Odds and ends

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Mark
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:05 am

So the copper and aluminum jacketed jars were a bust but in a sluggish way. Interestingly, after the roughly 10 second runs both jars were not hot to the touch, but after they stopped for several seconds it was like listening to bacon frying, the methanol sizzling against the walls of the metal liners.
Perhaps the hot metal edges in the methanol were making them run too rich and flaming out.
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Mark
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Thu Nov 14, 2019 1:04 am

Out hunting for ideas today I bought some silicon straws which along with silicone rubber bands and other shapes are used for rapid prototyping. One find next to a thrift store was some large dried bamboo, 2.5 inch in diameter in an empty lot perhaps 15 feet tall so I harvested one which sounded like a gunshot when bent to the snapping point. Putting some in a fire makes a big sound too. One length was so long it barely fit in my SUV. Maybe a sawed section will work as a jam jar, nature's jam jar jet that is. The sections near the bottom of the plant are short and much like the proportions of a jam jar.
Today's short-lived toy was this tiny 4.5 mm diameter orifice, the hole just barely big enough to air out with some 4 mm quartz tubing 8 inches long connected to some silicone tubing connected to a handheld balloon pump. Here's a close-up of the coin.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/6448654 ... er-4&cns=1
https://www.silveragecoins.com/en/detai ... item=23897
Nano Zapp Jam Jar Jet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtNKKJXdhGU
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Mark
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Thu Nov 14, 2019 3:26 am

This is an easy jar to get to run and I've another two, taller and smaller with the same size lid and diameter that I might video. The taller version ran well about a week ago when I tried it. Borosilicate is better than ordinary glass but it still makes me a little edgy. Boro sometimes even cracks in laboratory settings if you aren't careful when heating it. Pictured to the left of the green band bottle is the taller orange silicone band gasket version, with more horsepower under the hood. Silicone bands are proving to be a good thing to have around when prototyping.
Borosilicate Jam Jar Jet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2NB2QRbmnI
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Mark
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Sun Nov 17, 2019 4:45 pm

Another avenue to store-bought jam jar jets is to just buy some lids that fit jars you might have at home such as some spaghetti jars or canning jars that have the same size threads and cap. It helps to have a lot of things to fiddle with in that there are more possibilities and when you quickly tire of some difficult pathway you can hop to something else and come back it later or figure some other use for the object. I got these at a thrift shop the other day for 59 cents. I've seen them in a lot of colorful patterns on eBay and in stores.
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Sun Nov 17, 2019 10:33 pm

Here's some silicone rubber bands that allowed for so many press-fit prototype experiments like the rainbow gasket borosilicate jar that slowly sped up and then went crazy fast before blowing the lid partially off.

And a crowning achievement, a gold whipped cream canister, silicone rubber band gasket, and some 25 cm od X 19 cm id X 30 cm length fused quartz tube cut to that length on my diamond saw. In the past some random lengths were cut from meter long quartz tubes thinking one day they might be useful. The gold whipped cream canister is 26 cm high and purchased at a thrift store years ago.

I blew into the quartz tube end of the snorkeler and you could sense a springiness as the pressure fluctuated and pushed back. So on the very first try in the garage, I lit it holding it in a gloved hand sideways perhaps 45 degrees. Oh man what a surprise! It ran for several seconds and blasted my ears. If you were in a room with some friends and casually said I'm just going to light this no one would ever suspect the sound that could come out of something that inconspicuous with just a little alcohol for fuel. You really get some uncanny compression. The sound this modest size makes is more than ample to impress, it hurts your ears.

On a side note when looking to see if there were some similar whipped cream canisters of this shape (it has a point deep concave bottom like champagne bottles as well) and I came across this sad death by an exploding whipped cream canister and in the prime of her life.

I fell in love with BALI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-WL3X9CMe8

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/mor ... ess-model/

https://www.thejournal.ie/rebecca-burge ... 2-Jun2017/
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Sun Nov 17, 2019 10:35 pm

I think this is the shape to go for if you want a shattering sounding snorkeler. A diamond in the rough.
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mike Everman » Mon Nov 18, 2019 1:10 am

OK I’ll make one! Where did you get the silicone bands?
Mike Often wrong, never unsure.
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Mark
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Mon Nov 18, 2019 3:39 am

They are called Grifiti bands on eBay. The small 1.25 inch ones are 50 for 14 dollars and about the same price for 20 of the 2 inch ones, the measurement when you lay them flat. Make sure you read all the listings because some only offer a few for a lot. Fast delivery though and buy from this seller. grifitiproducts Sometimes he sends me free samples of other sizes too.

