Building my own spirit burner.

If you do try JB weld then you want the one with black and white tubes as that is the higher temp one, though I would not use it in that situation myself.

Just turn the regulator on your big torch down a bit and don't squeeze the trigger so hard and you will get a less powerful flame. I would just use my usual 22mm nozzel but play a gentle flame onto the pipes, I seldom fit the 10mm one. Or if you do want to buy something then get one of the smaller nozzels for it.

J

I bought the black and white JB Weld today ; I may experiment with it tomorrow.

I have the full flame burner, medium burner and pinpoint burner for my propane gas cylinder. Only the full flame burner is reliable. The medium burner had to be returned as it kept spluttering out ; I suspect a blocked jet or some other fault. I have not bought a replacement yet. The pin point burner does not give enough heat for silver brazing but it may be okay for soft soldering. I also have trouble with the pin point burner spluttering a lot ; it has a tendency to go out just at the crucial time !

Edited By Brian John on 08/02/2015 09:47:44

Brian, I guess from the EBay link you are in Australia? The small blow lamp therein is way too small for the work you are doing, they are very useful for small work and I use mine (similar type) a lot for many different jobs.

Jason's is spot on regarding the heat you applied, way to hot, a good indicator when soldering copper or brass is that the flame goes green when the soldering temperature is reached and at this point little or no extra heat is required so just "play" the flame on and off the work to hold the temperature whilst you apply the solder.

For flux I would use a resin, Fluxite or similar or you can use the self cleaning flux sold at plumbers merchants, usually a white paste. Although it says self cleaning do not assume that it's a get out of jail free solution, you still need to clean your work before hand. With soldering cleanliness is next to godliness ! The lead free solder which is more or less pure tin is also very good but it flows freer than tinmans solder.

Clean and flux all your joints then apply heat, watch for the colour change then apply solder with a little extra flux if you wish. Works for me every time !

Regards John

1. But surely this is small work ? There remains only the pipe work to be soldered now. If this is not ''small'' work then what is ? The heavy (silver) soldering of the end caps and bushings has already been done. I just need to seal around the threads of the pipes.

2. I intend to use Bakers solution for the flux.

3. I always clean the metal AND I use flux. I have heard from many people who say ''You only have to clean the metal, flux is not necessary'' and I have heard from just as many people who say ''I never clean the metal, let the flux do the work''. I do both as I need all the help I can get !

4. I solder outdoors in bright sunlight. I have trouble seeing any colour change in the flame in such conditions but I will look more closely next time.

As per Keiths advice - soft soldered. The Body is a cut down plumbing fitting.

Edited By Stuart Rogers on 08/02/2015 12:41:59

Brian, yes the pipes are small but the tank body has, it seems, quite a lot of mass and this will absorbe the heat applied to the joint thus the very small heat source will not work well. Would you use such a tool to solder plumbing fittings ? The answer is no, not if you want it to be watertight.

Soldering the small fitting onto the burner pipe would probably be OK but I doubt it would work well fixing the pipe to the tank.

Bakers will work but a resin or self cleaning plumbers flux will work better and they are not expensive! these are also easier to apply extra flux while the work is hot with the aid of a metal rod or dipping you solder stick in the flux. Bakers works best on ferouse materials but you must wash off after use.

You are right to clean and use flux, even if the flux is " self cleaning" What you have been told in point 3 is incorrect in my opinion.

If you are unable to work indoors I would suggest you try to work in the shade, in bright sunlight you are at a seriouse disadvantage in this instance

John

I have finished most of the drilling, tapping and die-ing (?). Nothing is soldered yet as I am still thinking about using the JB WELD glue.  It is also raining here and will probably rain all this week so I cannot solder outside in the courtyard.

The small brass twin barrel burner is the one I purchased from ebay. It works well but does not last very long and the filler plugs are way too small. You can see both the single and double barrel versions using the copper end caps and also another burner I am working on using brass end caps which are threaded. I think this will probably work out to be the simplest to construct. The right angle pipe work on the twin copper burner is from an air tool supply shop.

Also in the photos is my own boiler with the firebox now added. You can see how it all fits together. I am in the process of painting the wooden lagging for this boiler with clear gloss PU.

Edited By Brian John on 09/02/2015 05:05:13

Edited By Brian John on 09/02/2015 05:07:04

Brian, with the double tank, do you have a wick, bit of cotton string(would have been asbestos) from the tanks down the tube to the vertical part?

Ian S C

No, I do not. I cannot see how that could be done. Why would that be necessary ?

" Why would that be necessary ?"

Most "Spirit" burners had cotton wool padding added to stop free flow of fuel. Cigarette lighters ("Ronson" type, not gas ones) were packed with cotton wool filler.

Regards Ian

The meths is bought to the wick by the cotton in the tube by capillary action, other wise there will be a tube full of liquid meths, and it will burn in surges, tending to flare up, and once the level is below the tube, the flame will die. With the cotton in the tube , it will burn until dry. It's hard work even with a single tank(never seen or heard of double tanks till now), I tie a bit of wire on the end of the string(I still use asbestos), and gently pull it through leaving an inch or two in the tank. The wick that I use is made up of a bundle of iron florists wire, it's some where about 24 swg, the meths is fed up this by capillary action as in any other type of wick.

