Whaaaaat I don’t know what your talkin about 
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I’m still wondering if I could cut one down to make a waste oil centrifuge from.
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Tom you’d be better off splitting open a torque converter from an automatic transmission. Already has the right shape.
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It is kind of like LaRosa’s but I think it is closer to what his next one was going to be after the one in the video. He sounds confused or like he is hiding something in the video, but it works more like he describes it but not exactly like you think. It is just a bit dangerous and that is what he was hiding. And I am guessing it probably worked well.
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What would have made it dangerous?
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gas, flame and oxygen of course. IIRC Mike had a scare with it, and didn’t want 100s of people copying it especially if it went viral with ID10Ts like MrTeslonian.
The timeline is all mixed up for me. And there were patent trolls on the yahoo list. So any open discussion like ‘hey why don’t you try xxxx’ resulted in xxxx getting patented. Mike really didn’t like that.
This patent expired because of non-payment though:
BTW I was trying to say OMG that isn’t original or dissuade you from doing it. 
The only criticism I would have is the bell coming down is going to be a heat magnet, and probably melt quickly.
One of the key aspects of the nozzles, and I don’t know if many do it or not, is you are trying to get even oxygen over the whole bed and reduce channeling in the bed, and other flow issues.
The only gasifier I can think of offhand with nozzle pointed down is the Kalle which is a charcoal gasifier and supposedly fairly popular. But that reused exhaust gas to limit oxygen.
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Excellant reply SeanO.
Meaty. Lot to chew on there.
Some was the kind of guy MikeL was. He was not a throw ideas up on a wall and see what sticks. He only wanted to show his ideas after he had made and tried them. Wrung them out for advantages and disadvantages.
On the useing heavy mass drake drum rotors as your core one of the disadvantaged he pointed out to me was long from cold heating up times.
S.U.
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That had to have been annoying. I wonder if there’s a GNU GPL style license agreement but for physical inventions. Free to download but don’t monetize it.
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I have a thought , its only a thought mind you as i only speak about what i have personally attempted or built and i know 100%sure there are guys on here that could get clean gas from a baked bean tin for sure .
Derrick i am a charcoal user , i did just like you i started with a FEMA , we all have to start somewhere right anyway i built it i guess just as you did following the instructions posted on forums around the world , i did not add my bit too it as i did not have a clue what i was doing , anyway the out come was a burnable gas , yes amazingly it worked first time , and i am sure as sure can be the reason was because i am a crap welder i went over every welded point and pipe joint with silicon i made sure even the fan was sealed with no chance of a air leak , i even offered the gas up to a generator and blow me if it didn’t just start up and work , how lucky was i .
Before running again i stripped out my filter material of sawdust and found a horrible black/brown foul smelling sawdust pile from inside , so refilled with clean sawdust
and later i did the same routine of firing up the gasifier and again i got great burnable gas but now no way would the generator start up , i noticed that it was spinning over far too easily first thing i did was plug out ,was ok so then the rocker cover came off and yep the exhaust valve was stuck down tight , it had been a few days since the last run and so with a little gentle heat and some very large screw drivers and levers i got it free and back together and running again , but almost straight away after that second run i came across Garry Gilmores simple fire on YouTube and have not looked back since as it does all i need it too do with hands off run times ,i don’t try to fix something that isn’t broken , i guess what i am trying to say is before you change anything on that fema as i can tell your itching to have one more go before tearing it down , go back check you have every joint and weld and i do mean every pin hole sealed up and a good suction fan on the end and you will make burnable gas , and as soon as you have achieved that it will inspire you more than words to move onto a proven design gasifier be in wood or charcoal . there is not a week go’s by that i am not impressed with what the people on here build ,they are all artists of the highest order and my hats off to them all we all learn from everyone’s mistakes and achievement’s
All the best Dave
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Dave,
You would make a great wood-gas motivational speaker. Very impressive. I had already gotten the memo on the FEMA’s shortcomings before building anything, so I started with the SimpleFire and, I too, am satisfied that it provides what I need. Thank you, Gary Gilmore.
