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Messages - rpg52

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 24
1
Everything else / Re: Portland Show
« on: September 04, 2010, 09:44:36 PM »
To only partially hyjack it again, but somewhat related.  How many Portlands are there in the US?  I know of Oregon and Maine, hadn't heard of others, such as the topic of this thread!
 :)
Ray

2
Listeroid Engines / Re: Concrete Pad
« on: September 03, 2010, 11:04:06 PM »
If you do a search, you should find reading for hours and hours.  My 6-1 was "active", until I bolted it down to a solid block, about 2x2x3.  Calculate the weight, if you are close to the weight of the engine, you should be close.  It is nice to have it mounted up off the ground level a couple feet.  As your knees age, they will thank you for it.
 ;)
Ray

3
General Discussion / Re: where is everybody from?
« on: June 03, 2010, 09:00:14 PM »
Georgetown California, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.
 :)

4
Listeroid Engines / Re: a compelling need to get up to speed
« on: September 02, 2009, 10:13:16 PM »
Hi Robert, Everyone,

Well, here is my $0.02.  I've owned a Jkson 6-1 for ~4 years, burns diesel only.  It is a reliable workhorse, but I haven't yet used it to its' potential.  It sits out by my sawmill, still waiting to be finished.  The set-up time was years, but now it provides power for building the sawmill.  It took a while to mount it and work out the bugs.  I wouldn't want to rely on it for immediate power though. 
 
I have a trunk 20,000 volt grid line running ~100' feet from my house - my electric bill is typically ~$40 US or so because I'm careful.  Every 3-4 years, the power goes down - sometimes for a week, more often for a day or three.  For backup for my home, I'm re-building and installing a 4000W Onan CCK.  Bought it fairly cheap, a RV take-out.  I'm converting it to propane from my 280 gal. tank.  Don't need it often, but it will be really handy when I do.  For as little as I will use it, it should outlast me.

So, for immediate power, I would seriously consider a shorter term project, a turn key gen that will let you set up a longer term solution.  As usual, it is all about the $.  Listeroids are an investment, certainly will pay their way, but sometimes short term needs trump longer term investments.  Time spent calculating your needs for electricity is time well spent.
Ray

5
Listeroid Engines / Re: My First Listeroid Experience
« on: July 21, 2009, 09:56:28 PM »
Quisp,
My engine is also a PS from late '05.  I mounted it on a frame of 6" channel iron about 18"X48", the ST5 is also mounted with an adjusting screw to tighten the belt.  When I initially started mine, the vibrations would allow it to wander around on the cement floor.  Later I mounted that frame inside an old truck frame bolted to concrete.  After reading the discussions here, I made two alterations.  I welded two pieces of 3" heavy pipe as cross members, which reduces the flex in the frame.  I also poured a concrete block underneath it with 4 - 18" long J-bolts, which pass through the frame to securely hold it down.  This holds it steady now, but I can still see the vibration in the truck frame [it has a 80 hp diesel engine (~3000 lbs.) mounted on the other end of it]. 

The vibration problem is quite complex it seems, partially because of the design of the engine.  The heavy piston and con rod are going up and down, while the flywheels and all the other parts are spinning.  The pulse of the power stroke and the compression stroke also adds an unusual acceleration and decelleration (sp?) to the mix.  Seems like a challenge to balance all that, but bolting it securely to ~1 ton of mass seemed to be the traditional method of dealing with it.  I'm sure balancing will help, but there is still some unusual forces at work on these engines, just because of the design.  There is endless discussion of this on the site, if you are willing to search for it.
Ray

6
General Discussion / Re: Engines At Work Video
« on: May 06, 2009, 11:27:55 PM »
I have a buzz saw, waiting to be assembled, with a Wisconsin AHH in the wings to run it.  Like others I helped with one in the 60's, didn't lose any limbs, but still remember the swish of air across my fingers when I got too close once.  Mine has a table on tracks - hope to use it to cut up slabs for firewood, but have to finish my sawmill first.  Plan to have a chute sloped down hill to carry away the cut pieces - to avoid the issue of anyone getting too close to that blade.  Dangerous, but probably not more so than the average Lister without guards around those spinning flywheels.
Ray

