Has anybody built the flame eater “Nick”?

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I made a lubricator for this engine as obviously it does need oil on the piston and cylinder to work effectively. I even made a ''hat'' for the lubricator ! The engine looks more balanced now ; it looked a bit strange before.

There was always the chance that I would damage the cylinder bore by doing this. I drilled and tapped for M3 then carefully removed the excess metal from around the hole using some 2000 grit wrapped around a piece of dowel. I thought I had done a good job but even that small adjustment has mucked things up. I seemed to have lost my ''pop'' sound for the engine so I guess I will have to make another, tighter fitting piston to give a better seal. These things are so fussy !

Edited By Brian John on 30/07/2016 08:58:16

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

There is nothing wrong with the piston/cylinder seal after all. It is still very strong : piston very slowly sinks under its own weight when placed on a flat surface. I have spent all day making adjustments and polishing all the moving and mating parts to a mirror finish…all to no avail. I will put this engine aside now until the new Silicone and Nitrile balls arrive.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I have re-machined the cylinder and polished it using 2000 grit and then metal polish. I have made another piston (my third for this engine) and polished it with 2000 grit then metal polish. There is a much better fit than previously but it still will not run. I do not understand why this engine ran successfully three times in one day ( 3 X 10 minute runs) last week but now refuses to run at all ?

I was hoping the new Nitrile and Silicone balls would solve things when they arrive but now I do not think so. The engine should run with the supplied ball valve because it did before.

I am also puzzled that some people recommend pre-heating the cylinder before running. This seems rather counterintuitive. Can somebody explain that ?

 

 

Edited By Brian John on 04/08/2016 12:10:27

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I found that the slide valve rod was sticking in the hole of the slider plate. This was preventing the slider plate from sitting flush against the cylinder head. So I enlarged the hole on the slider plate slightly and it moves more freely now.  The engine ran for 30 seconds then stopped. It will only run for about 30 seconds from cold ; once it stops then it will not run at all. What could be causing that ?

Edited By Brian John on 06/08/2016 12:15:51

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

The Silicone and Nitrile balls have arrived. I did order red Silicone and black Nitrile but the whole order is black balls so I am not sure which is which as they were not marked on the plastic bags. There seems to be a slight improvement in the running of the engine but it still stops after 60 seconds. Bengs are sending me a new slider plate with my latest order so I am hoping that might improve things when it arrives.

NOTE : How can I tell Silicone from Nitrile balls as they look very similar ? Which has the highest melting point ?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Brian John on 16/08/2016 08:32:49:

NOTE : How can I tell Silicone from Nitrile balls as they look very similar ? Which has the highest melting point ?

.

Try the links to 'Description and Propertis' on this page, Brian

http://www.viconerubber.com/en/materials/

MichaelG.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

The slider plates/valves on my motors are cut and milled from scrap cast iron, tyhe first from a brake disc, the second from the bed of an old sewing machine.

Ian S C

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I made a slightly larger slide valve rod (part #11). This one is 9mm diameter whereas previously it was 8mm. I am now using what I think are the Silicone balls for the ball valve and I had two successful runs today : one run of 10 minutes and the second run of 15 minutes. Other than the flame blowing out three times, the engine ran very well. If it runs again tomorrow then I will post a video.

I still have to make a new burner with some sort of adjustment in the horizontal axis. The engine is quite sensitive to flame placement. Perhaps something to do with magnets ?

NOTE : The US company is going to resend my order for free and this time they will clearly mark on the packets what is what. This should not be needed if they send red Silicone balls and black Nitrile balls as initially requested.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

You should only need the silicon balls they are good to a high temperature. Nitrile is fuel proof, I used that in moulds that I made for making rubber parts for JEEP(ww2) fuel systems, in fact I think all the rubber gaskets, and other bits were Nitrile.

Ian S C

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

The Nitrile balls were melting slightly as the engine heated up ; Silicone has a much higher temperature range so I think it is the Silicone balls that are doing the job now. As I said before, the packets were not marked so I am not sure what they sent me.

