting pipes are not particularly
heat-resistant and therefore are nO( 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 line~ that are totally plastic
free. A tu rbine 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 combustion engines as well as shut-off valves with a
Teflon seal. It should be noted that fuel filters have a
high through-flow and therefore tend to get clogged in
no time at all. The solutio n is to fill up with pre -filtered
fuel. The restrictors are made from approx. 60 mm long
capillary tube~ <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 w ire, to a greate r or lesser dis-
tance, into the capillaries. In order to connect the feed
lines, the capillaries are soldered into tubes with a n
external diameter of 2 to 3 mm, corresponding to the
internal diameter of the connection lines.
30
Cartridge-:fed aUXiliary gas
l ' sing handy gas c a rtridges for gas torches is a
good idea . Ca rtridges filled with a propane/ butane
mixture will also guara ntee sufficient a uxiliary g as
pressure even when the weather is cold . You need to
fit a nipple where the burner would normally be in
order to e na ble connection to the jet turbine. The vol-
ume of auxiliary gas requ ired is minimal. providing that
you do not forget to close the valve after starring the jet
turbine.
ElectricaUy-powered glow plugs
The best ones to use are standard quality 'cold' glow
plugs. These have a spira l-w ound filame nt which you
need to pull out slightly. To bring about ignition the fila-
ment must glow bright yellow. It is possihle to check the
ignition properties before fitting the plug. This requires
the use of a gas lighter. You light it, blow o ut 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 ema nating from the
lighter.
If you d o not have an ECl! <electronic co ntrol unit -
~ee the section below o n 'electronic regulation a nd con-
tron with a glow plug output. it would be sufficient to
use a 2 vo ir lead hattel)' or two NiCd cdb with a capaci-
ty of at least 1.5 Ah connecte d in series . If you use NiCd
cells, you will nee d to inco rporate 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 le ngth hy a process of trial and
error. As a guide you can assume a length of around 1
m . It goes without saying that you can also u se a n
a diu ~tahl e current glow plug driver which you can buy
from sp ecialist retailers.
Calibrating of the restrictor for the
supply of lubricant
It is essential that the fuel contains turbine oil at a
level of approx. "%. Between 3 and ')% o f this mixture
s hould b e fed as a lubrica nt through the res trictor.
Calibration is performed at a pressure of approximately
1 bar. This is achieved with the pump under partial load .
The easiest method of calihration is to use two mea~u r­
ing cylinde rs. Failing th is, 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 How and 3 to 5
g through the restrictor.
Electronic regulation and control
111e first mo dels that were built inco rporated nothing
more tha n a simple drive controller. This was all that
was nee d e d to remotely re gulate th e fuel pump and
hence the thrust. The pilot had an accele ration lever. He
always had to take the w orking condition of the turhine
into account . Too much or too abrupt acceleration leads
inevitably to destruction of the engine. Moreover. it is
dangerous. In this case, by accelerator lever we mean
the control stick found in most motorise d models and
u~ed to adjust the fuel How. In a turbine the operation
llome Built Model Tlirhines
of the fuel pump is regulated by the accelerator channel, engine. Nevertheless, J would recommend that you do
in a similar way to controlling electric model aircraft so.
using so-called drive controllers. The respective manufacturers have gune 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 otl 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 be some kind of computer game . ing up with fuel.
Anyone who flew turbines, but 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 after 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
better. 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 be taken. even retrospectively. so
lation and control unit. We have adopted the abbreviat- as to be 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,uOO rev/ min. The 120,000 rev/ min are perfect for use
temperature and rotational velocity sensor. Rotational with engines that have a wheel diameter of 66 mm or
velocity sensors almost always consist of infra-red photo- greater, while the 160,000 rev / min are intended for
electric barriers. For temperature measurement, thermo- smaller jet turbines, whose maximum permitted rotation-
couples with a thin protective tube (approx. 1.') 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 "ensor engine designed for 120.000 rey/ min to turn faster is not
or parts of the electronics fail, the pump is a utomatically a good idea .
switched otT and with it the engine. To provide the fuel The Jemmic has an extremely practical 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 uf Ece fitted. EClls on-buard starter motor. This includes the power supply
perform the following basic timctions: to the glow plug. There are also the options of using a
To be able to start the fuel pump, the rotor must be speed sensor to control the flight 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 range, i.e. the minimum and maximum
permitted rotational velocity can be 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 can 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.
The 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 ECll not only to the turbine, but also
to the remote control equipment. This involves a rather
complicated technical procedure. However, for the EClls
with which I am familiar, supplied by Cat/Jetronic and
Orbit, the process is largely automated. This includes
provision of the corresponding data terminals and, pro-
viding that you follow the operating instructions, 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 their own, i.e . you do not necessarily
have to switch on the data terminal when starting the

Home Built Model Turbines 31


Test Stand and
Measuring Equipment
The engine on the test stand
If you huild a copy of a prove n jet turbine a nd
opera te it using modern e lectronics, there is no real
need to go to the effon of h Uilding a te~t stand. Having
said that, yo u should in tha t case already have some
experience of working with je t turhines. Of course, a
traine r model, designed so that the re is ope n access to
the e ngine, can also he used as a test sta nd. Providing
that e lectronic measurement of rotational velocities and
temperatures gives satisfactolY results, the jet turhine's
thrust will not flu ctuate by itself. You can read more
abou t cha nges to th e thrust hrought about by
atmospheric conditio ns in the chapter entitled 'physical-
technical principles ' in the section ' operating
pcrfonnance' .
Two test standsfor modeljet turbines. Do notforget thefire extinguisher!
32
Chapter 3
However. for an yone who wanrs to tria l hb ow n
development work or test improvements to a jet turbine,
constructing a test stand is a must. As a general rule , you
w ill wanr to measure thrust. rota tio na l vei<.x:ity, exhaust
gas te mperature and fuel consumptio n . The connection
diagram for the operation of an engine is shown (Fig. 6)
in th e ahove-mentione d cha pter un der the section
head ed 'description of components'.
Please note a few impona nt safety rule~ for all test
stand tria ls:
If you use a normal table for a test stand, R() N of
thrust a re more than capable of turning it over. This can
happe n without a ny warning. You need to determ ine
the required level of 'itability before you start.
A je t turbine of the size of th e KJ -66 requires
a pprox imately 200 litres of a ir p e r second . Yo u ca n
J/ome Built .Wodel Turbines
Full size test stand for Rolls Royce in Hucknall/Ellg1alld
imagine that in terms of 20 buckets! Certainly, exhaust
fumes are harmful to health in a closed room . Therefore,
never carry out test stand trials in a closed room .
At full throttle the noise in close proximity to the
engine can damage your hea ring. Consequently. for test
runs you should usc hearing protection or at least ear
plugs. You can get the latter from the chemist.
• Always have a fire extinguisher at ha m.\.
• Keep out of the area of the rotor's rotational plane.
• Do not allow any spectators close to the test stand.
• Secure all cables and feed lines so that they cannot be
sucked in by the engine .
Measuring the thrust
In certain Glses kitchen scales, mounted horizontally.
can be used to measure thrusr. Admittedly, this may not
work with a ll scales , h eca us e it might cause th e
measuring system to ma lfunction. A better option is to
constmct a spring balance from a long tension spring.
This can be calibrated using weights. You hang weights
o n 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.HI
m s' times the attached weight in kilograms. For a 5 kg
weight that is exactly:
9.Hl x 5 = 49.05 N
Using a simple calculation rule. 1 kg is equal to 10 N.
the error i~ less than 2%.
When you later come to take the reading 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 mm for the intended measurement range, e.g. 100
Home Built Model Turbines
mm at IOU N. Mounting it to the test stand is relatively
simple. The jet turbine i!> fastened to the part that is
fl exibly mounted on rollers . The spring halance is
attached [0 the back of the turhine . In from you fix a
pointe r that slides along a millimetre rule mounted on
the table. Providing tha t the spring balance is correctly
dimensioned. the elongation is proportional [0 the force .
i.e. clouble the force means double the elongation in the
length of the spring. This is easy [0 determine. Different
weights arc used for calibration within the required
measurement range. To help you in your search for an
appropriate ~pring. here is the data that I use for thrust
measurement up to ')0 N.
Length I,)Omm
External diameter 1') nun
Wire thicknes!> 1.') mm
At a force of ')0 N these springs arc extended to a
length of approx. '-f00 mm.
Measuring rotational velocity and
pressure
The best way to measure rotational velocity is to use
an ECU, as described in the previous chapter.
Sta nd a rd manumeters provide a good way of
measu ring compressor pressure, as long as they do not
have hysteriCS, i.e. pointer flutter due to oversensitivity
to minor changes in pressure. They a re inexpensive and
have a meas urement range up to 2 bar {2 ,000 hPa).
Furthermure. the zero point of the scale should be fixed.
otherwise measurements taken in the engine 's lower
range of operational velocities may be erroneous. You
can test the responsiv e ness of the manometer hy
33
blowing into it. It is only :-.uitahle if it re acts to breath
pressure. Alternatively, yuu can use electronic measuring
devices with a digital resolution of 0.01 ba r, although it
must be ~ a id th a t sta nd ard instruments provide a
stronger visual recognition of potential fa ults in the
combustion process, due to rapid po inter tlutter.
Anothe r important piece of advice on the subject of
pressure measurement: at sea level the n umerical value
of the pressure rati o is one un it more than the actu al
pre:-.sure measured in bar. A measureme nt of 1.2 har is
the equivalent of a pressure ratio of 2.2 at se a level.
Pressure ratio is understood as a ratio between two
qu a ntities of the sa me type an d is therefore n o n -
dimensional. A turho engine that has b een designed for
a cumpre ss ion rat io o f 2.2 s h ou ld n ot b e run to a
pressure of 2.2 bar. No maner what type or e ngine it is,
accelerating to a pressure of 2.2 would send it into the
red area. proViding that it does not go hang first.
Modern wa tches wi th a cali brated d igita l d isplay
provide a good w ay of meas uring air pressure a nd
altitude.
A manometer is a lso used to mea sure fuel pump
pressure. It should have a measure ment range of C; to 6
bar. Otherwise the speCification is as above .

Temperature measurement
For th e p ra ctical require ment s o f flying , the
temperature sensor within the Eel ; is :-.uffi cient. The tip
o f the mea surement sen s or must be loca ted a few
millimetres b e hind the trailing e dges of the turhine
\·anes. Deviations of ± 'joDe from the mean arc normal
and not significant for flight ope ration. However. should
you requ ire more exact measurement of the average
exha ust g as tempera ture for your own d evelopme nt
wo rk. you would need to take measureme nts at seve ral
points around the outflow plane in order to establish a
mean value . To do thi s you need a second digita l
thermometer with a thermocouple.

34 IIome Built ,Wodel Turhines


Which Turbine, Which
Model?
T
homas Kamps dealt with thIs subject in some con-
siderable detail in his book "How to build your
own ra dio-con tro ll e d jet model " (Verl ag fUr
Technik und Handwerk. Haden-Raden. Order No. 310
2103) German text. See a lso the re ferences in the app en-
dix. For this reason, I do not intend to go th rough all the
different models yo u could build . Instead . 1 wanl to
e ncoura ge you to think abou t how p o wert u l yo ur
engine should he . The d esire to fit your model with the
most powerful engine poss ibl e is understa nda ble .
However. this is not n ecessarily the right a pproach .
especially if you w ant to fly true-tn-scale models or even
race them competitively. In this regard here is a short
story of something that happened to me. In 199"5, shortly
before the first jet world championships. I w as invited to
a meeting in Enns. Austria . At that time I already owned
an average-sized F 100 with a wingspan of I.') m , a fuse-
1befurlher development of the ED-3 modeljet turbi"es required the construct/oil ofsel'eral e;\:perimelltal
models, eaclJ capable offlight.
Home Built ,Hodel Turhines
Chapter 4
lage length of 1.-5 m and a take off weight of 6 kg,
including it" 1 litre of fuel on hoard. The model was fit-
ted with an improved jet turbine of the type fD -:V64.
which supplied 30 N of constant thrust. Taking off from
g rass w as not a problem and required neither wind nor
catapult.
It transpired that the aforementioned meeting was to
take the form of a com petition. I had no prior knowl-
edge uf this, but ~\/as cordially invited to take part in the
action, which I did. With no special training, I gained
sixth place out of twelve participants, even though my
model picked up zero points for design due to a total
lack of documentation. In each of the three heats my
fuel suppl y of only I litre p roved sufficient. I cOInplcted
all the flight manoeuvres and each time w as ahle to land
clean ly with the engine running.
Later I aC4 uired a much large r F 100 . Whilst it
35
Back ill 1991 Railler B;Ilczyk had equipped this F-16u'ith his RB-007 ellgille. 32 N ofthrllst were sufficiellt
to get tbis 7 kg IIlodel airlJorlie. Later I used tlJe same modelfor tbe del'elopmelll (!f tbe KJ-66. The Ilell'
ellg;,w lI'as fitted ill April 1997 cmd it became tbe first semi-scale jet modelll'ith 1m obsUlwte telldellcy for
l'erticaljligbt. It sUlljlies today a"d will SOU" befitted with the more appropriate TK-50.

filS ide tbe F-16 SbOll'S the design oftbe tbrllst tube. Today tbis desigll is still commoll to most jet models
tbat bat'e the jet tllrhilte incorporated ills ide the body oftl:Je aircraft.

