Okay, so, I tried to build a jet engine. Yeah, you heard that right – a jet engine, like the ones on airplanes. I saw this guy, Adam Scott, on YouTube, and he made it look so easy. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.
First, I gathered all the stuff I thought I needed. I raided my garage, my neighbor’s garage (with permission, of course), and made a few too many trips to the hardware store. I ended up with a pile of metal tubes, some weird-looking fans, a fuel pump that I think was meant for a lawnmower, and a bunch of other junk that looked important.
- Metal tubes (various sizes and shapes)
- Fans (the more, the merrier, right?)
- Fuel pump (borrowed from an old lawnmower)
- Spark plugs (because you need a spark, duh)
- A bunch of wires and connectors
- Sheet metal (for, um, shaping things?)
Then came the assembly. Oh boy. I watched Adam Scott’s video about a hundred times, pausing and rewinding, trying to figure out what went where. My hands got covered in grease and I had some cut on my hands, but I kept going. I welded some parts, bolted others, and used a whole lot of duct tape where neither of those worked. It looked like a mess, to be honest, but I was still hopeful.
Next was the moment of truth. I hooked up the fuel line, connected the spark plugs, and with a healthy dose of fear, I hit the ignition. There was a lot of sputtering, some alarming noises, and a cloud of smoke that made my neighbor’s dog start barking like crazy.
The result?
No liftoff, sadly. My “jet engine” didn’t even come close to producing thrust. It mostly just made a lot of noise and smoke. I think I saw a few flames shoot out the back at one point, which was both terrifying and kind of cool.
So, my dreams of building a homemade jet engine didn’t quite pan out. But hey, I learned a lot, got my hands dirty, and have a pretty funny story to tell. Maybe I’ll stick to fixing lawnmowers from now on. Or maybe, just maybe, I’ll give it another shot someday. Who knows?