In other news, I had my first bamboo jam jar jet run. Try saying bamboo jam jar jet quickly several times, it kind of has a nice rhythm to it. It wasn't even a plan, just wanted to see if a jar lid would sleeve over a piece I had just harvested. And the depth was 9.25 inches so kind of deep for a jam jar and for some reason a jam jar canning lid size snug fit perfectly enough to stay on without any effort, albeit the cut was not flat at all either.
And it left a strange burn pattern on the green/wet bamboo, maybe you could make some artwork out of it. I'm planning a snorkeler which will be very similar in size to some I've already made. This stuff is 70 mm in diameter, and much thicker walls at the base of the plant. I took about 15 feet of the bottom part of the stalk. It was pretty tall. So with some "wood alcohol" the bamboo ran about 10 seconds! But it wasn't high speed reving but certainly substantial throaty and it put a smile on my face for such easy pickings and effort.
So I'm going to drill a guestimate hole in the top of one node and then I won't need a canning lid. So many ideas to work with. i even measured the depth of the chamber with a square turning to round bamboo chopstick. Might use chopsticks to hold a bamboo jet on my spinner too, in keeping with the theme. ha

Oh and the gay pride rainbow silicone bands I just happened to find because I had 2 solid blue bands of that wrist size from long ago and looking through all the colors on ebay I wanted some more because they are so useful for many things and they can take some heat and methanol compatible. Even the silicone straws are useful to me sleeved over tiny snorkelets to press-fit into small jam jar lids. I think I paid 4 dollars for 10 of them, they're 4 inch bands. Grifiti has that size too but double the width and oddly they don't cost any more than the 2 inch bands for 20 I don't think. Grifiti had bright colors but not the rainbows. I just like the colors, not gay. Although someone seeing one of my videos might wonder, all those bright happy colors. ha
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:09 pm

I cut off a small amount off the top of the bamboo that previously ran for 10 seconds and it didn't run as fast as I thought it would but it did sustain longer. The bamboo was only burned in modest leopard-like spots on the inside after the run, this time the spots very near the bottom where the meager amount of fuel resided. Maybe some steam was released from the green bamboo and that contributed to the slower speed. This is a jar you could probably hold in your bare hand while it runs.

Bamboo Jam Jar Jet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLwwk5U5Gjs
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Mark
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Tue Nov 19, 2019 1:05 am

This second run did a little better in the speed department and not even the lid was too hot to keep my hand pressed against it immediately after the run! The bamboo I held for maybe a minute and the heat then started to penetrate to the outside where I thought it was going to get too hot to hold but it didn't quite.
Imagine the mysterious forces that created this burn pattern, where every burn mark or leopard spot is distinctively outlined by completely untouched wood as if the erratic flickering flame torched the same region over and over without much of a trace of heat in the other nearby regions. I like the decorative "vortex artwork" and that it being something to wonder about.

Bamboo Jam Jar Jet Take Two
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWiTXy-krHc
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Wed Nov 20, 2019 1:58 am

So it runs OK for a plant I guess. Maybe I'll work on it some.

Nature's Jam Jar Jet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej-djmTnvYo
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Mon Nov 25, 2019 3:42 pm

These are some "informal" no thought put into them shots just to show the versatility of silicon jars and silicone rubber bands used singularly or in combination in order to press-fit various tubes into bottles.
And some bamboo being used as tubing just for the fun of it. One advantage of bamboo is that you can immediately lift the object whether snorkeler or jam jar jet with your bare hand after a run. Prior a beer bottle and bamboo tube such as this burned my bathrobe when holding the arrangement sideways next to my side with a leather-gloved hand. The bottle likes to be very still and any jiggle can cause a flame-out. The bottle also burned off some of its label from the heat aside from my bathrobe.

In the video a somewhat shorter snorkel was used and the fussy jet didn't run as long of course.
The last photo on the bottom left shows a purple aluminum knitting needle tubing section with yellow straw by which even the fat silicone straws found at grocery stores can sleeve over small diameter tubes for use as a gasket. Also a section of Bud Light aluminum beer bottle is underneath the yellow straw. It had been rolled into a tube as an experiment in making an all-beer can snorkeler.