36 Home Buill ,Model Turbines

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

-thrust

30 +-- - --

20

10

o 50 100 150 200 250 300

Flight velocity [km/h]

Nitro Day, Punitz 1992. I" tbeforegroulld Hermann Michelic's tll'illjet A -IU, CIt tl:JClt time still equipped
witb 111'0 home-hlliltjet turbitles similar to the FD-3 type. producing appro.,·. 25 N of thrust.

Home Built .Wodel Turhines 37

Herma"" Micbelic s tarti"g tbe e1lgines of /}is AIO.

38 Hom e Buill ,Hudel Tu rbines

Three ar'erage-sized semi-scale jet models: in the foreground Bernd Binczyk's Skystreak. next to it. his
Starfighter. Bernd also had a big part in the F 100. All three models have 30 "v of thrust. They fly
brilliantly and are capable of all kinds of aerobatics. Bernd has published a constructioll plan for t1:Je
Skystreak.

weighed 12 kg at take-off. thanks to the 80 N thmst from Modernjet turbilles hCll'e a high thrust capabilit),.
a KJ-66, Jdcat 80 or similar, it had no problems getting This enabled the amstruction of larger models.
airborne, Nevertheless, it d id have a much greater sur- Here you call see my larger F 100 packaged up as
face area loading. So whenever I began my landing flight luggage.
approach to rather narrow model ,urfields, I always had
my hea rt in my mOLlth. It w as for this reason tha t I
decided to e qu ip myoid F 100, which I me ntioned at
the start, with a sma ll modern TK'iO jet turbine, designed
to provide 40 N of thmst. Including the on-board fuel,
the model the n weighed less than () kg a nd the fuel w as
sufficient for R minutes of flight. I calculated the fo llow-
ing flight data, shown in d iagram 11 . The d ata indicated
that at full thmst the maximum velocity in horizontal
flight would be almost 300 km h . This is a lready a lot
more than is required to reproduce a reasonab ly realistic
flight experience.
Engines today a re ca p a ble of h igh levels of thmst.
Unfortunately, they also increase the temptation to over-
load the model. In my opinion the re are many reasons
why this is a risk to safety. There is something definitely
a mi~s w ith a model that has a surface area loading of
200 g 'dm' more . Whilst your model may look fa ntastic.
w hen you come to fill it u p for a competition a nd you
d iscover that a full tank would ta ke it over the 20 kg
(including fuel!) weight limit, it m ay be that it does not
look quite that fantastic after a ll. Smaller jet tu rbines do
produce less thmst, but they w e igh less a nd consume
less fuel. Two of them miglu prove a hener solution,
particularly if you have a twin-engine model.
By the way, e ach one of the models shown in this
book is equipped 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 Mirage powered by a jet turbine developed by h is
father Rudi . In the World Cha mpionships of 1999 h e
achieved third place in the Expert-Class and at the same
time first place in the Team Prize.

Home Built ,Hodel Turbines 39

 Chapter 5

Home BuiltJet Engines

Comparative technical data
The following tahle lists important technical data to
compare several modern home-built jet turbines together
with their predecessor, the FD-3164 . The most striking
difference is how the J -66 1 K.I -66 engines provide a n
e normou~ increase in thrust, but without a correspond-
ing increase in weight or dime nsions. The dimensions
and weight of the TK-50 are somewhat less than the FD-
3/ M . However, the reduction in its size and weight was
more than compensated for by a n increase in thrust. The candidatesfrom left to right: KJ-66, TK-50 atld
Some tests are still o utstancling for the TK-50. As a Behotec J -66.
result, reliable data is missing with regard tu the maxi-
mum recommended thrust a nd permitted rotationa l of the h6 engines. All the same, the d ata measurements
velocity. likewise, work on optimising the exhaust gas for thc TK-50 coincide closely with the calculated d ata
nozzle is not yet complete . This is evident from the (not shown in d c tail). It is expected that this engine will
exhaust gas temperature w hich is much lower than that achicve at least 40 N of thrusL

Technical data for jet turbines

Units FD-3 '64 Behotcc .1-66 KJ-66 TK-50
Weight g H70 1,040 930 H2O
Max. diamcter mm 110 113 112 9H
Length n1l11 265 230 230 206
Wheel diameter mm 64 (,6 66 50
Weight of compressor w heel g 30 67 67 30
WeighT of turbine wheel g 40 6H 68 34
Combustion chamber volume ml '-05 ·i30 ~30 275
Intake diameter mm 33 '16 ~6 33. 5
Ring cross-section turbinc w heel cmJ I H. ) 19 19 1O.H
Ring cross-section thrust nozzle cm l' 18.5 17 .9 10.2

Max . permittcd rotational velocity rcv min 75.000 120.000 120,000 150,000

Data at max. rotationa l velOCity

Thrust N 24 H4.2 84.5 40
Exhaust gas tcmperature °C 630 575 'iHO q9'i
Pressure ratio 1.-1 2.19 2.15 1.95
Outflow velocity m's 209 350 3h5 270
Kerosene consumption ml/ min 160 JOO 500 120
Lubricant consumption ml/min 2 10 10 7
Air flow rate kg/s \J.115 0 .24 0.23 0.126

Recummended max. thrust N 24 7-

, ") 75
Rotational velocity at recommended max. thrust rev/ min 75,000 114,600 114.600

Minimum rotational velocity rev/ min 2U,OUll 32,UOO-35,OOO

Residual thrust N 2 5
,411,000 60,000
4
Exhaust gas temp. at min. rotational velOcity °C 500 550 550 5H'i

I\cceleration: idle Lo fu ll luad s l. 3.5-1 3 2.5

Deceleratio n: full load to idle s 3 2.5-::$ 3 2
,\1ax. tempe raturc during acceleration °C ~50 a pprox . 700 750 750

40 H()me Bllilt M()del Turhines

Kit ,'ersion of
the Behotec J-66
jet turbine
Behotec is based in
Bergkirchen. It supplies
products to the en-
gineering industry
amongst others and is
equipped with modern
CNC machine~ . Thi:--
enahles them to build
s mall jet turbines , but
the story does not end
there. More important is
the fact that within their
midst they have s ome-
one who is a model jet
turbine a nd model air-
craft enthusiast, Thomas
Berktold. He also hap-
pens to be the boss of
the company and is def-
initely the right man in
the right place . He
developed his first Tl:Jis is tl:Je construction kit for tl:Je J-66. Not sl:Joll'n are tl:Je small (,'omponellts
flight-worthy jet turbine and tl:Je Orbit electronics tl:Jat are supplied as part oftl:Je kit,
back in 1992 and pre-
sented it at the Whittle Ohain Trophy. This engine had available 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 go od enough. His solution was for Behotec to
was too b ig and too heavy for most model jet aircraft. have its own mould to manufacture the wax model of
It took many attempts and untold practical develop- the turbine wheel. I Ie went to a company called Zollern
ment work before Behotec finally brought out the J-66, for the vacuum lost-wax casting. It then comes h ack to
launching it as both a finished engine and in kit version. Behotec for further processing. i.e . for boring, diameter
They do have a more powerful version which, a lthough calibration a nd halancing.
the same size, produces 14() N of thrust. However, this is The construction kit includes fuel pump, filter, shut-
only available as a finished engine. ott" valve, connection pieces, hose:--. as well as tried-and-
It should not be long before a starter is likewi:--.e avail- te:--ted Orbit electronics. Plea:--.e ash. the manufacturer for
able in kit version. This is intended for retrofitting an the current price of the construction kit. At the sa me
autostart to the J-66 turhine construction kit a nd other time it i:--. worthwhile comparing prices with ready-to-run
similar jet turbines. It should enable a fully automatic turhines or those of other ma nufacturers. You could save
starter procedure after activation of a switch on the up to €SOO.OO in no time.
transmitter. Finished turbine or construction kit? - allov. me to
Behotec always has an ear open to the concern:-- of a:--sist you with your decision: look a t the photo that
those of us who fly home-built model turbine engines . :--.hows the tools necessalY for the assembly o f the .1-66.
The company is able to supply almost any component If it takes you longer than five seconds to spot a spion
required for a turbo engine, including standard acces- a nd a calliper. you had hetter purchase a ready-to-run jet
sories . In addition , it offers a h ala ncing service for turhine. By the way. a spion is also called a feeler gauge
home-builders. or thickness tem plate a nd a calliper is also called a
vernier.
Tl:Je construction kit - a detailed look It took you longer tha n five seconds a nd now you
The T in the product designation stands for .Ietstream, have made up your mind, for sure, that you will order a
the '66' for the diameter of the wheels in millimetres. finishe d turbine. 13efore you d o so, I recommend one
That there is dear similarity between hoth the designa- more test : look at the photograph a gain a nd see how
tion and technical design of the .1-66 and KJ -66 is coinci- qUickly you ca n pick out a socket wrench. If it takes you
dental. Quite simply, it happens that from a current longer than o ne :--.eco nd. you a re not quite ready to tack-
technological pers pective different desig ners , when le a ny kind of turhine. Ho w ever. if you a lready have
given the same remit, come to similar solution:--. Clearly some experience of fas t model a ircrafr , you prohahly
the open discussion b etween hohby engineer:-- a nd com- have what it ta ke:--. to hecome a successful pilot of tur-
mercial companies played no small part in the develop- hme .1Ircraft.
ment. If you need more inti Jnnation to make your deci:--ion.
Let us look at the construction kit in detail. It certainly the hest idea would he to watch the video film showing
lives up to its name as a 'complete construction kit' . No all stages of assembly. It is included as pan of rhe con-
need to waste time talking about the quality. It is top struction kit, but ca n be o btained separately for a nomi-
draw. It uses the same components that a rc used for the nal charge of €15, which is refunded if you purchase
finished turbines. Although turbine wheels were already the .1-66.

Home Built .Wodel Turbines 41

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. Tn the course of doing so, I took
some photos to use in the book. From start to finish,
including taking the photos, it took me no more than
four hours . Incidentally , the last photograph in this
series is the test photograph shown ahove. It shows all
the resources and tools actually required to assemble the
engine. None of the tools shown, it seems to me, would
he either unknown to an average model -builder or
impossible to obtain .
All through-hores and threads a rc cleanly drilled.
They do not require any reworking.
The rotor is supplied in assemhled form with stan-
dard 608 ball bearings. The rotor is already balanced. To
secure it in position, there are marks on the wheels and
the shaft as well as on the nut to faMen the compressor
wheel. At last [ had the chance to try out my own finger-
tip method (see next chapter) on a professionally manu-
factured rmor. Of course, there was nothing to improve.
Having said that, I only needed to a[[ach a 'i x 5 mm
piece of fabric tape to any pall of the compressor or tur-
hine wheel and my fingel1ip method could detect the
deterioration.
In some respects the )-66 is very different from the
KJ-66. The housing is machined from a single piece of
aluminium alloy . Once connecred [0 the compressor
guide system it creates a very rigid structure. Specially
adapted angle mounts are fixed to evelY joint. They are
used to moum the engine inside the model or to the test
stand. The aforementioned rigidity enables the shaft tun-
' )
q~
nel to just he screwed to the compressor guide system.
The back end of the shaft tunnel is float fitted in the
central section of the turbine guide system . This pre-
vents any heat transmission from the turbine guide sys-
tem to the shaft tunnel.
There is an excellem fit between the front lid and the
housing. An O-ring seal is included hut you can almost
do without it. The J-66 has exactly the same external
diamete r as the KJ-66, yet the internal diameter is 2 mm
larger. i.e. leaving more room for the combustion cham-
her.
The turbine guide system is likewise machined from a
heat-resistant steel alloy. It fits very well into the proper
turbine hOllsing and is already secured in place. The
back of the combustion chamber, which contains the six
sticks. is firmly fastened to the front flange of the turbine
guide sy~tem. The remainder o f the combustion cham-
ber i~ screwed to the back. The internal surface of the
sticks is constructed as a threaded bore. TIle idea is that
it provides better combustion at lower rotational veloci-
ties. The whole construction, including complete com-
bustion chamher and turbine guide system. is screwed to
the housing via tIl(:' hack flange . This process abo
involves aligning the turbine wheel to the turbine hous-
ing.
In the final a~seJl1bly it is neces~ary to re place the
hearings mentioned previously with the full compliment
hall bearings that are supplied . The wheels and the cor-
responding seats on the shaft have been machined with
extreme precision. For instance, once heated, the turhine
wheel should fall almost automatically into the correct
Home Huilt .l1odel Turbines
position on the shaft.
Yet , when cold , it
s hould adhere tightly .
For the final assembly
you just need to make
slI re that the corre-
sponding markings are
aligned again, as indicat-
e d in the instructions .
This mainta ins the high
quality of the rotor bal-
ancing.
Apa rt from simply
sc rewing the compo-
nents together, you also
need to do the follow -
ing: drill a hole in the
combustion chamber to
ta ke the glow plug .
position the fuel lines
a nd a uxiliary gas line
and hard solder them to
the combus tion cham-
ber. If you do not have
much experience of
hard soldering small
components, all is not
los t . You can use an
alternative technology to
as semble the engine. The turbine guide system oftheJ-66 is screwed to the combustion chamber.
This involves securing
the line for the auxiliary gas to the back section of the the gap should be between 0 .15 a nd 0.2 mm. Of course,
combustion chamber using a clamp a nd the intended the only way to eliminate this fault involved taking most
scre~ fitting. Another possibility is to secure the fuel dis- of th e engine apa rt . Unfortunately , th e re were no
tributor simply by clamping it tightly to the three loops instructions as to how to do this. When I asked the
you will find on the combustion cham her. question, , was given the follOWing advice: open the
To test the engine, I fastened it to my well-equipped engine. unscrew the compressor wheel, housing a nd
test stand. Although the
photo in the instmctions Turbine wheel witl:J nut. special clamping nut mid shaftfor theJ-66.
does indeed show to
which side the connec-
tion nipple for fuel and
oil should be attached , I
managed to reverse
them . The engine spat
out fire and smoke a nd
the Orbit Eel' took the
correct decision: switch
off pump! After the sec-
ond failed attempt , I
paused for reflection
and quickly found the
error.
The constmction kit I
tested still contained the
old turbine wheel that
Behotec ha s since
updated technically. The
gap hetween the vanes
of the turbine wheel
a nd the housing was
o nly 0.1 mm. The result
was that the turbine
wheel seized up instant-
ly in the start phase .
According to Behotec,

