Making your Coffee Cup Stirling Engine especially beautiful
Non-perfectionists can skip this page.
If you are trying to build the absolutely prettiest engine you can,take time to polish the brass parts before you begin the assembly. Polish all of the brass parts (Brass Nuts, Handle, Big Brass Washer, Small Brass Tube) except for one of the Small Brass Tubes with a brass polish. In the United States, a polish such as Brasso is readily available at hardware stores and grocery stores.
Also you may want to inspect the acrylic tube (the Cylinder Ring, part # D4) for minor cosmetic imperfections. These minor imperfections can be polished out using an abrasive polish that says it will work on acrylic. Usually this isn’t necessary, but I know there are some perfectionists out there.
To get the prettiest glue joints at the top and the bottom of the Cylinder Ring, the best adhesive to use is a good clear 30 minute epoxy such as Devcon 2 Ton Clear.