Pipsqueak Engine

Air-powered Engine

Feb ’19 – Apr ’19

Fabrication, design for manufacture & assembly

I led a small team on an academic project with the purpose of learning basic manufacturing processes. We designed and prototyped a small air-powered engine over the course of three months.

We designed the miniature engine to be powered only by the input of compressed air. We modeled the engine in a CAD program and created drawings to follow during the manufacturing process. The prototype was built using standard manufacturing processes including turning on a lathe, milling, powder metallurgy, sand casting, and CNC machining.

The 6” x 6” x 2” engine prototype ran without issues, and I have assembled a list of suggestions for a final, more manufacturable, and more aesthetically pleasing engine. The documentation includes the above engineering drawing and Bill of Materials of the modified engine using more affordable machining processes.