Home Built ,Hodel Turbines 43

noale a nd the n heat the remammg assembly to 200°C
in a n oven. Using protective gloves, you ca n then pull
the turbine wheel. together with the shah a nd hearings,
o ut of the shaft tunne l. Admittedly, you have to be pre-
pa red for the bearings to fall apart in the process. This
need not he a disaster, if you ta ke precautions. For this
reason you should ta ke the engine apa rt over a large
tray, which is covered with dean , soft paper or a cloth.
If things go wrong, you catch all the b alls and put the
hearing back togethe r. The b est way to do this is to
cover the bea ring races and halls thickly with grease and
insel1 the ba ll~ betwee n the races using tweezers.
After these initial problems, it was all plain sailing.
The engine ~rfonned well on the test sta nd. The Orbit
ECl ' naturally fits very well. These systems regulate the
rotational velocity in proportion to the sening of the
throttle lever, i.e. at a certain throttle leve r setting the
rotational velocity of the engine remains constant. Of
course that makes it an awful lot ea~ier to create the
graphs. See the section on 'operating performance' in
the chapter e ntitled 'physical-technical principles' for
detailed measu rement results.
General points on the construction of
the KJ-66 and TK-50
For the housing you du not need to use the blank:-.
mentioned in the instructions . Stainless steel cylinders
are equally effective. These containers have a floor and
a wall thickness of 0 .':; to 0.6 nun . Certainly. you should
not reduce the internal dia mete r of the KJ-66. The larger
the internal diameter of the housing, the less is the need
to alter the diameter of the comhustion chamber. It goes
w itho ut saying th at you need to adapt tilt' dimensions of
the corresponding compressor gUide system and lid so
that they fit .
The instruction~ on how to huild the KJ -66 and TK-SO
jet turhines a re intended for a model huilder with a solid
g ras p of me tal working . As a minimum you would
require a lathe and l'vllG welding apparatus. The need
fo r special tools is speCified in the corresponding cha p-
ters. If you want to make the co mpressor guide system
for the KJ-66 yourself, a mill ing machine is essential. I
built the TK-50 without recourse to a milling machine.
Some of the component:-. a re deSigned in such a way as
to e nahle this.
When you fit the rotor a nd similarly for ba lanc ing
wo rk. it is recommended to first use replacement ball
bearings. Fo r the TK-SO you need standard 6HH ~crie~
ball bearings . the principal dimc n sions of which a re:
e xterna l diameter = Ib mill. internal diameter = H mm,
width = (j mm. The KJ -66 uses 60H series bearings with
an external d iameter of 22 mm. a n internal diameter of H
mm and a width of R mm.
The re a re several pages of scale dra wings. Eac h is
de noted by 'Sheet 1 etc. of the drawing for jet tur-
bine ... ·. The de~cript i on 'view from the front ' mea ns
viewed in the direction of the airflow. In the assembly
drawing on sheet L it equates to the view from the left.
ll1is is impol1a nt. Otherwise there is a risk of installing
some components the wrong w a y around .
No measurements are given for the bevelled edges
and transition points of machined parts . Clearly , it is
necessary to turn t he hearing seats a t the tra nsition
po ints. Advice on tole rances for the ball hea ring sea ts is
best obtained from GRW and is contained in their manu-
44
facture r in~tructions in the section · Bearing~ . counter-
acting re sona nce vibration ... ' in the chapler 'phys ical-
techn ical principles'. No specific dimensional dra wings
w e re produced fo r the ball hearings, scre ws and nuts
use d . Unless otherwise stated , the drawings are in a
.·;<:;lle of 1: l.
To the h est of my knowledge, the dra wings a nd
descriptions a re correct. Howeve r, I offer no guara ntee
a s to their accuracy and or acce pt no liability with
respect to any claims for damage due to errl)rs.
Reproduction of the TK-';O a nd 1\1-66 je t turhines for
commercial purpose s is not permitted without my
express agreement.
Baiallcillg the rotor
As far as [ am awa re Behotec. a nd Cat hoth offer a
bala ncing service. I ca nnot comme nt on the details apart
from saying that there is little chance of being able to
balance a rotor satisfactorily, if it docs not fit properly.
As a result. I first recommend ba lancing the rotor using
the fingertip method (see below) . If this proves to be
re asonably successful , run the je t turbine briefly al a
reduced rotational velocity (up to n700/0 approx. l. lise
the replaceme nl ball bearings for this trial. but without
cove r disks . This will give you a pretty good idea of
whe ther or not the rotating p arts rub and whether you
nee d to rework them. Suh.s equently. once the rotor has
been professionally balanced, it will run perfectly.
In my experience the compressor wheel is usually
pretty well-b alanced . There fore , the main co ncern is the
turbine wheel. After the fingertip test. the next stage in
the balancing process is as follo ws: screw the turbine
wheel together with the shaft. replacement ball bearings.
s pacer bush and turbin e nuts . Hold the ball bearing
between your two most :-.ensitive fingers. Blow a ir into
the turbine wheel using a c()mpres~ed air p ump. The a ir
pressure should be low to begin with as you work up to
the req uired rotational velocity. What vihration do you
fed in yo ur fingertips? Stick a piece of fa bric ta pe
(approx. 2 x .2 cm) anywhere on the turbine vane as a
h a lancing weight. Blow a ir inlu the turh ine again , as
before . Change the position of Ihe balancing weight.
The best place would be the poilll nppo:-.ite the he avy
side of the turbine disk. If you ca nnot sense a difference,
cha nge the position of the balandng weight by approx.
90°.
The objective is to establish the position a t which the
balancing we ight causes the ml)st noticea ble reduction
of vibration in your finge rtips . Ha ving done this, grind a
little a w ay from the balance ring at the point tha t lies
opposite the balancing weight. Before starting grinding,
protect the ball be aring by wra pping it in a thick doth.
Repeat the process , changing the position and the
weight of the balancing weight a nd grinding down the
balance ring little by little. Eve ntually you will achieve
an optimally bala nced turhin e wheel. You will have
reached this point when you can o nly just still sense the
effect of a balancing weigh[ of approx .:; x S mm.
The home-built TK-50 jet turbine. made
from a thermos flask
How it evolved
The forerunner of the TK-SO "vas huilt many yea rs
ago. At that time my a im was to develop a smalkr jel
[urbine than the 1\1-66 a:-. the basis for an e ngine to drive
Home Buill ,'Hodel Turhilles
a :-.haft (I explain the re:-.ults in detail in my hook The
turboprop engine for home-built models'. See references
in the appendix).
At that time the e ngine had exactly the same com-
pre:-.sor wheel as the TK-50. The turbine wheel h ad a
d iamete r o f ')0 mm, a nd , admittedly. w as hand m ade
from material that was not particularly heat-resistant. It
generated 23 N a s ;1 jet turbine a t a round 120 ,OuO
rev /min. The bearings I used at that time could not with-
stand a rotationa l velocity that was any greater.
Du ring the Whittle Oha in Trophy in .WOO Mart in
La mbert showed me a similar jet turbine that he was
working on. He had already got as br as designing sev-
e ral turbine wheel proto types and getting them manubc-
tured professionally. These wheels were m a de from
material with a very high heat resistance a nd I used one
of them and the new GRW ball bearing to construel the
TK-50. :\lartin Lambert helped me christen it : TK stands
quite simply for 'thermos tla s k ', the ')0 indica tes the
wheel diameter in millimetres.
The idea behind my design w as to b u ild a sm a ll mod-
ern jet turbine that required the use of as little machin-
ery as possi ble . Providing that you are not going to
attempt to brea k a ny speed records, a thrust of 40 N is
in my opinion perfectly suitable for medium-sized model
and training aircraft that are not too heavy.
I did not try to make the hOUSing and combustion
chamber as small as possible. If you a re 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 comparatively e asy to manufacture. It
enables you to experime nt at establishing the best possi-
ble efficiency rate. You do nol have to alter any compo-
nents, just the pusitiun uf the guide va ne:-..

Constructioll requirements
A precision engineering lathe is absolutely essential,
alo ng with at least a welding d e vice using ~h ielding gas
(MIG . MAG). A simple MAG welding device w a:-. used to
create the welde d joints for the prototype described in
the following senion. A TIG welding device works bet-
ter with thinne r materials. Sometimes it is easier to create
a sheet joint by spot welding (power: a pprox. 500 VA).
In ca:-.e it is not pu:-.:-.ible tu use a lathe to cuI the thread ,
you need M5 left-hand threaded ta ps a nd dies. To bore
the turhine wheel, you need a 5.5 mm carbide drilL

Home Built .Hodel Turbines 45

Parts list and drawings
Pa rts list: TK-50

hem Oescription No. Material Semi-finished Noles Drawing

t dimensions mm ) Sheet No.

Co mpressor nut AI-allo y Dural o r similar ROllnd, 120 6

2 Compre~~or wheel AI-alloy Type 14/ 0.:1, KKK 16
3 Spacer bush St C4') or better Round . I S 0 6
4 Compressor bearing Type l)NlHf W2 97(), GRW
5 Slide bush St C4'> or better Round. I S 0 6
6 Pre-load spring Spring ste el Wire, 1 0 6
7 Shaft St C4') or better Round. 1'i0 3
8 Shaft tunnel AI-a llo y Dural or ~ imilar Ro und, 100
9 Turbine bearing Type D688/ 602 976, GRW
10 Space bush St C4 S or better Round, 1'i(O 6
11 Turbine wheel Ni-basis Finbhed pan- see ~uppliers 16
12 Turbine nut CrNi 12 (0 6
13 Intake nozzle AI -allo y S00 5
14 Lid AI, soft Sheet, l. ') thick 'i
15 f ront screw lO St Hexagon socket .\12 x 12 G S.H
16 Guide vane holder AI-a llo y Dura l o r similar Sheet, H th ick
17 Connector ') AI-a lloy Dura l or similar Sheet, 3 thick 7
18 Screw 'i St Hexagon socket M3 x S G 8.8
19 Tooth wheel '5 St
20 Screw 6 St Hexagon socket M25 x 8 G 8.8
21 Sooth wheel 6 St
22 Rivet 3 AI SK-i 0
23 Rivet 3 AI SK 20
24 Compressor guide vane 10 AI-allo y Dural or similar Sheet. 3 thick 6
2') Ho using CrNi 18/ 10 or similar External pan of thermo s flask 1')
26 Comb. chamber ext. w all erN i lkllO or similar Inte rnal pan o f thermos tlask 12, 13
T Co mb. chamber into wa ll CrNi 18/ 10 or similar Sheet, 0.5 thick 11
28 Comb. chamber back wall 1 CrNi 18,'10 or similar Sheet, O. S thick 14
29 Stick 6 CrNi 18/ 10 or simi la r Tube 5 x 0.4 12
30 Turbine gUide vane 9 Thermos o r ~imilar Sheet, 0.6 thick 8
31 Turbine ring 1 CrNi 18/ 10 or simila r Hound, 40 (0 Ready-made, see suppliers Ibt H
32 Ce ntrdl bod y CrNi 18/ 10 or simila r Hound, SO 0 Ready-made, see supplier~ list 8
33 Disk CrNi 18/ 10 or similar Sheet, 3 thick H
34 Nozzle sheath CrNi 18: 10 or ~imil a r Sheet, O.'i thick Alte rnative bank - egg cup 10
35 Nozzle co re CrNi 18/ 10 or simila r Sheet, 0.'> thick Alternative bank - egg cup 9
36 Radius arm 6 CrNi 18/ 10 or similar Sheet, 0.5 thick 7
37 Z-connector 3 CrNi 18: 10 or similar Sheet. 1 thick
3H Nut 'I CrNi 18/ 10 or similar M5 7
39 Screw St Hl:xagon "ocket M3 x '>
40 Lubricam supply line Brass Tube 2 x OA 15
41 Tab Brass Sheet. o.s thick 13
42 C'pillary Rr.'s.~ Tube 1 x 0.2 Not visible in sectional view U
43 Auxiliary gas line Brass Tube 2 x 0.4 Not visible in se ctio nal view 13
44 Co nnecting piece 1 Bras~ Tube 3 x O.S Not visible in sectional vie", 13
45 Gas capillary 2 Bra1>s Tube 1 x 0.2 No t v i~ible in sectio nal view 13
46 Fuel supply line Brass Tube 2 x 0.4 Not visible in sectio nal vie w 1'.
47 Distributor ring Brass Tuhe 3 x 0.5 14
4H Fue l capillary (, Rrass Tube I x 0.2 14
49 Glow plug I Finished pan 7
')0 Threaded bush SI Round , }(J 0
51 Tab 1 CrNi 18/ 10 or similar Sheet , O.S thick Not visible in sectio nal view 12
52 Nut 1 CrNi l8, 10 or similar M3. hidden in sectional view 12
53 Sc rew 1 CrNi 18/ 10 or similar H exagon socket M.3 x 5
54 Tooth wheel l St
5~ IR-transmittcr I Electronic control com pon e nt
56 IR-recciver l Electronic control component
57 Clamping jaw 3 St Sheet, 1 thick 7
58 Restrictor line I Brass Tuhe 1 x 0 .2 approx. 200 mill lo n g
59 Connecting piece 2 Brass Tube 2 x 0 .4 a pprox . 10 m m lo ng
60 Wire I S[ 0.50 approx . 200 111m long

