Engine

I designed an engine. The crankshaft, pistons, and connecting rod assemblies were modeled after an instructor's design. The crankcase, cylinder head, camshaft, and valves are original.

I designed this entirely on Autodesk Inventor Pro 2026.

I started by drawing the crankshaft, connecting rods, pistons, wrist pins, and connecting rod bolts. I then designed a crankcase to fit the crankshaft and attached parts into. I then designed a camshaft, cylinder head, and valves. When I assembled all the parts, I placed the crankshaft in the crankcase and constrained the pistons to the cylinder walls. I then attached the pistons to the crankshaft with the connecting rods. I inserted the valves into the cylinder head and constrained their movement to just 0.5". I then constrained the cam shaft to the cylinder head keepers in a way that allows it to rotate.

The cutaway design was inspired by a Youtube video. I started with the bosses for the crankshaft and build up. I did have to go back and edit the curvature of the case to allow more room for the crankshaft journals to rotate freely inside it.

The cylinder head was designed to hold the valves and camshaft.

The valve is a simple design with a valve face that meshes perfectly with the cylinder head.

The camshaft was inspired by a Youtube design. The lobes were fun to design, starting with two circles and connecting them. I had to design and extrude each portion of the shaft until the midway point where I could mirror around a midplane.

The crankshaft design was a part of the courses instructional content.

The piston was also a part of the course's instructional content.

The connecting rod base was a part of the course's instructional content.

The connecting rod top was also a part of the course's instructional content.

The bolt was fun to design with the hex head and threads.