7
Listeroid Engines / Re: Soot - how to remove it
« on: February 20, 2009, 12:35:44 AM »
Yet another tip - a cleanser like Bon Ami, plus a bit of dish soap works wonders with hands.  You can use Comet or other chlorinated cleansers too, but the chlorine stinks, though it all washes off.   :)
Ray

8
General Discussion / Re: Global Warming
« on: January 19, 2009, 12:21:04 AM »
Interesting discussion, so, here’s my $0.02.  Several clarifying points - weather is not climate, weather is what you experience, climate is an abstract, a derived average of a number of years of weather.  You may be freezing or sweating, it is irrelevant to whether the climate is actually changing.   

What seems (IMHO) to be irrefutable is that human activity has changed the proportions of CO2 in the atmosphere.  The years of measurement up on the top of Mona Loa (the highest volcano in Hawaii) establishes the current proportions.  Global CO2 is apparently very hard to measure, though the methods are easy.  A team of horses passing by would alter the measurements, throwing off all measurements made prior to ~1960 or so.  Mona Loa sticks up into the trade winds, with thousands of miles of atmospheric mixing across the Pacific Ocean to occur before the measurements are made.  The upward trends cannot be argued with.  The lower limits (pre- Industrial Revolution) are derived from air entrained in ice from deep cores extracted from Greenland.  Again, one can argue with them but they seem based on pretty good science.  Yeah, I’ve repeatedly heard the story about a volcano spewing more than all humanity, haven’t seen a compelling argument supporting it though. 

Then there is the question about whether the change in CO2 is actually causing the change in climate.  Lots of argument on all sides, seems like the consensus is that it is changing - melting glaciers, plants and animals moving up in elevation.  Not conclusive, but lots of evidence.  In my opinion (worth a lot to me, maybe not so much to others), we likely should start doing something to reduce our use of hydrocarbons, especially those derived from plants more than a million years old. 

Like many in this thread have already said - population is the real problem.  (Is there anyone out there that denies that human population growth is out of hand?)  It is coal and oil that has allowed our population to go crazy - without it, even with all the miracle sanitation and medicine advances, our population wouldn’t exceed 3-4 billion - likely less.  Unless we are unlike every other animal population, if we don’t curb it, something will cause it to crash - with unfortunate consequences for those going through the crunch.  (Pick your consequence, war, famine or pestilence, none seem like much fun to me.)  So, can we rely on rational actions to curb our consumption?  If everyone thought like Mobile Bob, we might all be able to reason with them.  Unfortunately, most humans tend to do the cheapest and easiest thing, meaning we may need some kind of regulation.  Those living in a democracy can all demand that the regulation be transparent, and based on some kind of logic so that everyone can see where the $ goes, and how.  It would set a good example, but, as always, is subject to politics, meaning someone is going to get screwed.  So, should we not try? Don’t have the answer, just asking the question.
Ray   ;)

9
General Discussion / Re: How long on Listerengine.com?
« on: October 30, 2008, 09:56:16 PM »
Dec. 7, '05.  Got my listeroid in Jan. '06.  Wish I had time to deal with a fuel system leak, maybe when miserable weather begins.  Busy covering everything for predicted rain this evening.
Ray

10
Listeroid Engines / Re: Activated charcoal as an exhaust filter ?
« on: September 16, 2008, 05:14:15 PM »


". . . it is against the law in California for junkyards to sell used catalytic converters"  I may be wrong, but I think the rational is to prevent (or reduce) the theft of catalytic converters from off of cars parked on the street.  It is still occurring anyway, but by limiting the resale, it theoretically reduces the incentive to steal them.   :( 
Also, the cats in Calif. are different than in other states - not sure how they are different (more platinum?, no idea), but if you buy one to replace the one for your car, it has to meet different standards to pass the smog tests.
Ray