46 Flome Buill J/fode! Turhines

~
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48 flome Built JI/odel Turbines

 TK-50: Sheet 3

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Home Built .Hodel Turbines --19

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 TK-50: Sheet 5

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Home Built Model Turbines 51

TK-50: Sheet 6

- -- -- - - - ~:.~ ~-: ~ ; - -- -- -- - - - - -- -- - - -- - - - __ - __ -- -- 0- -- __ __ . _ . _ .

90R

3 thick o P.24 Compressor guide vane

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7.5 Wdg. 1.4" wire

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P.3 Spacer bush P.10 Spacer bush

flome Built ,\;fodel Turhines

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

'PII tf"1
. U -ou lament approx" 1 mm

Scale = 2.5:1
1~78~ ~I
r- 4
P.49 Glow plug
~-10

P.50 Threaded bushing

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

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1t P.36 Radius arm

P.37 Z-Connector
P.38 Nut

Home Built Model Turhines 53

 TK-50: Sheet 8
21

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

P.31

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Scale = 2.5:1

54 Home Built Model Turbines

---------------
 TK-50: Sheet 9
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Home Built Model Turbines 55

 TK-50: Sheet 10
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56 Home Built Model Turhines

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- - 12x2 .---

Pos. 27 combustion cham

Internal wall

Constructing the nozzles Tool

Diameter of nozzle
I
Sheet V Hole 0.5 mm smaller than tool
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Brass - cap 1 x 0.2

Brass - cap 2 x 0.4 Brass - cap 3 x 0.4 751g. . ... _. .. . _
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P.43 Auxiliary gas ! Hard soldered P.45 Gas Capillary

supply line !
P.44 Connecting piece
Brass - cap 2 x 0.4 140 long
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P.40 Lubricant supply line P.41 T

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Home Buill .Wadel Turbines 61

 TK-50: Sheet 16

P.11 Turbine wheel

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Pos. 2 Compressor wheel

62 Home Buil, .Wodel Turbines

Constructing individual components
Rotor, bearillgs alld shaft tunnel
The compressor wheel (part 2) is a finished compo-
nent. Whilst it m a y require fine balance correction, it
does not require further reworking.
011 the left, a hand-made turbine wheelfor the
prototype of the TK50; on the right, a
professional{JI cast wheel, based onllfartin
Lambert's plastic modeL
We begin with the turhine wheel (11) . The cast blank
must he hored to a nominal hore diameter of 6 mm .
First you centre it on the lathe, then bore a through-hole
using a 5.5 mm carhide drill bit tor alternatively a car-
bide reamer, if you have one available>. With the wheel
still clamped in the same position on the lathe you can
finish the bored hole. The nominal hore diameter is (,
mm. You need to use a m anually-operated mini grinding
machine and a sm all co nical milling to oL followed by a
cylindrical grinding tool with a diameter of '5 mm. The
lathe needs to he set to a low speed. The hored hole
should b e s lightly conical in s ha p e, sta rting with the
nominal bore d iameter at the front o f the hole. The tur-
bine wheel should be lo osely press-fit to the shaft, natu-
rally with the pre:-.:-.-point at the narrowest part of the
bored-hole . The exte rnal diameter is finished at the same
time as the turbine guide system a s part of the final
assembly.
The space r bushes t3 1U) provide traction between
the compressor 'turbine wheel respectively. This ensures
that the inner races of the ball bearing are not crushed
when the shaft is clamped tight. It requires the bea ring
seat to be m ade approximately 0.02 mm larger than the
length of the inte rnal race . Each of the spacer b ushes
can be ma nufactured in a single damping pOSition. The
hole is bored with a centre drill, pre-drilled to 5.8 mm
and fin ished ott" with a 6H7 reamer.
The bearings (4 ' 9) are carried in a diameter of 8 mm.
You can use a hall hearing with an internal diameter of
8 mm to calibrate this cross section. The hearings (4/ 9)
intended for this application are in fact not s uita ble,
since they are extremely fragile and can easily fall apart.
The shaft (1) is first pre-turned. Precision work is car-
ried out between centres to fit the spacer bushes t3, 10),
compressor wheel and turbine wheel. An alternative to
employing a precision gauge is to u s e standa rd h a ll
bearings with the same internal or externa l diameter
as the bea ring. The spacer bushes are constructe d to
loosely press-fit the shaft. Spe cial care should be taken
to ensure that the front faces of the spacer rings a re
coplanar to each other. Next, finish the shaft-seating for
the turhine wheel or compressor wheel to provide a
Home Built 1vlodel Turbines
loo~e pre~~-fit for both wheels. loe adjustment b facili-
tated by heating the whee ls to 150°C. At this tempera-
rure the wheels s hould slide e asily into position. The
shaft-seating for the compressor is only required to fit at
the back 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
significa nt. The m aximum diameter should be adjusted
to the diameter of the compressor whee l. Conse quently,
the n ut should only be finished to its final shape once it
has been a~sembled w ith the shaft and the compressor
wheel.
Instead o f the stated rurbine nut (12) you can also use
a hexagonal M'5 left-handed nut.
The push sleeve (S) serves to take the compressor
bea ring ('f). The bea ring shou ld fit firmly in the push
sleeve. The external diameter of the push slee ve is pol-
ished.
The ~ h a ti tunnel (8) is m achined from h igh-strength
aluminium alloy. A round blank is required with a dia m-
eter of 'f0 mm. First you bore a 14 mm diameter hole
d o wn the full length of the material. The 16 mm rear
bearing seat is machined to give a tight fit. A ball-bear-
ing with a n external diameter of 16 mm can b e u sed as a
gauge. The forward recess should have a diameter of 20
mm. First m achine it to a length of only 2.3 mm. Du nut
determine the exact length of the recess until you come
to fit the whole rotor assembly together, including com-
pressor guide system and intake nozzle.
The IH mm bore hole is constmcted to ta ke the slide
bush (S) as well as the pre-load spring (6). The s lide
bush (5) should fit e asily into the bore hole. A radial
bore hole is made in the flange to push through the ca p -
illaries (42) . The exact dia meter is dependent on the
external dia meter of the capillaries .
It is necessary for luhrica nt to be able to escape from
between the slide bush and the shaft tunnel. For this
reason a channel a pprox. u.s mIll high a nd I mm wide
is milled in the IH mm d iameter bore. This is easy to do
with a shOI1 1 mm milling bit a nd a mini-drill. The six
2.6 mm dia meter fixing holes are created together with
the corresponding threaded bore holes in the guide vane
holder 05).
The pre-load spring (6) can be wound frum steel wire
with a d iameter of 1.4 to 1.5 mm. It does not necessarily
have to he spring steel wire. 111e spring is construcred
so that it is slightly conical in shape. Thi~ requires a con-
ica l m a ndrel with a 5° chamfer. It is wound to a diame-
ter of betwee n 13 and 13.5 mm. Due to variation in the
hardness of steel wire, you need to e xperiment to find
the preci~e diameter. When fin ished, 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 va nes (3m are cut a nd profiled according
to the drawing. You need to cut slits in the turbine ring
(31) and the central body C~2) to take the guides. Laser
cutting equipment provides the eas iest way of doing
this. Otherwise , if you have the possibility to use spa rk
erosion, this is the time to do it. Martin La mbert (see
appendix ttlr 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 slits should be about 0 .2 mm wider than the
thickness of the steel sheet of the guide vanes.
63
 The fro nt edges o f
the turbine ring (31) or
central body (32) are
machined to a 30°
chamfer in accorda n ce
with the drawing. The
othe r edges are rounde d
off. Do not cm the cen-
tra l body to the right
le ngth at this stage . You
need to fit together the
components so that they
can be w elded in place.
Fit three or four vanes
in the slits and a lign the
Preparing the turbine guide lIanes. turbine r in g with th e
cen tral b ody u si ng a
slide gauge for measuring. Now you can weld the van es
onto the outside of the turbine ring or to the inside of
the central body. It is essential that the seams are gas
tight.
Once you have fitted all the vanes, you insert the pre-
pa re d disk <3:3) and weld it in position. Next, you d amp
the whole guide system in the lathe. You first finish the
')().') d iameter to a length of 7 mm. before finishing the
bo re -hole in the disk and machining the central budy to
the right length. The ste p from a d iamete r o f ')() mm to
one of ')().') mm on the inside o f the turbine ring does
n o t a dversel y affect the system . Finally you should
machine the outside of the turbine ring at the front and
back to a diameter of ')4 mm.

Fitting together the turbine ring, guide vanes and
central body.
A thermos flask of tbis type provides several componellts for tbe TK-50.
Housing
A stai nless steel thermos fla sk (from Aldi , Conrad
Electronic) makes a very good housing (25 ). This com-
p o ne nt has a n interna l diameter of 94 mm . You first
begin by removing the base and the plastic strap. The
connecting p iece for evacuation is now visible and you
need to open il up. Mark out the le ngth of the housing
approx. 2 mill. The e asiest w ay to separate the parts is
to use a mini-drill and a 10 mm cutting disk . It n o w
fo rms the blank for th e hOUSing . Drill it so that it can
ta ke the turbine guide
sys te m . At the sa me
ti m e mak e the b o re
ho les for the spark plug
or fo r the screws O S ) to
the connectors t 17).

Compressor guide
system
For the guide va ne
holder (16) you need a
high strength alul11inium
a \loy. It should have a
thi c kness o f a t leas t 6
111m and a diamete r o f
Y5 mill . Mac hine the
plate to create a plane
surface on o ne sid e a nd
bore a 20 nUB hule in
the centre . The b o re
s h o uld ha ve the sa m e
diameter as that of the
sh a ft tunne l (H) . Next.
bore six h o les in t he

Home Buill Jlodel Turbines

 Intake nozzle machined from a solid piece of
material; next to it is the lid.

Guide vane holder together with partially fitted nozzle 3:3.8 mm in the area of the intake to the com-
to
guide vanes. pre~sor vanes. The gap between the intake nozzle a nd
the outlet of the compressor wheel va nes is achieved
plate for the M 2.'5 fixing screws to mate with the corre- by axial adjustment of the rotor. The inlet opening of
sponding holes in the shaft tunnel. Finally. bore a total the nozzle at the front is less critical. Working to the
of forty 5 mm holes around the edge at a diameter of I:>H dimensions indicated in the drawing. you just need to
mm. create an a pproximately elliptical curve as you feel
Once you have screwed the guide vane holder to the appropriate.
shaft tunnel. clamp it in the lathe so that it is perfectly
aligned. centred and supported in the tailstock using a Compressor guide vanes
live centre. This enables you to machine the external The compressor guide vanes (24) are made from 3
diameter of the guide vane holder so that it fits perfecrly mm thick Dural plate. From this material machine a ring
to the internal diameter of the housing. In the same with an internal diameter of 1HO mm and an external
position on the lathe, machine the profile according to diameter of IHH mm and cut from it ten segments, each
section A-A. leaving a slight positive tolerance. 24 mm long. Clamp these to a disk to machine a 24 mm
The next stage is to finish machining the 40 bore radius (see photo). Use a file to round the front edges of
holes. As indicated in the drawing (viewed from the the vanes to a radius of a pprox . O.'t mm. while leaving
front). you need to take a file and smooth down the ldi-
hand edges of the remaining partition walls as well as Machining the external radius of the guide vane.
the edge~ on the luwer part of each bure. The right-
hand edge of the partition wall remains sharp-edged.
The rounded edges can he finished off using a polishing
cloth or alternatively with silicon polishing disks and a
mini-drill.
Drill holes in the four connector» (17) tu mate with
the corresponding holes in the guide vane holder. Then.
rivet the connectors in place. You need to make sure
that the outer shank of each connector extends beyond
the edge of the guide system by around 0.2 mm. Finally,
»crew the shaft tunnel and the guide vane holder togeth-
er and chuck the whole assembly in the lathe. This
chuck configuration should permit the external diameter
of the connectors to be machined to fit the internal
diameter of the housing.

