Recent Posts

Wind Power Machines / Re: I finally finished my Toshiba motor conversion!

Last post by Bruce S - May 11, 2026, 11:10:29 AM

Slight off-topic . OP send me a nag-o-gram if I need to stop
Here at work we have great equipment coming in from the 10 sheep-powered mower's area.
When it comes to sending them back for repairs, phew!! the paperwork involved is 21/2 nightmares!!
I finally got them to allow me to do warranty repairs here in our office.
My needle-point temp controlled soldering iron was worth every shinny dime I could find!!

Back on-topic
I recently gotten back into my old hobby of repairing 4-cycle internal combustion devices. I've also begun to run into issue where a silicone based gasket has/had the nasty smell. I wasn't sure what/where it was coming from since none of the cylinders had standing wet sludge in them. NOW I KNOW TOO!!
I'm old school in that I still use cork and a hammer to make my own gaskets, so I'm glad I still do now.

SparWeb;
I do remember on the original forum that several founders did the same of skewing the magnets to lessen the cogging problems. If I remember correctly, this wasn't a big problem until the Sumerian-Cobalt <-sp? and higher powered mags started coming down in prices. I don't thinks this is/was ever a problem with ceramic mags.
I could be wrong.

Cheers
Bruce

General Discussion / Re: Image uploads

Last post by Xeonpony - May 11, 2026, 05:58:37 AM

Quote from: eColumbus – on May 10, 2026, 09:14:47 AM

Thanks for the heads up, Xeon. It has been fixed.

Ed

Seems to work well enough. Check out the heating section!

Heating / Re: My miniture waste oil heater

Last post by Xeonpony - May 11, 2026, 05:54:44 AM

Well here it is, siting on its home for now where I can do all that pesky electrical and safety stuff out of the wind and rain!

Need to clean the area now that some serious energy will be produced. As expected too powerful with the 0.5mm nozzle, need to get a 0.2mm, can try a needle valve to choke it down.

All ready used it to peak the house up in temp, certainly fine tuning needed but for now it has performed as desired and intended, can't ask more then that!

Heating / Re: My miniture waste oil heater

Last post by Xeonpony - May 11, 2026, 05:48:19 AM

Part 4 due to the lack of an edit button!

Sadly for some reason the secondary air bracket fabrication and test burns never saved properly but, this is the secondary air welded on. and a dusting of bbq paint for looks after much sanding.

Now the real question, what does the inside look like after 2L of nice nasty waste oil from a car and diesel power plant been run through it?

Pretty dam good apparently!

That is the looks of Success! Good clean burn, white ash means full combustion and nice even oxide formation means good mixing and even heat distribution.

Refractory target laid in, this will aid in combustion and extend the life of the rear of the burn chamber, this is where I am at, once this is cured I can start fine tuning the flame, this needs to be done with every batch of fuel that is made, so it pays off to mix very large batches! Now with a per-heater this whole mixing thing goes away, waste oil needs to be preheated to 80C for it to behave like diesel and nothing more than a spark is needed, but part of this was to side step that for now.

The electrical stuff will be a reply to this thread down the road.

Small remaining structural things is to add some bolts to press off the front for cleaning the body and servicing the refractory target, and an adjustable foot at the rear of the chamber, and possibly touch shield

Heating / Re: My miniture waste oil heater

Last post by Xeonpony - May 11, 2026, 05:39:12 AM

Part 3:

Here it starts to come together, those used to the old life style may see where it is going once you see this part!

This flange is what sits on the wood where the usual burner plate sits to securely lock it on the wood stove (that flange gap on the burner assembly will be dealt with!) When it will be used for a boiler that flange can be clamped on to a fabricated socket

Test fit, looking good

Heating / Re: My miniture waste oil heater

Last post by Xeonpony - May 11, 2026, 05:34:11 AM

Part 2:

Checking sizes before moving on, yup all fits and clearances as intended

Lets get all the nasty burned off and test the basics! Yup, she's cooking!

Exhaust tube, made from same shell from the flame tube, weld is ground and some what smoothed for good gas flow.

