Odds and ends

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Mark
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:32 pm

The ongoing saga ...

I recieved a letter asking if this was what I wanted. "Please check whether it is what you need." And I said that it was acceptable and to send it but I was concerned about the aberration or possible crack around the hole because sometimes if it is a crack it can grow. Elaine wrote back ...

Dear Mark,
Sorry for bringing concerns to you.
Or, I will ask the worker to make another one, but the product needs time to produce, so maybe it will be sent out after 1 or 2 days. Hope you do not mind.

When the new one is ready I will sent out as soon as possible.
Hope we can have a better one.
Best regards
Elaine

I also mentioned that it looked well made, it was just the hole that was questionable. And indeed the jam jar jet has a very flat bottom and top which I like a lot.
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tufty
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by tufty » Thu Sep 07, 2017 7:48 pm

That looks great, man.

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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:01 pm

Yea, it's the white-glove treatment. One day I used a dremel diamond hole saw mounted in a drill chuck on the tailstock of my mini-lathe and attempted to put this hole in a fused quartz crucible lid. It seemed to work except for the tiniest hairline crack that formed just on one edge. And after sitting on my desk for a few hours the crack grew and grew magically. So you have to watch out for cracks to be sure.
Dreaming, it'd be fun to put a jam jar jet on the Vomit Comet or International Space Station just as a science demo for students and for anyone really. I don't think it'd be that risky or anything like that for a short run. Imagine a little jar jetting across a room in zero gravity. Granted, a jam jar jet would probably take second place against zero gravity super-models and their curvature of space effect. ha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRdGXSEX5yk
I don't know why, but this hokey song and show I used to watch when I was a young boy so long ago came to mind. Back then it seemed special. So for all you out there who need some enthusiasm, "Make a Wish". ha again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdNpAFi-EPA#t=18s
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Mon Sep 11, 2017 5:44 pm

Today I was toying with the idea of making a snorkel out of a beer bottle. Interestingly you can get a longer piece of aluminum not by using the height of the bottle up to the neck before the curve, but by measuring the diameter of the bottle and multiplying by pi - you get about 3/4 inch more which I didn't do. In this way the whole beer bottle jet could be beer bottle material. This snorkel was just a section of bottle that was laying around not maximized for length.
Here's a test of the beer bottle snorkeler which was kind of annoying to film and get something presentable in 82% humidity. So after 10 clips this was the best I could come up with. Enough for today. If you turn the volume up and play the clip at half-speed there's an interesting pre-flutter sound that becomes more apparent. Again, the jet is considerably louder than in the video.
I used three hose clamps to squish/roll/walk the beer bottle aluminum down to size, it's hard to get a small diameter tight wind otherwise, unless you are King Kong, the aluminum is quite stiff. I also has a piece of 3/8 plumbing pipe in the center when I was rolling it down and then crimping the wound tube to the bottle. I need a small slip roller. ha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_qE0FW5MBs
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Tue Sep 12, 2017 9:45 pm

Some jam jar jets for sale on Amazon and eBay in time for Halloween. "Will It Jam?"
How about some eyedroppers?
Some jars have lids with a hole already made for you or for a straw. ha
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mike Everman » Sat Sep 16, 2017 2:09 pm

I do wonder if skulls will jam. Ha. I wonder if anyone has ever said that? Surely if a plastic lemon jams…

The crucible looks great! Did you get a quantity quote? I think it is a must-have!
Mike Often wrong, never unsure.
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Sat Sep 16, 2017 7:26 pm

Yea, most likely the skulls would jam but not as good/stable as a uniform cylinder probably but who knows. I'm sort of in the dark on the quartz jam jar jet, hoping they made a new one and shipped it. It was on my latest credit card bill I got today. I'd like to order a quartz snorkeler next. Probably if you ordered a bunch, they'd reduce the price of a jam jar jet a fair amount. I think she said it would be about 8 days and a few days to make a new one without the dubious crack or rough hole in the lid.

