Gary's Jet Journal

More afterburner testing

I checked out the afterburner and restarted the engine. Again, there was lots of smoke, but no fire.

Not the fire I wanted

finally, I did get fire from the afterburner, but it was not what I wanted. This is not fuel burning in the afterburner, but is the slow death of my turbocharger.

Turbine wheel

After disassembling the turbo, this is what I found. The turbine wheel was roasted. Clearly visible are the melted and burnt tips of the wheel.

Scored shaft

The turbine bearings had seized up on the shaft and helped to cause the failure. The scoring of the shaft here shows the exact placement of the bearings, and the problems that can occur with a bad oil source, or running a turbo too hot.

Damaged turbine

Here is a better shot of the damaged turbine. This is the reason that you do need an egt (exhaust gas temperature) meter, so that you will know when the turbo is running to hot. This turbo is completely trashed and can not be rebuilt as replacement parts are not available for this old turbo.

I hope that after viewing these pictures, anyone thinking about building a turbine engine will invest in a quality oil pump that will do an adequate job. I have since found a new turbo from Tim's turbo at www.timsturbo.com. It will be a waiting game until it arrives. The new turbo is a very large model from a diesel engine, and should make a nice turbine engine. I will be calling the project the HR-1 jet, and will attempt to use the engine to power a go cart.

While not entirely successful, I did learn a lot from building this engine. It did run, I fabricated an afterburner, and I learned what works and what doesn't Since most everything in life is a learning process, I will use all of the information gained to my advantage. The next engine will have far less problems in development as a result of my experiences here.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my first jet engine experience. There is plenty of additional information on the site. Individuals or companies interested in sponsoring my projects should contact me via email. Thanks again,

Gary Richards

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Warning! The projects depicted in this website can be dangerous. While this website is not intended to be an instructional course on how to build these projects, we do realize that individuals may attempt to build their own versions. We highly suggest that you take all appropriate safety precautions when dealing with machinery, and use extreme care while operating jet engines. Serious injury or death can occur while operating a jet turbine engine in close proximity, due to explosive fuels and moving parts. Extreme amounts of potential and kinetic energy are stored in operating engines. Always use caution and good judgment while operating engines and machinery, and wear appropriate eye and hearing protection.