Steve, Well done! I too have been thinking about this for a few years, but like Vance, I never did anything about it. I have 4 RH gas fired jobs plus one Lady Anne Chassis and Boiler Kit in the waiting. That kit project maybe a good place to apply your new found technology. I would love to have at least alcohol fired locomotive. Variety is the spice, don't cha know.
Please bring your work down to Sacramento this July, I want to give it a good look. Thanks in advance. Cheers, Kevin Estancia Fortuna www.narrowescape.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Shyvers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Small-scale live steam discussions" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 7:23 AM Subject: [SSLiveSteam] Alcohol Firing a Standard Roundhouse Butane Boiler > Succeeded yesterday with a successful experiment to alcohol-fire a > Roundhouse single-flue butane boiler. It was a bench test using a simple > add-on firebox and a two-wick burner. No fancy calculations involved. Most > dimensions guesstimated. This first test with little more than a mock-up > of > an external firebox blew the safety after not too many minutes and simply > amazed me. My last two loco projects were not brilliant in the firing > department until after a lot of experimentation and rebuilding. > > The firebox was fabricated from olive oil can sheet metal and > silver-brazed. > It fits under the aft 50mm of the boiler, and an extension wraps up around > the back of the boiler to connect the firebox to the existing single flue. > The wicks are positioned below the boiler's aft end, which makes the > boiler > a C-type. Right now the boiler wrapper is holding the firebox onto the > boiler by means of flanges along the upper edges of the firebox that are > slipped under the wrapper before it's cinched tight. Properly it should > have > a more secure method of mounting, and there should be some sort of sealant > to prevent leaks that might interfere with the draft. > > The burner's two wick holders are each 11mm inside dia and 20mm deep > inside > (fabricated from std copper pipe and pipe caps.) The wick holders are > spaced > 20mm apart. I did a proper job and silver-brazed the burner and fuel sump > assemblies. The idea was that if the experiment were a success, then > these > parts would be good for the final version and not need to be made again. > Otherwise they could be re-used in some other project. > > To create a draft for the fire I rigged a blast nozzle in the smokebox > (standard Roundhouse) and fed it with an air jet from a garden sprayer > that's been setup as a low-pressure compressed air supply. The blast > nozzle > was positioned below the narrowest part of the stack a distance equal to > the > three times the stack's narrowest inside diameter. The nozzle height is > adjustable, and some experimentation must be done for the optimal blast > nozzle oriface size and position. Blast nozzle (a piece of K&S 1/8 inch > brass tubing) oriface was 3/32 inch for the test. Probably bigger than > necessary. > > In a few days I will try to post a photo or two of the bench test setup, > the > burner assembly, and the firebox. > > Steve > Duke of Spam > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > http://postfix.45mm.com/pipermail/sslivesteam/attachments/20070423/0d70843a/attachment.html > _______________________________________________ > SSLiveSteam mailing list > Send messages: [email protected] > Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/sslivesteam > Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html > _______________________________________________ SSLiveSteam mailing list Send messages: [email protected] Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/sslivesteam Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html
