This mod shows how a homemade jet engine can be made for powering some vehicles. A basic design for the engine is required to start the building process. The ability to see how the parts will fit together before fabrication can be seen using the 3D process which allows making changes as shown in the software screenshot below. It can help a lot when trying to fit the entire engine into the final project although the design can be sketched out even on the back of an envelope.
A large turbo with a single turbine inlet is needed when selecting the turbocharger. More thrust will be produced by the finished engine using a bigger turbo. These turbos can be taken from earth moving equipment and large diesel engines. They will yield enough thrust power to move a vehicle even if they are rebuilt units. It is the size of the inducer that matters and not so much on the size of the whole turbo. The visible area of the compressor that can be seen when looking at the turbo’s compressor with covers on is the inducer as shown in the image below. The air inlet is quite larger than the visible blades of the inducer.
During the process, the compressed air coming from the turbo’s compressor is allowed by the combustion chamber to be mixed with fuel and burned. Through the rear of the combustion, the hot gasses escape to move through the turbine stage of the turbo where the power from the moving gasses is extracted by the turbine and converted to rotational shaft energy. To bring in more air to make the process continue, the compressor attached to the other end is powered by this rotating shaft. Thrust is created by any additional energy left in the hot gasses.
A large piece of tubular steel with caps on both ends is used to make the combustion chamber and a flame tube is found inside the chamber. Another smaller piece of tubing which runs the length of the chamber with several holes is used to make the flame tube. The compressed air is allowed to pass through in certain ratios by the holes. The image below helps figure out the size of the combustion chamber where the size of the flame tube is calculated.
A method of construction rings that will provide a surface to which the end caps can be bolted and hold the flame tube centered in the combustion chamber is used to make the combustion chamber result in a simple bolt together piece. The laser cut rings are made from fabricated plate steel as shown below. An extra space is created which serves as a buffer and allows some expansion of the flame tube as it gets hot. For the mounting of the end caps, the 12 bolt holes are provided around the ring in a circular pattern.
The housing must be cut to the proper length and have the ends squared up in order to align everything properly with the end rings ready. This is done by taking a large sheet of poster board and wrapping it around the steel tube so that the ends are squared with each other and the poster board is pulled tight. The combustion chamber with the end cap is shown in the below image.
Two end caps are needed for the combustor assembly with the main combustor housing complete. One end cap will route the hot exhaust gasses to the turbine and the other will be the fuel injector side. The image of the injector cap below shows the little tubes that stick out of the cap. An opening needs to be cut for the hot gasses to escape from to make the exhaust cap.
The next images show the parts bolted together where the turbine and compressor sections of the turbo can be rotated against each other by loosening the clamps in the middle. The flame tube contains the hole patterns with special names and functions where the primary holes supply the air for fuel and air mixing, the secondary holes supply the air to complete the combustion process, and the tertiary holes provide the air for cooling of the gasses before they leave the combustor. Plumbing the fuel and oil systems help regulate pressure with a bypass valve setup.
