Kontax KS90 Stirling engine

I’ve always liked Stirling engines. They only require heat to run, so can use any fuel/heat source. This one is a “Kontax KS90” which will run from the heat of your hand, or of a cup of coffee.

I could not square buying the kit unless it was used for 3DS Max practice, so here it is. It’s rigged for animation, although I had problems with the Wagon Wheel effect, one day I’m going to render it running very slowly.

The position of the pistons is not Simple Harmonic Motion, but is governed by the equations on this page. I used them in the Wired Parameters so that the rotation of the flywheel drives every other part of the animation.