Home > Lego Steam Engines

The all new Mini One Lung Engine

Welcome to my LEGO engines page! (Please note: this site is in no way affiliated with LEGO corporation, and is not an 'official' LEGO site!)

It's been a lot of fun over the years building better and better engines. It seems the main challenge in building these engines is keeping the friction down. Simplicity is also a big plus, and building the engine's base solidly also goes a long way. And of course, the square piston runs in a square cylinder!

All of the engines I've built are the oscillating cylinder type.

NEW!!

Single acting one cylinder

Building a working model of a steam engine out of Lego wasn't easy. I built my first engine when I was 15, (that's been quite a few years ago) and still learning this! Building a solid structure, keeping friction down, and keeping things balanced are important in the design. I found that the engine's rpm improves with a design that allows air to escape during the exhaust stroke. More...

Double acting one cylinder

Here's a complete construction sequence for a LEGO engine. This is a real smooth runner, and being double acting, it can start from almost any degree of the crankshaft's rotation. I wish I had the LEGO rpm sensor to test it for sure, but from the sound it makes, my guess is that it reaches 700 rpm under full (and I do mean full) 'steam.' More...

Double acting twin cylinder

Here you can see the action! Running on a vacuum, this engine probably does about 400 rpm. There are some gif animations and audio files that you can view! More...

Electricity generating turbine

NEW!! My latest engine is an electricity generating turbine that (except for the LED) is 100% LEGO, just like the rest of my engines! More...

Model Steam Engine Plans

This is NOT a Lego steam engine. It's the real thing, with a gas fired boiler and an oscillating cylinder engine. It's fascinating because it uses the same valving design as my Lego engines. I did not build this engine, but this is a link to another website by Bill Lavery. He offers plans that you can download if you want to build this engine. It looks pretty easy to build with minimal machining. Thanks Bill! (BTW Bill, if you want me to use a different image to link to your site rather than this screenshot, just email it to me and I'll put it up.) More...