Intake nozzle
The intake nozzle (3) is machined from an FlO mm
solid blank. It is important that the profile of the nozzle
matches the compressor wheel. First , bore a hole
through the blank to a diamder of 33.'5 mm. This is
exactly the same diameter as that of the front of the
compressor vanes. Next machine the profile to fit the
radius of 12 mm. It is necessary for there to he a gap at
the outlet of the vane between the vane edges of the
compressor wheel and the inta ke nozzle . When the
engine is operational, this gap should be between 0.1
and 0.2 mm.
Once the profile of the intake nozzle fits that of the
compressor wheel. increase the diameter of the intake

J/ome Built 1l1odel Turbines 65

the back edges as they are. Finally you just need to drill
2 mm holes in the vanes to fit the m.
Connecting the compressor guide vanes to the
guide vane holder
The guide vanes (24 ) are ti lte d to the guide va ne
holder and held in place with adhesive. The contact sur-
face~ must he cleaned so that they are free from grease
and roughe ned using a fine 400 grit emery p aper. A very
th in layer o f e poxy :Idhesive , a pplied to the contact sur-
faces of the guide va nes, is sufficient. Avoid ge tting
adhesive anywhere near the holes. As indicated in the
photo . to adjust the gUide vanes to the correct po sitio n ,
you need a ga uge. This is damped to a mandre l that can
be ce ntred in the ho re of the shaft tunnel and turned .
According to the draWing, the top p art of the ga uge
should have a chamfer o f 15°. O nce positioned accord-
ingly, the guide vanes can he fi xed using the M2 screws.
These can be remo ve d as soon as the a dhesive h as
hardened .
The guide l'anes are pOSitioned on the guide varw
holder uS/fIg a template. Here the edges of the
guide l'ane holder have not been shaped exactly as
i"dicated in the constructio" plan.
The lid
The lid (1 4) is spun from a !'>oft. non-a lloy sheet of
aluminiu m with a thickness o f 1.5 mm . If you can o nly
get hold o f a sem i-rigid qua lity, you need to heat the
sheet mome ntarily to a temperature of be tween 250 and
300°C and then leave it to cool before working o n it.
The blank plate should have a diameter of 110 111m. The
spinning mo uld G ill be made from hard plywood. First
machine the mould to the same external diameter as the
external d iameter of the housing (25).
A rectangular rod made from p lywood makes a good
spinning to ol. The lathe should be set to a lo w sp eed . A
few drops o f oil are necessary fo r lubricat ion .
The lid should fit tightly to the housing. If there is too
much play, you need to reduce the exte rnal diameter of
66
Spi1millg mouldfor the lid of the TK-50 prototype.
The lid is spun at a low lathe speed. An oiled
rectallgular hardwood rod serves as a tooL
the s pinning mo uld by 0.1 mm at a time a nd rework the
lid . If the lid fits w ell. it requires no additio nal sealing.
Finally spin o ut the diameter of 75 mm . Before further
assembly, you need to de-bUff and dean the edges.
Aligning the intake nozzle with the compressor
wlJeel and adjusting the size of tlJe gap
This req uires the who le roto r to be inserte d into the
finished as.<;embly of the compressor guide system and
shaft tunne l. In the area of the inta ke diame ter of the
compresso r vanes yo u insert an approx. 0 .1 to 0 .2 mm
th ick strip of p aper. Next yo u place the inta ke n ozzle
( 3 ) o n the compressor w heel a nd, using a 15 mm cen -
tn:-punch (sharpen a p iece of s pring steel w ire), mark
the position of three of the threaded holes on the hack
of th e intake nozzle. Having m arke d how the inflow
nozzle fits the gu ide syste m , you drill out these ho les in
the intake nozzle to a d iameter o f 2.1 mm.
Next you attach the nozzle using three front screws
(5) and align the inta ke nozzle w ith the van es of the
compressor w hee l. T hi s requ ires the use of fe e le r
ga uges. The gap be tween the nozzle and the front o f the
compressor w heel va nes should never be less than n.1
mm. If necessary, you w ill have to slightly rework the
three 2.1 mill ho les.
Once the gap is pe rfectly concentric, you need to fin-
ish drilling the missing through-ho les in the intake noz-
zle .
Hom e Built /vludel Turbines
 The other task
remaInIng is to adjust
the gap hetween the
outlet of the compressor So!"' 0

guide vanes and the -r" c., 0-

intake nozzle . This os... ",.1-

again requires assemhly i:'> ?
of the complete rotor 0- S'.,
with the guide system ." o
-t-
.6~
~
and the intake nozzle .
Yuu u~e a feeler gauge
to check the gap
hetween the outlet of
the compressor guide
vanes a ncl the intake:
nozzle . It should be
hetween 0.1 and 0.2
mm . To do rhis you
need to make a corre-
sponding correction to
the length of the 20 mm
diameter at the front
part of rhe shaft runnel
(8) (nominal length is
2.5 , according to draw-
ing).
Sticking a copy of the hole-plan 01lto the combustion chamber is a very simple
Combustion chamber, way to get the positiolling of the holes exactly right.
glow plug
The comhustion chamber consists of the external wall nozzles according to section B-B (sheet 12) use a small
(26) the internal wall (27) and the hack wall (2H). cutting-wheel to cut 12 slits approx. '5 mm long. Next,
You have already taken the thermos flask apart for widen them using a mandrel. Alternatively YOll can hard
the housing. Now you will find that its inner shell makes solde r 12 nozzles, each with a n internal diameter 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 it The threaded bush {50) is e irher welded or hard sol-
as shown in the drawing. Hold the thennos flask in the d e red to the combustion chamher. This is intended to
jaws of the lathe chuck and press in the base using a die take the glow plug (49) and at the same time it serves as
held In the tailstock .
This base will become The internal wall of the combusti011 chamber is read)' to join to the external
the front part of the wall
combustion chamber.
Next cut it to the
required length of 66
mm for the external wall
of the comhustion
chamber.
To avoid the need to
mark out 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 H2 mm .
You need to note that
th e 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 Buill .Wodel Turhines 67

a fi '(ing for the housing. At the o pposite end the fixing
component. u)J1si~ ting o f tah (')1) and nut (50). is ha rd-
soldered o r welded to the front of the combustion cham-
ber. To secure th e hack wall of the combu s -
tion chambe r (2R) you need to cut four slits o f 8.0 x 0.5
mOl in the back and push the front edges of the s lits
inward~ hee photo). A 36 mm diameter hole is cut cen-
trally to ta ke the inte rnal wall of the com bustion cham-
ber (27).
The internal wa ll o f the combustion chamhcr (27) is
drilled in accordance w ith the ho le-plan. As mentio ned
above, for this YOll G ill lI~e a sca le copy of the devel-
oped view of the hole-plan . The drille d holes marked
( I) ) should be shaped into nozzles as d escribed above
and in this case point outwards.

Flame test for tbe fuel distributor using auxiliary

gas (bere for Behotec J -66).

Straigbt sticks are easy to make and work reliably.

Here you CaJ' see tbe type usedfor tbe TK-50
togetber witb tlJe back wall oftbe combustion
cbamber.

After co mpleting the above, the next stage is to be nd

it by hand around a mandrel. befo re hutt welding the
seam. An alternative is tu c1o~e the seam by spot-weld-
ing a narrow plate strip. However, this s hould be
between the internal wall of th e combustion chamber
and the shah tunnel.
You now need to push the cylindrical internal wall of
the combustion cha mber from the back th rough th e
opening in the front of the combustion cha mber and
bend the 3 111m tabs on [he front e nd outwa rds by 90°.
Next. at these points weld . sp ot-weld or hard-solde r the
internal w all to the front face .
The back wa ll of the combustion chamber (2tD is
pres.~ed frol11 a 90 mill d iame ter plate as show n in the
draWing. The interna l dimension of ')4 mm should fit
easily over the d ia meter in the front part of the turbine
guide system. The external diameter of 81 mm sho uld
equate to the internal diameter of the internal wa ll o f the
combustion chamber.
The six sticks (29) are made from ')3 l1u n long pit.:ces
of pipe 5.0 x 0.4 mm or similar material. This requires a
small collar to he formed o n o ne sid e using the tools
shown. The purpose o f this collar is to prevent the sticks
slipping out w hen they are insetted into the hack w a ll of
the combustion chamber. The sticks are hard-soldered in
the back-wall .
Once you have assembled the auxiliary gas and fuel
supply systems. the comhustion chamher is ready to be
incorporated in the housing.
Tbe back oftbe TK-50 combustion chamber. Tbe
version you see bere is differentfrom tbe
construction plan ill that only one small pipe is
used for tbe SllPPly of auxiliary gas and the
distributor ring is semi-circular in sbape.
Supply lilres for fuel, auxiliary gas and lubrietmt
For the fuel supply line (-16), the a uxilia ry gas supply
line (43) and the lubricant supply line (40) you need
hrass piping. The size ~h ould b e 2.0 x 0 .4 mm or similar.
For the capillaries (42, 4') , 18) it is best to use brass
tuhes or alternatively injection needles w ith a n inte rnal
diameter of 0 .4 to 0 .5 mm.
The holes to take the fuel capillaries t48) and the fue l
supply line (46) in the distributor ring (47) should be
drilled to match the external d iameter of the pipes you
use. You need [0 file down the ends of the fue! capilla r-
ies so that they slope. Once they have been carefully de-
burred, they ca n be hard-soldered in [he distributor ring .
After welding , check that the fue! distributor has a uni-
form flame le ngth using auxiliary gas (see photo).
Next, fasten the distributor ring as well as the fu e l

68 Home Built Model Turbines

supply line to the b ack of the co mbu:-.tion chamber a nd
insert the ends of the fuel ca pillaries to a length of
approx. <; mm in the sticks. The openings of the ca pillar-
ies should b e in contact with the internal w all of the
sticks.
The distance b etween the distributor ring and the
back wall of the combustion chamber s hould be around
4 to 'i 111m. Wire ribbons provide a good means o f fas-
tening. They are likewise requ ired to secure the b ack
wall of the combustion chamber.
The fuel supply line (46) is shaped in such a way that
it can be run between the combustion chamber and the
housing in a slight S-shape and 1)L·nt forwa rds . It is fed
through one of the gap s between the partitions on the
o utside of the gUide va ne holder. At this point you need
to drill a hole in the lid ( 14 ) to m atch the external diam-
eter of the fuel supply line.
The gas capillaries (45) are connected to the auxilia ry
gas supply (43) by means of the connecting piece (4'1) .
Before soldering in the gas capillaries you need to inse rt
two steel wires with the same d ia meter as the e xternal
diameter of the gas ca pillaries into the co nnecting piece
and press it together in the milklk. This e n sures easy
access for the gas ca pillaries. 1'se ribbon w ire to fa ste n
the connecting piece to the end o f the combustion
chamber and hard solde r it in place . You should insert
the free ends of both gas ca pilla rie s in the two sticks
opposite s o th at they go in a pprox imately lu mm .
Fina lly. run the auxilia ry gas supply line on the outside
as described above.
The lubricam line (40). the lubrica m capillaries ( 12) Viell' of the guide vane holder from the back. You
as well as the tab (41) a rc soldere d toge ther a nd mount- can see holl' the lubricant supply line alld the
ed to the back of the guide va ne holder (sec p hoto). lubricant capillaries are fitted.
To restrict the flow of lubricant you need a restrictor
line (58). to which arc soldered connecting pieces (59). you p lace a thick p ie ce of alumin ium o r copper under-
The restrictor effect is adjusted by inserting a wire ( ri()) neath the welding se am .
in the line . The diameter of the wire should be around Having cleaned a nd s m o othed the seams you can
0.1 mm less that the interna l diameter of the line. You sha pe the parts to form the pressed parts indicated in
can only establish the length of both the restrictor line the drawing. A ball be aring is a good too l to usc for this.
and th e wire through
trial a nd error (approx . In the TK-50 an egg cup sen'es as a blankfor the sheclth of the Ilozzle. /fyou Clre
100 to 200 111m, depend- particularly clever )'ou can el'en use the middle PClrt to make the nozzle core.
i ng on th e interna l
d ia meter) . This unit i:-.
loc a ted out s ide the
engine.