Heating / My miniture waste oil heater

Last post by Xeonpony - May 11, 2026, 05:23:53 AM

Design goal:
- Minimal parts / complexity
- Readily and easily salvageable materials
- Simple easy to service design
- Flexibility of application, So atm it will be used on a wood burning cook stove to heat the house, but it will be very easy to mount to a boiler (I prefer secondary exchange for comfort and safety)

Utilizing Air atomizing siphon nozzle for the heavy oil with a 0.5mm Nozzle @ 14.5psi gauge, Ideally should be a 0.2mm nozzle.

The 0.5mm Nozzle at 14.5psig should make apx a little over 20,000 btu/h

Goal is to not use preheating, to save some energy, so I am using a gasoline waste oil mix, now you may ask doesn't that defeat the point? Well 16L gas makes 64L of fuel and gas is cheaper then diesel and used oil is generally free (It costs you time and effort to get it, but with careful planing and asking around every time you do a trip!)

Parts purchased:
Oil primary control - New
Nozzle Assembly - New
Regulator gauge assembly - New

Currently got body assembled and a refractory target end of the burn chamber. So now it is down to fine tuning the fuel mixture and secondary air mixture

Issues:
Internal flame tube is too small diameter for the nozzle it is 4" how ever should been ideally 7", rest of dimensions scaled accordingly

Now rest will be pics with some explanation.

Nozzle assembly as ordered from Amazon dot Ca, I modified it by adding the rivets as a centering shim and slide to make it easier to insert to the flame tube

Flame tube marked out and cut from a old 2.5lbs Strike first fire extinguisher shell. A fiber glass impregnated cardboard backer plate to secure the tube center

Flame tube welded to the fire tube (It's job is to ensure full combustion by vaporizing any larger droplets and guide the flame to the end of the outer chamber) that is the larger flange at the front from a 40lbs Amerex extinguisher shell, this will make clearer sense down the road. Yes I suck at stick welding, TIG been much more preferable for me!

The burner assembly is the removable element to facilitate cleaning and repairs down the road, so welding on the flange to form the lap seal with the main heater body

Test Fit

The fins serve 2 purposes, 1: is to center the tube in the main body, 2: to re-enforce the spin of the heated gasses to improve heat transfer

-Continues

General Discussion / Re: Image uploads

Last post by Xeonpony - May 11, 2026, 05:13:35 AM

Awesome will test it out.

Solar / Re: Fixing solar panels, I did something stupid

Last post by MaryB - May 11, 2026, 04:47:48 AM

Quote from: bigrockcandymountain – on May 10, 2026, 05:10:33 AM

Now i need to go smell my silicone. That's good to know and I'm grateful for the advice. The panel is still in the shop so it won't be hard to rectify if it is the wrong stuff.

I have seen ham radio operators use it to seal coax connectors... when they peel it off because the antenna quit working the metal is literally dissolved, turned into something nasty and non-conductive. Even using it to seal the lid on a box of electronics is bad news, the acetic acid fumes get inside and eats the copper off circuit boards!

Wind Power Machines / Re: I finally finished my Toshiba motor conversion!

Last post by MaryB - May 11, 2026, 04:44:50 AM

Quote from: bigrockcandymountain – on May 09, 2026, 05:18:58 AM

Oddly enough, we have the same eecol electric in Medicine Hat and every time i try to deal with them, my results are the same. It's like unless you have an electrical business, they don't want anything to do with you.

Nice, simple decogging. I like that.

On the TS-60, Charge Solar has one listed for $310 but only stock in Barrie. It says call for availability in Calgary. I can inquire if you are stuck.

I have a brand new TS-45 on the shelf you can have for $100 if it would work for you. I bought it for some 48v systems i was selling at the time, but ended up liking victron controllers better for that application.

That TS-45 is tempting but shipping from Canada is outrageous right now, plus dealing with tariffs/customs... I used to sell some astronomy accessories into Canada, a group who combined orders to cut shipping costs. Now shipping is MORE than the cost of goods... and I haven't sold anything into Canada for years(this has nothing to do with current politics, it is a long running problem trying to ship goods cross border, small tiny businesses like mine can't afford it! It goes back 15+ years...)