I have a bunch of stuff coming this week to take this build further. Ill be getting a utility cart from Harbor Freight this week and setting it up on there with a barrel filter. I have all the stuff to automate it and will be going to our in house built blower. I think Im finally done with that and come up with a bullet proof design using a Kohler face mnt starter motor driving a Husky leaf blower impeller. So Ill get it all set up with everything and see how it goes. If I still get this clogging than Im going to bring back the preheat chamber in the Utility that dissipates the intake air evenly. The Evolution has this standard already with automated ignition. But it does have a port specific for manual lighting through a jet. But that cap is replaced after a manual lighting.
Other progress here at the shop; I made it though running the CNC machine successfully off grid. The computer dont like crazy fluctuating frequencies and that plasma machine is a hungry bugger. However, I turned it way down and dialed the air presure back and it cuts with out issue. I was actually pretty surprised we probably could have ran like this 3 years ago. lol
Im having a great time with this, even though running on gasoline. I still need to add more batteries and things will get easier as we go. No plans to ever go back to running on the grid. There is a salvage yard I can get batteries for 25 bucks each, I get 30 days to try em out as well. " take my money!!" Eventually I wan to get a high frequency charger and see how well those work at reviving them. Then I can get them even cheaper. So far I have two 48 V banks and this has cut the generator fuel consumption in half reservedly.
I also found some really nice cycle timers here is a link for you guys looking for a slick timer to run automation. Dont buy em all I need them!!! haha.
Here is the blower motor I am using now. The shaft will be sealed via a flange bearing and a seal in the blower housing, I think Ill be putting that to bed once and for all
Hey Matt , glad to see you getting by with out grid power. What a great feeling.
Kind of concerned on the duty cycle of the starting motor you have chosen though. I may be wrong but I don’t think they are designed for constant duty. They have no cooling system at all since they only designed to run a few seconds at a time. Anyway good luck always looking forward to updates.
It wont have any load on it, it cant do any worse than any other motors available they have all failed. We will soon find out, it will only have a 15 amp fuse to it and it will only be spinning a fan. So hopefully it will be ok, I have one other motor Im testing but the shaft diameter is 1/2" and it does not have any venting either. But this motor is rated for continuous duty. Im hoping the starter motor works as its easier to adapt and work with.
Well I chucked that starter up in a vice and ran it on 12 volts and letting it free wheel. Aaand you are 100% right haha. That thing got hot!!
Ok so no big deal I plan to use these for the Hopper shakers as well and these will work well for this.
I now have the Amp Flow motor hooked up for test. My rpm meter isnt working but by the sound of them I can tell the starter was much faster. But the Amp Flow can take up to 96 volts so Im going to rig up a step up module and see what that does.
EDIT:
Ok looks like the Amp Flow wins. I hooked up a 24 volt step up and the thing woke right up. I can get them in 48 volt so that thing should fly with one of them. A little more in cost but not a whole lot and worth it if it never breaks!
DC starter motors are series wound in order to give greater starting torque. They are not designed for continuous duty at all, and will rev out of control to destruction without a proper load. They would make a good grate shaker or even an intermittent auger application.
Here is a link to the Amp Flow motor. This is a pretty beefy motor and can take up to 36 volt. I was thinking it could take more but according to the listing it says 36 volt. But running it with the 24 v step up, that seems like it will be plenty enough. We will see soon I plan to build this here in the next few days
Today I did the filter module for the TOG build and since I got this far I also went ahead and built the blower. I also did this on video, it is basically a quick overview. Since I have to keep things short and my phone was short on charge I had to be quick. However, eventually I will follow up with some plans to built this exact blower.
No pics just video I will be up loading the video demonstrating it and also this machine running the 8750. I did not even try it on 12 volts I went straight to using the step up and it is plenty powerful enough. Its very quiet as well. Ill post as soon as the video up loads
Ok Steve it maybe too early to tell yet, but the clogging for now seems to have gone away since I quit pressurizing the machine. Day 3 has been the day that this issue has revealed itself and tomorrow will be day 3 since I put back together.
So added a controller today and basically prototyped the new controller for the 2018 Utility machine. It looks much nicer and is easier to build. It cost a little more in parts but I save a lot of time and labor. Going from ejector to a push button operation is so much nicer. Fires right up and once going I run for 1/2 hour and shut down for 1 hour and pull from battery and repeat. When I ran out get food I forgot to run some gas in it, still cautious of tar yet. I was worried I stuck a valve and got home fired it up and it made a nice blue flare; generator fired right up
I have the hopper shaker installed and wire up also but I do need to make a bracket for the grate actuator motor and install that yet. So far the hopper shaker has made some difference I didnt think it would on a pellet machine but it has added to its stability.
