I think Johan’s movies are here. Look on the left side. I can’t do them here with the dialup
http://vedbil.se/dagbok/mera/36e.shtml
He’s a card … ML
5 years ago already … Hope he’s doing OK …
Thanks Mike,
Yeah I have kinda figured this machine was too small for this tractor and after talking with Ron and now with your input it is settled. This tractor is going to get a much bigger unit with a capacity of 4.5 cubic feet. If this is still too small please let me know before I build it. This tractor will be my first large engine conversion; however, we have learned a lot this last year and I agree this gasifier would only power a 20 hp generator for 1 1/2 hrs at best. So run times on this tractor would be very short. I will be getting new materials for this build the next time I order steel.
Matt, Keep up the good work. Ask Ron what he has for a hole in his tractor unit and the nozzle circle. I am happy running between 3" and 4" on most of my stuff and 8 or 9 inch nozzle circles. Biggest I’ve ever run is 5" hole and around a 13" nozzle circle. Wayne has gone beyond that but he is not running a planar zone. His stuff really cooks things up. His is maxed out and requires extra heat sinking to protect the fire tube. It’s in the “premium” section not that I’m plugging that. He’s gone beyond the imbert. I like the imbert thing as it is steady eddie and for the general population … Actually, if you look at Imbert’s patents he had a bunch of slotted air inlets in it and not the nozzles we all relate to. Keep on diggin … Mike
This tractor was brought to me not only for the gasifier, but more for product development. This customer is planning on becoming an investor. I am planning on adding to our M-Series machines and this will be a good opportunity to further develop these machines. Im thinking with this tractor though I may skip over the M-III and develop the M-IV for it. This will be a pretty massive machine once complete. I may have to build a plat form on it so it can be filled.
what is the displacement on that tractor Matt?
Hi Arvid,
I think he said it is something in the ball park of 230 CI. Yeah this is where sizing to HP is a bad idea, this tractor is only rated at 35 hp.
OK bigger it is!!!
Its amazing how much just a few inches adds to the size of the machines. If they get any bigger Im going need to get a crane.
This is a hybrid of the M-IV I added a larger ash pot so this machine will have plenty of ash capacity. The hopper has about 4 1/2 cubic feet of capacity. the fire tube is 12" with 7 tiers and a 3" restricter. Reduction bell is 6" tall with a 6" lower opening. Reduction opens back up to 12" outer diameter is 18" and the grate is adjustable to 4" and can be accessed through a port at the bottom of the machine. Im planning on three inch ports, if I can build a forming tool to get the rectangle opening to go into the cyclone.
After this machine I am planning on re-designing all machines we offer. From this point forward they will all have a heat recirculation mechanism. The internals of the machines will be interchangeable between series as well. This way I can pre build the reactors and shelve them. The difference between an M-Series and an E-Series is the ES machines are modular in there design,they have larger capacities and are better insulated.
The first pic shows the size comparison of the original machine I was planning on installing on the tractor. The other shows about how it will look once it is installed on the tractor, it will be about 6" higher once installed. Im going to build a new mount for it that will hold the gasifier and the media filter on opposing side. This will be a heavy duty bracket that will straddle the belly of the tractor just behind the oil pan. Im thinking of building a remote condensate tank into the bracket as well.
Ive put this one on the back burner way to long, this customer has been great and very patient. But spring is coming and these guys are ready to start using thier machine. So my other customers are just going to have to wait until I get this thing done. Beside that the more I get into this build the more I cant wait to run it.
Hi Mat, now that is bigger. Some have joked about mine needing a counter balance on the opposite side to keep the tractor from turning over.
You get used to it and forget it is even there one thing about farmers they are good at adapting to changes and making the best if them!!
It would be nice if you could bring it to the woodgas meeting in IN. but I have a feeling once the owner gets it it will be hard to get it away fron him again. My tractor uses 4-5gal og gasoline per hour so it doesnt take long to make the cost back burning wood.
getting closer to earth friendly…plowing?..i dunno if plowing is friendly to earth, cos if someone ripped my skin up and turned it upside down i wouldn’t be thinking they was my friends LOL!!
can’t wait to see it running…i think i’m most interested in conversions like this cos i have a uses for machinery that can be run as cheap as (wood)chips
Ill have to post pics tomorrow, but I mounted the gasifier and media filter today. I built the remote condensate tank into the mounting bracket that holds every thing together. It turned out pretty slick. I managed to build the three inch ports into the gasifier too. Ill have three inch going into the cyclone for this thing and then it will reduce down to two inch the rest of the way.