E;tehaust gas nozzle

The exhau:-.t gas noz-
zle consists of the noz-
zle sheath (34) and the
nozzle core (35) . Both
are pressed p arts made
from 0.5 mm thick stain-
less sted plate. The e gg
cup s ( s hown in the
photo) make good
b la nks. If you ca nnot
find anything s imilar.
the drawings provide a
developed v iew that
you can cut out and roll
into cylinder s tubs .
Next, you butt-weld the
seams by MIG or TIG .
Welding is easier when

Home Built Model Turbines 69

On the lathe it functions as a steel tool on a holder. Run
the lathe at a low speed.
The developed view for the sheath of the nozzle i~
dimensioned so that you have space to creare three fas-
tening eyes drilling 3.2 mm ho les .
Once the core and the sheath ha ve been fonned into
the correct shape, slits are cut to connect the m to the 6
radiu1> arms (36 ). They ca n be fix ed in place using spot-
welding. MIG or also TIC welding.
Finisbing tbe diameter of the turbine wbeel
Screw the turbine wheel to the shaft using a sp acer
bush (10) and a replacement hearing. Next. tum down
the external diameter so that the va nes fit into the rur-
h ine ring (31 ) of the finished turbine guide system leav-
ing a gap of O.OS mm . Once the turhine guide system
has been welded to the housing, you can machine it to
it~ fi nal dime nsions.
eollllectillg tbe exbaust gas nozzle to the housing
Construct the three Z-connectors (57) a nd strengthen
them with a hard soldered 1\13 nut. You will then need
tu drill (Jut and re-tap the threade d hole. The fin ished
connectors are screwed to the exhaust gas nozzle. posi-
Housing wit/} welded turbine guide system.
View oftbe TK-50from thefront without intake
"ozzle.
70
tioned correcdy and then hard soldered to the hack wall
of the housing (2S).
If yo u have form e d the sheath of the exhaust ga~
nozzle from an egg-cup, YO ll can use three clamping
jaws (S7) for fastening . Three 1\13 nuts are used as fixing
points. They are hard soldered to the hack of the hous-
ing (2S). After soldering. you will need to drill the ho le
in the housing and re-tap the thread.
Final assembly
The finished turhine guide system i:-. welded to the
housing, the compressor guide system is fined to the
s h a ft tunnel a nd the rotor is assembled u si ng the
replacement b ea ring. It is now p ossi ble to adjust the
position of the turbine wheel in a n ax ial direction hy
corresponding re-alignment of the compre:-.sor guide sys-
tem . Take the rotor apart again and drill the housing to
mate with the connectors. Having marked the positio n
you remove the compressor guide system again, tap the
connectors with an 1\13 thread and increase the size of
the corresponding ho les in the housing to .:t 2 null.
A view of the back
Our TK-50 is ready for operation, built to tbe
cOllstructioll pia" alldfitted with sellsors.
flome Built ,Wodel Tllrbines
 The next step is to fit the completed combustion
chamber. Drill the through-holes for the glow plug a nd
:,;crew ('52) and fit the combustion chamb er into the
hou:,;ing.
The compressor guide system w ith the shaft tunnel is
inserted into the housing and screwed in position tightly.
Next. reassemble the rotor so as to enahle the precise
adjusTment of The turbine whee l"s external diamete r. If
the turbine wheel scrapes on the one side, you must
work on these areas with a grinding disk. Once the tur-
bine wheel turns freely, you can reduce its diameter to
leave a gap of 0.1'5 to 0 .10 mm between the turbine
vanL"S and the turhi ne ring.
Having provisionally halanced the rotor, you ca n fin-

•
ish assembling the engine for tria ls at reduced rotational
velocity. , GAS TURBINE (SECTtONEfJ)

Home-built KJ-66 jet turbine

How it evolved
The first home-huilt turbines still use d simply-formed
wheels from mate ri als that were not particularly he at-
resistant. These recorc.k·d a surprisingly high leve l of effi-
ciency. In 1993 Thomas Kamps built his micro turbine
with turbo-cha rgL"r compressor w heel w hich already
achieved 33 N of thrust (sec literature refere nces in the
appendix). At that time it was impossihle to find hear-
ings that were either suitable and or reasonably priced.
However Thomas Kamps' principle did herald the p ossi-
bility o f successfully constructing a high-thrust jet turhine
without increasing either the weight or dimensions.
The 203H compressor wheel from KKK seemed to Ix'
a good solution, since its air th roughput is approx. 20%
The iriformation stand of the GTBA at theJet World
Cbampio71sbips ill Zellweg s/Joll'ed tbe inside of a
KJ-66.
higher than the Kamps turhine. The prototype of the KJ-
66 w as fitte d with a compressor guide system similar to
that of the old FO-3. It incorporate d a size 60B bearing
with a C3 runn ing cleara nce. The ho using was made
from the same gas cartridge a'i the FD-:\/ 6-i . Although
the turhine wheel w as manufacture d from m a terial
that w as not p articularly heat-resistant , it already had
a similar sha p e to th e motkrn turbine wheds used
t(xiay.
Its first tes t run was in the autumn o f 1995. The
engine generated 10 N of thrust at less than 100.000

17Je component parts of the KJ-66.

Home Buill .Hodel Turbines 71

rev/lnin a nd it weighed no more than 950 g' Of course,
the particularly low exhaust gas temperature of around
; oooe was e~pecially significant. Therefore. it was hardly
rocket science to work out that at a rotational velocity of
120.000. you could expect it ro produce ()f) N of thrust.
It was Dr Jesus Artes de Arcos from Barcelona who
first did someth ing ahout series-producing a turhin e
wheel that wa:-. hoth capahk of withstanding a high load
and was not too expensive. He so ught cooperation from
Thomas Kamps and me a nd this led to the manufacture
of a new turhine wheel. The intention was for it to fit
hoth micro-turbines as well as the KJ-oo. Tn fact. when
fitted with the Artes "..·heel. our engines generate 60 and
75 N of thrust respectively.
Buoyed hy this success. Dr. Artes also set a hout man-
ufacturing series components according to my construc-
tion plan for the K.I -6b . Whilst this successful
collaboraTion d id come TO an end eventua lly. in the
meantime several other producers have sprung up to
secure the supply of turbine wheels and other high qual-
ity components for home huilders.

De"umds 0" tbe home builder

The construction plan incl ud es a ll the details the
home bu ilder needs ~except to those relat ing to the
compressor and turbine wheel as well as the ha ll hear-
ings). If you intend to scratch build you r own compres-
sor guide system. the a ssumption is that you are
experienced in processing metal and have access to high
qualiTY machine tools. In addition. you should already
he fam iliar with small model jet turbines .

Home Buill il10del Turbines

Parts list and drawings
Parts list KJ-66

Item Description No Material Semi-finished Notes D rawing

tdimensions m m) Sheet No.

1.1 Compressor nut AIZnMgCu Round , 1" 0 2

1.2 Compressor wheel Sped<ll Al Finished part No. 2038 KKK IH
1.3 Spacer ring C Tool steel Round , 20 (7) 2
1.4 Ba ll Ile<lring C Type 0608/ 602 839. GR\X' 2
1.5 Shaft Tool sted Ro und, 20 2
1.6 Ball lJe"dring T Type 06(J8/bU2 H39. GR\'C
1.- Spacer ring T Tool ~ted Round. 1'; (7)
1.8 Turbine wheel Inconel 713 Re<ldy-m<lde, see suppliers list IR
1.9 Turhine nut High-temp steel Round. 1'; (7) 2
2.1 Shaft tunnel AIZnMgCu Round. 40 (7) 3
2.2 Spring Spring steel 3
2.3 Bush Too l ~teel Round. 2'5 (7) 3
3.1 Intake nozzle Al 99.9 Sheet I. '5 thick I';
3.2 Ring AIMg Round. 60 (7) I';
3.3 Lid Al 99.9 Sheet I. 5 thick I';
3.4 Intake nozzle with lid AIMg Round, 11 ') (7) Altern<ltive to 3.1-3.3 16
4 Co mpres.,o r guide system AIZnMgCu Round. 120 (7) Ready-m<lde. see supplins list
'5.1 Front part of comb.
chamher erNi IH/ lIl Sheet 0.4 thick Ready-made, see suppliers list
5.2 Internal part of comb.
chamber CrNi I H/ lO Sheet 0.3 t hick Ready-made. see ~uppliers list ')

';.3 External pan of comb.

chamber CrNi IHI IO Sheet 0.3 thick Ready-malle. see suppliers list 6
5.4 Stick b CrNi IH/ lO Tube 6 x 0." Ready-made. 'ee su ppliers list
';.'i Back pan of comh.
chamber CrNi IH/ IO Sheet 0.4 thick Re<ldy-made, see supp lie rs list 7
'; .6 Tab '; CrNi IR/ IO Sheet 0 .'1 thick 9
';.7 Fixing bracke t I CrNi lH/ lO Sheet 0.4 th ic k 9
'5.H Nul 1 CrNi IH/ lO Ro und , I'; (7) 9
'5.9 Wire Icx)p 6 CrNi IR/ lO Wire 0.6 (7)
6.1 Glow plug Finished part. st<lndard quality
6. 2 Glo w plug fitting Steel Round, 10 (7) 9
7.1 Fuel co nnection Brass Ro und, lO (7) 13
7.2 Fuel suppl} line Bras~ Tube 2 x 0.4 13
7.3 Fuel dbtributor Bras~ Tube 3 x 0.4 13
7.4 Fuel pipe 6 Brass Tube I x 0.2 13
8.1 Auxiliary gas connection 1 Brass Round. 10 (7) 13
H.2 Auxiliary gas line Brass Tuhc 2 x 0.4 13
8.3 Auxiliary gas d istrihutor 1 Brass Tube 3 x 0.4 13
R4 Ga" dosing tube 2 Bras... Tulle I x 0.2 13
9.1 Oil connection Brass Round , 10 (7) 13
9.2 Oil line Bras~ Tube 2 x 0.4 3
9.3 Oil dosing tube 2 lklss Tube I x 0.2 3
10.1 Turbine gUide vane 1'; (nconel bOO Sheet U.7 thick Ready-made , see suppliers list 11
10.2 Turbine ring CrNi I H'1O Sheet 2 thick Re<ld y-m<lde, see sup pliers list 10
10.3 Central bo dy CrNi IHI IO Sheet I thick Read y-made. see supplie rs list 10
10.4 Centring ring CrNi lH/ lO Sheet f thick Ready-m<lde. see "uppliers list 10
11 Housing Steel Camping gas CY 470 [7
12.1 Fla nge A CrNi 11)/ lO Sheet 2 th ick 12
12.2 Flange B CrNi 18/ 10 Sheet 3 thick 12
13.1 Nozzle sheath CrNi IHI IO Sheet 0.4 thick H
13.2 Rad ius a rm CrNi IH/ IO Sheet 0.6 thick 14
13.3 Cone 1 CrNi IH/ IO Sheet 0.4 thick 14
H.I ~re" 9 Sl. 8.8 Hexagon socket M3x] 0
14.2 Screw 4 St. RH
14.3 Screw 12 CrNi 18/ 10 Hexagon socket M3xlO
1'1.4 Screw St 8.8 Hexagon "'Jeke t M3x5

Home Built Model Turbines 73

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Home EllIlt 75
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Home Buill ,Wodel Turbines 81

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Weld diagonal edges. Retouch slots to the right dimension.

83
 KJ-66: Sheet 11

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84 H o me Buill Mudel Turbines

 1Q-66: Sheet 12

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Home Built Model Turbines 85

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86 Home Built Model Turhines

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Home Built il10del Turhines 87

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Home Built Model Turhines 91