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Thank you Steve , i just say what i see and what i think i know , but sometimes it does get me deep in the doo doo though , when i misinterpret how something works !
Dave
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Thank you Dave for your encouragement, and thank you again to all on this forum. A person can go on Google or Youtube and figure out the basics of gasification, but there is no where to get good troubleshooting advice I have found except this forum, what a unique treasure.
I enjoyed watching the charcoal gasifier video and I could easily change over what I have to what was pictured in the video, but in practicality I don’t know where I could get a constant supply of charcoal that would not entail a massive amount of work to make it and chop it up into a usable size. If I can get the wood gasifier functional, at least the fuel source will be much more feasible to me.
I think I am getting closer. I stopped up the hole where the shaker linkage passes through and checked the seal at my ash clean out door - these are really the only two places vulnerable to an uncontrolled oxygen leak. Like you mentioned Dave, any joint that was suspicious, I sealed with RTV.
This last test was a little better, after heating up for a few minutes, I tested my gas at the flare, it was a very light smoke and when I put the propane torch to it the smoke immediately disappeared and you could see a hint of an orange flame igniting, but try as I might, I could not get it to stay lit. I took this as a sign of progress, but what could this be indicating? I am guessing still uncontrolled oxygen getting in the mix? I am thinking I need to rework my ash clean out door and make sure the seal on that is doing its job. I wish I knew how I could pressure test everything as some have suggested but I don’t really see how I can do this since I never did get the hopper lid to fully seal so I know the whole unit would not hold pressure.
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There you go DerrickD, a learning experience.
“. . . my gas . . .was a very light smoke and when I put the propane torch to it the smoke immediately disappeared . . .” That sir is converted woodgas.
A translucent see-through haze is what an experienced woodgasifier guy is looking for.
Actual flare are tricky. Has a lot to do with the gas flow speed and air mixing off the end of the pipe. Why most make a pipe end air mixer nozzle like that propane torch tip has.
Do you lite the propane torch with a flint cup striker?
It so , use that directly instead to light your flare gas to check spark ignitability as will be needed inside the engine.
Real had the many hours experiences woodgas engine runners usually do not flare but just go by gas haze, (and smell) experiences before engine using.
What helps is to have a gas temperature outlet gauge. You can see this in another new members videos, Dean Lasko:
The gasifier in its converting section must get up to 650 degrees centigrade and higher.
Good finished gas outlet will read at least 500-700 degrees Fahrenheit. Dean’s BensBook system gasifier does two internal heat recovery steps so will read on the lower side in the 400F range when fully draw loaded pulled.
This is another great failing in the F.E.M.A./Stratified Downdraft design concept. They simply do not have the controlled air narrowed down concentrated super hot zone to ever be good thermal-chemical converters.
I am with you on continuing to pursue raw wood for DYI engine generator running.
Can be done. Has been done. Is being done.
Difficult. Yes. But the ONLY way you will ever make a true smoke-free, year-around pick-up sticks energy fueling system.
I still have two older diesel engines systems. I refuse to buy into a newer, better diesel engine system that would make me to have to buy, and supply DEF (diesel emissions/exhaust fluid). Charcoal-tiering, simplifying, and IMO you make yourself dependent on a specialized pre-made, Again.
Regards
Steve unruh
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You make it. Wood needs to be same size pieces as well. The main difference is the cost of the toys err tools to get it in the right size. If you make charcoal, you can drive over it to crush it and sort it through 2 screens into a wheelbarrow. versus WK’s chunker uses a 50+hp tractor and an old baler flywheel and gearbox, and which costs a lot more. There are other ways to make chunks like the rebak style etc, but those aren’t cheap either or you can just cut them by hand or use a press but you still have to process the wood in some manner to get similar size pieces or it doesn’t work well.
