The idea for this photo wasn't planned in the least. In preparation for Photo 11 in this series, I found that my Sterling Engine was no longer functional. It was binding somewhere in the stroke. To fix it, I had to completely take it apart -- almost. The small, plastic cylinder head can be disassembled further, but I didn't want to mess with its alignment or risk bending the fingers connecting the rod to the head. So I left it intact.
It was a very straightforward dis-assembly. Unscrew the six screws from the base cylinder, and the whole thing comes apart. The only thing holding the black foam cylinder head to its rod (just left of the screws in the photo) was friction.
Some graphite for lubricating the main cylinder rod and reassembly, and the Sterling Engine was up and running again. Just, perhaps, not as efficiently as when it was new.