Constructing individual components
Rotor (1.1 to 1.9)
To make the compressor nut 0 .1> you need a high-
strength a luminium alloy. In order to a void balancing
difficulties. it is best to machine the final sharx- when it
is asse mbled with the compressor whed (1 .2). space r
ring C (1..3) and the bearing C (1 .4) .
The compressor wheel (I .2) is a replacement parr for
the KKK turbo charger. It is supplied ready to use and
does not require any reworking until the fine-balancing
stage.
The shaft ( 1. '» is made from no n-alloy or low-alloy
tool stee l. Perfect conce ntricity between the components
is es~ential. Othenvise. when assembled . you will have
to battle with dynamic imbalances. This is achieved by
us ing a precision lathe . You first need to pre-turn
the shaft and carry out the precision work between cen-
tres. The bearing seats a re turned down to an oversize
of approx. 0.01 mm. hefore being lapped to size. You
ca n use 60S size standard bearings as a calibration
gauge.
To make things easier, the spacer ring C (1.3) and
spacer ring T U .7) are made from the same material as
the shaft. Importa nt: the t~lces must be exactly coplanar
to each other.
The turb ine wheel (L~) is ava ilahle as a finished
compone nt or as a casting. The casting needs to be
bored . m achined to the correct diameter or better
ground d o wn and finally , balanced. To drill the hole you
need high-grade too l steel (TiN coated) or a carbide
drill-bit. It Gill he drilled to a tolerance of 0 .01 mm and
an exact fi t achieved by grinding down the shaft. The
ideal fit is a light press-fit .
A low speed lathe and a carbide tool are u~ed to
machine the turbine wheel to the correct e xternal diame-
ter. Screw the turbine wheel to the shaft, th e spacer ring
T and a n old ISO 60H hea ring. To screw the components
togethe r. chuck the shati in the lathe a nd turn the tur-
hine nut (1.9) tight using aT-handled s(){:ket wrench.
This will prevent the shaft from bending when tighten-
ing. The e xternal diameter of the turbine wheel should
be 0.3 nun less tha n the interna l diameter of the outer
guide vane holder (10.2). For this reason, only rx-rform
this operation once the corn..~ponding components are
finished (see section ' final assembly' in the TK - =iO
instructions l-
It is best to m a ke the turbine nut 0 .9) from heat-
resistant steel; otherwise you Gill use nickel chromium
steel.
Now the turbine whe el can be pre- halanced. as
described in the section 'balancing dIe roto r'
SlJaft tmmel (2.1 to 2.3)
Thl: shati tunnd (2. 1) should also be madlined from
high-strength aluminium alloy. It should fit on the ball
bearing to give an easy push-fit. The spring (2.2) should
generate an axial pre-loading of at least --!() N. The e xter-
nal surface of the bush l2.3) is polished.
Irltake nozzle and lid (3.1 to 3.3)
The intake nozzle (3 . I) and the lid ( 3.3) are spun
components. For these you require soft a luminium
,heeting. For the lid in particular. the thickness should
he at least 1.') mm. Mo~t standard aluminium sheeting is
too hard. Consequently, it should be te mpered for a few
92
minutes at a round l.~()°C. Suhse quent quenching is not
necessary.
The main dimensions of the form tools should be the
same as th e internal contours of the components you
intend to spin. You can construct the tools from several
hard plywood panels . The e asiest thing [0 usc for a
press- rod is an oblong piece of wood . You need to
apply a little oil a nd run the lathe at a lo w speed. Both
spun components are connected using the ring (3.2) and
epoxy adh esive, but only during the final assembly of
the engine.
For best results. the gap between the blades of the
compressor wheel and the lid should b e 0 .2 mm. Of
course this can only be checked by fitting the corre-
sponding p a rts into the ho using (1) . If the fit between
the lid and the housing is nor tight enough. you should
reduce the external diamete r of the form-tool by around
0 .1 mm a nd rerx-at the spinning operation once again .
Bore the ~ . l mm h()Ic.~ into the lid. using the finished
compressor guide system as a marking template.
Many people get a kick our of m a chining va st
amounts of aluminium alloy on the lathe. If you are one
of these. you Gill follow the drawing on sheet 16 and
machine the lid (3.4) with rhe intake nozzle from one
single piece . The wall thickness should he approximate-
ly 1.5 mm.
Compressor guide system
To produce these components It IS necess:ny to u~e
a n accurate milling machine. You will find a ll the dimen-
sion details in the drawing. It is produce d from one s in-
gle piece. In order to ensure the long term stability of
the M3 threaded hole. it is recommended that you use
high-strength a luminium alloy.
Combustion chamber (5.1 to 5.9, 6.1, 6.2)
The thickn es~es stated in the parts list are mll1lmUm
values. If you use a thicker material. it docs not reduce
the efficiency of the e ng ine . However it does a dd
weight. Incone! 6()O or other similar material is likewise
suitable. of course, inste ad of spot welding you can use
TIG welding.
The front (') . 1) a nd t he b ack part (5.5) are press
fomled at the edges. The radiuses a re not critical. The
diameter of hoth the outer part (') .3) a nd inner pal1 (5 .2)
is depende nt on that of parts l ') .1. '). ') ).
The sticks (').4) can be m ade from pie ces of pipe 6 x
3 .0 ml11 or s imilar. They a re connected to the back
0" the left the compressor guide system for the
KJ-66 with minor modificatiOlI; 0" the right a small
size guide system made by Martin Lambert.
flome Buill Model Turbines

Combustion chamber for the KJ-66 made by
Michael Rang and Heiko Naupold.
part ('5 ..5) by me am of hard-solderi ng. spot or TIG weld-
ing.
The g low plug fi tt ing (6.2) is either ha rd-soldered or
welded to the outside. You need to pull o ut the coil of
the g low plug (6.1) with a pair ()f fine tweezers, so that
it protmdes by approx. 1 mm. If you do not want glow
plug ignition, you will need to weld two fixing struts
(S . ...,) to the faci ng positions on the front part (S . 1). Six
ribbon-wires (5 .9) complete the combustion chamber
as~embly .
Fuel supply system (7.1 to 7.4)
An alternative option is to machine the fuel co nnec-
tion (7 . 1) from an 1\1 4 screw . The injection-pipes ca n
abo be made from stainless steel. The interna l diameter
sho uld be between 0.5 a nd 0.7 mm. The other dime n-
sions a re less critical. Check each of the pipes for a ny
blockage by feeding through aux il ia ry gas at a low pres-
sure and igniting it. The tl a mes from each of the pipes
should all be the sa m e size ± 10%.
Auxiliary gas system, oil supply system (8.1 to 8.4,
9.1 to 9.3)
See the respective sectio n in the d escription of how
to construct the TK-')O.
Turbine guide system (10.1 to 10.4)
For these compo ne nts you ca n ,.Iso use sted~ o f the
type 2S% Cr, 2ooA> Ni a nd 2% Si. If you only have sta n-
dard nickel chromium steel (I ROAl Cr, 10% Nil availahle
for the vanes (10 . 1), you sho uld dHX)Se a material th ick-
ness o f OB mm instead of 0.7 m m .
Cut the vanes roughly to size . Thinly sharpen the
On the left a cast blankfor the turbine guide
system of the KJ-66; next to it thefinished
component; on the right a slotted ring to take the
turbine guide vanes.
Home Built Model Turbines
hack e dges in thL' arL'a between the tip a nd the root line.
Ro und down the front e dge to the same surface a rea .
Bend the va nes as shown in the drawing. The radiuses
are not particularly critical in this case.
The most d ifficult part is to c reate the slots in the
inne r a nd outer gu id e vane ho lder (IO.2. 10.3). The slots
mus t be a round 0 . 1 mm wider a nd n.'5 mm longe r
than the vanes at the respective points. If you do not
have access to a spa rk eroder. it is best to m a ke these
components from st rip plate a nd the n either T[G or M[G
weld .
The slots are cut out using a fret saw. Bend the strips
TO loop s and weld and dean the joins.
To machine the external contour of the guide vane
holder. press it onto a 66,3 mm mandrel. [Jse a mini
grinder a nd n.s mm grinding disk to fini~h off the slots.
Next the centring ring (lOA) is machined to a ho le
size of 2') . ') mm instead o f 26 .0 mm. Use a centring
d evice to a lign the ce ntring ring a nd the inner va ne
ho lde r, before joining both components together using
I S spot welds. pla~'ed between the slots of rhe inne r
va ne holder.
NeXT rhe outer vane holder (10.2) is pressed onto the
centring device. You press the va nes from the o u tsid e
through the slots of the o uter va ne holder until they
sna p into rhe ~Iob of the inner vane holder. Once the
vanes ha ve been shorte ne d on the o utside so that they
protrude only approx. O.S mm, w e ld the va nes to rhe
vane holders as hest as possihle . Next, turn the outer
welding seams, remove the centring device a nd com-
plete the welding between the vane~ a nd the inner vane
holder.
The next step is to centre the unir o n the lathe. so as
to mach ine the va ne holde r to an inte rnal dia mete r of
<:>6JI mm . A va ria nce o f between 0. 1 a nd U.2 mm from
the nomin al size of 66.4 mm i ~ not a problem. [f the
diameter is a lready 66.4 mm before it is machined , the
diameter of The turbine w heel ca n be made around 0.1
to 0.2 mm bigger. With the assembly chucked in th e
sa me position, m achine rhe 26 m ill di a meter of the cen-
tre ring (10 .-1) to pre~s fit the shaft: tunnel (2.1) .
Housillg (11)
Be fore you st:llt rhis job. ta ke ca re to ensure that the
C\' ·i7o gas canridge is completely e mpty!
It is only neces~ary to relllove rhe pa int Oil the 'hot '
e nd . 111e fo llowing ope r:nions a rc ca rried out on the
lathe : Ix)re a 67 mm hole : mac hine ho usi ng to rhe right
length; increase rhe dia m e ter to 6H mm using a ·6 ° man-
drel. This requires a ring w ith a n internal dia mete r of
approx . 70 mm to h e clamped in the chuck and th e
m a ndrel pressed from the inside aga inst the 67 mm ho le
using rhe tailstock. The ho les for the nipples (7.1. RI ,
9 .1) can be drilled at a ny position around the circumfer-
ence at a distance of 16 l1un from the front edge of the
housing. If you are not usi ng a g low plug. you nee d to
bore a 3.2 mm hole instead of a 6.5 mm hole.
Flatlge A,fomge B (12. 1, 12.2)
The drawings a rc self-ex plana tory . Alloys s uc h as
2,)% Cr, 20% Ni. ZOIn Si , ca n a lso be used .
Exhaust gas nozzle
Inste ad of nil'kel chro mium steel plate. you G ill u~e
[ncone l 600 or some other s imilar material. To make the
nozzle sheath 03.0 a nd the cone 03.3) you need to
93
machine rhe corresponding spinning rools. The conruurs Once the drilled holes are in the right place, screw
are rhe same as rhe inne r dime nsions of the spun com- toge ther the housing and guide system. Screw tight the
ponenrs. Standard consrruction steel is sufficienr for rhe oil pressure connection.
spinning roob. Both components are the n processed in Complete the adjustme nt and balancing of the turbine
the same way . wheel as d escribed for rhe TK-SO. The most effective
Plates are cur according to the developed view: they ga p size between the vane tips of the turbine wheel and
are bent inro a cone and the join is welded (TIG) and the guide vane holder OU.2) is 0.15 mm. Fo r the purpos-
smoothed. Next, spin the cone inro 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 shaft tunnel , in the same 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 togethe r via Make sure that the lid (3.3) sits tightly on the housing.
three radius anns 03.2 ). It should reqUire a medium force (hand pressure) to fit
it. Should it not fit tightly. rework it with the spinning
Filial assembly tool.
We advise you to carry out the tasks in the stated Insert the spring (2.2) and bush (2.3) in the shaft tun-
sequence! nel. Fit the shaft with ball bearing (1.6), spacer ring T
Test whether flange A 02.1) can he pushed freely to (1.7) and the turbine wheel in the shaft tunnel. Fit the
its end posirion on the guide vane holder (10.2). Press spacer ring C (1.3) to the shaft. Lightly oil the seating for
the turbine guide :-.ystem from the inside through the the compressor wheel. Use hot a ir to heat the compres-
expanded 68 mm opening in the housing (11) , unril the sor wheel to 50°C and fit it ro 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: a nd
housing. Bore holes for the screws (14 .3), using flan ge 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, start 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 inta ke nozzle (3.1) and the ring (3.2). Once the
Fasten the fuel supply system as well as the auxiliary adhesive has ha rdened a nd you have smoothed over the
gas system to the combustion chamber by means of the seam , you are ready to assemble the front part.
ta hs (S.6). Position the injector pipes (7.4, 8.4) in the Hefore running the engine for the first time the seat-
sticks. The e nds of the injecto r pipes should penetrate ing between the lid and the housing should be sealed
around 3 to 4 mm into the sticb a nd lie against the ir using a silicon compound. To do this, loosen the front
inner edge. Bend the fuel and auxiliary gas supply lines screws approx. ] mm and push the lid forwa rd the same
in the shape of an 'S', so that the connections are rough- distance. Apply a thin be ad of the :-.ilicon :>ealing com-
ly in the correct positions respective to the correspond- pound round the edge o f the lid! housing. Screw the lid
ing drilled holes in the housing (11). At the same time d own again tightly a nd wipe off any excess silicon .
make sure you note the positio n of rhe fixing brackets Once the sealing compo und 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 inro the housing and screw togeth- will not require [he exhaust gas nozzle to be 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 o il supply pipe should
penetrate approx. 1 mm inro the shaft tunnel. Test the
o il tlow, by feeding through turbine oil at a pressure of
approx. 0.1 bar. It should take o nly a few seconds for
the oil or the fuel/ oil mixture to seep into the shaft tun-
nel.
Fit ball hea ring C 0.4) inro the shaft tunnel. Screw
the compressor guide system (4) to the shaft tunnel
using rhe screws (h .2) (not forgetting screw fixing e.g.
Lactite!). Bend the oil supply line (9.2) so that the oil
connectio n (9. 1) is ro ughly in rh e corren positio n
respective to the corresponding drilled hole in the hous-
ing. Oil the inside of the housing at the front. Insert the
complete unit, guide system; shaft tunnel. centrally in the
hOllsing, but do not press it into it'i final position yet.
Push the o il 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 hou:-.ing. Press the unit into
the housing to its final concentric' position. If the posi-
tion of the drilled holes in the housing does not corre-
spond to the threaded holes in the compressor guide
system (4), you will have to remove the unit again . This
is easy to do by using a plastic rod with a diameter of 2]
mm as a driving mandrel, pushing it into the shati tunnel
and forcing the unit out with soft taps o f a hammer.

