Anyone experiment with alternative energy?

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Have NO idea how an accumulator is constructed. It acts as a "reserve" pressure tank. Still pokin holes in the build, to see what I can figure out.

  Never heard of the swashbuckle plate pump, Bruce.  I'll look into it.

[Don_Papenburg]

A hyd. accumulator either has a piston witha spring to force oil back out as it overcomes the hyd. press. or it has a a nitrogen charged bag /diaphraminside the tank .

Oil just spinning in a tranny is at 0 psi and it heats up .  Oil in a opencenter type pump is being forced through two gears . so even if it is just dumping out of the pump it has some pressure.
 
 I don't think that you need a closed center pump or a variable piston or swashplate . just run the gearpump and a hyd motor through a variable valve. 
 One other thought get a hydrostatic drive unit  that has the pumpand motor all in one unit .  That will give you the smoothest of all systems that you could put together.
  Look up   Serplus Center   Linclon Ne

[Dana]

Tom, What Don said is correct. The accumulators on the Star of Charlevoix were nitrogen charged. They look very similar to a large oil filter assy with a charge valve on the top. They are installed in line on the pressure side of the system.                                                                                                                  If you think of a  newer water well pressure tank like Well Xtroll  you basically have an accumulator.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 I already been to Surplus Center.  All I could find was transaxle hydrostatic. They did youster have accumulators , also 

  Tha transaxle will have spiders, no ??  Maybe I need to search for exploded view of a transaxle   My Bike will have a final drive gearbox, that is inside the real wheel hub. I just have to connect a Hyd motor to the splided driveshaft.

[BBTom]

I thought most of the newer garden tractor transaxles were hydrostatic.  They would have the right HP requirements for you, but not the right gearing for "road speed".  

There are quite a few ATV's with "automatic" drives, and they would be much closer to what you are looking for,  Maybe find a wrecked Polaris ranger, I don't know if the tranny can be disassociated from the engine on those.  

better yet, a Kubota RTV.  already have the deisel engine and the tranny.  Kubota Specs link

[Minnesota_boy]

Yup, the transaxle will have spiders.  A transaxle incorporates a hydrostatic transmission, differential and rear axle.  It might work OK for a 3 wheel motorcycle, but I think it might be tough making it work for a 2 wheel motorcycle.

The ones I worked on had a variable volume pump controlled by a swash plate that fed a hydraulic motor that drove the pinion.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 This is the rear "Clip" I will be using. It shows gearbox, brake caliper and rotor, and drive shaft. It swivels on the mail frame, to obtain a "softer" ride. I got a wheel and tire with it, and it's all BRAND NEW.

 

[Tom]

Well, that probably explains why mine didn't work.  If figured that it needed some kind of mechanical device to allow for expansion/compression since oil doesn't compress.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Just found an interesting Site HERE

[Mooseherder]

This guy shows how he discovered you can power a sterling type engine using salt water. Interesting Video clip from their local news station at the bottom of story shows how he did it.
I sent this to folks in my e-mail circle and two responded back saying big oil will buy this and squash it.
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=68227

[Ron Wenrich]

So how much energy does it take to make the radio waves?

[Don P]

A high frequency glue machine sends radio waves into one plate, through the gluelines in a panel and to ground in the top plate. They can excite and vaporize the water out of the glue in half a minute or so. 15-20 kw and I don't think there was enough splitting of molecules to run an engine. There was enough electricity used to run one 

[clousert]

I make biodiesel from used vegetable oil in our area.  My cost is about $1.10 per gallon (not counting labor, of course).  I have run it in my farm tractors for 2 years.  I like it so much that I'm converting my bandsaw to a diesel engine, and I'll saw with it too.

I made a Savonius style windmill, which really didn't work at all.  Anybody thinking about Savonius style windmill, give me a holler.  If I get around to building another one, it will be the conventional type.

I would also like to hear from someone who made an electric tractor, or car, or go-cart of any kind.  I have an interest in making one of these ever since I saw the electric tractor this fall at the Nittany Antique Machinery Show in central PA.  That thing was awesome!

[OneWithWood]

Hey, Clousert, what type of a rig are you using to make the bio diesel? 
Are you using sodium or potasium hydroxide?
How are you handling the glycerol and wash water?

[clousert]

To OneWithWood:  We had the local welding shop weld a metal cone onto the bottom of a 55 gallon drum, and put the whole thing on legs.  A water heater electrode and thermostat are mounted in the cone.  That is my reactor.  After that I have 2 more flat bottom barrels, in series.

I use sodium hydroxide, the standard household lye, except I purchase it in 50-lb. bags.

Glycerine is drained off the cone bottom reactor about 6 to 12 hours after conversion.  Fuel is pumped into next barrel for settling, (24 hours) and to the fuel barrel after that, also with a bottom drain.  My barrels are equipped with a bottom tap (stove boiler drain) and another tap about one-third the way up.  Barrels are never completely empty, as I only use fuel from the high taps.

Glycerine is just hand-dumped into a storage barrel.  What I don't use as liquid soap, I dump onto a big manure compost pile. 

I made 2 batches of homemade bar soap, which worked OK for man-soap, but the women in my house won't touch it.

My dad wants to make a burner to utilize the glycerine better.  It burns well when hot.  In my one soap batch, I was bringing a kettle of glycerine to near-boiling on the stove, and caught the entire pan on fire!