Well I tore off the hopper and pulled the 1/8" jets. Two were fully clogged and two were partially. So there is something to do with this simplified hearth section design and I will be bringing back a air preheat baffle in the Utility this year. Not a big deal no design change its just some added parts.
With the jets I had in there they were the middle of the road in length and those seemed to work the best when things were flowing. But since I had it apart I went ahead and tried some longer 1/4" jets just to see what would happen. So far I dont really see a lot of change from the way it was just running before this. The intake air valve is set about the same and is set around 75% open. Normally its 50%. I see a lot of smoke pulsing out the intake valve as well. Generally I dont see much on the Utility machines. Ill probably go back to the 1/8" and simply weld in some inception ports to clean them out and be done with it. I may experiment with changing out the hearth bowl as well. This was supposed run chips and has a 2" restriction, I think for pellets I need a 1 1/2"
Steve , we are never to old to observe the wonderful mysteries of the world around us, out on those limbs. If you just have one left in you that alone is good enough in my book.
I love reading about or witnessing something that goes against the normal rules man has setup for us all. Causing him to scratch his head and go back to the need to refigure this one out. Ha ha nothing new under the sun, we’ll see about that.
Bob
1: The older i get, the more fun i have showing youngsters how to observe…
2: Building/tuning a gasifier is alike reloading and testing ammo… 1 step at the time, changing only 1 component at the time and endless observing… My observation: a .22 does not well in a .30 barrel and a .50 does not pass in the same .30 barrel…
Well this is now day 2 of running the gasifier to where its producing about 90-98% of my power. This is since I fully automated it, I installed the grate shaker on Sunday. With this and the hopper shaker I dont even need the electronic mixture controller, I know where it runs best those two things keep it in check. When there is a problem I then know its either out of fuel or ash chamber is full. Im burning through around 60 lbs pr day running it around 12 to 14 hours pr day. So fuel consumption is something like 4.6 lbs pr hour. (on average Im pulling 1800 watts minimum) going to tune the grate shaker down a bit it is a bit agresive I think. This should reduce fuel consumption while producing cleaner gas. It is producing some tar; I get around 1/4 cup every 3-4 hours coming out the dryer. That dryer is doing a good job, its that much tar it has yanked out of the gas stream that otherwise would have been sucked into the engine. So I do a quick gasoline run periodically, if Im shutting down Ill switch it over to gas while I shut down the machine. Then Ill give it a minute and then shut of the supply valve. So no more than a 5 minute washing here and there. The only other time is when I need to run the CNC machine, Ill switch it over run my parts and then right back to wood gas.
So besides work this machine is also running my RV, my morning coffee is made on wood gas, all my meals are made and prepared from it. I run one thing at a time, but I can run a microwave, electric griddle, fry cooker, toaster. Food is kept cold or frozen thanks to the gasser as well. Even though I buy my fuel my time is worth something as well.
So I have a new hearth bowl on order, to take the restriction down to 1 1/2". When I install that I plan to put back in the 1/8" jetting and weld in some inspection ports to the jets. I dont think Im going to have an issue with the 1/4" jets, once the machine gets warmed up I think they clear out on there own if there is any blockage in them.
If you small engine guys are experiencing a good running machine and then a sudden change in performance. This maybe your issue, check your jets and see if they are clogged up!!
Yes I have 12 kW Charger Inverter. So far I have two 48 volt banks, I plan to add at least four more. I can get car batteries for around $25 bucks from a local salvage yard with a 30 day warranty. Eventually I plan to build a next generation Evolution Power System to RnD and take to the next level. I plan to upgrade the genny to the Predator v twin here soon.
Edit: I have to say a battery system is an absolute must have. I can shut down at night and still have power and piece and quiet. I get around 2 1/2 hours off the batteries with everything shut down, its mostly just running the fridge. But if I need to shut down at anytime I have back up power and that is nice to have especially at night.
Well done Matt, thanks for all the valuable infomation that you have given to us. There is no better committee of people then DOW. It is number One because of the members imput.
Proud to be apart of this Group.
Bob
matt I haven’t fired my genny up in so long that battery is dead I run my repair shop and home with no problems and its all du to kick ass batteries lithium that is there stupid priced but the amount of fuel and maintenance not needed plus the longevity you would love it .
