Actually Bruce's video of his Mamod MM2 restoration and homemade wick burner inspired me to try this experiment.
I purchased the tiny Lilliput horizontal steam engine last winter and noted the flame was quite large as delivered. I trimmed it quite a bit for the Lilliput.
Tonight I got out my Mamod MM1 to see if the tiny wick burner would run it. At the low flame needed for Lilliput it would start but not continuously run, I only needed to raise the wick 1/8 inch and I had a nice low n slow idle. I don't know why but I often enjoy getting a small simple steam engine out after dinner and running it just above idle(is relaxing)
I need to make or procure a couple Mamod wick style burners, I like the 2 wick model where you can have 2 fires if your belting something up and extinguish 1 flame if you want to run slower.
It was fun to see the little Mamod run slow and I got 20 min run time with the boiler starting just under half full, I think that's pretty good for such a small boiler!
I want to experiment with some different wick materials.
Lilliput vs Mamod MM1 size:
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Mamod under steam with tiny burner:
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You can faintly see the size flame I was using, and size comparison to the stock Mamod burner:
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Great idea! works just right and fits the need. cute little thing.
Thanks Bruce. The wick burners are more adjustable than I thought, the original wick stuck out more than 3/16 inch and the flame was more than double what I have in photo above, (would power Mamod with authority) then when I run Lilliput the wick is just barely above the top of wick tube and that flame is less than 1/2 what I had above.
The Lilliput comes up to steam really quickly and I can hold the engine 4 inches above the table(gloves) and wave the engine over the flame, it will rev and slow down just like a throttle and is very responsive.
The only down side to the Lilliput burner is I have to top off the tiny fuel tank approx every 3 min, but it's easy to do with a syringe. I saw a YouTube video where a guy made a homemade burner from a very small candy tin for fuel tank.
I estimate Was getting 300 to 500 RPM with flame shown, the amount of water in boiler AND how full the Alcohol tank was both affected run speeds at this small scale.
I like making homemade burners from whatever is lying around.
I've been looking for a similar tin for a long time to no avail.
After the burner shown here, my favorites are made from aerosol
temporary hair color cans cut down to whatever height needed.
Here are a couple pix of MY 'candy tin' burner, and a video in
action.
https://youtu.be/kQWBPrWTFGYLots of fun,
Wayne
Thanks Wayne, that 4 wick rectangular candy tin burner looks like it would give a lot of heat in a small footprint.
I have seen that tin offered on Amazon, and also this round tin for a smaller Mamod style wick burner, these have a narrow area half way up the side, so not an exact match, but possibly 2 lids could be soldered for a bit closer match (look). They are low cost and tinplate so will except solder, I think the artwork could be rubbed off or repainted. There are lots of aluminum tins on Amazon but I am avoiding those so I can solder. I will likely order a few of these soon to practice my solder skills.
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