In other news I bought 5 gallons of methanol and am toying with barking dog tubes. It's funny this morning I barked a 3 inch diameter tri-clover pipe and 3 inch canister/jar mated to it which gave me a about 24 inches. It barked and kind of hurt my ears and immediately after two neighborhood dogs were alarmed enough to bark at my barking dog tube - some kind of irony. It's just a "fancy" pipe with one closed end, spritzed with methanol and lighting the open end with a lighter. I find barking dogs inspirational how feedback builds so suddenly. I wouldn't have thought a 3 inch pipe only 24 inches long would bark very well but it did. Seems like it would need more confinement but 3 X 24 inches was appreciably loud and sudden. holding the pipe/tube sideways also helps instead of firing it in the vertical. I'm planning on doing some tube-within-a-tube barking dog experiments.
This is the jar and a length of 3 inch diameter tri-clover pipe I clamped to it ...
download/file.php?id=2139
download/file.php?id=7946
This piece of pipe and the jar without the silly attachments.
download/file.php?id=9199
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:40 pm

It might be funny to make a snorkeler out of a SKORKL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPE6dsSFpNM

In other news I bought a couple of aluminum scuba tanks for the heck of it at a thrift store for cheap, maybe make something artistic out of them. They're the 7.25 inch diameter 80 cubic feet ones about 25 inches tall, 14.5 kilograms or 32 pounds. Nobody wants a tank that's expired I guess. But there are lamps, mail boxes, bells and other things you can make out of them, say like a snorkeler or quirky jam jar jet too. ha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoTK1vcP20E#t=33s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmSvbp2NFbc
Shape of the aluminum tanks (the bottom) internally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFLAglWRoh8#t=6m23s
Last edited by Mark on Wed Sep 20, 2017 1:07 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mike Everman » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:55 pm

Hey, I was watching the budweiser snorkeler, and it runs well! Years ago I was trying meth soaked disks of fabric in the bottom to try and eliminate slosh wierdness. What do you think of a disk of sponge, again soaked, kind of acting like a wick?

In other news, I did a jamjar lid out of silicone sheet with a hole. Almost ran. Lighting it blows it up like a balloon and it rams your hand. I want to have something flexy and see if we can turn a crank...
Mike Often wrong, never unsure.
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Mark
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Wed Sep 20, 2017 3:23 am

Well I can't seem to get the Bud bottle to sustain for any length of time. I've tried a measly amount of fuel but larger amounts around 30 to 40 ml is what seems to get it to rev the best or just more likely. Higher amounts often dampen feedback and the hot weather is not letting me test it properly. Even my big tanks won't sustain for very long in the hot humid air right now. Another thing the bottle gets really hot in just that brief amount of time. I had to switch hands after a slightly longer rev, it was burning my hand. I wonder if the rapid rise in heat is a factor throwing off the fuel/air ratio? A sponge will probably dampen feedback but that's just a guess. Cooler weather might help me out, maybe buy the fuel/air ratio more time before it chokes from too rich of fueling perhaps if that is the cause? And the best angle to hold it so far seems to be what's in the video. And lots of snorkel lengths have been tried.
I was thinking of putting a wire across the yard and wire guiding them if I ever get one to sustain at that tempo. A few times a naive attempt was made to launch one straight up in the air with just enough of a prime to get a rev out of it but to no avail. It's not ready for prime time yet. Being inverted seems to affect the flame front.
I've dwelled on the diaphragm with some colorful exercise latex bands/sheets in 4 thicknesses but wondered how to keep the fire from burning them. But even a short run would be fun city to see or to use in some inventive way. A lot of the thermoacoustic and stirling engines use flexible rubber lids of course.
Still another thing if there was a good source for some hot air balloon of a suitable size and design, it'd be fun to launch a jam-jar-jet-inflated hot air balloon of some sort using the lightest of materials.

As an aside on resonating tanks, this bell design has a nice triple ring to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJfl_lwWzGo#t=9s
I didn't realize how thick the top of the 80 cubic feet cylinders is. I was dwelling on finding a machine shop to thread me a wider diameter pipe thread in the top to snorkelize it, something like a 1.25 or 1.5 inch plumbing pipe thread. Check out this bookend made from the top of a tank.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vADy6Gtx94&t=1m25s

Also the snorkel I made by rolling up the walls of a beer bottle using hose clamps to twist and squeeze it down to size came to mind when I was watching this cannon made from Coke cans rolled up. See how thick it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWSqM6dAO04#t=1m37s
My sister said I could have her new kiln she never got around to using so maybe some exotic aluminum shapes can be made if I toy with melting aluminum or some types of glass. It runs on 220 volts, what my big lathe uses. It's not very tall or big but good enough for smaller things.
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:27 pm

Just a shape made with borosilicate glass.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2000mL-24-40-1- ... SwzqFY83Hf
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Thu Sep 21, 2017 1:57 am

I filled one of the aluminum scuba tanks I bought the other day and it holds just a little over 3 gallons of water and for review pressurized to almost 3000 psi holds 80 cubic feet of air or somewhat less in actuality. Here're some thread tidbits.

