I purchased some very small candy tins from Amazon, and have been having fun converting my Wilesco D100e over to Alcohol.
The D100e is a Wilesco D5 kit engine with a black/silver paint job and the kit also comes with a generator and simple electronic experiments included. It has become my favorite simple low cost steam engine to run, I have tuned it quite a bit and it Runs great.
The photo shows a 2 wick burner(burning) then the next one closer is a single wick prototype that also works well.
The front burner is just a hole punched in the lid and I put a wick in the hole...it burns well for about 1 minute and then the whole candy tin gets hot and you will get a bad flare up, do not build your burners like this!
The spent .22LR cartridge is not required to build this burner, but it works well, I drill 3/16 holes in the lid where I want wicks, then use the black center punch from the bottom side of lid to flare the hole open to .22
The spent cartridge has a slight taper so when the top will just fit, you can push the cartridge in with firm thumb pressure and it will stay. The rim of the cartridge will keep it from pushing thru. I happen to have a large bundle of wick(behind engine) that fits the .22 cartridge, so that is how this burner came about. You must drill a hole in the base of the cartridge for the wick to pass thru.
I will likely Solder these but they work well without Solder.
The candy tin lid will leak alcohol if you tip them as you load into firebox, I only fill half way on start up, and add fuel mid run with the syringe thru the vent hole in lid, I simply punched this small hole in with the center punch shown, tin is very easy to work with.
The flame shown is with the wicks approx level with the top, If you want to belt something up to the engine? Simply pull the wicks up about 1/8 inch and you will have a hot fire.
I would say these burners are not as safe as the Mamod green burners as they have the fuel tank outside the firehouse and only the wick tube gets hot, but I have not been having any trouble with flare ups if I keep my wicks trimmed low. If the candy tin is getting uncomfortable warm to the touch then your running your wicks to high!
I removed the Wilesco burner tray to make using these burners possible, I love how clean burning and low cost they are, I want to add a handle to my burner next.
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
This photo is the 2 wick burner running the D100e and there is a stock candy tin in front of the firehouse door.
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
Here you can see I leave the candy tin sticking out approx 1/2 inch so I can remove it for refuel or tend the wicks, however the entire candy tin will fit easily inside the firehouse, so when I have added a handle to retrieve it, I will add a 3rd wick.
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
Brilliant little hack you came up with. Thanks for sharing
Jason
Wow, I'm a 'for fun' burner maker and use discarded 'whatevers'
to make them. I have one 4-wick burner in a tin like yours but
have not been able to find a source for the tin boxes. Mine is
not as pretty as but it is a beast that eats grain alcohol. It
even powers my PM Research #1 engine w/vertical boiler.
I'd like to make more in different styles. If it is not a trade
secret could you give me a link to the source? I Hope so.
Thanks,
Wayne
Hello Wayne, no trade secrets, I am very happy to try to help.
I went back to my Amazon order and sadly they where sold out, however Amazon suggest this one as a direct replacement.
My burner is really small to fit the D5, these are only 1" wide x 2" long x 3/8" deep.
Empty Slide Top Tin Containers for Lip Balm, Crafts, Storage Kit and More (5-pack.25 Oz Each)
https://a.co/d/6AhtpZD
Thanks. They'll be on my list now.
Nice build and they work well!
Update:
I came up with a simple No Solder handle, it is just music wire bent into a U and the 2 tails get slide into the C channels that form the sliding lid, if you select the correct gage music wire it actually pulls the lid a bit tighter to the tin. Very light weight and works.
The picture is my 4 wick model, I do not recommend going 4 wicks with this design, it makes so much heat that flare ups happen regularly. I did manage to run my D5 with this unit for several minutes by actually pushing the wicks sub flush to make the smallest fires, but after 4-5 minutes the vent hole gets lit by itself and very soon after I get a flare up, so I would say 3 wicks is max practical on this design, and 2 is fine to run a small engine.
The 2 Very short spent brass in front was my attempt to build a shorter burner to fit my Jensen 85, the 85 has a Very low firehouse door! I did get it to run the Jensen but the shorter brass gets the flame to close to fuel tank so flare ups where unacceptable. I will have to come up with a different design for Jensen as I do not want to cut the door taller at this time.
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]