Tap and die set

Copper Pipe Alcohol Lamp

Copper Pipe Alcohol Lamp

The Pop-Pop Steamboat in MAKE Volume 28 calls for using small tea candles for the engine’s heat source, but I found that it didn’t work very well. So I decided to make this small alcohol-burning lamp instead, and it significantly improved its performance. In this project I will go over how to turn down two […]

The Fire Piston

The Fire Piston

Carl von Linde was dead tired. The eminent engineer, considered the father of the modern refrigerator, had just returned to his home in Germany from a lecture tour that took him to, among other places, Malaysia. This being the late 19th century, the voyage had taken months. Von Linde had seen and learned much during […]