Carl you have a great vocabulary and you know how to use it, thanks. Brain it does make a lot of noise and it shakes the ground. When I was trying to video it I set up different things around it to put camera on but no matter what it shook to much. It’s the “dead stop” about an inch from stump that does that, needs a piece of rubber between stop. You’re right the pieces are a little long and narrow. I think an “angle” blade would make better shaped chunks.
Thanks Gary W, I’m a “machine guy” I will spend a month making a machine to do something even if I could do it in a week by hand, doesn’t make much sense but I have always liked the challenge of machinery, one exception, computers!!!
You guys are better judges on what kind of wood that is, I’m a metal man, never interested in wood until I heard I could DOW. I have a pile of “knots” that I have left after splitter gets done with them. To demonstrate how it works to neighbors and friends I have them pick out the tuffest knot they can find. I put it in there and it will eventually go though any of them. I have just left it running, the knot goes up and down with blade and just keeps pounding on it until it finally goes though no matter how “tuff” it is.
If I had it to do over again, and I will, I can’t leave anything along, I would use bigger around tire for more lifting power and use a heavier shaft for more splitting power. I think it would split any kind of wood as long as it’s not much longer then 3". latter, herb
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Herb: Couldn’t you just weld some rebar or stock to your current shaft to bulk it up and make it heavier? Why rebuild when you can reinforce!
Yeah but I think if I made it heavier the small pulley would have a tendency to slip on tire on the up stroke. One day it started to mist a little when I had it running and the small pulley started to slip on tire, needs to be a little bit bigger tire and may as well give it more stroke while I’m at it, it only has 8" stroke, a 10 or 12" stroke would probably help it more then anything.
Took a pic of lower drum with preheat tubes before I put the lower section and fire tube back in today.
Hi everyone, I’m putting unit back together slowly, took a few pics of grate. It’s has about 2500 miles on it now, just took it apart to take a look at things and clean. Seems like things are holding up ok, please tell me what you think!!! I have never seem one before so I would appreciate your input, do things look about right???
I figured grate was my weak spot but it seems to be doing ok!! It is bent rounded down but seems only natural to me. No real signs of severe heat accept up around nozzels, mine is warped up like Carls and some of the others. latter, herb. Really thanks for input, I’m a big boy I can handle it!! I won’t cry!! Much!!!
Looks good from this end Herb !!!
BBB
Hey Herb, got any photos of the air tubes connecting to the very bottom barrel from the outside, and photos of how the air inlet tubes connect to the fire tubes outer shell. You have two exiting from the fire tubes outer barrel into your cooler/filter unit, but do you have two air inlets on the fire tube??
That is a awesome build.
thanks, Denny Mullins
Thanks Denny, yes there are 2ea - 25 ft long - 1&1/2 SS flex tube (total 50’ exhaust flexible tube) with a 1&1/2 street L on all 4 ends, the male end of street L’s need to be reduced (threads turned off) in size to fit into tubing and use 1&1/2 exhaust clamps on them. Female ends are welded in the bottom of barrel on outer edge and the other two female ends are welded in the outer jacket of WK burn tube up as high as you can get them. You don’t have to worry about lining up with gas exits this way.
PS. Please know and realize my system is pretty much untested!!! Seems to be holding up ok but it only has 2500 miles on it. I have burned about 2 ton of wood in it. Seems to me like the best place to put preheat system, its where the gas is the hottest, it’s only inches from grate when it hits tubing, it takes much less room on the overall build (footprint), it takes less time to fab, it’s easier to assemble and it is a dual intake system, seems to me that a dual system will out flow a single system, although flow isn’t important at this point, it is dual all the way to engine… latter, herb
Hi Herb, Thanks for sharing. Did you use standard expanded steel decking for that grate or is it stainless ?? I generally use rebar so I don’t have to think when I shove a poker rod in there but your grate looks way simple and is holding up well. I set the grate spacing and grind down the poker rod to fit in the spaces but this would be tough to do with your grate. Enjoy the thaw today … brrrrrrrrrr from here on … Mike
Hey Mike, good to hear from you, it’s just mild steel expanded metal, 3 layers. I thought half of it would be gone but it seems to like living down there. I was doing it when everyone was talking bout round holes being a problem so I went with the furthest thing from round, honeycomb if you will. see ya one of these days. latter herb
I am really happy with how well that grate is holding up. Great grate.
How does your flex tubing connect to the WK burn tube? Union couplings?
Hello Eric, I used 1&1/2" street L’s, male end needs to be reduced (turned down) threads removed. Tubing slips over and I used 1&1/2 exhaust clamps. Cut hole in WK outer jacket so female end slips in and welded. I removed inside threads on female end for added/better flow. herb
I don’t have a grate shaker, as far as I know it has never needed to be shook, I just keep a stack of rocks and bricks down by my feet and open the door every now and then and drop one in front of back wheel just in case!!!