Ian S C

I have never felt the need for the cotton wick through the tubing. Even the brass burner purchased from ebay does not use it and it burns well.

I decided to make up one of these burners using JB WELD on the pipe work and the funnel. I glued it all together yesterday. It does take a while to set ; it is not as fast as Araldite. Here are some photos of the single barrel copper burner (32mm copper end caps) in action under my home made boiler (65mm copper end caps). It burns for 15 minutes on 15mls of metho. The flame is good and strong. There was an initial chemical odour as the glue heated up but everything seems to be okay.

I will have another go at soft soldering when the weather clears up as it is raining very heavily here now. I did some experimenting yesterday and the problem is the flux : Bakers does not get it to flow nicely. I will see what the hardware store has in stock. I want some sort of paste like I use for silver brazing.

NOTE : I have used a copper end cap lined with cork to absorb some of the heat so it does not pass to the burner. It is a temporary solution.

Edited By Brian John on 13/02/2015 04:28:38

Edited By Brian John on 13/02/2015 04:29:12

Edited By Brian John on 13/02/2015 04:39:01

Edited By Brian John on 13/02/2015 04:41:39

Brian, please have a look at your messages.

I have now finished building three of my own spirit burners using either copper or brass end caps. ( The double barrel brass burner was purchased from ebay.) The big brass one made from 32mm brass end caps also fits nicely into a 50mm copper end cap so I have cut a piece of cork to insulate it from the heat being transmitted through the copper base. It still gets quite hot after 25 minutes so most of the heat is being transferred down the brass tube from the wick funnel and into the reservoir.

1.  There is not much that can be done about that is there ?

I also tested how hot it gets in the firebox by putting a few pieces of low melt 143 degree solder inside the firebox while it was being used. The solder did not melt so obviously the temperature does not exceed 143 degrees Celsius which is well within the range of JB WELD : it will withstand a constant temperature of 260 degrees Celsius.

I am surprised how much soot is produced by a spirit burner inside the firebox. I have just finished cleaning the fireboxes and the flues/chimneys with a cut down paint brush and a home made pull through.

2. Do solid fuel tablets burn more cleanly than metho ?

3. Do solid fuel tablets produce more or less heat than metho ?

Edited By Brian John on 26/02/2015 04:16:25

Edited By Brian John on 26/02/2015 04:17:23

Edited By Brian John on 26/02/2015 04:21:16

Edited By Brian John on 26/02/2015 04:30:35

Brian, ideally the meths should burn with an almost invisible blue flame, but I have also noticed that there is a dirty flame these days. I think the fuel tablets are actually just meths soaked into a porous solid, I don't think there is much difference.

Ian S C

I have built another larger spirit burner made from a 55mm brass end cap and its plug. This one has a longer tube and two burners for possible use on a horizontal boiler. I have fitted 3 small ''feet'' made of 1/16 brass rod which sit in shallow holes I have drilled in the base of the brass end cap. They are held in place with Loctite 263. It works very well ; the heat does not now get transmitted to the reservoir which stays nice and cool.

It will take 350mls of metho before overflowing at the burners

Edited By Brian John on 18/03/2015 12:25:13

Edited By Brian John on 18/03/2015 12:27:03

I have purchased a large brass end cap and end plug to make a triple burner. I have spent the afternoon drilling and tapping and it is ready for soldering and JB WELD. (The drill press finally proved its worth today.) I have a feeling that I am going to have to run a wick of some sort down the length of the burner tube otherwise that front burner will not function very well. I can get away without any wick on the double burners but towards the end of the burn time the front flame decrease in size.  I do not have a problem with spluttering as others have mentioned. This triple burner will be used on my horizontal boiler to get more steam pressure from it.

What should I use for a wick to run down the tube ? Will cotton string suffice ? Whatever goes in there will have to stay there as there is no easy way to change it or get it out which is why I have been reluctant to use a wick on my double burners.

In the photos you can see the completed double burner and the uncompleted triple burner. It will rest on three 1.5mm diameter brass feet when finished.

Edited By Brian John on 02/11/2015 07:27:18

Edited By Brian John on 02/11/2015 07:28:28

You have a few choices for wicks, you can get wicks for oil lamps(here I think the $2 shops have those), There is fibre glass rope for sealing the door of log burners, or you could go the way I do, I use fine iron florist's wire, it's about .019"/.4826 mm, stainless might even be better, you might be able to get some fine stainless cable. The meths comes up the wire by capillary action, so depending on how tight you pack the wire in the wick tube, the faster or slower the meths rises. Cotton(not synthetic) works, but when the fuel runs out the wick burns.

I make the wick tubes at the top end as thin as possible to reduce heat conduction, I also make that part in steel for the same reason (I know, it rusts), I'v got 20 year old burners that are as good as new (a bit rough).

Ian S C

Sorry, I did explain properly. I use fibreglass for the wicks that burn and these do a good job (they last forever). But I need something that will aid the flow of meths from the reservoir to the burners. I called this a ''wick'' but it may have been incorrect terminology : some sort of string (cotton) that runs under the burners down to the reservoir. I do not want something that will rot after 6 months.

Brian I did mention that (02/01/15), cotton string ok, fibre glass in the form of string OK. I'm naughty, I use asbestos string. have a bit the length of the horizontal tube, plus a couple of inches or so in the tank.

Ian S C