94 flom e Built Model Turhines


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 of the human imagination that it will never be
possible to foresee a ll potential occurrences . This is
particularly true of the myria d of possible mistakes .
Whilst one person might blow pure oxygen ontu 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 - n eedless to say, all these
experiments produced 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 crass examples of the kind of mistakes people can
make with turbines , but believe me , they are not
invented! (Note: in the presence of concentrated oxygen
combustion temperature is around 3000°C. This will
cause heated metal parts made from aluminium or steel
to combust with a blight flame).
Any engine that , for whatever re a son , violentl y
destructs whilst running, re presents an unpredictable
source of danger.
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 danger.
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 dangers 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 any kind of model with an engine whenever
there is a risk of forest fire, or when the fields in the
flight path are bone dry. nle biggest risk of fire when
operating jet nlrbines is in the ignition stage. However,
having a hand-held fire extinguisher at hand reliably
mitigates this risk . [n any case, if you need to use the
fire extinguisher, you must check the model for internal
fire damage before making another start attempt.
Dallger of sucking in foreign objects
Foreign objects that are sucked into the engine
llome Buill Model Turbines
Chapter 6
represent a special danger. They are capable of causing
damage and are referred to in pilot speak as FOD
(fore ign object damage). If you incorporate the engine
in the fuselage, there is a very good chance that it will
find all potential loose parts a nd the chance is just as
good that these will become FOD. Furthermore, foreign
particles whipped up by the undercarriage can also be
sucked in. This has a greate r chance of occurring in
models where rhe nose-wheel is located in front of the
suction ducts or when the undercarriage ducts are not
sealed off from the inside of the fuselage. You can
re duce this danger hy incorporating a sieve in the
s uction ducts . Water s pray when driving through
puddles on the runway can also cause FOD.
Danger due to exhaust gases
At a distance of around 1 m the exhaust gases are so
hot as to cause instantaneous burns to bare skin. As a
consequence , they are clearly a n ignition source for
easily inflammable materials such as dried grass, spilled
fuel etc.
The 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. When you
operate an engine in a closed or insufficiently ventilated
space, the air quickly becomes polluted to dangerous
levels. Therefore, only run e ngines outside in the open!
The jet of exhaust gas can 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 circumfe rential 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 commandments:
Keep everyone away from the rotational plane!
Carry out testing on a remore-activated test stand with
no spectators! It goes without saying that you must
yourself also keep out of the danger area.
You might have tested rhe engine at maximum load
on the test stand, but do not do the same for normal
operation! Modern EClls or pressure fuses help to
eliminate this risk .
Danger of insufficient proficiency i" flying models
This is a decision that can only be made by each
responsible model aircrafr pilot. Anyone whose maiden
flight is perlormed in front of spectators, is guilty, in my
book, of gross negligence.
95
 Chapter 7

What Does The Future

Have in Store?
T
here i:-. no doubt that there is a future for the type
o f m o del jet turbines described in this book .
Probably there will be greater diversity in terms of
size . In fact . I possess more than e nough optimism to
believe tha t demand will b e strong and that this will
both \·ita li:-.e a nd enrich the market. opening up th e
possibility that engines ,viii become less expensive.
As previously mentio ned. the first s uccessful trials
have already taken place with lurboshaft engines. In all
probability higher performance turbofan model engines
will soon ta ke to the skie:-.. The current large model
airliners are crying out for such engines. I a m sure that I
will have so me involvement in this area in the futu re
a nd look forward to the active parricipa tion of other
hohhy mo de llers. As w e have seen, the hasic technical
principles already exist.
It is also certain that progre:-.:-. will likewise II<: made
in adapting turboshaft engines to othe r a pplications, i.e .
for the propulsion of model helicopters. If you conside r
that a lmos t a ll of the la rger helicopte rs a re turbine
driven, there is dea rly a n awful lot to do in the a rea of
scale model helicopters w ith turbine propulsion.
Nevertheless. eve n in t he case of the jet tu rbines
themselves, not all possih ilities have bee n exhausted. 1

A turboprop ellgille
belongillg to Mike Murphy
from Ellgland. Tile propeller
is dril.en I'ia a gearbo,1(
from a secolld free-ru,,,,itlg
turbine wheel I.first
described this prillciple ill
"~)' book 'The Turboprop
Ellgille For Home-Buill
Models' (see literary
referellces).

77Je turboprop ellgille from

Mike Murphy sucks ill the
air from the back. Here you
call see tbe Oil-board
starter.

96 Ilollle BlIill ,Hudel Turhilles

My turbofan engine is not yet ready to be produced in series. However it already flew back in 1999.

am thinking , for example , of th e a dju stahl e thrust

nozzles w ith which Hermann Mic helic ha s already
ex perimented. This me thod of nozzle control o ffers
benefits in ensuring a maximum level o f 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.
Sho rtly before finishing the manuscript for this book ,
in the second edition o f JETMAG I read the article 'Who
is who? - home-built turbines in Germany', by I{udi
Reichstetter with the q uote, "perhaps as a minimum we
will succeed in bring ing about a kind of exchange of
ideas in Germany ... ". So, home-huilders, get in com act
with Rudi Reichs te n e r , Untergasse 32 , D -648 'i0
Schaafheim. e-mail: ltHeichstetter@t-o nline.deI strongly
support this call a nd look forwa rd to a fruitful
development of our home-build activities.

Thefathers of turbines never tire: Herman"

Michelic developed adjustable nozzles. intended for
use to propel a vertical take-off aircraft.

Home Built .Wodel Turbines 97

Appendix
Potential suppliers Conrad Electronic
Klaus-Conrad-Strasse 1
At this point in my first book 1 could do no more than 0-92240 Hirschau
appeal to the imagination of anyone interested in this Tel : 00 49 IHO S 31 21 11
subjecL Today, the situation is completely different. Due Internet: www.conrad.de
also in part to the considerable fluctuation in suppliers, 1 Measuring devices, screws, steel sheets, capillary tubes.
am only able to list a limited number of supplier
sources. Alfred Frank
Tanneneckstrasse 27
0 -934'>3 Neukirchen
AMT Netherlands Tel : 00 -t9 99 47 13 17
Hcistraat tl9 Turbine components
NL-'>701 HJ Helmond
Tel: 00 31 4 92 '>4 '>801 GRW
Fax: 00 31 4 92 S5 03 79 Gebri.ider Reinfurt GmbH & Co. KG
E-mail : amt@amtjets.com Prazisionskugellager
Internet: www.amtjets.com Gneisenaustrasse 10
Finished jet turbines, turbines wheels, accessories. D-97074 Wi.irzburg
Tel : 00 49 931 79 52 444
High precision bearings
8ehotec GmbH
Sonnenstrasse I Martin Lambert
0-1'1'>232 l3ergkirchen Gartenstrasse 11
Tel: {)() 49 8131 8 04 00 D-66926 Breitenbach
Fax: 00 49 8131 804 OS Tel: 00 49 6386 1:3 16
Internet: www.behotec.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 turhine guide system.

Alfred Buscher Helmut Leben

Industriestrasse tla Rosenweg 31
0-42477 Radevormwald 0-85101 Lenting
Tel: 00 -i9 2195 20 25 Tel : 00 49 W!56 35 97
Fax: 00 49 2195 4 03 49 Laser-cut components for turhine guide system, combus-
Shafts and shaft tunnels. milled and machined compo- tion chamber.
nents to drawings.
Orbit Electronic
Arno Hausmann
Ingenieurbiiro Cat Falkenweg 32
Markus Zipperer GmbH D-52379 Langerwehe
Etzenbach 16 Tel: 00 49 2409 75 93 70
D-79219 Staufen Fax: 00 49 2409 75 93 72
Tel : 00 -i9 7636 78 03 0 Internet: www.orbitronic.de
Fax: 00 49 7636 78 03 4S Orbit Turbojet feu.
Internet: www.cat-ing.de
Finished jet turbines, turbine wheels, accessories, balanc- Achin Pelzer
ing service, milled and machined components to draw- Thomas Mann Str.lsse 8
ings, JetCat turbine electronics. 0-'>23S3 Di.iren
Combustion chamber components, housings. thmst noz-
zles.

98 Home Built Model Turbines

Michael Rank Struck Turbotechnik GfllbH
Mohlsdorfer Strasse 4 Ernestinenstrasse 11 ')
D-09773 Greizl Raasdor 0-4'5141 Essen
Tel: 004936614341 39 Tel: ou 49 2Ul 29 26 29
E-mail: MicaeI.Ranc@t-online.de Compressor wheels
Together with:
Heiko Naupold Wren Turbines
Zoghaus 44 Unit 13
0-07957 Langenwetzendorf New Century Busmess Centre
Tel: 00 49 171 9 9') 97 53 Manvers Way
Laser-cut combustion chamber sheets, combustion cham- Manvers
bers, turbine components, balancing service. Rorherham s63 5DA
Internet: www.wren-turhines.com
Plan and components for MW-54 jet turbine, wide range
of turhine wheels

Construction kitfor the 60 Newtonjet turbine manufactured by Wren in England; top left a wax modelfor
the turbine guide system, on the right thefinished component. below is the blank casting.

..
. . ...-- -- .- -- -- - . - .
"..."",..,..
~
".."..,..---'

• --
• • •
- - - • ••

Home Built Model Turbines 99

References and Sources
of Information
Books
It does not rake long to list some of the :-.pecialist hooks
that have been writte n for the interested lay person:
Thomas Kamp:-.: Model Jet Engines . Components. home-
build. operation . Puhlished by Tra plct Publica tions ,
Traplet House, Pendragon Close. Malvern. Worcs. WR14
I GA.
The author has been intensively involved in the further
developme nt of model jet l.'ngines. His book contains all
the information required to build a high-pe rformance jl.'t
engine using professionally manufactured turbocharger
compressor wheds. His design provides the basis for
most of thl.' jl.'l turhines that today are either home-built
or manufactured professionally. He is an engineer with a
very good grasp of theory a nd communicates the
necessary theoretical knowledge in a very dear form .
The Ixx)k certainly lives up to the promise of its title.
Kurt Schreckling: The Model Turho-prop Engine For
Ho me Construction. The constmction plan in the form of
a hook . Puhlished hy Traplet Publications. Traplet
Hou:-.e. Pendragon Close . Ma lve rn . Worcs. WR14 lGA.
This contains the first ever description of how to build a
functional dual shaft version of a turboshaft engine. It
includes comprehensive building instructions with
construction drawings and features solutions to physical
and technical problems. using diagrams to demonstrate
the interrelations. It provides documentation of the first
experiences of flying turho-driven model helicopte rs.
turboprop model a ircraft and turbofan m(xlels.
Thumas Kamps : Radio Controlled Mod el Jet Guide.
Published by Traplet Public~ltions . Traplet House .
Pendragon Close, Malvern. Worc:-.. WIU4 IGA.
Kurt Schreckling : Gas Turbine Engines for Model
Aircraft. Published by Traplet Puhlications , Traplet
Housl.'. Pendragon Close, Malvern. Worcs. WH14 IGA.
Mike Cherry: Mike's Jet Hook . Published by Trapkt
Publications. Traplct House, Pendragon Close, Malvern.
Worcs. WRH IGA.
German Language Books
Thomas Kamps: Making your own RC-jet model, Verlag
flir Techn ik lind Handwerk , Baden-Haden. Order no.
3102103.
100
Kurt Schreckling: Jet turbines for home-built mode l-
aircraft. Modell-Technik-Rerater 20, Verlag fi.ir Technik
und Handwe rk, Baden-Baden.
This is out of print at the publisher·s.
Thomas Kamps : The technology of model turbines -
Volume 1. Engines and components, Verlag flIr Technik
und Handwerk, Baden-Baden. Order no. 310 2105.
Thomas Kamps : The technology of model turbines
Volume 2. Home-build and practical tips , Verlag fiir
Technik und Handwerk, Baden-Baden. Order no. 310
210<;.
Of course, much can be learnt from large standard
turbines. The works listed below represent only a small
selection of the comprehensive specialist literamre from
which the authors Kamps and Schreckling have gained
the ir understanding of the subject. To be able to fully
understand these books, you will require, without douht.
an appropriate level of mathematical understanding.
Willi Bohl: Ventilators. Vogel Buchverlag, Wurzhurg
H Cohen, G .F.C. Hogers, H. I. H. Sravanamuttoo:
Gas Turbine Theory. Addison Wesley, Boston. USA.
Fritz Dietzel: Gas turbines, short and to the pOint, Vogel
Buchverlag, Wurzburg
Dubhel. Engineering Pocket Hook. Springer Verlag,
Berlin (The ' Oubbel' is the engineer's bible).
Wolfgang Kalide: Introduction to the technical theory of
flow . Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, Vienna.
R.K. Turton : Principles of Turbomachinery . Second
edition. Chapman & Hall. London (amongst others).
Magazines
Radio Control Jet International
Traplet Publications Ltd .,
Traplet House, Pendrdgon Close,
Malvern.
Worcestershire, WH14 IGA
United Kingdom .
E-mail: rcji@traplct.com
For more information and products visit the Traplet
website: ww.traplet.com
Home Buill Model Turbines
Organisations
There are two a~soClatlons that concern themselves
particularly with the needs of turhine model makers:

German Model Aircraft Association

Rochusstrasse 104-106
D-53123 Bonn
Internet: www.dmfv.de

Gas Turbine Builders Association (GTBA)

Internet: www.gtba.cnuce.co.uk

To promore the exchange of ideas amongst home-

builders there is:

Rudi Rcichstetter
Untergasse 32
D-64850 Schaafheim
E-mail: R.Reichstetter@t-online.de

Home Buill Model Turbines 101

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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 flight-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 are now capable
of much greater performance and are 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 1-9003 71-37-5

9 781900371377 >