11
General Discussion / Re: The last Polka
« on: September 08, 2008, 03:32:04 AM »
Thanks for sharing your knowledge Doug, I appreciate both it and your perspective.  I guess I have never taken this forum as seriously as you to consider saying good bye.   My listeroid is still under a tarp too, but I still intend to work it some more before I get put in a box.  Thanks for your contribution of 2743 posts.  Maybe if I made that many, I would start looking at this as a chore rather than just some interesting dialog.  Good luck with the child and be careful down in that hole.   ;D
Ray

12
I make no claim as an expert, however, I've been told that pellet stoves are very particular about the quality of the pellets.  Most of the commercial pellets are made only from pine - no hardwoods, no dirt.  A boiler is likely less particular, and a commercial unit even less so.  The ash content seems to be the issue - too much ash and everything clogs.  How straw would stack up (no pun intended) I don't know.  It would seem like extensive research would be important prior to sinking much $ into such a project however.   :)
Ray

13
Listeroid Engines / Re: Made a propane tank muffler today
« on: July 14, 2008, 06:18:17 PM »
Out of curiosity I Googled (isn't it funny how that has become a verb?) fertilizer explosive, (likely adding my name to the NSA/CIA/whomever's list of possible terrorists, but it doesn't matter, they already know about me).  You wouldn't believe what is already available to anyone interested.     :o

In any case, it did confirm what I had thought, the nitrate gives its' oxygen to the carbon and hydrogen of the fuel oil in an instant, making a large cloud of water and carbon dioxide in a very small space, resulting in a big boom.   This tempts me to head off on a tangent of nitrogen and nitrogen fertilizers, but this has likely already gone on too long.  One teaser, when people first invented black powder, they got the KNO3 by scraping up crystals off the floor of horse stables.  The urine you know, transformed from amino acids into ammonia, then into nitrates.  How would you like that job?   :P
On the other hand, it quite likely limited the amount of gunpowder manufactured at any one time.  Maybe that was a good thing?


Ray

14
Listeroid Engines / Re: Made a propane tank muffler today
« on: July 13, 2008, 11:00:39 PM »
I'm pretty ignorant about the chemistry of explosives, but I was under the impression that, in general terms, what was going on in a fuel oil/fertilizer bomb was the oxidation of hydrocarbons by the transfer of oxygen from the nitrates.  In black gun powder it is a mixture of potassium nitrate with charcoal and sulphur.  The rapid oxidation results in large amounts of gas very quickly.  All the gas confined in a small space is what causes the explosion.  If someone actually knows (not the proportions, just the chemistry) I'd like to know.   :)
If I'm wrong, I've been wrongly informing a number of students over the years   ;D
Anyone really interested in this stuff, likely wouldn't be looking in a Lister engine forum under the propane tank muffler topic anyway.  But that is just my opinion.
Ray

15
General Discussion / Re: Peak Oil revisited
« on: July 05, 2008, 03:54:25 AM »
I'll never forget a friend who owned a Metropolitan (tiny little two-seater, not sure where they were made) carrying two bales of straw "in" the trunk.  He was a starving student at the time.  The trunk wouldn't carry even a single bale, so they were tied on.   I've seen photos of French farmers carrying calves in the trunk of their little sedans.  They didn't say they had the scours, but, it really doesn't matter much with a calf.  I've never seen a photo of a scooter carrying calves, but I have seen one carrying a family of 5.  Likely you'd do what you have to, depending on circumstances. 
To bring this back around to the subject of the forum, George B. of Utterpower seems to like the Chinese two-wheeled "tractors" with diesel engines.  Seems like it would be possible to make a low-speed vehicle with brakes, lights, etc. that would easily haul typical loads for short distances but still be inexpensive.  May be the wave of the future.   If the powers that be could create incentives for such a thing, (cheap licenses, insurance, etc.) it could happen pretty quickly. 
Ray

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