World's smallest V-12 engine

In this video, Patelo hand-machines all the parts for "the world's smallest" V-12 engine, then assembles it and runs it. It's a remarkable feat of machining and engineering, and by the 5 minute mark, I was basically cheering and dancing around the room with delight as the motor started running.

El motor V-12 más pequeño del mundo. (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: automotive • happy mutants • maker • spanish • video • youtube

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Greg Miller

That is amazing. For all the machining I’ve done, I acknowledge that I don’t have the vision and patience to see something like this through. My one question for him would by why he used so many blade screws, and why not hex all around (I HATE blade screws, so maybe it’s just me).
- Richard Dagenais
  
  Alignment. You have some tolerance with the blade screw for getting the tool into it, so it works well in tight spaces. The torx (not hex) that he used requires a straight aligned driver.
Cameron Huff

That is beyond amazing. The detail he put into it plus the machining itself blew me away. Well done sir, well done!!!!
http://twitter.com/VagabondAstro Robert Little

Let’s be honest here, Cory; that thing is powered by pure awesome sauce. Thanks for sharing!
Stjohn

My Spanish stinks. Did I miss the part about fuel or spark? Is it compression-ignition? It doesn’t matter. It’s still amazing.
- snoproblem
  
  Now, all that needs doing is building a mini-Jaguar to mount it in… ;)
- http://twitter.com/_jolo_ JM Solé
  
  You didn’t miss it. They didn’t explain that part. I don’t really know how it’s working. The pure awesome sauce theory above maybe? :D But really, I think it works like a diesel engine, so, like you said, compression-ignition.
- Richard Dagenais
  
  This isn’t really an engine so much as a teaching tool. I runs on compressed air injection. Hence no wire loom, no plugs, no noxious exhaust.
  - GlenBlank
    
    Yes, it’s intended as a teaching tool, but it’s still an engine in the same sense that a steam engine is an engine.
    
    Generally speaking, an ‘engine’ is a machine that converts energy into mechanical work. A steam engine gets its energy from a boiler; this engine gets its energy from compressed air.
    
    It’s not an internal-combustion engine, but it’s still an engine.
Vengefultacos

Wow. Makes me feel so much more inadequate that I was never able to put together the “visible engine” plastic model kit I got as a kid.
http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai

“World’s smallest V-12 engine…”

…that’s what she said?

(Sorry, wife is watching The (American) Office in the other room)
CastanhasDoPara

!Asombroso! So in about six months give or take can we expect to see the world’s smallest semi-functional Ferrari?

Stjohn, it is ‘powered’ by compressed air and there is no fuel delivery system, carburetor or electrical system (spark plugs).

Mind == blown.
http://the-nerds.org/ Jeff Del Papa

It is a nice bit of machining, he does work to a high standard and the video is very well done; but the claim of “worlds smallest” is a bit optimistic on his part. There are a number of running models that size or smaller, that are actual internal combustion, with spark ignition even, not compressed air operated. Visit one of the big national model engineering shows, and you will see lots of competition.

(sign that it wasn’t truly small, he was assembling it with a simple magnifier, not a 20x microscope. Also some of the fasteners, and all of the major engine parts could be picked up without tweezers.)
John Light

The unit is “running” on compressed air. That doesn’t make it less amazing from a construction point of view, but it might put some bounds on enthusiasm. Notice also that there is no lubricant on the visible moving parts, so heat would be a problem.
journey46

extraordinary feat ! well done.
i am a woodworker and my brother in law is a machinist who does work for nasa.
he hates working with wood and i hate working with metal.
this kind of detail and patience is rare.
Urban Garlic

I thought the music was a bit much at the start, but grows on you, and it is fun to see all the tiny bits zipping around all synchronized.

Interestingly, the engine is a two-stroke — check it out at around 3:48, the cams are geared 1:1 with the crankshaft. I think this bolsters the case for compressed-air power, but it’s not absolutely conclusive, model airplane engines are compression-ignition two-strokes, and are about the same cylinder size.