The 8mm slide valve rod had the slider plate fully opening and closing which is what I would have thought it should do. The 9mm slide valve rod has the slider plate fully closing but only opening about 75% ; this has resulted in much better running but I have no idea why.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

The engine is running well now. Only the burner seems to be giving problems with the flame blowing out sometimes. I have reduced the length of the wick nozzle to get it lower and that has helped a bit but now it sets fire to the breather hole in the filler plug ! I am going to design a new burner so that the flame is much lower ; I think the engine should be drawing from the tip of the flame where it is the hottest.

**LINK**.

 

Edited By JasonB on 19/08/2016 09:44:25

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

That's a great video of the machine running. Well done, I reckon. 10 minutes' run time for something like that is pretty darn good.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

Thank you. Flame eaters might be a real pain to get going but they do make a wonderful sound !

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

They sure do Brian, and not all the same, some pop, some quack like a duck, and others whistle. But what ever they do it's always a great feeling when they go,. If you find a way of stopping the flame blowing out tell us, back in the day motors of this type were built to do work, but the flame blowing out was one of its downfalls, lack of power was another, little petrol motors took over.

Ian S C

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

My plan at this stage is to have the base of the flame well below the inlet port of the engine so that the engine will only be drawing heat from the top of the flame. I am hoping that by leaving the base of the flame untouched then the flame will not blow out.

What sort of work did these engines do ?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Brian John on 19/08/2016 18:00:32:

What sort of work did these engines do ?

.

With a name like that … Presumably, the work of the Devil.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Farm water pumps, small chaff cutters, things like that, dont know if they were over successful, but they were made for a short time, but died a similar death to the Stirling Engine. Maybe not the work of the devil, but a devil of a thing to make, and keep working. Love to find a full size one, but that might be difficult, they probably went out as scrap in the 1930s, and got thrown back at us in the 1940s by the Japanese, and Germans.

Ian S C

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

After much mucking around with pipe benders and various fittings this is what I came up with. It seems to work well but I would have liked the flame to be even lower. At least this one does not keep blowing out.  I might make another one when I get time to see if I can get it even lower so that the engine is drawing from the tip of the flame. That might slow down the rate at which the engine heats up and hence lengthen the running time. Had I know I would be using my own burner then I would have set the engine back further on the smaller wooden base giving more room for the burner.

 

Edited By Brian John on 02/09/2016 10:31:09

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I dragged this flame eater out of the cupboard to see if I can get it to work. It ran when I first built it but then refused to go ever since. The timing is okay : move the eccentric 1mm either way and the engine will not run so we can eliminate that as the problem. Piston/cylinder fit is very good : strong suction when I place my hand or finger over the end port. That leaves the ball valve arrangement. I enlarged the counter sink hole where the ball valve fits. This time I did it by hand as using the counter sink in a drill press or power drill results in small ridges which may affect the seal.

Some success ; I can get it to run for 5 minutes but then it fades and stops. It should run for about 10 minutes. Any suggestions as to how I can improve the running time ?

NOTE : sorry, I have a new computer and I cannot get the usual links to work.

 

Edited By Brian John on 07/09/2017 08:31:48

Edited By Brian John on 07/09/2017 08:35:24

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Brian, I had to change to goole Chrome to get any sence out of my computor when I went over to W 10, it's ok on all the other sites I go to on IE.

Have you stripped the motor to take out the piston, you need to wipe it clean with a paper towel, also wipe out the bore. That's usually all I need to do to get my motoer going after a long storage.

Ian S C

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I have built a new burner using what was left of the original burner after my ''soldering accident''. I have adjusted the ball valve with the M3 screw much lower than I thought necessary and I have got this engine to run for 10 minutes which is not too bad for a tropical summer.

1. If I were to put a heat resistant gasket between the cylinder head and the cylinder, would this increase the run time of the engine ?

2. How do you cut a heat resistant gasket ? It seems to have a metal plate sandwiched on either side by some sort of rubber compound. I did try using hole punches and a hammer but I made no impression on it at all.

Edited By Brian John on 08/10/2017 03:39:49

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