A small boiler

[Julian]

Bern,

The mamods have always used a rubber o ring for the safety valves.

The safety Rich has built is the same as the one I built for my home-made air compressor. That holds 50+psi for as long as I leave it. I agree it is not hot but the pressure is there. I used o rings after several attempts to do the ball method had failed.

Julian.

 

[firebird]

Hi

Just out of interest I pumped up the boiler last night (approx 7pm) to 20psi and left it. 24 hours later (ie 7pm tonight) it had held pressure but had dropped to 10psi. The 'O' rings in the pump and the safety valve held very well. Talking to one of our customers the other day, explaining what I was up to, he said iv'e got one of those guages in my shed I'll let you have it. Isn't that just typical.But it will come in handy next time.

Just one question, why has it got liquid in it?

Cheers

Rich

 

[Florian]

Hi rich

This liquid (i think its glycerine) in the pressure gauge damps any external interferences and also small pressure variations.

Florian

 

[Bernd]

Your right Florin it's glycerine. It's used to dampen fast pressure flucuations. I believe it also saves the gage incase of over pressure. In other words if you have a 100PSI gage and the pressure hit's 150. The gage won't be damaged or loose it's "0" reading after releasing the pressure.

Where I used to work we used gages up to 2000PSI on hydrulic units.

Bernd

 

[Divided He ad]

I have to say that I am really impressed with this whole build and thread Rich, so much information and insight into the boiler making process.

I had never really thought of what went into a boiler of this size and above, I knew it would have to be able to take the heat and pressure etc, but not the little bits that go to make it all safe as it can be made.

I really look forward to the firing up vid' and watching the first engine that it powers ;D



Ralph.

 

[firebird]

Hi

Thanks to Florian, Bernd and Ralph

Rich

 

[firebird]

Hi

With the boiler nearing completion, today I turned my attention back to the burner. If you remember from earlier posts it wasn't too successful but I did learn a lot from those trials. Todays efforts have been far more successful and I now feel I can design and build the burner that will heat the boiler. Heres a video. Photos and a more detailed description will follow shortly.



Cheers

Rich

 

[firebird]

Hi

To make the top I needed a disc of copper. After roughly cutting to shape with tin snips it was put in the lathe and turned to size.

Find the centre of the disc.

Mount on the mill in a rotary tabel and centre. ( I use a laser, you can see the red dot)

Drill 20 0.6mm holes. I described earlier how I mounted a mini drill in the mill.

I figured if I could dome the disc I could get a fan effect on the jets. I turned a punch and die from oak.

And after annealing pressed the disc using the vise.

To make the the cup part I made another punch and die. I cut a disc of copper and turned to size as before. The die is made from oak and the punch is a piece of steel I had that happened to be the right size. After annealing the disc was pressed into a cup.

A brass tube was made from 1/4 brass rod threaded one end and silver soldered into the cup.

Then the top was silver soldered into the cup.

Then fitted with a wick.

The pre heater tube made rom 3/16 brass rod had its hole reduced to 1/16. These are two earlier pre heater tubes.

Assembled in the test tank ready for trial.

Burning away quite happily

Cheers

Rich

 

[Bogstandard]

Now you are cooking with gas, well done that man.

John

 

[firebird]

Hi

I have finished the burner that will hopefully fire the boiler. Tonight was the first lighting. My usual camera had a flat battery so I used my old one which unfortunately is not so good at video. It records in an mpeg format which doesn't come as good as the avi of my new camera so apologies for the inferioir quality. Photos and more video will follow.



Cheers

Rich

 

[firebird]

Hi

More obsevations.



Cheers

Rich

 

[firebird]

Hi

Final observation.



Cheers

Rich

 

[CrewCab]

Rich,
I don't have an answer, tho' I doubt that's a problem due to the experience available on this forum, the answer will be along shortly I'm sure .............. but' I must confess to being intrigued, ...........

Thanks for sharing your experiences, top class 8)

CC

 

[firebird]

Hi

I have been playing with the burner a bit more. The pre heater wick tubes were originally driled out 1/16, I have increased this to 3/32. They seem to burn better now. I am going to reduce the height of the pre heater wick tubes as well, there is not quite enough space between the wick and the underside of the jets. I increased the lengthe of wick in the pre heater tubes and in the jet tubes so that there is plenty of wick in the feed tube. I'm going to make an adjustable bung (possibly tapered) to fit into the filler plug breather hole which should give me some adjustment of the flame. Heres another bit of video on abetter camera this time.



Cheers

Rich

 

[CrewCab]

Rich .............. where do you find the time ...............

It's a little difficult to hear your commentary but I think I got the gist. I'm guessing if you block the breather the heat is generating a little pressure, which is finding it's way out by the only other means, the burners, ........... so it does seem a slight degree of control is possible.

The burner nearest the tank seems to be burning slightly better, or perhaps I should say "fiercer" .......... but only a small amount, if it bothers you could that be resolved by using a separate feed to each burner, you could even make the longer one a slightly bigger bore, though that's probably a nad's OTT.

As ever ............. thanks for taking the time to keep us updated ........... this thread could do to be copied, pruned and preserved for posterity 8)

CC

 

[firebird]

Hi

Sorry about the poor sound quality, the camera doesn't pick up my voice too well when I'm behind the camera, I need to get a little tripod for it so i can set it up better. Where do I find the time. I manage to get between 1/2 hour to an hour 2 or 3 nights a week and a couple of hours at the weekend. I try to plan what I am going to do in advance and stick to the plan, that way I find I can get more done. Its too easy to get distracted and go off in diferent directions. Its a shame we have to spend a 1/3 of everyday asleep isn't it.

cheers

Rich

 

[CrewCab]

Its a shame we have to spend a 1/3 of everyday asleep isn't it.

Ahhh .............. wise words grasshopper master :big: :bow:

I must get more organised ??? ........ to be fair having a computer in the workshop is useful .............. but I believe it's probably my worst enemy productivity wise

CC

 

[steamer]

Hi guys,

Saw this thread and I thought of this stove I saw once made from a soft drink can. Did a search and found the article

http://ygingras.net/b/2007/6/a-better-soda-can-stove

See if that helps a bit....

Dave

 

[steamer]

In reading about vaporizing burners in works published by Cliff Blackstaff, He would stuff his vaporizing tube with wire guaze to increase the area of contact with the fuel thereby more efficiently preheating it.
I wonder if some fiberglass insulation in that burner ala the soda can stove might be of some benefit.
That thing sure puts out some serious heat!
Just speculating.....


Dave

 

[firebird]

Hi Dave

Love the soda can. Also some good ideas there.

Cheers

Rich