Brian does Ridders flame eater

[brian Rupnow]

The "fins" in the cylinder were all plunge cut with HSS. It squealed and chattered, but the fins are quite shallow. The boring and reaming of the cylinder was all done with HSS tooling.

[vpt]

Plunging stainless with a cutoff tool isn't fun. More curiosity, did you use HSS or a carbide?

Sorry for all the questions all the time. I love motors.

[brian Rupnow]

I like my cylinders so much better when they can stand on their own two legs----Said legs are made of cold rolled steel, and still require a fit of polishing to get a really good finish.

[brian Rupnow]

Flamesucker engines suffer hugely from condensation. When the flame is sucked into the cylinder and goes out, it seems to give up any moisture in the form of condensation inside the cylinder. This causes rust and leads to the pistons jamming in the cylinder.

[vpt]

Is there a reason the cylinder has to be stainless or is it just what the plans call for?

From the videos I remember seeing heat seams to be the enemy of these engines. If the cylinder gets to hot they quit running. One video I remember the engine had huge fins on it, almost looked like one of those old harley engines that all you could see is fins.

Progress looks great!

[brian Rupnow]

And to wind up the day--A couple of "in process" shots of the 316 stainless cylinder.

[brian Rupnow]

This mornings work yields a pretty little brass flywheel. The best thing about it was that the material was "left over" from the Stirling engine. I try and salvage every little short left over piece of material that I can.

[brian Rupnow]

I called my bearing supplier today to check and make sure that the metric bearings were available. They were, so I ordered them--there is about a 5 day delivery because of heading into the long weekend here. I also changed the exterior shape of the cylinder. The way Jan had it shown would require a form tool to make the V shaped cooling fins, so I changed them to conventional cooling fins that can be made with a parting off tool. I have my lump of flywheel brass up in the lathe, and will probably finish the flywheel tomorrow.

[dalee100]

Hi,

I made a start on this Ridder engine last fall. Sadly, my wife and I are dealing with end of life medical issues for a family member since last August. So nothing has gotten done since.
https://imgur.com/a/hVtSb

I didn't bother with converting the metric stock to inch sizes. A light cut or two gets you to the finish metric sizes. And the DROs and digital calipers and mics solve the measuring problem for me. Only thing I tweaked has been fasteners. I'm using SAE fasteners since I have those on hand.

The carbon graphite fiber rod I got off of eBay. I bought the stuff they use to stir molten precious metals when smelting. A 1"x12" rod cost me $15US. I haven't machined the piston or slide valve yet. So I don't know how it machines. But handling it does not leave any black residue on my hands.

I was really enjoying the build. It's my first atmospheric engine. It's a simple engine and I think pleasing to look at. It shouldn't take Brian very long to build it and get it running.

[brian Rupnow]

VPT--Apparently it helps a great deal if you use alcohol. The old school flame eaters that ran off a candle were the ones I have heard about being so dirty. Jan Ridders claims that using alcohol as fuel almost completely eliminates the problem.

[vpt]

These engines have always interested me and is one I would like to build myself some day.

Does running a cleaner fuel help with the soot? A video of one flame eater I saw used alcohol for the fuel. Maybe they all do?

[brian Rupnow]

I have enough brass left over from the power cylinder on the Stirling engine to make a flywheel for the flame eater engine. I picked up 6" of 1 1/2" 316 s.s. for $14 this morning. I also picked up some "real" work today, so now I get to do the great balancing act.

[brian Rupnow]

Thank you, Sid. I may do that.---Brian

[sid pileski]

One surprising thing about this engine is how few parts it actually has. I have never worked with machineable graphite, in fact right at the moment I don't even know where to get it, but like everything else, I will find out as I go along.

Go to a shop in your area that does plunge EDM work. They should have a piece for your piston. Take along one of your engines that's done to get them interested in what your doing and what you need the graphite for.

Sid

[brian Rupnow]

One surprising thing about this engine is how few parts it actually has. I have never worked with machineable graphite, in fact right at the moment I don't even know where to get it, but like everything else, I will find out as I go along.