

The Man Behind the World's Smallest V-12 Engine [video] - fauria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1pJIVqCC1E

======
jhallenworld
I wish someone with the skill to do this would use their time to push the
state of the art in small generator design. Here is a sampling of parameters,
all of which I think could be improved:

Cheapest: Harbor freight's "Storm Cat" $129, 2-stroke, 700W, 91 dB, 63cc, 38.2
lbs, 18.3 W / lb, 1818 Wh / Gal.

Best power / weight, most efficient: Honda "EU2000i" $1000, 4-stroke, 1600W,
53 dB, 98cc, 46 lbs, 35 W / lb, 6737 Wh / Gal.

Quietest: Honda "EU3000is" $2000, 4-stroke, 2800W, 49 dB, 196cc, 134 lbs, 20 W
/ lb, 5939 Wg / Gal.

Lightest: Honda "EU1000i" $800, 4-strike, 900W, 53 dB, 50cc, 29 lbs, 31 W /
lb, 5700 Wh / Gal.

(there are ~33440 Watt-hours of energy available in a gallon of gasoline).

The most recent innovation seems to be the inverter/generator. It means that
the engine does not have to run at any specific speed to get 60 Hz, so it can
be run slow to make it quiet. Perhaps an extension to this could be the
generator equivalent of a "hybrid"\- supply power from a battery to cover
surges, but use the engine to supply the average usage.

It will be interesting if any recent work on engine design ends up in small
generators. For example, there is the OPOC engine from the Bill Gates backed
startup [http://ecomotors.com](http://ecomotors.com)

You would think there would be more competition from micro-turbines, but I
don't think they scale down so well. There is this 2.6 kW "Dynajet" micro-
turbine:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa8kS8EZWmQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa8kS8EZWmQ)

Edit: also.. what ever happened with small fuel cells?
[http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelkanellos/2013/01/31/why-a...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelkanellos/2013/01/31/why-
are-portable-fuel-cells-such-a-flop/)

~~~
Houshalter
The other day I saw a story on a new engine design which claims to be 125%
more efficient:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChLFFT08eHg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChLFFT08eHg)

Here ([http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/19/science/putting-a-
darwinia...](http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/19/science/putting-a-darwinian-
spin-on-the-diesel-engine.html?src=pm&pagewanted=2&pagewanted=all)) is an old
story about a group who used genetic algorithm to design a more efficient
diesel engine.

>using a Silicon Graphics Origin 2000 supercomputer with 32 processors it took
more than two weeks of continuous operation to find an optimal set of
parameters.

>Dr. Senecal's test engine consumed 15 percent less fuel than a standard
engine while producing one-third as much nitric oxide and half the soot.

Unfortunately I have no idea if anything ever came of this or not. I can't
find anything. It'd be incredibly sad if this actually worked and then was
never implemented.

This was done just with a dumb genetic algorithm on 2000 era computers, a
population size of 5, run for 50 generations, and only tweaking a handful of
parameters. I believe there is more potential in stuff like this.

~~~
jhallenworld
It sure has not been from lack of trying new designs: [http://www.douglas-
self.com/MUSEUM/POWER/unusualICeng/unusua...](http://www.douglas-
self.com/MUSEUM/POWER/unusualICeng/unusualICeng.htm)

(Also: Big News! Douglas Self has been updating the Museum of Retro Tech
again)

------
btoptical
You may also like this:

[http://youtu.be/CIZNh1G2vNI](http://youtu.be/CIZNh1G2vNI)

This guy built a fully functional scale model of a Ferrari 310 including the
V12 engine all from photos. He built every part. He tuned the car so that it
makes the sound of the "Ferrari Music."

It's also incredible.

~~~
evanspa
Not only that, he had to design and create the MOLDS for the parts!

~~~
morkfromork
3D print the molds and make one yourself.

------
degio
It's interesting how most of the comments focus on the technical aspects of
what the guy built.

What I found interesting and inspiring is the time and passion that he puts in
what he does. I really hope to still have something that makes me so
passionate when I will be 72. It's a great way to live your life.

------
webnrrd2k
There are more people that care about things like this than you'd think... I
worked on a 31 Alpha Romero gas tank a few weeks ago, with a friend. There are
old cars that people really care about, as well as old boats and airplanes.
There are machinists who make miniature engines, just like this guy, and all
sorts of other things. That type of craftsmanship is hardly dead (although it
is getting very hard to find!)

I'm into black smithing, which is an even more rare type of craftsmanship.
There are all sorts of resources online. Check out ABANA
[[http://abana.org/](http://abana.org/)] to start. But whatever it is that
you're into there is bound to be someone else into it. Try the SCA
[[http://www.sca.org/](http://www.sca.org/)] if you want some really old-
school stuff.

------
nawitus
There's actually a museum for miniature engineering, for anyone interested in
the subject.

