GR-180.
bigger, hungrier
The GR-180 is a larger home-build turbojet by Dutch designer Gerald Rutten. Using the same basic layout as the KJ-66 with bigger parts, it more than doubles the thrust.
It is built around a Schwitzer turbocharger compressor wheel, turned down to 74 mm while keeping the manufacturer's blade profile, with a 70 mm turbine wheel and matching NGV.
At around 18 kg of thrust it sits at the top end of what is practical to build at home, and gives builders a feel for how heat, balance and fuel flow get harder as engines get bigger.
Published figures
- Thrust
- ≈ 180 N
- Max speed
- 120,000 rpm
- Fuel flow
- ≈ 650 cc/min
- Diameter
- 107 mm
- Length
- 240 mm
- Mass
- ≈ 1.2 kg
How it is built
- Compressor
- Schwitzer 316954 wheel turned down to 74 mm
- Turbine
- 70.3 mm cast turbine wheel
- NGV
- 70 mm guide vane ring
- Combustor
- Annular, sheet metal
- Layout
- Single-shaft turbojet, KJ-style
what it teaches us
- Scaling up a small engine is not just making parts bigger.
- Fuel flow and combustor volume set how hot the NGV runs.
- Plans are only the start: good build notes matter as much as the drawings.
Sources
GR-180 is a third-party community design and not a Vector Dynamics product. We claim no ownership, endorsement or affiliation. Building and running gas turbines is dangerous; follow the original documentation, local laws and proper safety practice.
Next: KJ-66 →ready for a real kilonewton?
Beyond the garage
UAV and target-drone makers, manufacturing partners and investors: talk to us about the VD-100.