Drive belt ideas

igy569 · Drive belt ideas

Hey all!!

I have tried some different ideas from this forum for belts. I have a spring belt, but have found that it slips quite easily, I tried dental floss, but it keeps breaking, elastic bands work OK, but have too much give it them, tends to have a rather jerky motion. Cloth tape? how would that work? I am looking for any ideas here. I want to work on the generator next, and need a good belt to run it. Have had some luck with belts from an old cassette machine, just kinda short. I found an old "constructioneer"(circa 1948) set (like erector) that i have had for years. Does not seem to have much value to anyone but me, so.. I discovered that there are all kinds of pulleys, shafts and other related bits in the set. So I built a really nifty line shaft. Really ugly, but works great. I am also working on a design for a meths burner, so i am also looking for suggestions on that. I am using copper pipe for the construction, I have 4inch pipe to make the tank out of, and probably 3/8 inch for the tubing and burners. I have some fiberglass wicks to use for it. Any help would be really fantastic!!!

pauly

how about mecano gears and chain thats very reliable.

Steve_S

You could have a look at this thread where I describe making a Bowman-like burner.

http://modelsteam.myfreeforum.org/ftopic4300-0-asc-0.php

Is that the kind of thing you had in mind? If you wanted the type that has vertical wick tubes fixed to a horizontal tube from the tank, then the horizontal tube should be level with the bottom of the tank instead of the top, and make sure that the vertical tubes are high enough so that meths doesn't spill out of them when the tank is full.

Wallace

Sometimes on ebay you can find meccano drive bands. They are like rubber bands but nowhere near as stretchy.

Also try a plumbing place. They have large orings and they have some give in them.

steamyman

vcr belts work quite well too.

Mister Occlusion

I've mucked with spur gears and variations on universal joints as (neat) alternatives to bands/belts. Otherwise I use rubber bands. My main problem with those is they tend to shed and shred and leave rubberdust all over the place (which sticks to the layer of oil that tends to cover everything).

Thinking of o-rings myself. There are places online where you can buy kits to splice them yourself into whatever size you need. I don't know how durable these are, however.

Kevin Klein

try to find a large narrow o ring.

igy569

Steve_S

No, you're not nuts!

I think should work well and it's definitely worth having a go. Even if it's not quite right you'll learn from it and the next one will be better. (At least, thats how it works for me!) In the Bowman type burner the wick needs to reach to the bottom of the tank. In burners that have vertical wick tubes spaced along a horizontal fuel feed tube, the wick just needs to reach the bottom of each vertical tube. Let us know how you get on... how about some pictures?

igy569

Of course I will take pics. I am good for that. I am working on a video of the M12 running, cause it has such a great clattering sound. Its the noisiest of my engines, and I love it!! I will probably be working on the burner this weekend. I DO need a suggestion for what to use for a wick material. I have some fiberglass wicks, but they would be to short for the Bowman style.
Idears?

Steve_S

You can use oil lamp wick, or some people have used wicks cut from a mop head. Both of those will char and burn away so they need to be replaced quite often. Much better is the ceramic wick of the kind obtainable from MamodFan. Have a look at his site here:

http://www.mfsteam.com/information.php?product=wick1

This stuff is highly recommended!