[http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/](http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/)

------
joezydeco
_" Since I have no internet - I don't know how to surf the web, but there
seems to not be another one"_

And that's probably why he's the only one.

~~~
baddox
It's bittersweet. He talks about how engineers now don't care about making
things robust and repairable, or making things by hand, and he's probably got
a point there. But he's also missing out on the opportunities of the Internet,
where he could share the stuff he does and exchange ideas with people who do
or want to do similar things. Especially with the increasingly prominent
"maker culture," I think he would find there are a _lot_ of people out there
who share his passions.

~~~
VLM
"I think he would find there are a lot of people out there who share his
passions."

Some places I've hung out that are directly on topic:

[http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/forum.php](http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/forum.php)

[http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/forums/3-General](http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/forums/3-General)

[http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/](http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/)

As a warning to the HN community who are a little neophilic, machinist web
sites are much like ham radio web sites and numerous other technical hobbies,
in that the cruder and less trendy the web design, the more likely the content
is worth reading and vice versa. If the site includes something as trendy and
modern as jquery or runs on node.js then its almost certainly content free and
vice versa. So just brace yourself for the culture shock, ok?

~~~
vibrolax
Interesting observation about the inverse relationship between crude web
design and technical hobby content. I've been scratch-building vacuum tube
musical instrument gear for about 10 years. 90% of what I initially needed to
know was picked up from 1990's style hobbyist websites. I document all my
projects for others to build on my html-only website, maintained with
SeaMonkey Composer. It takes hundreds of hours to produce the artifacts
themselves and many more hours to produce checked and finished documentation
that others can build from.

I occasionally think about rebuilding my site with 21st century web
technology, but I haven't convinced myself that it adds more value to my work
than producing more and better documentation. I have an infinite list of
things to understand, design, build, and document. Chasing web tech trends
competes for the available time.

I design and implement embedded software for optical metrology and fabrication
equipment all day, so I have no technical barrier to web tech, just a lack of
interest.

I can't think of a single hobbyist site that I get information from that has
improved after a tech refresh. It's like a signal that the maintainer's
interest in the hobby is waning, and no further content should be expected.

~~~
blairanderson
I think you could benefit from something like github-pages.

free web hosting, and it would cut down the time it takes to produce
documentation.

~~~
vibrolax
I agree that github-pages would provide all that's needed for maintaining the
docs online, and make the publishing nearly effortless. The change history is
of definite value. I'll give it a go.

------
qsun
Also there are some very interesting videos about marvellous artisan work on
reddit
[http://www.reddit.com/r/ArtisanVideos/](http://www.reddit.com/r/ArtisanVideos/)

~~~
Sophistifunk
Oh lord what have you done? I'm going to lose _dozens_ of hours in there over
the next month.

------
DanBC
I love this video and I'm glad it's getting attention on HN. It captures a
bunch of stuff - pride in your work; actually making something non-trivial;
etc.

(I posted a link to it a year ago in a comment.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6116806#up_6117341](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6116806#up_6117341)
)

------
amirmansour
You can see the passion for his work in his eyes.

------
BendertheRobot
It's funny how some people think those exquisite models are real internal
combustion engines.

~~~
fernly
There's a point in the posted video where they demo the V12 and you see drops
of condensation forming at the ends of the exhaust pipes. Some kind of
combustion is going on. Maybe it's running on propane instead of gasoline, but
it's internally combusting. In the video of the guy with the model Ferrari, he
mentions it is fuel-injected, and when he revs it, it sure sounds like it is
an IC engine.

~~~
mzr
Condensation happens with air compressors, too. I had a small oilless
compressor that when heavily used would put so much water in the air line a
mist would spray out the exhaust port of the air tool I was using.

------
mxfh
Don't know if the _Artus V12_ [1] is smaller but it's an actual combustion
engine not an air pressure driven model of a combustion engine.

In that category it might be even still bigger than a pneumatic _LEGO_
engine[2], but still an incredible feat in craftsmanship.

[1] [http://www.artus-motor.com/artus-v12-motor/](http://www.artus-
motor.com/artus-v12-motor/)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bKIdqh6ARA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bKIdqh6ARA)

~~~
gchokov
It's not. It's quite larger than the one in the video.

------
fasteo
I am happy to see that great craftsmanship in my compatriot.

The spark in his eyes shows a passion that I - sanely, if that´s possible -
envy.

------
nobullet
Masterpiece! I wish I could have had a possibility to use such an engine in
car modeling in my childhood. Such cars could have gone a long journey!

------
sunsu
Some company should help the guy fullfill his dream and let him "design an
engine room for a transatlantic ship".

------
Nux
Pretty awesome guy. And this is sad: "mechanics are nowadays mere fitters" ...

Though I am sure there are plenty of passionate, talented engineers around,
just like him, it's just the world that changed and it's not all bad.

------
bhhaskin
He is definitely a master craftsman. It reminds me of old school precision
clockwork.

------
manucorporat
I already submitted this before fauri did, same URL... weird
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8268858](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8268858)

------
3rd3
Music:
[http://twobicyclesband.bandcamp.com/album/valerie](http://twobicyclesband.bandcamp.com/album/valerie)

------
arjn
I've seen this before, this and another, younger Italian guy. Excellent and
impressive display of mechanical skill.

------
robinhoodexe
Now this is incredible...

------
esaym
Sweet!

