Alcohol Lamp

[Davyboy]

Hi All. I've got this "Heat Experiment" going on. I need a wick for my alcohol lamp. I've tried nylon twine - it melted. No big surprise. Then I got some cotton rope. Seemed to work OK but burns up real fast, and smells bad when it smolders. I got some replacement wicks for oil lamps at Wally's, this morning. Had to split them lengthwise to get them into my ferrule, which is a .22 cal shell casing drilled thru and soldered into a copper fitting. What do you fellas use for a wick? Also, I used 91% isopropyl alcohol, seems to leave a lot of black soot on the glass tubing? I've ran a search here for alcohol lamps, but did not find the answers I needed. Thanks in advance for any help. Here's a short vid of what I got going on. Still needs some work, it doesn't run consistently. I would like to make a better trunnion for the tube, when I get more time, of course. :big: I believe this is my bookmarked page where I found "the Plans" :
http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~khirata/indexe.htm

And now without further ado:

Edit: Sorry, my Photobucket link is B.O. I will try to fix it up ASAP (tomorrow)

Thanks again for the help,
Davyboy

 

[b.lindsey]

I use cotton pipe cleaners and they seem to work well. You can use 2-3 as needed to fit the ferrule. Try using denatured alcohol available at most hardware/paint/ big box stores. It burns much cleaner and avoids a lot of the soot problems

Regards,

Bill

 

[tmuir]

The best wick I've found so far is fibreglass rope, the type they use to seal the doors on slow combustion wood fireplaces.
Do a search on ebay for fibreglass rope or stove rope to find them.
The smallest I've seen is 4 or 5mm so don't know if that will be small enough for your burner though.

 

[ghart3]

What works best for me is a very fine mess screen. It is stainless but think any metal would work good. It is easy to roll up tight into any size diameter you like.

The cheapest and a good grade of alcohol is what is sold for the guys racing cars. Bring a gallon can and they fill it. Leave some air space for expansion and keep tightly sealed as it absorbs water.

 

[Davyboy]

Thanks guys for the replies. Going to the hardware store tomorrow, will add denatured alcohol and pipe cleaners to the list. Sorry about that link to my video, sometimes I just get it messed up! will try again tomorrow.

DB

 

[bearcar1]

Or check out the camping supplies section at a sporting goods outlet, Some of the wicks for Coleman lanterns etc, may be of some use to you with a pair of scissors and a bit of work.


BC1
Jim

 

[Kermit]

Those oil lamps use a seperate hood or a layer of metal around the wick that prevents the entire wick being immersed in the flame and burning. Examine one of those lamps closely and make a plate with an opening for the wick and that lets air come in from the bottom and the soot problems will go away. The flame will extend above the wick only touching it at its top and might even seem to float right above the wick which is how it is supposed to work. The wick should take a long time to discolor brown and black, days perhaps at which point the wick should be trimmed down to fresh white material.


Always easier said than done, ;D
Kermit

 

[vlmarshall]

...I believe this is my bookmarked page where I found "the Plans" :
http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~khirata/indexe.htm

Nice site, that's where the basis for one of my Stirlings came from. I've also made about half of the "Rotary Displacer Engine" from there.

 

[Stan]

Google 'laboratory supplies alcohol burners' and you will get thousands of suppliers with various types of spare wicks.

 

[Davyboy]

Well, I got some denatured aclohol today in the paint dept. It burns alot better, cleaner & hotter than isopropyl. No more soot on the glass. For wicks, what I've got locally are the fiberglass oil lamp wicks, I trimmed them with scissors as mentioned.

Let's try that link to Photobucket again. I hope it works, seems like I can't even run my own videos on photobucket, even if I log in. My dial up connection just seems to stall. Hope it works for you guys.



Just a simple machine, I may spend a little more time to tweak it up some. Thanks for all the help. DB

 

[dsquire]

Davyboy

Very nice little engine. seems to work fine for me on photobucket. I also had a look at the rest of your photo's there. Some nice little engines. You should be proud of them. :bow: :bow:

cheers

Don

 

[vlmarshall]

Just an echo of what Don said; Nice work! :bow:

 

[Davyboy]

Thanks for the feedback on Photobucket working OK. And thanks for the kind word on my other photos. It's fun sharing with someone who truly has an appreciation for what goes into making these little babies run. And all of YOUR work sure gives me something to aspire to. :bow:

DB