i think i can get some drums on market place. i just have to convince my dad to help me get some though… i was thinking about making a high temp ceramic hearth and maybe ceramic tips for the air inlets but i wasn’t sure if id work. also maybe a separate hearth from hopper like the video i sent. but if wk really will work i might just buy the blue prints. it dose help that its a tested system but i kinda wanted to design my own just for a test of my own.
3 Likes
Welcome Gregory, building a WK Gasifier is easier then the drawings shown above for the firetube. I built the new improved WK Gasifer firetube and now I building a second one. Lots of great people here to help you out. Finding the right sizes barrels is important when you are building. Great truck you have.
10 Likes
Also as bob says the wk gasifier with the upgraded burn tube design is not as hard to build as the first wk design burn tube and works just as good or better–And the wk design is built to last a long time once it gets built.And i think not as problematic as other designs from wood bridging or running low on charco,as some of the earlier designs-during WW11—So i too would recommend the WK design–and also once you buy the book, you have 6 months to watch the build on the build vidio’s for clearity.GREAT DEAL.
9 Likes
Commit to the book and gain access to the premium side of the DOW site. The book is a great resource i would recomend anyone to read and have on the shelf.
Honestly though, the WK (Wilbur Smith) Build is what ur going to want to follow. Wayne came up with some very innovative ideas and @Norman89 did a great job documemting his v10 build.
Following these build videos will make it very easy to replicate one for yourself.
If your serious about building one its the best $50 your going to spend on the project.
If your not sure yet, its still the best $50 your going to spend, it will save you many times more in time and resources.
11 Likes
Designing your own system is a Herculean effort. A lot of the guys in the 70s, 80s, and 90s likely had to rely on their own homework if they didn’t have the academic literature available.
With the internet we really do stand on the shoulders of giants developmentally.
11 Likes
Not everything on a gasifier capable of fueling a vehicle is obtanium. Some things have to be located and purchased to monitor it and to tap into the trucks existing components. That is never mentioned in a lot of internet builds. Valves and couplings for example. A lot of things come from China. You cannot depend on those supply lines being reliable. Build something proven and then if you want to experiment with trial and erroring you own ideas you will have a solid base of hands on knowledge to work from. Look at what gauges the DOW guys are using and order them. They are not easy to find many times even now. Without them you are driving blind in a manner of speaking.
11 Likes
I agree Tom. Having all the bells and whistles is great for monitoring a gasifier. But can you do it with out them. This is truely a part of what we call the other 75% of running a gasifier. How is the engine running can you tell if it is running rich or lean with out looking at a gage. Learning this is important I think.
6 Likes
Of course you are right Bob, but how many miles have you driven before you figured out what that engine was telling you. When I used to race I got to where I could tune by ear, do jet changes and balance multiple carbs and timing but it took some years to get to that point. Of course back then instrumentation was a dwell tach and timing light.
7 Likes
Yes that was the other 75% in those days of cars and making them go fast. My point is this you can tell with out alot of instruments. I have a grate probe on my gasifier but others just use a cross over temp reading. I read 1500 to 1600 °f while the cross over point down stream of the grate reads around 700 to 800 °f . My vaccum gage on the hopper and cooling rails, tell me alot about my charbed, but I can feel it when it starts to plug up or constipation starts to happen. Engine powered just like when your timing is not right on the engine. Yes years of driving and mechanical experience is needed under ones belt to do this. I love my gages, I just look and oh, my engine is running to rich or my vaccum is to high, and oh I better back off I am getting to hot in my firetube.
7 Likes
Hi Gregory , welcome aboard and if i can just add to what the other guys on here have already said , sign up get the book and while your at it you may as well get the life long subscription membership , once you start its so hard to stop and you will always have the help and access to all the info you could ever possibly need you wont regret it .
Dave
11 Likes
Thanks for all the comments and support! You guys are right i still need some bigger tanks or drums. I might have thick enough plate to weld or bend to shape, I have a lot of flat metal. I found some 55gallon drums on marketplace, but I think I need the kind that have a clamping lid. If the new burn tube is really easier I might be able to make it though. I’m going to wait until I get the drums first before I do anything else.
7 Likes
Yes Greg you definitely need the clamping lid type.
Try to get about 4 of the same type, some open top drums are a little different than others.
Try Craigslist as well, some folks still use that site.
8 Likes
i found these on face book. idk if they are steel or can be welded. i looked it up and it says “open top drums” are 34-3/4 in h and 23-1/4 in w. not sure if these are the same but it looks like only 4 fit on 1 pallet so there pretty close i think.
3 Likes
The only thing too consider might be to weigh them too tell if they are thick enough metal,to last long enough-I thought about buying those type–Though i dont know the normal weight of the thicker barrels-- or i mean some may be thicker–maybe some one will have a weight range of the exceptable barrel thickness. I would want the heavier barrels, these may be as heavy as most barrels out there though.
2 Likes
I buy a lot of my steel from a local scrap yard, as they sell it at fair price.Old hot water heaters make good heat exchanger tanks, and or burn tube housing as you can open them up and make them large enough.Though i gess the barrels are lighter and easier to make seperate as you can use the ring for the lid flanges too pull the hopper off the burn tube housing much easier.
3 Likes
I thought the same thing about weighing them.
Here’s a few more pictures of them. It looks like they have a coating on the inside. I’m not sure how thick they are, I’ll have to go look. Even if they can’t be welded they can still be cut so I can bolt in some sort of metal flanges that can be welded. I can make something fit. I think if I cut them I can also flare the ends out so they’d be able to fix together with the rings.
2 Likes
They might be made of tin. I’m not sure how It would hold up if they are tin. I could still rivet flanges to them for the heat exchanger, hopper lid, and hopper moisture condensing rails.
1 Like
I got a few here i think they had some sort of glue in the barrels that i picked up- you will need to weld cooler tubes on the hopper unless you make flanges for 2" or 2 1/4" tube and bolt them through the barrels-- that could work good,and you could reuse the flanged tube on the next barrel when one rust through several years later.I think they are able to use silicone hose couplers on the hopper cooling tubes,too peice it together. or make hopper cooling tubes one peice,with flange bolt on in the inside of the barrel.FLANGE/ CALAR.
2 Likes
Oh yeah I do have a lot of iron oil pipe. I think you guys like to use exhaust tubing because it’s light and thin. I was just wondering if they’d be good for the heat exchanger internals, and hopper cooling tubes.id just have to weld caps on them to clean them out.
2 Likes
If you weld fins on the out side of the piping tubes on a hopper the hot gases going through the upper piping and will cool down quicker and drop down the pipe and back into the lower hopper. This will cause the condensation to take place removing the extra water in the raw wood hopper. Piping with no fins will still work but less efficient. The thicker wall piping is easier to weld long pieces of metal to. But then there is the weight factor to consider too.
5 Likes