What Fuel

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Al Belli
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Re: What Fuel

Post by Al Belli » Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:51 pm

Hi pyrojoe,

The cracks that occur in old brass items are a metallurgical problem called " season cracking " .

This condition rarely occurs in modern brass products that are properly heat treated during manufacture.

www.hghouston.com/coppers/brass77.htm for more information.

Al Belli

PyroJoe
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Re: What Fuel

Post by PyroJoe » Wed Feb 11, 2009 3:33 am

Thanks Al,
Wondered for years what caused the brass floats to crack. Some mechanics would say it was temperature, some would say it was from pressure fluctuations. Some would attribute age hardening.

Many times I would carve a piece of wood to slip into the bottom of a leaky float. Not proud of it, but would usually suffice to finish a task, or to provide a way home.
Joe

Moehawkkid
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Re: What Fuel

Post by Moehawkkid » Wed Feb 11, 2009 1:24 pm

I think the S-L-X fuel is different from what I have now. It is called denatured alcohol solvent. I thought it would be the same but I think it is mainly ethanol and not the other stuff that is in S-L-X. I can see the differnce my run times are not as long and they are louder. I will try to pick up some S-L-X. As for the magnets, they are at the bottom of the can and, when the fire is going they will not get hot for a few reasons. It is on the bottom of the can so the water cools it. It is in the bottom of the can and when the fire is going it is not burning near the bottom so It will not get as hot.

I have noticed when I start my engine up, the top of the can ( and I guess the bottom of the can) flexes and the magnets will not be able to hold the can. That is why i am getting better magnets.

New topic:

For better coolong, could I weld some brass tubing to the hole of the can and then I would be able to submerge the can completly in water. Would this disturb the engine?

PyroJoe
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Re: What Fuel

Post by PyroJoe » Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:03 pm

What you are suggesting should probably work, to make it easy to start, you may want to try a pipe length of 25% the height of the jar.

Try not to undersize the pipe, the initial whoosh you have now is fairly harsh, wouldn't go any smaller than the hole size you have now.

When in doubt, test from behind a barricade, outdoors.

Joe

Mark
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Re: What Fuel

Post by Mark » Thu Feb 12, 2009 1:56 pm

I have a few stiff stainless steel soap canisters. The larger one pictured here I just filled with water and it holds 42 ounces. Both seem to run the most robustly with a snorkel about the same length as the canister. I've the entire set of half inch nipple sizes, you could say I've done the Zamfir of 1/2 inch plumbing pipe nipple testing. ha
But as such, the combustion really kicks, and you can only put enough fuel in the bottom for a 10 second run at best, the combustion is too violent for a large pool of methanol to stay put. It's as if you were holding a jam jar and shaking it while running it I guess, the pool of fuel jostling too much will cause an instant flameout.
http://j-walkblog.com/images/zamfirpanflute.jpg
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Moehawkkid
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Re: What Fuel

Post by Moehawkkid » Fri Feb 13, 2009 11:24 am

I have started to notice that also. My engines will run they will be doing very well then, when the are running at full speed they just stop. What type of problemis this? Cooling or to much flame?

Has anyone seen how well this runs? Why does this run better than mine? Maybe it is made out of such thich steel is does not push the top up and down like mine?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZmjBAY-UrA

Thanks

Mark
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Re: What Fuel

Post by Mark » Fri Feb 13, 2009 9:25 pm

I have a similar tank that accepts a 3/4 inch pipe thread in the neck, it's the rusty one sandwiched inbetween the tall green oxygen tank and my stainless steel piglet snorkeler on the right. In the winter it will sometimes start out slowly and then run very fast for long periods of time, over 4 minutes without water cooling. It's very thick and heavy. I have run it with a snorkel half that length as well. On several occasions I have left it outside with methanol in it for a few days and lit it with watery methanol. It's so funny because it can chuff at about one or two cycles per second for 15 seconds or so before it starts to pep up, but you would swear it was going to die but it doesn't, even being ever so sluggish.
If one ever unscrews the valve off of an oxygen tank to use as a combustion toy, be sure to air it out before doing any jam jarring, lest the first whoosh deafen you. Pure O2 is like that.
As for your can flaming out, I would have to assume it's a mixture problem, an instability due to increasing heat. Either that or the alignment of the planets. A larger tank is more forgiving I think and my thick tank can really store up some heat before overheating. If you have a lot of fuel in the bottom, that fuel will be boiling and splashing somewhat, and I think that helps keep the reaction temperature stable to some extent.
My piglet snorkeler on the right will run almost 5 minutes full grease and glow red hot above where ~1 to 2 liters of methanol will slosh and boil in the bottom portion. It really cracks the air and pops loudly, alive in some strange way. You can detect the reverberation echoing off the side of the house. It's interesting in that when I stand next to it, the way the air must be flying in and out down that narrow snorkel, the lively effect really seems fascinating.
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Moehawkkid
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Re: What Fuel

Post by Moehawkkid » Sat Feb 14, 2009 2:48 pm

Wow, all of those engines are very cool. I would love an engine that would run that long. Where would you get something like that?

Mike Everman
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Re: What Fuel

Post by Mike Everman » Sat Feb 14, 2009 3:37 pm

"I've done the Zamfir of 1/2 inch plumbing pipe nipple testing."
bwahaha
Mike Often wrong, never unsure.
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Moehawkkid
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Re: What Fuel

Post by Moehawkkid » Sat Feb 14, 2009 8:17 pm

I played around with my can today and I made a rig to put a section of 1/2 inch 1 foot brass tubing over my hole. It is about 2 inches over the top. I first just started the engine and moved a section of tubing up and down until I got it to run right then I just soldered together a stand. It makes a cool noise and it runs softer then it did before. I know this must have a name for what I did but I dont kno what it is called. I like it though because it runs better

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