My charcoal tractor

You must have good top soil. That could never in Arkansas, too many rocks. Ha!

2 Likes

are ya stuck? Lol…

1 Like

Interesting tom…
I ended up using one of those 4 ft long jacks. Picked it up at a yard sale a few years back dangerous but very powerful. I put the jack on each rim jacked up about a foot and threw firewood into the ruts. Spent less time working on that then ramming it back and forth the night before. Next solution was going to be ask for help and boy that would have sucked; wouldn’t have heard the end for years…
Carl most of my place is a great big bog and with spring melt I was asking for it. Generally the soil around here is very poor with granite close to the surface.

Hi David,

Next time I make 1.5" cyclones I am sending you one. I can’t believe that tractor is running on a 1" inlet/outlet cyclone. She must be howling on the intake stroke with an 1850cc engine. Granted it is not a fast engine but still…

Stephen

1 Like

I won’t argue if you want to play Santa Claus :smile . Charcoal is different then raw wood I think. My dust is very light and does not deposit much in the cyclone so I need something bigger. I’ve thought a second filter body instead of a cyclone but a bigger cyclone would probably be a better idea…
David Baillie

Hi David,

I see the exact same “too light to feel” stuff coming out of my cyclone. I suspect your cyclone speeds are SO high that turbulence is occurring in the dust sump and the particles are coming back out. I would hang a Mason jar under the cyclone and see what happens. I don’t ship cyclones with Mason jars because of the flying shrapnel liability in a sneeze, but I can’t imagine running without one.

Shall I send you a pair of “pipe flange couplings”? What you do with them is your responsibility.

I fill a quart jar every hour so I am also wondering if your cyclone is overflowing.

Stephen

Hi Stephen, I do empty my reservoir every few hours or run time. I have wondered if I increased the pipe size on the bottom of the outlet pipe in the cyclone if I could get more seperation. So far I get much more depositing in the stainless steel filter in the final filter assembly then the cyclone. The stuff is just so light… Probably not worth sending me couplers I can get them here.
David

Hey David, I have to agree with Stephen in wondering about using a one inch inlet pipe on the cyclone. I’ll be curious to see how the 1.5" cyclone works compared to the one you are now using. The dust collected in my stationary system is not too much, but then the engines are much smaller and the charcoal generator is not bouncing around. What I do find impressive is you have enough power to spin the wheels when axle deep in mud! Any chance of driving your tractor to Argos Indiana?
Gary in PA

Hi Gary,
I suppose you are both right. I have a new unit in mind I just have not built it yet. I want to replace the cyclone and final filter with a single two in one unit. I’m still pondering that one. If I do I would just repurpose the cyclone for the ATV project. Its only 12 or 13 hp so should not be overwhelmed. For power I think I just got lucky choosing that era of tractor. It was made for an imperfect world of varrying gasoline quality and toughness. The intake and governor are huge on it. No chance or Argos this year. I’d love to go but floating the tractor and doing the border would be too much.
Stephen I did not understand at first you were talking about a mason jar cyclone adaptor. I don’t think I would want it on the tractor but stationary maybe. Really I have to just build something appropriate but I’m slacking on my building these days due to work. Thank you both so much for the feedback.
David Baillie

Hi David,

I tried the combined cyclone filter idea and it didn’t work for me.

The cyclone needs a small diameter and the final filters need to be large. Condensate would fall back making a mess. That is why I have the “dog leg” in the Gas Station lite.

Stephen

You mentioned you wanted to put a glass jar on the cyclone to watch the deposits. Not a good idea because the jar might break. I have used Mayonnaise jars that are about the same size but made out of plastic.TomC

I use olive jars… I just have to remember to remove them in winter … I just have a steel plug in my new cyclone … I seem to recall using a coffee can on the older trailer BRB Yep, coffee can and it is rotted out already … 4" rubber sewer connectors work fine … ML

Hi David
I was wondering if your tractor could still run on gasoline if necessary.
The carburetor a- t- he was changing? Is it still connected to the gasoline?

Hi trigaux,
Yes the tractor still runs fine on gasoline. Switching involves turning on the fuel valve and opening up the air mixture valve all the way. I have done it while moving but that is not for the faint of heart!. Usually I choose either or at the start of a job.
David

David
How you ajustes the air / gas mixture of the seat of your tractor? It seems to me that the valve of the mixing air is far from the cockpit?

The air valve is within reach. I’m running charcoal so once it is set I’m pretty much good to go until I run out of charcoal above the reaction. I have done minor adjustments while running but nothing like what the raw wood units seem to need.

Had a great run today with a few dumb moments. I was doing some heavy work with the back blade on charcoal total run time on softwood charcoal til stall out 75 minutes; that seemed short discovered mistake 1: no exhaust injection so less range. Mistake 2 was not shutting off the reactor valve after switching to gasoline so drawing gas after it was too low in the hopper= too much heat; I deformed my filter assembly…

1 Like

Doh!

On the plus side, a bad day running charcoal is better than a decent day running dino!

2 Likes

Hi david
I wondered if the nozzle of refractory concrete that you have made still resisted well?
What materials did you used to make?
Thierry