It looked like there was a cooling pump (“bombas de refrigeracion”), but I didn’t see any coolant go in, or any channels for it in the cylinders.
http://profiles.google.com/anne.speck anne speck

Very cool. 1220 hours of labor put in on it…. I don’t know anyone with that kind of patience/dedication to a single project — esp. outside of work.
- Stjohn
  
  7 years and counting:
  http://stjohn.openbar.com
Lobster

Little dune buggy… in the sand.
Brood-X

anyone recognize the musical score? at first i thought it was corny but after a while is kinda grew on me.
- http://devojane.blogspot.com devophill
  
  I thought the same thing. I used SoundHound on my phone to identify the third clip (Rescue, by Harry Gregson-Williams from the Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas soundtrack) and the fourth clip (Fighting 17th, by Hans Zimmer from the Backdraft soundtrack) but neither I nor my phone could identify the first two musical cues.
  
  edit: Shazam tells me the first clip is “‘Main Title’ by Marc Shaimen” but that’s not too helpful.
  
  2nd edit: The YouTube page says it’s The American President by Marc Shaiman, followed by something from Alive by James Newton Howard.
- jerwin
  
  Open up the video on youtube and consult the description.
http://twitter.com/VagabondAstro Robert Little

Oh, please; make a tiny little Spitfire (or Mustang)…
Tyler Riddle

That’s not a model engine – this is a model engine. With a Ferrari wrapped around it. Internal combustion, near perfect replica including operating key operated ignition and turn signals. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeUMDY01uUA
- Lobster
  
  The best part is he could probably sell that for enough to buy a real Ferrari (and a real shrink ray).
- wrecksdart
  
  Thank you for that link. I don’t have 15 years to dedicate to such an endeavor, but I’m glad there are people out there who do. I wonder how much he sold it for?
http://onespeedgo.blogspot.com/ John Romeo Alpha

A nice effort, although with nitrous, and twin turbo, it would be truly worthy.
Jerry Brenner

You ask about blade screws.
2 questions:
How difficult would it be to machine all the screws with hex heads?
How easy would it be to machine all the screws with a single slot.

My guess is the screws were all machined by him the same as the rest of the parts.
- Seraphim_72
  
  1. You don’t machine hex heads, they are pressed or cast (or EDMed I guess)
  2. Single slot screws are used in woodworking because they look nice. It is rather odd that a machinist would use them for something like this. My guess, they were the finest thread screws he could buy.
Greg Van Antwerp

I liken watching this video to gawking as child over the yule log on TV.
nixiebunny

This one’s only a V8, but it has a distributor and spark plugs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9zt3SF_Flc
offby1

Hard not to be reminded of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trustee_from_the_Toolroom
bo1n6bo1n6

Amazing. Thats a lot of trabajo!
philipbarrett

Seems like some folks here need to fire up their lathes and post links so we can see their machining skills.
Keith Lofstrom

Nevil Shute’s 1960/posthumous “Trustee from the Toolroom” is a novel about Keith Stewart, a machinist who builds miniature engines and writes articles for an English hobby magazine. Stewart’s almost-plausible South Pacific adventures are the perfect Asperger’s fantasy. If you like this engine, you will love the novel!
lavardera

Yes – he is just blowing compressed air through the works here. There is no fuel, no spark plug, none of the electrical works that would go along with that. I’m not sure that a fueled version could be built without the electrical works. I would be done with a glow plug, as that is a two stroke cycle and this model was clearly a four stroke configuration.
Charlie B

Magnifico!
semiotix

Here’s the conversation I imagine having happened right before this.

“I think I’ll use my awesome machining and engineering skills to build the world’s smallest four-cylinder engine.”
“Dude, that’s lame.”
“You’re right. I don’t want people thinking I’m some kind of weak-ass punk building engines for model Hyundais. Instead I’ll build the world’s smallest V12.”
“Badass!”
Mladen Kalinic

What’s the point of this?
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  What’s the point of this?
  
  Just waiting for the world’s smallest Vin Diesel.
awjt

Yeah, that’s cool, but the ferrari Tyler Riddle posted is cooler.
http://www.epinardscaramel.com TokenFrenchDude

I want to own one. I would put it in my study.