Author Topic: Looking for a blow torch  (Read 16132 times)

Doug

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Re: Looking for a blow torch
« Reply #30 on: March 21, 2008, 12:03:10 AM »
I completely stripped it at work....
The fule pick up tube is rotten not serviceble but thats ok.

Needs a little rework, but Ill adapt my Diesel burner to fit the tank.

Then at some point I'll put it all back together and put it on a shelf to admire.

The wife says I can put it on any shelf I like as long as its not in the house.
It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken

rcavictim

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Re: Looking for a blow torch
« Reply #31 on: March 21, 2008, 01:23:22 AM »
My brand new 1940s Blow torch arrived today.

I'm pleased and amused.

A welcome addition to my dusty old things that let me retreat in the the past where there are no computers and solid state devices.

It pumps up and holds presure, inthe morning I'll takeit apart and clean it up possibly restore.
I think the tank will however be the test bed for my new diesel torch head experiment to preheat the Petteroid.

I love brass....

I love old things, they brings me back to those warm and fuzzy places like your grandfathers work shop, a box of shortbread cookies and hot cup of teas ( with three tea spoons of sugar ).

Forget trying to buy 90 volt B batteries for that thing.  They haven't made 'em in decades.  Hint, you can string present 9 volt transistor radio batteries in series for a DIY fix.  I have a small collection of some of the battery filament tubes used back then like 1V4, 1S5, etc..

Oh, waydamminute.....blowtorch, OK, never mind. ;)  Dammit Doug, you gotta post pictures!  That way us old geezers won't get so easily confused.   ;D
-DIY 1.5L NA VW diesel genset - 9 kW 3-phase. Co-gen, dualĀ  fuel
- 1966, Petter PJ-1, 5 kW air cooled diesel standby lighting plant
-DIY JD175A, minimum fuel research genset.
-Changfa 1115
-6 HP Launtop air cooled diesel
-Want Lister 6/1
-Large DIY VAWT nearing completion

Doug

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Re: Looking for a blow torch
« Reply #32 on: March 21, 2008, 01:25:32 AM »
Ya I better remember my password for the Putfile soon....
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Doug

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Re: Looking for a blow torch
« Reply #33 on: April 04, 2008, 03:27:41 AM »
Just fueled up a fired that old CL torch today.

Now this wasn't a wise thing to do with something so old and in poor shape.....

I repaired and cleaned as many things as possible and extended the distance between the tank and burner head with hose.

It looks odd, but burns last summers gasoline very nicely.

Now we wait untill darkness so I can look at how the flame behaves. I didn't want to light this thing but you can only learn so much from taking things a part. Now I need to watch and tinker to understand.

So if your like me and new to old torches.
Never light one!
Now when you do be careful nopt to loose your hair.

I did 2 dry leak tests and two wet ones ( one water one fueled ) and I still found a small leak on the packing nut when the head heated up. Thankfully I added a second fuel shut off for safety.

Added later:
http://www.putfile.com/album/0/dougwp

If wondering why the JIC fittings and comicly short #4 hydraulic hose this give me 3 axis of retation and swivle so I can put a preheated torch head any direction I like and fire it up.

And that is a not a normal propane torch inthe back ground, both have about a 6-7 inch flame on. The Gasoline is not as clean because its stale and the the torch has some oil in it from the rebuild.
Some Naptha would probably clean that right up as nice as Propane.

Lots learned from this for the diesel fired version
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Doug

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Re: Looking for a blow torch
« Reply #34 on: April 08, 2008, 02:28:15 AM »
Fired the diesel and it burns dirty so I made some modifications that I'm not too sure about.

Fire the Gasoline head again but this time with fresh Naptha.
Oh My God!
This torch is a dream on Naptha. I'm getting a flame that is just about as clean as nice as this old Turner.
http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/ccfurnace01.html
In my previous picture you can see a lot of yellow in the flame. First I'm running this thing full out and there is some mixed gas in there with the stale stuff. 

The fellow up the road from me preheats hsi plane with a pair of old otrches like this and swears by them as the final word in preheating air cooled engines.
He also says I am wasting my time trying to imrove things with a diesel version.

If you can find one of these and its in good order and you can use it in a safe responsible manner then go for it! Propane has its place but for raw power and ecconomy you can't beat gasoline
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Doug

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Re: Looking for a blow torch
« Reply #35 on: April 13, 2008, 03:50:08 AM »
Burned threw another 4 tanks of fuel blends today, I also made some minor modifications to the head.

I took my dye grinder and removed some casting flash and this made the shape of the flame a littel cleaner. I also cut a little reliefe around the air inlets and removed and burs.

I also did a little tuning on the packing nuts with some loose #2 graphite powder absolutely no leaks

I've settled on Gasoline over Naptha mostly because of cost.
Blending naptha and gasoline makes for a slightly cleaner burn.
Blending Methanol has the same effect but much less is needed( haven't done a cost but for regular use I think this is probably the cheapest way to go ).

High methanol gasoline blends make the torch surge at medium to high burn levels. You can reduce this surging a little and increase the burn further by increasing the tank presure ( warning risk a tank rupture or any other number of fire ball results, screaming and running around on fire ).
At lower burn rates the higher methanol blends seem to be cleaner than even pure naptha.

