I didn’t put a grate shaker on mine I saw Wayne say it’s the only thing he would change if he built one again would be to forgo the shaker and just use the tube wrench when it needs a shake. I have a very small tube I made and give the grate a little shake at each light up and have had no problems that I can tell of grate plugging. And I think my grate holes are smaller then everyone else’s, around 3/8-1/2"
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So basically what you’re saying is, make a combo tool of a skinny poker on one end and notch the other side for a tube wrench? 
I’ve seen in some of the Argos videos the guys have a length of rebar with some more narrow bar welded to it for fine work. Could just forgo the rebar part and use a length of 3/8" structural tubing from Lowes and weld a narrow bar, cut a notch on the other end.
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Mine is a piece of 1" galvanized pipe and I bent the end over to make a handle. The poker end is just open pipe and I welded two pieces of 1/8" rod on opposite sides that will slide through the holes in the grate giving me a purchase to give it a little razzle down in there
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Hi Cody, this is what I built. The pipe has a rod that goes through that can be pulled out after driving it downwards. It keeps wood from getting stuck in the pipe when pushing it into the wood. Then the two smaller rods at the end of the pipe go through the grate, the T handle to shake it back and forth. Then if your hopper is 3/4 full or more you can put the pin in at the top of the pipe that holds the rod and put charcoal in the pipe. With the Blowers On light the charcoal. They will start to glow and just pull the pin and hot charcoal will drop down to the grate area for a good light up. If my hopper is below half full I just pull the T shaker tube out gently and use a torch to light up the fire tube.
Bob
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Cody, what engine is tis gonna power?
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The 2L Mazda once I get the truck body repaired.
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Then a 80mm restriction might be a tad tight… Its on the limit in my opinion.
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I also have the 91mm ID races, would that still be a good conservative size for the restriction?
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Depends a lot on engine type and drive style. I had a 110mm l think on my Chevy but it had a fast spinning 4 valve/cly engine. What did you @JO_Olsson have on the Rabbit?
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That makes sense. Mine is only 2 valve, 6000RPM is end of the world for that poor engine but my peak torque is made around 2500-3000 RPM. Peak horsepower at 5000.
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I think the 91mm might be just fine! Dont weld, you can change it later. Ash will seal things good enaugh. Just make a shelf to hold the rings centered
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Started off with 75mm. Switched to 100mm later on. I’m using 100mm in the Volvo as well. 110 mm in the Mazda.
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Here’s the 91mm races. Same external diameter but the degree of the bearing surface is more shallow. Still has an internal hourglass shape when put together like this.
What I will most likely do is weld these races together like so and roll up a sheet metal ring, weld that to the inside lip of one side so it mates into a hole cut into the bottom of the burn tube.
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Slight design change, but not by much.
The lower barrel will be a full length, double acting as my drop box/expansion zone. It will still have a monorator albeit a small one. This is where I think Joni’s and MEN’s exhaust venturi will shine.
Since the Mazda won’t have a cab then wind resistance and aerodynamics are just out the window. I wont care if it sticks a bit more of where the cab would have been now.
My guts are the propane tank hearth followed by a 20 gallon drum to be an intermediate for the 55 gallon drum monorator hopper.
I have considered saving the bed and just cutting a hole like most of the guys do. I’ll bang out any dents that I can and just go Redneck-Chic.
Dad found a perfectly good full length light bar at work that they took off a trade-in Jeep. I’ll wire that into my Fog light setting on the lever and mount it below my main lamps.
I need to find a car rim or some other sturdy material to bridge the monorator to the main body.
I am thinking of using ammo boxes for my ash dump but at the same time I’m not entirely sure. I have a few 30cal size cans I can put to it.
Without a monorator I’m looking at about 25 gallons of storage including the hearth.
I’ll mount my temp gauge in the monorator since it only goes up to 250F and I’m sure that second stage of the hopper would get hotter than that.
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I think if I were to use ammo cans again I would go with a .50cal can, my .30 cal can is partially blocked by the insulation in my lower barrel and is a little hard to clean out completely or get my arm up in to check the grate. I’m really liking the removable clean out panels like @mggibb and @JocundJake implemented, looks much easier to clean out. Think that’s the way my next build will go
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By the way @Tone since I am adding venturi ejection I may add a tap point in the air intake for the nozzles to see if there’s any benefit of directly adding the condensate to the nozzles. I could see benefits if I used moistened charcoal to ensure moisture cools the nozzles and goes directly into the glow zone.
I know in one of your drawings you had a similar idea and I think there is merit to it.
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Hello Cody, based on previous posts, I can conclude that you build a gasifier by “classic” supply of fresh air through the nozzles in the fire hose, so the air enters the glowing area in the gasifier part, where the cross section of the fire hose and heat determine higher gas velocities and slightly higher vacuum than at the top of the hopper. Based on these facts, we can conclude that the steam and other gases rising to the top could easily travel down the pipe and mix with fresh air, and then this mixture would enter the glowing area through the nozzles. The goal is to achieve a suitable mixture of fresh air and water vapor and bring this mixture to the center of events, which is probably the key to a strong gas.
For this one it will be a ring of nozzles, but yes it will have fresh air delivered by one pipe however it will be entering outside of the hearth. I havent finished welding it together but here is how the nozzles come in.
I doubt much preheating will occur although the fresh air will be in the outer jacket. I don’t think there’s enough dwell time with the hot exiting gas to preheat much.
My idea is to weld in a small venturi like I will also do with the exhaust, the incoming air will induce vacuum on the venturi and suck moisture through the fresh air and to the nozzles.
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At his Škoda, Kristjan has a supply of fresh air through a pipe from the top, as he says he uses a little moist charcoal, or adds wood to the charcoal, in my opinion, it is best to capture steam from the top of the interior and run it on venturi and nozzles. I am of the opinion that it does not make sense to lead the exhaust to the gasifier, as there is already too much inert gas nitrogen, co2, water vapor.
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Sorry I should have been more specific.
The exhaust venturi would be a different mode, for pure ejection. The fresh air venturi would only be connected to the hopper venturi.
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