Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Builds, Repairs, Show Your Machines! => Videos The Office of Steam Cinema => Topic started by: Ironhorse57 on July 22, 2019, 01:54:35 pm

Title: Re: Starpower flame eater
Post by: Ironhorse57 on July 29, 2019, 04:17:34 pm

Thanks Stoker - I have another clip here of it powering a Doll grindstone plus the Fleischmann saw:

https://youtu.be/dJ821cQcs3Q

Dave

Title: Re: Starpower flame eater
Post by: Stoker on July 22, 2019, 02:35:15 pm

Very nice Dave .... that definitely works a treat and is very responsive to flame positioning. I do like the way you have that detailed with accoutrements that are seminal to its operation. Looks just right!

Title: Starpower flame eater
Post by: Ironhorse57 on July 22, 2019, 01:54:35 pm

I bought this little Chinese engine some years ago, some of you may have seen it previously on the other Forum when I was showing the water cooling mods.  A brief history of this - the design of this engine is such that it heats up very quickly having no provision for even small cooling fins on the cylinder and as a result as standard it runs for only a few minutes.  My first endeavour was to coil a length of copper pipe around the cylinder to act as a thermo-syphon cooling jacket with a funnel at the top into which the previously heated water would return.  That worked OK but got messy when the cylinder was hot enough to cause steam pockets in the pipework...  Plan B was to fit a heatsink around the cylinder on top of which is soldered a simple water hopper - this works just fine, just need to remember to fill the hopper before firing up.
Latest mod, just completed, is the creation of a custom base like those on smaller full size stationary engines which we have seen a lot of recently at local shows.  Some scrap timber and various other bits got up cycled and this is the result:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48348836711_aaf2578333_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2gEqqGX)SAM_1747 (https://flic.kr/p/2gEqqGX) by David Hall (https://www.flickr.com/photos/156291290@N03/), on Flickr

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48348969382_b96cd0b8b5_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2gEr79o)SAM_1748 (https://flic.kr/p/2gEr79o) by David Hall (https://www.flickr.com/photos/156291290@N03/), on Flickr

I don't recall seeing a flame eater being used to power anything before, probably just my ageing memory, but let's give it a go:

https://youtu.be/dmv-hosqEis

Pleased with that, may see what else it can run.

Dave