Herb, Most of my gasifiers are on the passenger side so I can load from the curb and also so I can drive on the shoulder to shake things down. I made the mistake of pulling over on the shoulder with my 91 olds to let someone pass as I was cresting a hill and there was a huge pile of gravel awaiting me that I could not avoid just over the hill. I was like the Dukes of Hazard with a gasifier. I lucked out and the control arms on the rear wheels did not rip loose that time but the bar that keeps the rear end from swinging side to side broke. I welded a piece of rebar in that when I got home (slowly) … Mike
That was supposed to be a joke about throwing bricks and rocks out in front of rear wheel. Never know these days cops may show up at my door and arrest me for the last broken windshield!!! Pretty crazy out there any more. Thought it might be smart to clear that up!!!
Know what ya mean Mike, I have driven pretty wild myself wanting to shake things down, potholes, manhole covers, people. O there I go again!!
As far as I know my grate has never needed to be shook. I may not know what the symptoms are. When I was looking though my junk to make the grate I was pretty sure I didn’t want anything with any flat area on it. This expanded metal was the only thing I found that doesn’t have any flat spots at all to hold ashes or round holes that char could just sit there and block off that portion. If you look at a piece of it there are only sharp angles (90degree) going down both ways. I do wish it would have a smaller open area. No matter how I turned the 3 pieces it would always have 2 or 3 almost to big areas in it. O well, use what ya got right. latter, herb
Hi Herb, you have a bypass grate so even if it plugs up, the gasses will run out the sides and it will also shake stuff out the sides and hold a pile of charcoal for reduction. The only bypass my grates have is through the fins on the lower brake rotor as I tie my grate right to the rotor. It is fixed and does not shake or move side to side. It is straight bars. Occasionally I have to get down to the grate and clean it. I build with hoppers that are short enough to reach all the way to the grate with my hand and a knife to scrape the bars off. I learned the hard way with too tall a hopper that using a post hole digger etc etc etc does not work well. I hate having to tear things down to make a simple repair. Hey, was 16 below here this morning. What was it at your place ??? Mike
Herb, Here are a few grate pictures. Good old steel electric fence wire to hold them in place. M
http://www.intergate.com/~mlarosa/images/woodgas/grate-installed.jpg
http://www.intergate.com/~mlarosa/images/woodgas/water-tank-12.jpg
http://www.intergate.com/~mlarosa/images/woodgas/water-tank-16.jpg
Hey Mike, the local Des Moines news called it 1 degree this morning, I’m NW of there surrounded by corn fields, it’s always colder here and the wind blows a lot, good windmill country if there is such a thing, I think my thermometer read about 3 below early morning, it’s up to 3 above now and snowing. It’s not messing around this winter. Nobody with good sense would want to live here!!
I really like the looks and size of your unit, what do you use for upper and lower containers?? Very cool looking! Your size is what we all should be striving for in my humble not very experienced at this opinion!! Opinions are like belly buttons ya know, everybody got one and they’re free!!!
I’m trying to work up the motivation to go out to the shop, get a fire going and figure out what to do about my sizing. I’m at 15&1/2" from nozzles to 6" restriction with 6ea 7/16th’s nozzles. I’ve never changed any of it from new. Seems to run pretty good, always looking for more POWER though!!!
PS Thanks for pics!!!
Herb, If it ain’t broke, DON’T fix it. Also, keep your Caddy off the road until the salt and slush is gone. I have had to junk out several great woodgas vehicles now. It’s a shame to put all that energy into a vehicle and then have to junk it. I built a real lightweight gasifer to mount right on the rear hitch on my 95 olds. It was sweet. I put that gasifer on my truck as a second barrel when I went to visit Wayne a few years ago. We ran the truck on that one but we could have played with the double barrel as the gasifier up front was the same size hearth etc etc etc and I had a mixing valve to run both. It just rained and rained and rained and made mud while I was there as all the snow and ice from here was melting and precipitating there. When I got home a foot and a half of snow and ice was gone. I missed the thaw. There ain’t nothing more fun than watching snow melt. We are a few months from that but here’s a few pictures of that setup from 2009
http://www.intergate.com/~mlarosa/images/woodgas/extra-condenser.jpg
http://www.intergate.com/~mlarosa/images/woodgas/enough-cooler-1.jpg
http://www.intergate.com/~mlarosa/images/woodgas/enough-cooler-2.jpg
Stay warm !! Thursday is supposed to be worse plus it is supposed to snow more till then …
Mike
Mike you have the best pictures, they are so clear and big. are you using that aluminum flex pipe as a cooler as well as getting it up to the engine? I did that on my old wood powered ford festiva, can be seen on you tube, that was the car I learned on. I had it together but couldn’t get it to run, that is when I found this site and started learning the right way to do it. I ended up running that thing all over the place, it was a piece of junk but I had a blast with it!!! That was when I decided I was going to make a real road machine that ran off of wood. I think everyone thought I was high.
Do you still have videos of the Festiva Herb? I would love to see that.
Yeah Bill go to utube and search Wood Powered Ford Festiva1
My Grandson videoed it one day after school, I didn’t have a title for it so no tag but still drove it all over the place. We had a ball with it. I used 3 propane tanks, one I put a 8" burn tube in, just a 8" pipe w/grate on bottom lid on top, sucked smoke into the next one with a 8" piece of stove pipe standing up full of woodchips for filter and then into the next one with yet another 8" stove pipe standing up out of it full of hay and then to engine. I didn’t know the first thing about running it on wood so I took the gas tank out of it. It was strictly a wood machine, ended up selling it for junk, got $150 for it!!!.