"Valves attach to the necks of SCUBA cylinders using one of several types of screw threads. Screw threads date back to the third century. For a few centuries everyone did their own thing regarding screw threads. As you might imagine, by the nineteenth century, interchangeability was non-existent. With the first World War, the American National thread form was established so that war materials could be more easily manufactured. With the second World War, the American National thread form had interchangeability problems with the Whitworth form of Great Britain. Thus the United States and Great Britain (and Canada) agreed upon a Unified thread form that would allow better interchangeability. The point of this history lesson is there are different thread form standards."

"The first SCUBA cylinders originally introduced in the early days of the sport were steel and used a 1/2-inch National Gas Taper Thread form, often referred to as "1/2 NGT." The cylinder neck does not use an o-ring seal with the valve, instead the tapered valve threads are wrapped with Teflon or PTFE pipe tape before insertion. These cylinders typically have relatively low service pressures of 2015, 2216 or 2250 psi. Keep in mind that these very early SCUBA cylinders, typically from the late 1950's and early 1960's (sold under the names US Divers, Voit, and Healthways), are very uncommon."

"Today, the most common thread form used with SCUBA cylinders and valves is National Pipe Straight also known as NPS. The specific thread form used with most SCUBA cylinders is named 0.750-14 NPSM, often referred to as "3/4 NPS." This thread form is seen on both steel and aluminum SCUBA cylinders with service pressures of 2400+ (2640), 3000, 3180+ (3498), 3300 and 3442 psi. The current United States Department of Transportation rules prohibit the transport of metal scuba cylinders on public roads with pressures above 3442 psi (230 bar), even if the cylinders and gas delivery systems have been rated for higher pressures."
https://www.divegearexpress.com/library ... ck-threads

This gives you an idea of just how thick the aluminum tank is ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt4CZSmoLEw
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Thu Sep 21, 2017 1:54 pm

There was one old scuba tank for sale for $10.00 that had a nude woman and diver underwater in a racy artistic diorama/kitsch painted on it but I didn't buy it because you'd have to burn the paint off and it would be smokey and maybe gunk up the surface of the tank after a run - uncertain if the paints had any heavy metals or stuff in the pigments. So I just bought couple of the plain old unpainted tanks instead of the "Rapture of the Deep" titled on the bottle with the artwork . Be nifty to have one with a squid etched on a cylinder.
http://www.scuba.com/images/multi/tanks ... -Big-5.jpg
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Re: Odds and ends

Post by tufty » Sat Sep 23, 2017 10:16 am

Etching aluminium's dead easy.

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Re: Odds and ends

Post by Mark » Sat Sep 23, 2017 1:54 pm

With my skills, I could probably do something simplistic like this. Kind of cute though when he cleans it. ha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNZZ8RJfzNQ#t=3m31s
Finding and making a good squid template/mask would be the time consuming part. One of the aluminum tanks I bought was really corroded so I used a metal dish scrub and buffed off a lot of the crusty material so it's pretty blotchy. But I still like it and it's fairly smooth to the touch albeit quite speckled.

In other news I went to a dinky machine shop to see if they could bore and tap a 1.25 inch NPT thread on one of the scuba tanks. The largest tap he had was a 1 inch although you can also cut threads on a lathe if your object isn't too wobbly and "true". This guy just did small stuff like pistons for cars but after asking him if he knew some place I went to a second place but they weren't open on Friday. But this other place has some big equipment like a humongous lathe I've heard but it was farther away. So maybe Monday if it's not too expensive, I'll try that.

An "80 cubic foot" scuba tank is kind of iffy being around a 3.5 to 1 length to diameter ratio. Consider the walls of the 7.25 inch diameter tank are a good 13 mm or 1/2 inch thick so subtract/visualize and you get a 6.25 inch wide cylinder that's 25.5 inches tall and subtract a few inches from the top and bottom thickness and stubby neck. So the flame front has kind of a long path to the methanol on the bottom and a relatively lower fuel pool surface area. Recall my thin-walled stainless steel piglet snorkelers are 8 inches in diameter and ~14.5 inches tall, less than 2 to 1. I don't really know how things scale up or what's de rigueur as there aren't many books on snorkelers per se.

So if the machine shop asks me what I''m making, imagine dancing around how to phrase that I want to thread this snorkel into the scuba tank. ha
It crossed my mind if you had access to all that machinery and talent, you could really bang out a lot of wondrous artistic shapes. You never know what kind of people you will meet, it could go in either direction, some thinking it an interesting project and others disinterested or imagining it some weird/kooky contraption that will just melt from the heat if it even works. But with water cooling it should be fine or even for a few minutes of run time on a skateboard or something. I'm hoping it will run and if not vertical, then perhaps sideways which helps to get enough fuel to the combustion process, like the paintball tanks that don't like to sustain in the vertical.
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