Straight methanol just doesn't work although I could probably modify the torch to do it nothing there to be gained.

The head only likes to be pointed flat. I've tried all kinds of things to try and make it work point striaght up as was intended for my heat exchanger but nothing works.

So for what its worth if you want to use a C&L or other common torch to preheat and engine over propane and you want to use Gasoline instead of Naptha here is what I have learned....

Gas works but its not as clean
Blending Methanol ( and I assume any alcohol ) 15%  to a maximum of 30% will make the flame neice and blue again.

If your tank was dirty the alcohol will probably loosen up some filth.

and about 200-300 ml of fuel will give you about 30 minuts of fire and thats more than enough to bring a roid or anything else up to temp in a hurry

Next I think I'm going to try and run a Coleman 237 on the same blend of gas and methanol and see what it does ( as well as cut some diesel with the torch fuel ).

Tomorrow even the heat exchanger should be done and ready for the first burn test. My next concern is can I regulate the flame size enough in the C&L to heat coolant in the heat exchanger without causing it to boil ( a lot of heat here )
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Doug

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Re: Looking for a blow torch
« Reply #36 on: April 13, 2008, 09:09:18 PM »
Made this heat exchanger....

http://www.putfile.com/pic/7981056/?action=zoom

Not exactly a perfect match for the torch it can;t pass the volume of gas the torch produces.
Not exactly sure what to do with it. Maybe fin the outside and use it or find another aplication.

This was a pain in the ass to make an investment of about 5 hours....
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Doug

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Re: Looking for a blow torch
« Reply #37 on: April 16, 2008, 03:59:34 AM »
Well after much screwing around I removed all my modifications to the old C&L and replace the rotten inner pick up tube with a copper and brass niple thats more or less identical to the original steel but longer.

The torch clogged and caused me some grief as I tried to clean it with carb cleaner then resorted to flaming it and using soapy water.

The torch has again picked up more power since its cleaner inside ( not so handy don't need more heat ) and I replaced the graphite packing in the valve since I roasted it trying to flame the torch head clean.

Much hotter and louder now at full bore and it would apear I can suck a tank of fuel dry in nearly 45 minuts.

Torched developed a leak 1/2 way threw the clean run and was surging and spitting up badly. stripped it again and clean it more.

Contaminated fuel will give you these wiered flashes and farts I don't like .

This is a tool that commands respect and care to service and use.
Oh ya and now with niple in place of my fancy swivels and fittings it will quite happily run at any angle.
No idea what it should be acting so different. Maybe I have some dirt inside the vapourizer that only caused farts and surging when it was tilted.

Doug
« Last Edit: April 16, 2008, 04:01:31 AM by Doug »
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Doug

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Re: Looking for a blow torch
« Reply #38 on: April 18, 2008, 03:10:13 AM »
Could not for the life of me figuere out why this torch that burned so good before has developed and attitude.

I've done and tried several things latest has been to remove the cotten rope packing from the pick up tube completely and run it.

This elemimnated the surge but opened pandoras box......

I now can flow fuel like mad, we're talking foot long flames with sporatic farts of raw fuel that hasn't vapourised.

So I made I crude flame arrestor ( for safety sake that fits in the pick tube and this eleminates any fear I have of blw back ( probably a .000001 % chance but no harm in being sure ) out of some steel shielding tape ( not actualy tape think of it as a role of woven fine steel cloth ).

Now sitting here typing this I have a new idea.
I will completely fill the pick up tube with the tape and be done with it......

Doug 
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Doug

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Re: Looking for a blow torch
« Reply #39 on: April 18, 2008, 03:46:28 AM »
Wow I have some theories......

The original pick up tube was shorter and steel. When I made a replacement ( because the steel was rusted and not much good ) I used a much longer brass niple. This made a cool spot where fuel wouldnt vaporise because it lacked the brass screen rolled uo inside like the steel had.

In effect the original used a 1 inch long roll of copper screen as a sort of filter/preheater for the fuel.

By stuffing the length of the brass niple with steel shielding  tape I have recreated this " gas generator effect ". And the surging has been eliminated now because the larger volume of the niple has stuffing in it that both dampens the surge and preheats the cold fuel surge.

Fairly sure this is whats happen because at low heat the torch easily warms the niple to the point where its no comfortable to touch from the heat. The torch burns its best here with a fairly good clean 6 inch flame. Increas the fule flow and the flam will grow to about 1 foot but the niple rapidly cools and then the surge and dirty burning return as the torch head I assume also cools and can no longer super heat the gas.

Gasoline has a regrideration effect on the torch head proportional to the fuel flow and this efects both the burns quality, stability and tank presure....
Amazing what an blow torch can teach you isn't it?
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Doug

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Re: Looking for a blow torch
« Reply #40 on: April 19, 2008, 02:08:18 AM »
At 7:55 pm I ran out of propane whilst trying to clean up a Coleman lantern

The C&L 158 A went from hobby/display object changed too active duty at Petteroid labs.

Its now a front line tool, replacing the propane hog. It ran for 20 minuts boiling the piss and viniger out of a 237-2991 Coleman generator in a beer can succesfuly cleaning and clearing it on .20 worth of gasoline.

Worth the time and trouble
It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken