Well I finally found a round door handle from which to start my Babbington burner. For those unfamiliar with these, they use air to draw a film of oil from a spherical surface, rather than forcing oil through jet, which will eventually block. When running properly there is no smoke and all of the oil burned.
I snapped several #80 drill bits trying to drill the hole, so I started with a #60 and stopped before going all the way through. I then finished the hole with a #80.
I rigged it up using gravity fed oil and held everything in place using a retort stand and clamps (remember high school chemistry?). After playing with variables, such as the position of the oil drop on the ball, air pressure, the length of the extension tube and the number of air holes, we had it running nicely.
However, there are a few things to play with further and add. For example, the tin can will make way for a proper sump and the oil will be fed through a copper coil that wraps around the extension tube. This will heat the oil, which will make lighting easier. There will also be a gas pilot, to get her started.
The all important hole
Crappy pic but you are looking in through top of the housing and looking at the air/oil mixture entering the extension tubing
Adjusting the oil flow (you can see unburned oil spitting at the bottom of the flame)
Temp reading at the end of the extension tube (in Fahrenheit for the benefit of the Americans). That is about 405* C
I snapped several #80 drill bits trying to drill the hole, so I started with a #60 and stopped before going all the way through. I then finished the hole with a #80.
I rigged it up using gravity fed oil and held everything in place using a retort stand and clamps (remember high school chemistry?). After playing with variables, such as the position of the oil drop on the ball, air pressure, the length of the extension tube and the number of air holes, we had it running nicely.
However, there are a few things to play with further and add. For example, the tin can will make way for a proper sump and the oil will be fed through a copper coil that wraps around the extension tube. This will heat the oil, which will make lighting easier. There will also be a gas pilot, to get her started.
The all important hole
Crappy pic but you are looking in through top of the housing and looking at the air/oil mixture entering the extension tubing
Adjusting the oil flow (you can see unburned oil spitting at the bottom of the flame)
Temp reading at the end of the extension tube (in Fahrenheit for the benefit of the Americans). That is about 405* C
Hunting American dentists since 2015.