Turbine talk and design questions

[Zippiot]

I WANT to build a turbine but no longer have a bunch of giant machinery surrounding me...
Wondering if it could be possibly done mostly in-house requiring me to buy minimal parts...

Ordered a new copy of the shrecky book, lost mine and for sure need one for this project.

I still have my calcs for the axial flow turbine, but to build one of those would require me to do a bunch of casting, which is no real problem cept longevity could be compromised...or to gain access to a well equipped shop and amchine a bunch of impellors again!

I have a centrifugal flow all designed up in my head but am wondering if it would run, for I have no calcs on the radial flow turbines. My design is sound compared to what I have seen so far from other radial flow turbines, possible problems being longevity of the parts I casted, parts I welded and other things that must contact heat and friction.

Has anyone done a small turbine? I mean like 3 inch diameter or less. I see these in some r/c planes but has anyone BUILT one?

I am really leaning towards the axi-flow just because it is a rare sighting, and I do have all the calcs done for a 3 incher but the size can easily be scaled. If each blade is casted then they can be designed with the proper curvatures on the blades, otherwise in-house machining would limit my ability to get a "good" compressor design.

Is there a way to limit the rpm but keep the thrust, like make it a turbofan (to keep it under load and keep the rpm's down) or without a lathe/mill is that way beyond? I do some wicked dremel work to be fair :)



Also please post pictures of your completed turbines, and include as much of the inner workings as you are willing to post.