Jonathan Spreadborough's Charcoal Project

I knew this was a good timing spot. I just kept retarding the timing until I found the spot that had less kickback while trying to start. Also I purchased a Milwaukee 1/2 drill with a right angle head on it… It worked perfect as a starter.

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So maybe this link will work…
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4nr4uzklOFnbWtNd3VEbEFBOGM/view?usp=sharing

It does work for me… The big fan in the background is hooked to the generator… As is my “Starter” the Milwaukee 1/2" drill… BTW so muck easier to pull the socket off the flyweel nut with a right angle drill.

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Hi JD, on one of my drill started motors I found that angle grinding the top of the nut to remove the sharp edges helped when trying to get the socket off fast.
David Baillie

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Hi JD , Nice one, you just cant beat that feeling when you get a engine working for the first time on the black stuff !
If that was your first engine run it certainly sounded great and dialled right in to a sweet spot , it will be interested to see how long your run lasted and the condition of your stainless steel pipe nipple afterwards .
Well done
Dave

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Just some notes… On my air intake I found that adding a extension to the freash air evened out the fuel supply pulsations cause by a one lung engine. Additionally I added a baffle in my pint paint can and put a screen on the carb connection side and filled the can with steel wool.

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Nice job, jd, ain’t it a great big boys toy? As Wayne likes to say, you’re hooked now. Interesting tip about pulsations.
Pepe

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Nozzle looks good…

Blew up the planetary gears in my Milwaukee drill today… It was a pawn shop find… Looks like I go find another one.

Picked up a Milwaukee hole hog… Works perfect 2 speeds… Project is done got some good vid at night running 2000 w of lights on the generator…

Thinking woodgas for my next build… Didn’t like the updraft gasification and the way my intake looked after…

Jonathan

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Enlighten me
What didn’t you like about the way your intake looked?
Also was wondering who got your old Ford gasser? Mike L said it was setting in a yard south of Lincoln somewhere

Hi, Jonathan!

This was discussed some years ago on Yahoo WoodGas and on Pepe’s former site.

To keep the dynamic, pumping flows equal in both gas and air lines, they have to be equal long and thick, about 2 yards long. SYMMETRY IS KING!

The gasline pulsating length has to be “broken” at that length by a bucket with a volume of at least 10 times the cylinder volume. Smaller volumes are arising new critical resonances!

Further backwards along the gas stream, the line length is not critical anymore.

And of course, the air line should start with an air filter, and not lying on the ground!

Max

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After selling my house in Nebraska, we spent a year on the road in our motor home the truck sat in Martell for the year. My father in law pulled the motor and put it in his bronco and someone bought my truck and gasifier for the storage fees, . Miss that truck…

On the intake I used a quart metal paint can as my manafold but the metal was too thin and would not support the leverage applied by the metal fittings at the end. The stainless shaker was thick enough and looks cool too…

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Sure that would make sense.

The gasifier does have an air filter: open cell spounge in front of the carb.

Sorry Tom I had to go back and reread my post to figure out the intake reference… I didn’t like the way my intake looked because the tars, this was my first attempt at making charcoal and obviously I did not let it cook long enough to vaporize all the nastys out of the wood.

Because the design of the gasifier is updraft you have to ensure you have absolutely pure Carbon. I didn’t mainly due to feedstock issues of southern pine being the only wood I could get a hold of. Southern pine is full of SAP…

It killed me to see all that good useable fuel going up and to waste in the charcoal production as well, all of it would have broken down and made good useable fuel if it was pulled through a reduction zone.


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Wayne,

This is very interesting. I attended Truman State University as an Agriculture student back in the early 1980’s when it was then called North East Missouri State University at Kirksville. One of my goals is to drive over there on wood and visit my old college friends that still live in the area, most of whom are Farmers…but you beat me to it! What caused you to pick Kirksville as a destination, an alternative energy meet up or something of this nature?

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Hello Bryan .

Can you recognize any of the building in the pic

My friend David Bransby was speaking at an energy event at the university and also at a nearby agriculture event and wanted me to show my truck and generator.

We had a good interview on the local TV news :relaxed:

It was cold in Kirksville I almost froze :confounded:

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Hi, Jonathan!
4.2.2016
As a second stage filtering (if wet) for woodgas you need ~2’2 and 6 – 8" thick open-cell filtering per liter of displacement. On a personal car that means a long chest (an approriately formed ski-box) on the roof.
Max

Oh man it was cold… I recognize the hooded jacket. … that is me on the right

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Wayne,

Yes, I do remember the building behind you. The building to the right of the Dakota was only a parking lot when I was there. I got a good story about that brick archway in the very back of the picture (under that clock tower) I’ll have to save back till Argos…

Bryan

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Yes…in all of the places I have ever lived for any length of time, Kirksville had the wildest temperature swings. One day it would be 60 degrees and the next day 5 degrees. It has to do with Kirksville’s location relative to the jet stream. In the fall and winter, the jet stream can easily be to the north of Kirksville for a warm day and below the next day with a swift Canadian breeze, this looks like one of those memorable days for sure!!! I could never get adjusted to it.