Wood burning truck!

[OneWithWood]

When do you install the Flux Capacitor   

 

[Paul_H]

It's been awhile but I've been working on the generator whenever I can.
Welding up the air tubes was slow and painfull because there wasn't room to run the bead 360° around the tubes where the two tanks join,so I had to weld a few inches along the tubes.If I had been able to find a 22" tank,it would have been easier.
I had to fill the monorator with water and mark any drips or weeping and weld some more and then test it again.
Finally,no leaks!



The pic below is the monorator and it's purpose is to catch the condensation from the feed tank as the wood heats up and it contacts the cool outer wall of the tank.From there the water that collects will go down to a small tank.(Note the water laying in the monorator)

[Paul_H]

Next on the list was the air manifold that serves to feed the air tubes and is also the seat that the lid to the feedtank will close and seal on.

It was constructed with the top of another 20" tank and a 1 1/2 inch strip cut from another tank to fill the gap between tops.







The strip cut from the tank had the ceramic bonding that lines the hotwater tanks still holding fast and it didn't want to come off with a grinder so I had to be patient while welding and it produced a really tough slag to chip off.It seemed to be easy to burn a hole in the metal that wasn't bare metal.






The tops of some of the tanks have bumps,or crowns so a bit of marking and grinding was required.



Then a 1 1/2" coupler was added for the air inlet,which will have a one way check valve added later.(anyone know where to source one?)



And finally,everything welded up.




I guess the next step is the lid assembly and then on to the tank bottom.

[TexasTimbers]

Paul I admire your sticktoitivness. If this thing works you are going to have to get a secretary because everyone is going to be calling you and saying things like "I read the thread over and over but I just have one small question about . . . yad yada yada  . . . .. . 30 minutes later "Oh and I almost forgot to ask . . . . . .yada yada yada "

I take my hat off to you. Very impressive.

[pineywoods]

check valve source......your local plumbers supply..most places require one between your house plumbing and the city water main to keep possible contaminated water from backfeeding into the supply. They are usually made of brass, don't think the pvc type would work too well on a gas generator

[SwampDonkey]

Well, what I wanna know is.....where do I put the griddle for making my pancake breakfast?

[Jeff]

Well, what I wanna know is.....where do I put the griddle for making my pancake breakfast?

Ooowee. Good thing Paul is a gentleman cause thats a question that could be answered with a painful solution. 

[SwampDonkey]

I've come to expect just about anything. 

[slowzuki]

It sure looks to me that Paul's fixin to build a still not a truck, all this talk about condensing this and catching that

[TexasTimbers]

they're back up now!

i take all of that info with a grain of salt.... sorta like Tesla's car that ran on a box with two posts out of it. Legend has it he made a box that got its energy from natural electric fields. The press said he made a pact with the devil to get the car to run, so he got mad, boxed up his invention and died with the secret. I think it's all a bunch of bunk (though legand also holds that the US Gov't confiscated 43 trunks of his study documents and classified them after he died).... good for the conspiricy thinkers.

Don't know about the trunk although I read his autobio, but I am glad to see that he is starting to recieve his due for all his scientific achievements. Maybe one day it will be common knowledge that it was in fact Nikola Tesla that invented radio and not Marconi as is the commonly distributed myth/lie whatever you ewant to call it. Even though the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized him as such in 1943, amazingly, school books and history books still do not give the correct information about this! Of course they have only had a whole century to get it right. 

I am also glad that he won his competition with Edison (Thomas Edison was actually quite a dishonest and devious man) as to his version of electricity (AC) versus Edisons version (DC) or else the second Industrial Revolution as we refer to it today would have never happened. We would not be using computers for sure.
He was so far ahead of his time that he invented and used wireless communication in the early 1890s. He also invented poly phase (2 and 3 phase),  the AC motor and hundreds and hundreds of other patents and inventions.

Certainly, even though he was truly eccentric or bizarre or wierd or fantastical or whatever you want to call him, he was the greatest electrical mind the world has ever seen IMHO. I would suggest everyone to read A Man Out of Time by MArgaret Chaney (?). If you do make sure you put the "Closed" sign up on the sawmill because once you start it you can't put it down.

