Hello guys, We're looking for some help. To get my grandson away from computers and screens and into my little machine shop we decided to make a small stationary steam engine, the ones where you buy a casting kit and machine it up. We started with the boiler which is almost complete but we are struggling with the burner, the ones I saw were just like oil lamp wicks. In an old book for making model steam boilers a vaporising burner was mentioned but no real details. Scouring the net for vaporising burners led me here and we decided to try and make one similar to a Turm set up. We got one working after several attempts with a pre heat flame under the feed pipe, we want to now make one like the Turm 144 where the feed pipe is ran through the burner to tidy it all up, and wondered if anyone has any detailed pix of the jet hole and mixing tube. Here's hoping and Best regards Mick & Eddie
@mick sutton That looks interesting ! A Turm usually has a wick in the tube over the burner made of some cotton such as strands from a mop head to aid evaporation, maybe you have done this already? I will try and dig out a Turm and take a look at jet end of things. Great project. Good luck. Nick
@mick sutton A very worthy cause! Good for you. The wick that Nick mentioned slows down the flow of fuel in the vicinity of the burner to enable it to be vapourised better by the burner heat - sometimes by a separate flame port from the burner, sometimes by arranging the vapourising tube to lie directly over the burner. A Turm is featured HERE and a British Methex HERE. They’re both of the type with the vapourising tube sitting over the burner rose. A Punker meths stove on the other hand, featured HERE has a couple of side ports in the burner rose that play flame on the vapourising tube. You can see those flame ports here. The jet too is visible. Nick mentions cotton for the wick but that’s not ideal, since it can char badly and bits of carbonised debris can break off over time, partially or totally blocking the jet. It’s not a wick in the wick lamp meaning of the word in that it doesn’t transport fuel by capillary action, it’s just meant to put a brake on fuel flow to get the fuel thoroughly vapourised. Asbestos thread was a common material back in the day. I use strands from a soldering mat to make a replacement, winding them round a twisted wire core - original core below in this photo. Some manufacturers used a wire brush wick. I’ve even seen a bunch of brass rods used to do the job - a Punker stove here. Good luck with your project. Let us know how it goes. John
Though probably too simple a burner type for your purposes this Phoebus meths stove illustrates the principle of a jet fed by pre-heated (by the burner flame) fuel, using the trick of piping it back on itself.
Cheers Pascal, I read loads of posts on here before we made anything. I used fibreglass rope for the wick, I did try to unravel the rop and use strand but they were so fine they broke, I think I copied one of your threads. I like the idea of running the vaporiser pipe below the burner and to the side as I need secondary air up through the burner. I never realised that producing a flame was so technical, the same as the boiler. Super technical with working out the stresses involved with copper under heat and pressure. Edd has learnt a lot about combustion and like all lads is besotted with fire. Look forward to the pix Best regards. Mick
Cheers Nick, there is a fibreglass wick in the fed pipe, but my set up is very clumsy. We need to tidy it up, at the moment all the tubes are mild steel but when we solve it it’ll be replicated in brass. It’s working, I’m doing the research and feeding little bits to Edd and getting him think about the solution. Thanks for your help Nick. We’ll keep posting and when we need correcting feel free to put us straight. best regards Mick
Prescal, sorry, I got your name wrong. I was so busy studying your post I rushed my reply. We drilled one of the burners on the side and got a good flame through it but I’m torn now after looking at the Punker. I’m trying to find some 8mm copper pipe so we can knock up a trial one, I don’t think we’ll be able to fit the jet underneath but we might be able to run the copper around the burner. thanks for your help and best regards. Mick
@mick sutton Sounds promising, Mick. Depends on the pipe run among other factors, but things can get surprisingly hot in the vicinity of a burner and brass tubing wouldn’t soften and melt as easily as copper does. John
John, when I saw how hot that got I changed tack, I got some stainless tube and knocked this up just have to weld it now instead of silver solder. Best regards Mick
Hi John Hope you don't mind ,me picking your brains! Yesterday, I picked up a Touring Turm at a small fleamarket. With a couple of Primus and a Burmos in my stable, I was drawn to the quirkiness of this little stove, despite knowing nothing about it. Once home, I was straight onto this site to find out what I could and found your fantastic refurb thread. After that, I was able to strip the stove down but the wick was badly corroded and non-existent at the burner end, so I'll fashion a new one following your steps. My question is: Should it be the full length of the burner tube, or should it finish slightly short of the elbow/take-off for the control spindle? I've also poured over the site looking for a parts/schematics diagram, but with no luck. I've found a thread, but the http// seems to have been removed from the message. If one does exist, any chance of being directed to it? Many thanks,
Given that the filter is inserted (and accessed to remove when required) at the control spindle end of the Turm’s vapourising tube, it always occupies that space across the spindle take-off tube. The full length of the vapouriser for the filter length is correct. Sorry, I’ve never seen a schematic for the Turm. John
