I wonder if wood chips will allow enough flow out of the still. If you’re limited to a milk can best you could do is maybe 8 gallons or 10 gallons.
You could weld a stainless milk can top to a stainless beer keg and bump it up to 16 gallons.
I’m picturing a 55 gallon drum surrounding the still and sealed off, acting as a firebox. Chimney leading out obviously. Just to help keep any flames away from the worm. A column can be fickle when it’s too cold out and you’d have to play with insulation otherwise you’d spend a lot of fuel warming it up. I think a simple copper worm with circulating water would work just as well for methanol.
Hopefully I’ll find the time and energy to figure some of these things out. Stainless anything doesn’t just fall off the back of the truck here like it seems to for some of you guys. I’ve check quite a few on-line still designs but the old MEN alcohol still plans still offer the most detailed drawings.
It is the same thing as a closed charcoal retort that you can gather the pyrolysis oils from. Which incidentally is also the same technique for plastics to oil.
“The yield of methanol from wood is about 38 percent, or about 100 gallons per ODT(Oven dry ton) of wood.”
It needs to be oven dry, because water will come with the methanol, and water is miscible and hard to separate from the alcohol so you want the highest purity possible to start with. Industrially, they would use plate distillation which is essentially a fractionating column. It is similar to this separation problem. In fact, change the temperatures and it is exactly why and how it needs to be done. You can also do multiple simple distillations but you lose product.
I should probably also add this is the only HS science experiment that caught on with HS’s who were the non-college crowd back in the 60s and 70s. Our bus driver explained it how they did it back in like 5th or 6th grade. But because it needs to be oven dry wood, a number of them got water in their gas tanks and got stranded on the side of the road with a half tank they had to tow their vehicle and drain the tank… This was back around the '73 crisis. lololol
Yes, i’ve used alcylate fuel in lanterns, and in blow-torches also, works great and can be stored away long periods.
As for blowtorches, some are made for kerosene, i’ve tried them on a mix: 60% pump gasoline/40% pump diesel, they run great on that, but! That mix cant be stored in the torches, it’s extremely aggressive to brass, turns it in to a green “gel”/sludge in just weeks, would be interesting if someone have a theory whats going on?
I picked this video because I recognize a Canadian torch Butler.
But the guy who made it hit upon a good point
A gasoline torch is about 20 times more cost effective and hotter
And it’s also a lot more ecological to use because you are not wasting steel
Seems to me the last time I saw a new one on a shelf wound have been 70s or 80s
I’ll never u set stand why the fell so completely out of favour
For years and years I have these all steel construction Ukrainian made torches
This particular one is a mechanics torch
I should but it just to play with
Nice looking simple unit
Looks like it would be an excellent thing to have to light your gas plant
That is about right, the manufacturers were getting sued because if they leaked the gas runs out down the person’s arm, and they get set on fire. With gas I think they may have also exploded because of the vapors. Thus the company was liable. I would say about 1982 if I were to guess. The last and maybe only time I saw one being used was a guy stripping the lead paint off a front door, and I am not sure he didn’t end up in the hospital for using it.
I have a few of them
I tend to use them about 50 percent of the time I need some heat
Propane for fast jobs however
Are they dangerous tools?
More dangerous than a propane torch?
Very subjective question.
Less safe than a pressure lamp maybe
They don’t have a very good valve for the pump, lack the possitive seal you get with a Coleman lantern
This is thermos lantern made in the 60s
I had one of these turn into a fireball because the pump o ring failed and they lack a screw closed pump valve line a Coleman
This is the Coleman lantern that pioneered o ring seals all modern lanterns use
Now they have heat shields and two o rings as back
But the original 321 caused a lot of fires
Maybe it’s just better not to use any of these things unless you are completely sure it’s all in good order and check it yourself
A LETTER HOME!
Hi gassers; I know I’ve been MIA, but not our of mind. I’ve been watching Youtube’s on auto body work. The big thing is— they all weld on “thin” metal, 18-20 gauge, about the same as a 55 gal barrel. This welding with a mig is totally different from welding plate or heavier metals. For you that understand this pass on the rest of this. I see a lot of newbies come on here with little experience welding, so I would like to give them an idea of what I have JUST learned after years of amateur welding .
First; Mig welding is NOT just pick it up-- point and shoot! Flux core is possible to use but, gas makes it simpler and better welds. Get .023 gauge wire. Take the time to set your gun up properly-- power or amps (what ever they call it) and wire feed. This will take time, but after you do it once, you will have the numbers you will need for future welding of this material. Start by putting both knobs on the lowest values-- try to weld ; it probably won’t weld. Turn the wire speed up to the 1/2 mark. If it won’t weld-- make the nice bacon frying-- turn the wire speed up to "full’ or “fast”. If it won’t weld turn the power to the next power setting and move the wire feed back to minimum. If it won’t weld–move the wire speed up to 1/2 max. If it won’t weld move the wire speed up to “full” feed etc. etc. etc. When you find a point where the “bacon” sound starts. Now adjust the wire feed up and down slowly until you get the smoothest sound. (The gas should be set at about 10 when the trigger is pulled. It can be adjusted for how much wind or air circulation you are working in.)