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Sean you also forgot that while making wood chunks your friends don’t stand around telling you story’s about the good ole days and sharing a beer while on the other hand just yesterday i made a 45 gallon drum of charcoal with friends chatting around a nice warm fire ( video to follow ) wow that was real hard work NOT !
We caught Brian eating the charcoal again
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A charcoal crusher is pretty easy to make as well. I made one with some flat bar stock and a length of round bar stock, used two pillow block bearings and made an angle iron frame, wedged it into a box and screwed a little grease drum as the feed hopper. I have it on stands and let it all collect into a kiddy pool and shovel it onto a screen ramp to get the dust out.
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I am linking this back up to DerrickD last comment.
Did you charcoaltiers even bother to read this?
Have you charcoaltiers even considered that some of us have made a choice? A choice for our own valid reasons.
That some of us feel this constant pushing and pulling new members over to the Dark Side is doing a dis-service to the long term health of the DOW?
No. I think you all do not even realize this.
Well, I’ll tell you. A really good gas maker can do both well. Run engines on both well. Choosing one over the other when best appropriate.
DerrickD, here is the link to Dean Lasko’s youtube channel. View all and realize that he flared off on his first liting off. And by his 3rd flaring with settled established beds he was engineS plural! running.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/uc-x98hF5rbVEnnXxOjZQqyw
If you build an established, test proven design you can get these results too.
FEMA is a shit /sick-joke of a design taking all years of modifying to get to work.
Steve Unruh
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So, Dave—you make it and Brian eats it—quite a partnership. Brian’s face shows the main shortcoming I see with charcoal—dust. But if I chose to go the downdraft route using damp charcoal as fuel, I gather that the dust would not be so much of a problem, as Bob has pointed out.
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Dear Steve U
did you charcoaltiers even bother to read this?
Have you charcoaltiers even considered that some of us have made a choice? A choice for our own valid reasons.
That some of us feel this constant pushing and pulling new members over to the Dark Side is doing a dis-service to the long term health of the DOW?
What i said to Derrick at no point did i mention he should even go with a charcoal , i said carry on doing what he is doing and once he has finished with the FEMA , he can then build a gasifier with a proven design , at no point was i for trying to lure him onto the darkside ! unless someone else mentioned he should go with charcoal and i missed that post , the mention of charcoal was in defense of how derrick saw the hard work involved in making it and Sean just mentioned that making wood chunks is also labor intensive, i just happened to mention most fire bugs dream is to stand around a fire swilling beer and telling storys as opposed to chunking wood and trying not to get in the way of that large flywheel , its all in fun after all .
But on a serious note lets face it we have all seen people come on here saying they want to run a generator to make emergency power or we want to run our big truck and people who are doers on here give them there best advice and recommend charcoal or wood , no one group has anything to gain by talking them away from one side to the other its just as individuals we think we know what’s best for a certain application and i for one would never talk anyone out of anything they have there heart set on as everyone has the right to make there own mistakes or make there own achievement’s be it in wood or charcoal we are all one of the same when we get into the belly of the beast .
Your Friend always
Dave
PS if i read it wrong then i do apologies as i am getting a bit forgetful these days and dont seem to read things correctly . cheers
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Raw wood makes gas. Charcoal makes gas. A raw wood gasifier is designed to torrify the fuel internally while a charcoal gasifier uses a fuel that was torrified externally. The downside of the first is that it requires a fairly complex apparatus and significant fabrication skill. The downside of the other is that making charcoal is going to be either illegal or frowned upon unless you are living in a rural area. However, as Derrick has discovered, there are many pitfalls in reaching a point where actual work can be done with wood gas. He is not a quitter and should be highly commended for that strength, but very few newcomers would have stuck with it so long. The thing about charcoal is that it is simple and quickly gratifying. To have a small engine running in a few days is a sure way to excite and give the incentive to further explore the more complex forms of the process. As for the difficulties of producing one fuel over another. They both require some effort. I’m still waiting to see some one besides Joni pick up crap off the side of the road and motor on.
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