I have harnessed the cosmic rays and caused them to operate a motive device. Nikola Tesla

[OneWithWood]

Good post Kevjay.  I would only add that there are some industrious individuals on this forum that might give ole Tesla a run for his money. 

Paul,
Keep at it.  We are all waiting for you to drive the beast to the first piggy roast in the UP.  Might even help propel Kevin to new heights 

[Paul_H]

Thanks for the encouragement

I've got a couple more days off right now and I'm caught between working on the gasifier or doing what needs doing in the yard and around the house now that spring is here.

Pineywoods,
thanks for the tip on the check valve source,I'll check with the supplier tomorrow.

[sawguy21]

Right on kevjay, it is all a commie right wing leftist goobermint conspiracy funded by the Arab oil producers.

[Buzz-sawyer]

It sure looks to me that Paul's fixin to build a still not a truck, all this talk about condensing this and catching that

As you probably know zuki.....he really is building a type of still , he is doing violent distilation....inthis case the the catalsyis combustion

[Paul_H]

I was able to get a little more done today.Lots of vise,drill and hacksaw work to build and install the tuyeres(nozzles).Note the tuyere has a small hole on the top.It was drilled out to 13/64th and the horizontal hole was drilled to 9/32.
These orifice sizes were chosen thanks to Farmerdoug's help in the calculations to find the correct size for the superficial velocity.
Thank you Doug.





Installed and looking up from the bottom at the tuyere ring,16 each with two orifices for a total of 32 "jets"
 


The screen for the hearth was woven with stainless steel rod inserted through about 32 holes drilled around the hearth.This screen will suspend the coals but allow air and ash to flow through.



Here the 20 gauge stainless steel liner is being pushed in from the top and it will sit on the outside of the tuyere ring and protect the wall of the tank.It'll be held out from the wall a half inch or so with fibreglass insulation but the ash itself,once accumulated should both insulate and protect the tank wall.

Putting the liner through the top was like trying to shove a Cat into a bag.I got bit and scratched and it tried to jump back out a couple times 

 

And finally,the liner is in place between the tank and the tuyere ring.The hearth and screen is also in place.

 


Tomorrow,I will try to fit the bottom of the unit on including the gas outlet.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 I been lookin North, tryin to spot a column of smoke movin about 

  Yer gonna have this thing workin before I get the Bio-Cruiser converted 

[beenthere]

Paul
You are makin good progress, and great pics. 

Anxious here to be seein da smoke, like FDH

[OneWithWood]

It's coming together nicely, Paul.  It won't be long now 

[TexasTimbers]

Keep on chooglin Paul; you're on the doorstep!

[Paul_H]

Still chooglin

I've got two days off and the weather in my shop is sunny and warm so things have been moving along nicely.

When I was driving past a dumpsite in the bush this Spring,I noticed a driveshaft about 3.5" dia so I stopped and grabbed it to use as a gas outlet for the gasifier.I traced the templates to fit the 22" dia and marked it with soapstone and then cut it out with the torch and cleaned it up with the grinder.

 

 

Pure Obtainium!
 


Next on the list was to cut another bottom out of a 22" tank to weld onto the inside bottom of the gasifier tank as a heat shield. 1" spacers were tacked on and then rock wool was added before dropping it all into the bottom of the tank and welding it up.

 

 

It was a real bearcat to weld inside the tank because of the glass lining in the old tanks.It will not grind off with the grinder.I've had limited success with heating the glass to melting point and then scraping it off with the chisel but it aint very productive.The glass forms a hard slag and I have to be really carefull not to burn holes when the glass bonding is present.
I was wondering if any of you would have any ideas? I was wondering about Muriatic acid ? 

Here is looking in at the tank bottom through the 4" cleanout port.The bottom "J" of an airtube is just visible in the top of the pic and the superheated gas will pass over the air tubes from the bottom and rise up to the gas outlet tube.

 

Here are the two halves ready to be joined together.(Note the oval cutout for the gas outlet)

 

And finally,after some blood blisters and cuts,they are joined,tacked and ready to weld up in the morning!