Some of the aluminum tubing I use was sourced from tripod legs, crutches, a child's xylophone, knitting needles, telescoping golf ball retrievers, curtain rods, and wind chimes to name a few. Hobby stores and hardware stores sometimes have aluminum tubing too.

Bamboo and Beer Bottle Jam Jar Jet Snorkeler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yQCP2xkrFQ
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Tue Nov 26, 2019 1:59 am

Another shape of bottle is found to work as a jam jar jet snorkeler. It seems to run pretty steady for a time without any misfires. The snorkel is probably undersized in length and diameter and not idealized for thrust. Imagine though a short flight toy plane powered by this simple shape in aluminum, zipping into the air under snorkel power. It might be right up there in drama with "The Flight of the Phoenix" - similar in the belief that it will run.
"There ain't nothing wrong with that engine."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IACjOvyx5hs

"Designed in Denmark, Made in the EU"
https://retap.com/the-retap-way/retap-p ... kware.html
STRONG & LIGHT-WEIGHT
Retap Drinkware is made of high-strength borosilicate glass the same durable glass also used in laboratories and high-end cookware.
Borosilicate glass meets the highest hygienic standards. It is a pure material without lead or cadmium and cannot contaminate your water and is 100% safe for your personal health.
Borosilicate glass is heat-resistant, light-weight and sustainable, making Retap Drinkware both functional and durable.

I didn't put much fuel in so perhaps it would have gone longer still if it had more slosh. Later I tried the same snorkel on a 1 liter erlenmeyer flask, 200 ml more that this Retap bottle, plus the volume above the liter mark on the chemistry flask. It was a little nerve wracking imagining too much confinement and the large surface area bottom on the flask possibly shattering on the initial first whoosh. But it ran energetically to say the least, and thankfully it didn't burst and cover me with flaming methanol. The diameter of the snorkel is a mere 13 mm.
Retap Jam Jar Jet Snorkeler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJQ2YW1xkIw
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Thu Nov 28, 2019 11:07 pm

In the quest for new "Will it Jam" jars, I finally got around to getting a chemistry flask to run. It's very fussy about too much or too little fuel. Yesterday the first test with this exact same snorkel was on a 1000 ml flask, twice the volume as the one seen here. I used a gloved hand over the top of that flask to insure the snorkel stayed in place when lit and even then it made me a little nervous because methanol can backfire strongly sometimes when confined. Or a glass flask could shatter so it's probably not a good idea to do this without a Plexiglass shield and eyewear just in case you miscalculate or the glass flawed. I imagine lit methanol on your body is no fun.
The 1000 ml flask ran quite energetically too, enough to make me unsettled or to wonder if that was wise.
Erlenmeyer Flask Jam Jar Jet Snorkeler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDrdUy-LWHY
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Wed Dec 04, 2019 12:10 am

Another bottle but this time I have a scale to measure the thrust. It's about what I expected around 4 ounces yet by no means optimized I don't think. The sound is louder than it appears on youtube. The 2 ml silicone jar gasket is an ideal fit yet it also allows the exhaust tube depth to be adjusted while staying firmly in place at the top. Removing or attaching the gasketed snorkel unit to or from the bottle is a two second operation. The little 2 ml silicone jar with the bottom punched out is perfect for this bottle. I didn't use the top half/cap of the silicone jar. The bottom half has a flange and is taller as well.

The Jagermeister bottle is by no means optimized, but it's a noisemaker. It's kind of risky running a snorkeler made of ordinary glass for too long and over the new scale. (3000 gram x 0.01 gram Digital Lab Analytical Balance Scale Jewelry Precision Weighing)

There is this 3 ml silicone jar size that is handy too. And the 5 and 7 ml are something to consider if you find the need.
https://www.dhresource.com/0x0s/f2-albu ... ox-3ml.jpg

In the past did some Pinch Scotch Whiskey bottle videos and plan to do another liquor bottle, that being an "Absolut Jam Jar Jet". I always liked their ads.
"Virtually every ad had two things in common: the iconic bottle and the distinctive text, which always read "Absolut" (followed by almost any other word). Thanks to its memorable ads, Absolut went from a niche brand to the most heavily advertised liquor in the world."
https://picclick.com/Vintage-Pinch-Haig ... id=1&pid=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5MBb3qauQs

It's kind of odd if you listen to this at half and quarter speeds. Not sure the sound is slowed down as much as it's distorted. Maybe it could be used for some sci-fi auditory effect.
Jagermeister Jam Jar Jet Snorkeler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofGLCfGDBoc
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