But I got to tell ya its been one those days. Everything in the shop broke all at once today. First the band saw blade snaps, so I go and try and use the circular saw with the metal blade and it took a crap. The air compressor is making all kinds of racket now, the welder ran out of wire and when I go and reload it the lining got all messed up. So I had fiddle around with that. So then I get the mount built and put on the tractor and had the gasser up and ready to be welded on to its mounting brackets. So I go and grab the welder forgetting the gun is in the mount in my welding table along with the ground still attached to the table. So I grab the cart and start pulling it over to the tractor and off my welder goes crashing to the floor. So yeah its been a long day and Im ready to call it a night. I update this tomorrow with some fresh pics. 
Making progress, it is a bit further now than in the pics. I have the liquid cooled condenser mounted up there now and am now working the cyclone. I ran out of wire so Ive retreated to the house to do the cost analysis this is lots of fun. haha. But any ways you can see in one of the pics how I incorporated the remote condensate reservoir into the mounting bracket.
The last pic is a project I may be doing later this year.
Getting closer to flare off!!
Yeah I was hoping to have this done by now, but I think it will be ready to flare late tomorrow. Still need to build the butterfly for the intake air into the mixer and build the control box for it. I bought the wrong fittings to plumb up the radiator to the condenser, so back to the store I go. So Ill get the right stuff in the morning try and rap this thing up.
This one has the first SS trim piece too
BTW; They are planning on bringing this to Argos
I started testing yesterday, and did some driving around. The fuel I have is ceder and this stuff sux. Its too light and I think the moisture is a bit to high at 17% and higher. Yesterday in the sun light I had what looked to be very clean flares as I could not see it at all in the light. I had some inconsistency with this fuels bridging, so I parked it and waited till dark to do more testing to what this flare was looking like. So I went and got some more chips and resumed testing at dusk and the bag I had put in there I think had to high moisture content. I was having a hard time getting it to light. So I tested the other bag I had and it was 27%. So I let it run burned that stuff out. So today I did some more testing some of that wet stuff was still in there, but I ran bag that was 17% and it ran much better and more consistent. The flare isn’t the cleanest but the blower isn’t getting the machines core temps to the parameters for running the tractor. I think with the right fuel and moisture content it will run just fine. I ran it again with it the tractor running in hybrid mode. I am running it with the petrol at idle and using the wood gas for loading and rpms. At least for now until I am confident the gas is clean enough. This is the first big engine I have ran so I am being very cautious not to mention its not mine.
Matt Nice job.
Looks like you are about ready to put the plow to the ground.
BBB
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Totally gonna necro this posting, how’s it been going?
If I wanted to recreate this project with a Farmall like you are, would a regular gasoline engine be fine, or would an LP gas conversion M be eve better since it has an LP gas manifold and the compression ratio is higher?
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You could do either. This had an after market turbo and I could not tell the difference between gasoline or wood gas. But that was just driving around with out any load on it.
Yeah unfortunately I produced a video of this after completion and the file became corrupt and i could not extract it out of my camera. The customer came to get it shortly after.
As far as I know it still runs. the customer contacted me a few years later and said it runs like a champ.
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Wow that was fast, thank you!
Yeah I’d rather use an old gasoline M since they’re still a dime-a-dozen and the LP ones are rarer. And they’re dirt cheap if not free fro mthe right person trying to get rid of a lawn ornament haha.
Would you say it’s still capable of its advertised horsepower on woodgas, or assume a performance loss when running PTO implements or hauling a plow?
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I would factor in at least a 30% loss to be safe and meet expectations on woodgas.
Unfortunately I dont get to have a lot of time with the machines as it takes so long to build them and by the time it looks like it is together the customers want them.
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Gotcha, thank you! Looks like a two bottom vs three bottom plow might still be doable for an M then 
I’ve got a bit more studying your other materials to go but between myself and a friend we’ll plan on doing this.
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