Clean all surfaces with a sander or grinder.
Your ready to weld. Thin metal is NOT welded by laying down a continuous weld. They use a series of “TACKS”. Tack the metals together using a tack about every 3 or so inches. Then go to a tack and start “welding” by putting a tack that is at the edge of the existing tack; let it cool for a couple seconds and then put a tack at the edge of the previous tack. After 2 or 3 of these tacks, move to one of the tacks holding the plates in position and do the same with 2or 3 tacks, then move again-- giving the welds plenty of time to cool. Some use an air hose to blow gently on the weld after the couple of tacks. Then continue adding a couple of tacks, making more of a continuous weld–whether you wait, move to another location or blow air over the weld, the weld has to cool to the touch before continuing.
To lay down a tack, set the weld wire about 3/8ths in off the metal-- pull the trigger-- count to “2” and as you are saying “2” lift off the trigger. Some as they are saying “2” will move the wire back towards the center of the tack you are stacking on. Check the back often to make sure you are getting penetration. Continue with this until you have a nice set of beads all all across the area you are welding.
Just an odd note; if you set you machine up properly and for some reason you are ‘blowing through’, don’t run to turn the heat DOWN-- try moving the power UP a mark. Having the power too LOW can cause you to hold the gun in one spot too long, building up too much heat. A Higher setting will shorten the time you have to hold the gun on the weld and gives LESS heat to the material.
The other thing I’ve leaned is GRINDING WELDS. You can’t just take a grinder to the weld to smooth it down. As you grind away the weld you are also grinding the material on each side of the weld. You don’t want that to happen. Many ways to avoid this that you can find on Youtube. A suggested one would be to use a grinding wheel in a vertical position so the edge of the wheel touches only the weld.
So see, there is quite of difference in welding thin metal. A couple of Youtube channels that I would suggest is Bad Chad and Fitzee’s (no “r” in this)
I hope something here will help some of the newbies get started welding thin metal. I have a stack of medal full of welds on my table from my practicing. It ain’t easy to learn and it is slower than laying down a bead unless you count the time you spend filling “blow holes” and hunting air leaks. I haven’t tried this on anything that has to be “air tight”, but I’m sure with proper penetration they will hold air.
I know one person on here that welds thin metal with stick welds. I would like to see a Youtube on that.
Hope to hear from some of you TomC
Hi Tom, hope you can get back on your gasifier project. I have been off of my because of a shoulder injury from last year. It is finally healing up so I can work on my gasifiers a little more often.
Thanks for the thin metal welding tips. This is what my new gasifier has a lot of, thin metal to weld on.
Bob
Glad to hear from you, TomC. It’s been a while. Lawn mowing season over with?
Great welding tips. I haven’t done much welding resently but burning a lot of wood.
I often fabricate several gasifiers before sleep, only to find out next morning they don’t exist. Welding is easy then.
I’ve often thought about getting a MIG, but it feels like storing an excavator and all you dig is a couple wheel barrows of dirt a year.
Having owned both, I get it the reference
BUT
Should you have a excavator or a welder you suddenly have lots of friends, that always need a hand.
Like owning a car trailer
Crap I have one of those too…
Like owning a dump trailer
Damn I have one of those too!
Yeah. We bought the Penske 16 foot moving van . . . . many wish to be friends then too.
“This truck only moves with me driving”, says I.
And I do not drive at night.
And it only gets 12 miles per gallon on $5.00-6.00 fuel. Has a 33 gallon tank. The easy math is $150. to tank refuel it.
And it does not drive out of state.
All but two walked away. Direct blood family.
S.U.
Now that I have a MIG machine, and a big bottle of 75/25, I was wondering if it would be a good idea to dual shield when welding stainless. I have a spool of some stainless spec flux core wire and wanted to make extra sure it won’t get nasty. I know with single shielded welding stainless you want a special blend, but with flux core is 75/25 alright? Or should I just use the flux core on its own?
If you use flux cored i believe you could use a very small amount of shielding gas, to not disturb the flux-shielding, the gas itself should help stabilize the arc and reduce the sputtering some, this is just theories from my side though.
I found the threads on methanol and still building interesting, a great resource for still design is homedistiller.org forum and its design/build section. With a reduction column, it is not hard to get over 90% ethanol, but the first few percent are methanol and other highly volatile solvents.
kent
