forward and reverse manifolds done

finished the forward and reverse manifolds, next will be the reversing valve.

back together

Added a valve to the new manifold and got it spinning again.  The weather is getting frosty in the mornings.

not plumb, level, or square

Got the manifold tubing in place.  This connects a single air/steam source into 4  points.

Intake manifold

Started making the forward  manifold.   Will be connecting them with  flared fittings and copper tube.

Reasons

Due to reasons

I will likely not have much progress on this project until the middle of September.  
I am getting close to the end of the summer semester at school and need to focus on that for a little while.  


photos of the existing Steam Simplicator project can be found at

https://goo.gl/photos/xRq65k2VYWNcneeH7

Realigning the Warp Core

Had to re-engineer (due to reasons) one of the engine's trunnions (pivot plate )

hope this one works better.

what I need for Christmas/Yule

If anyone would like to help out,I need 4 of these to make the "steam generator" (Boiler)

Copper Tubing from Ebay





http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mueller-Industries-100-ft-Soft-Coil-ACR-Copper-Tubing-3-8-Outside-Dia-/132171571321?hash=item1ec60a2079:g:lQcAAOSwRUhZAJ6B

no mas pantalones

some things got put in places to day

a wee bit of Split Happiness

i found a rare treasure on ebay. it is a split #40 chain sprocket with a 3/4 inch bore. With this I can directly and easily install the sprocket without needing to remove the entire RUSTED axle.  
Just a little bit of happiness today.

The down side was that the postal service lost it for nearly a week.

Buggy and Horse

For the first time I placed the steam engine on the car frame,

After a couple moments of appreciating it, I realised how much work is left to be done.

The car frame is upside down for now whilst I get some rusted bits removed or fixed.

Making it rain, (Steam Clouds and a chance of sunshine)

Making it rain, steam v2

Yes I am re-purposing a common galvanized steel container to experiment with.

 https://goo.gl/photos/zXJA5ctBHJFdRSQR7

new drawing

My drawing is starting to look a little bit more coherent.

silly squiggles

 silly nonsensical squiggles on a page, coalesce into something more.

I will be adding more detail into the concept artwork. 

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/301568990278326/

Time to clean it up

Now it is time to clean off all the barnacles  and un-needed "stuff" from the TC-2 body.  The back seats are in good shape.  I dislike the tiny tires but i might leave them on during the experimental phase.

TC1 cira 2004 -Test Car 1

TC1-Test Car1

About 2004,  I built my first steam car.  Pictured here with two of my kids.

On the positive side, 
it rolled easily
developed 20 bar (300 psi) of steam in  32 seconds

it went about 6 km/hr (4 mph)


On the negative side

it had an underpowered steam turbine engine

     low torque, high rpm, internal seals could not handle the super-heated steam

The steering mechanism was under-designed and built.  The front wheels failed in  a turn.



The whole car ended up in a scrap heap shortly thereafter.

TC2 -Test Car2 is home

I really appreciate that a  couple friends of mine were able to bring my test car  up from the South.  Now to start getting it  to work and look like I want it to.

One of my friends is a retired American automotive engineer.  He was telling me that when they would work on developing new  cars they would create a "mule" an existing/ basic car on which they would add their new ideas and technology.

Fire in the Hole v2

This time had a better fuel/air mixture.

Fire in the Hole

The beginning of creating  a "monotube steam generator" 

Will be adding Flame proof insulation 
Improve the oxygen supply. 
Adding 100 metres (328 feet) of tubing inside this barrel.

my Goal

My goal is to make a fun and operational Steam powered Parade car which can carry me and my wife at cruising speeds of 5 to 40 km/h (3 to 25 mph)

First Steam

A friend of mine gave me 30 metres of 15mm copper tubing. (100 feet , 5/8"). I coiled it up, added water, and some propane flames.  Made the first steam for this project.  I need to add 60m of tube and place it all into an insulated  steel container.

Boiler Injector

This is my Penberthy Automatic Boiler feedwater injector.  It is based on 1800's technology to use a boiler's own steam pressure to pump new water into the boiler. From what I understand it uses  the boiler's steam to  accelerate liquid water to supersonic speeds to force the water into the same boiler.  This specific one is designed  to pump around 180 gallons/hour of water into boilers which are up to around 185 psi  ( 680 litres, 13 bar).

It does all this WITHOUT any mechanical moving parts.

Over several years I have asked every steam historian and expert I could find in person, phone , and internet if anyone knew of anyone who had ever experimented on using an injector to supply water for a "monotube steam generator" instead of the normal way of using a mechanical pump. 

So far I have found a few that said that it will not work, a few that have said it might work, and nobody who knows of anyone who has tried it.

Years ago, my dad was talking to someone else about me and gave me a compliment. He said "When other people are standing around wondering if something could be done, Doug is already doing it".   

Will it work? I don't know.  Am I going to try it?  Yes I am. 

Simplicator prototype body

So I have been working on making arrangements to get this quad bike to Roknäs.  It has been sitting outside for a "few years" so it will take some attention to get it pretty again.


higher resolution photo

Simplicator first body

This will likely become the body for the Simplicator tech prototype.  It is currently  a Rhoades 4 seat pedal car.  It has been sitting outside for a few years , so it will need some tlc. In other news, my air compresser has stopped running. I am hoping i can get it working again.

photos of warped trunnion plates

more progress

did some more fiddling on the simplicator engine today.  I was able to get the trunnion plates smoother which allowed the motor to run from 125 psi all the  way down to less than 10 psi.  my compressor gauges do not indicate less than 10 psi.    The aluminum trunnion plates  were NOT perfectly flat when i got them. I am guessing it will take another 10 hours of running before they are ground down perfectly.  i have drilled holes for grease zerks for the trunnion plates but i do not plan on applying lubrication until  the plates  are ground smooth.


Have to start thinking about a  making a Steam Generator  (a type of boiler) now.

running on both cylinders

I got the motor running on both cylinders, still have a lot of things to fix but there is progress.  When I started it would run starting at 125 psi ( 8.6 bar) and would stop at about 80 psi ( 5.5 bar) . After some tinkering it would keep running down to 57 psi  (3.9 bar).

I still have to build a mounting frame for it and polish the trunnion plates.  Once I get that done then I can get the reversing valve mounted.


The car I hope to build

Got the Simplicator engine running on one of the cylinders.