Tuna Can Blower

[Stewart HartParticipant @stewarthart90345]

Making a steam raising blower from Tuna Cans

[Stewart HartParticipant @stewarthart90345]

Why do they call steam raising blowers when they suck ?. 

On with the mater in hand, I've tired various blowers and I found the best to be the ones made from 24V ex-military radio cooling vans you could get these quite cheep at one time but with scarcity they are getting expensive. And as is my natural curiosity I've stripped a fair number of blowers down. Then when making myself a lunchtime Tuna sandwich I looked at the empty tin and had the idea of making a blower out of it, I took the empty tin with us when we next went to the supper market looking for a suitable tin to make the inner fan out of to me delight I found that the smaller tins of Tuna they sell would just fit the bill. 24V electric motors are easy to obtain of the net.

A few manufacturing shot

Material

Drilling the base of the fan the vanes were put in with a wood chisel whilst the inside was supported by a lump of wood.

The gap for the exhoust vent

The exhaust with its paper pattern

Soldering the exhaust

Machining the top and bottom plates these were made from 100mm dia ally blanks bought of the net.

Completed blower

And yes it does work I recon at that size it would be fine for smaller 5" gauge and 3 1/2, 2 1/2 locos

If you need a bigger blower you'd just have to find some bigger cans.

Stew

 

Edited By Stewart Hart on 22/01/2020 13:54:23

[Brian Sweeting 2Participant @briansweeting2]

Great job, well done.

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

I'm impressed. The only problem I have is that I'm a vegetarian so no tuna cans!!

Brian

[Bryan Cedar 1Participant @bryancedar1]

Hi Stew

I guess it works just as well with salmon tins, great job !

Bryan

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Brian H on 22/01/2020 14:37:55:

I'm impressed. The only problem I have is that I'm a vegetarian so no tuna cans!!

Brian

Lidl sometimes sell Dolmades – Greek vine leaves stuffed with rice – in cans of similar size, shape and aspect ratio.

Edited By Mick B1 on 22/01/2020 15:07:02

[Andrew EvansParticipant @andrewevans67134]

Smells a bit fishy

[michael howarth 1Participant @michaelhowarth1]

Neat job. Well done.

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

Great design and build Stewart! Well done. I chuckled when I saw your soldering photo with the cotter pins / split pins used as sheetmetal clamps. I've used them the same way.

Usually it's too bad when something you made really sucks, but in this case it CAN be perfect!

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

" If you need a bigger blower you'd just have to find some bigger cans. "

Watney's Party Seven?

Ed.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Posted by Brian H on 22/01/2020 14:37:55:

I'm impressed. The only problem I have is that I'm a vegetarian so no tuna cans!!

Brian

Give the tuna to the cat and you have won a can

Mike

[Bryan Cedar 1Participant @bryancedar1]

Looks like you are into making metal underpants at the same time, see photo number 4 !

[HacksawParticipant @hacksaw]

Granny knickers

[Stewart HartParticipant @stewarthart90345]

Posted by Bryan Cedar 1 on 22/01/2020 18:02:44:

Looks like you are into making metal underpants at the same time, see photo number 4 !

I had the same thought Bryan it does look like a pair of Y fronts

Thanks for your interest gents and comments

Lets see some veggie based blowers

Stew

[Stewart HartParticipant @stewarthart90345]

Just to add a bit more interest to the thread, when drilling thin sheet with a normal drill you can run into trouble with a ragged hole or even worse.

I was shown this little trick when I was an apprentice, grind a drill up with a little teat and a slightly undercut flat, this way the teat acts as a pilot and the under cut means that only the edge of the drill cuts, it cuts out a washer out and you end up with a nice clean hole.

Stew

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Posted by Mike Poole on 22/01/2020 17:58:24:

Give the tuna to the cat and you have won a can

Mike

Might be OK for a veggie, but def not for a vegan? They would only have vegetarian cats, at best (presumably).🙂

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

Very neat Stuart, and a basic answer to "Why do they call steam raising blowers when they suck ? "

Called blowers because the air is pushed (blown) by the centrifugal action in this case, causing a reduction in air pressure on the inside of the rotor. The atmospheric pressure pushes air into this space to achieve equilibrium.

Paul.

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

That's a neat dodge, Stew.

Do you know – does anybody know – if it would work with a lip-and-spur drill as commonly used for wood, or are they too soft for metal?

George B

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

Recycling

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Paul Lousick on 23/01/2020 09:02:36:

Very neat Stuart, and a basic answer to "Why do they call steam raising blowers when they suck ? "

Called blowers because the air is pushed (blown) by the centrifugal action in this case, causing a reduction in air pressure on the inside of the rotor. The atmospheric pressure pushes air into this space to achieve equilibrium.

Paul.

More likely because they take the place of a conventional stem blower which pushes steam up the chimbley to create a draught?

Neil

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Again, an Engineer showing his ancestry going back to the Greek root for Ingenious.

Definitely a Like!

Howard

[MeunierParticipant @meunier]

Posted by not done it yet on 23/01/2020 08:46:49:

Posted by Mike Poole on 22/01/2020 17:58:24:

Give the tuna to the cat and you have won a can

Mike

Might be OK for a veggie, but def not for a vegan? They would only have vegetarian cats, at best (presumably).🙂

I understood that cats were unable to process only vegetable matter and must have meat/fish/fowl protein.
DaveD

[Bill DawesParticipant @billdawes]

As an industrial fan engineer of some 60 odd years (still working) I can throw some light on the blow/suck question.

Firstly any fan blows and sucks and vice-versa. Names such as fan, blower, exhauster are frequently used as loose terminology. In the industrial fan industry a fan is generally considered to be a medium to high flow at low to medium pressures. Likewise a blower would be a low flow high pressure. High and low of course are all relative terms but in the fan world pressures don't generally go much beyond 400 mbar for multistage units. Above that comes into the compressor category.

In terms of application there are blowers and exhausters or a bit of both.

So strictly speaking a steam raising blower is actually an exhauster by virtue of all or most of its pressure is on the inlet side, pressure in this sense being negative pressure (relative to atmospheric pressure)

Interested to see your home made fan Stewart, well done. Thought about making my own but need to finish my loco first, see if i can be bothered then, Saw those ex military blowers? some years ago, they were quite cheap, should have bought one then.

Hope this helps.

Bill D.

[Bill DawesParticipant @billdawes]

Perhaps I should have also said that blower or exhauster is more determined by the application rather than any difference in the fan.

Bill D

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

Posted by not done it yet on 23/01/2020 08:46:49:

Posted by Mike Poole on 22/01/2020 17:58:24:

Give the tuna to the cat and you have won a can

Mike

Might be OK for a veggie, but def not for a vegan? They would only have vegetarian cats, at best (presumably).🙂

Only if the cat was made from vegetables

[Author]

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