2008 Sustainable Energy Fair

We plan to be at the North Country Sustainable Energy Fair this year. I hope to bring my centrifuge. We will probably participate mostly like we did other years.

To learn more go to:
http://ncenergy.org/2007/

Larisa Martin - Abide With Me

My sister and I made a CD of her singing and playing. Click the play button below, or forward and reverse to select songs. To get copies of the CD, mail Larisa a $12 donation and your address to 156 Newton Rd Potsdam, N.Y. 13676.

Form Object

Winter 2008

Click here to open the Winter 2008 PDF file.

Contents
Slow to Anger!...................................3
Editor’s Desk …………………...4
Justice through Anger with Love....6
What about these Scriptures?...........8
A Young Inventor……………….9
A Perspective on Anger………...10
Sustainable Living……….……..12
Oiling Vehicles with Fryer Oil…...18
What is your Vision?.......................19
His Banner Over Me is Love…….20
What did you Give Him?................20
Who are God’s People?..................21
Controlling the Fire…………........22
Psalms 7………….……………...25
Letter from Joy Martin…..……...26
Various Proverbs………...…..…..27

The VW Fox

Here are some poor pictures of my brother Nathaniel's VW Fox that he put a Lomberdini engine in. As soon as they got it running, they took off for NC and Kentucky. They are still working all the bugs out of it. They hoped to get 60-70 MPG but it don't look that way now. It should run on vegetable oil very well. I'll probably post more later.

More on the centrifuge rotor...

I didn't have any good pictures of the centrifuge rotor on this site before. I still don't have a picture of the rotor all put together when it's out of the centrifuge frame, but I'll post what I have. These pictures where all taken while I took it apart for cleaning the dirt out. My brothers had run about 700 gallons through it the day after I ran it. They didn't heat all the oil over the boiling point. When I drained it, I got 1 to 1 1/2 gallons of water out of it. I was amazed how much water was in it. I was pleased. I like how it's working.

The rotor sitting on top of the centrifuge. I took an almost 30 inch section out of a 9 inch OD oxygen tank and machined the ends square.








The top end plate. Notice the holes where the oil spins out of and the weights added to balance it. There is a nut that clamps the rotor together. There is a groove for the oxygen tank to sit into the end plates. Of course there are line up marks so it can be assembled correctly to maintain the balancing.








The rotor before it's cleaned out with the top end plate, the clamping nut, the oil catching pan, and the top bearing removed. The top bearing is held on with two bolts and the oil catching pan is just sitting in there. It only takes a few minutes to take it apart.






Looking down into the centrifuge frame with the rotor and the hopper for catching the oil removed. The center shaft is still there.








The bottom end plate with drain plugs and the center plate for a baffle and support.








The bottom end of the center shaft. Notice the collar for the bottom end plate to sit on, the bearing surface, and then the smaller part for the motor drive coupler to fasten to. You can almost see the holes where the oil comes out the the shaft and into the bottom of the rotor. Actaully this picture is a picture of my old center shaft that is slightly bent. It's only a few thousands off. Sometimes small things matter.



A picture of the whole center shaft with the top at the top of the picture. This is also a picture of the old shaft and wasn't taken the day I took the rest of the pictures.

Sometimes it gets cold around here!

Here is a picture of Luray sitting on the cookstove eating breakfast. This is not a fake picture; it's real.

Melvin, the fireman.

Last summer I joined the fire department. This winter I resigned because I didn't have enough time. Really I left before they kicked me out. It was a good experience.

More on dirt in the fuel lines...

I added a Ramco filter and an electric switching valve to my Jetta’s fuel system. When I removed the old manual switching valve, I noticed a very interesting thing. The inside of the brass fittings where the diesel and the vegetable oil came into the valve were dirty. That bacteria or corrosion or whatever it is stuff I’ve been having in my systems was there. But the fitting where the fuel came out of the valve was nice and shiny. It seems to me like the dirt got washed off because of more fuel flowing through it. Regardless of the reasons, both diesel and vegetable oil have the same problem of forming dirt. The more pipes and fittings there are after the filter, the more likely for dirt to get in the injector pump. I hope my centrifuge fixes this problem of getting dirt in the pipes. The reason I added the Ramco filter and the electric switching valve is so there is less pipe after the filter than I had before. Someday I'll have it all figured out.

Jonny's grave site

We hope to write on the stone by using rubber and a sand blaster.

More on the Centrifuge

Last Monday morning I finished the centrifuge. Then I cleaned oil all day. We cleaned almost 1000 gallons. I was very happy. Here are some pictures of the day.












The heater tank with the centrifuge to the left. In the foreground is the irrigation pump I use to pump oil into the heater tank and where ever.












The heater tank and centrifuge viewing from the other side. The hot oil runs out of the heater tank to the centrifuge to the storage tanks by gravity. I do not pump the hot oil.











Checking the tempature of the oil in the heater tank. If the oil has any water in it, I like to heat it to around 230 F. But 160 is hot enough for lowering the viscosity for the centrifuge, (I think).










The DC motor that drives the centrifuge. It will spin over 6000 RPM, but I only got it up to 3300 RPM yet. The centrifuge does a fine job at 1600 RPM. I still need to do more testing to see just how good a job it does.











The top of the centrifuge. See the oil falling into the centrifuge. Notice the 1 inch thick rubber bearing mount.










The motor controller. I can control the motor speed from 0 to over 6000 RPM.












The info tag for the centrifuge.











Oil coming out of centrifuge and into the storage tank.











The dirt in the centrifuge after almost 1000 gallons. This is a bottom view. There was only about 1/8 inch of very fine dirt at the top.

I was very pleased with the results. My labor was not in vain. It's so good when something goes right. Though I labored hard to make my centrifuge, I realize it was only by God's blessing that I was able to succeed.

My hope is that by spinning the dirt and water out of the oil, I can quit using any biocides.

This spring my brother's suburban and my dad's truck both had injector pumps that where showing signs of dying. I expect them to quite by early summer. This spring I cleaned my used vegetable oil with the cream seperator. Therefore this spring we started to run centrifuged oil. My brother's suburban is still running on that same injecter pump and my dad's truck lasted until this fall. Therefore I'm pretty confident that the centrifuge is the answer to running used vegetable oil in diesel engines. It makes sense because the centrifuge is getting dirt out that is so fine it goes through all the filters, even the 0.5 micron filters.

I also hope I can clean used engine crankcase oil with the centrifuge.

The Centrifuge Works!

Last Saterday I finally got the centrifuge to work. I cleaned around 650 gallons of oil. I didn't test the oil to see how clean it got by running the oil through the centrifuge twice, but looking at the dirt in the centrifuge when I took it apart, I was very pleased. I'm pleased to know that success can happen, and to know that God is the one to get the glory. I still have some bugs to work out of it.

I ended up balancing the centrifuge rotor at a balance shop. I tried to balance it myself first, but I realized that a spinning object can be very contrary. It did things that didn't make any sense to me. It would run smooth for like 10 seconds then vibrate for 3 seconds then smooth again. I realized that God made some amazing things, things too amazing for me. When it works, use it and give God the glory. It is good to understand and search out how God made things to work, but I'm really glad God made a way that I can function without understanding everything first.

More later...

Fall 2007

Click below for the files in the Fall 2007 Issue.

The Boys' Bugle

Vol. 7, Number 3

Contents
Editor’s Desk …………………...3
To be Content?.………………..….4
Let God Be Your Husband………..5
From our Readers……………….6
Forgiven You……………………..8
Questions and Answers…………...9
The Calling of:
Paul Hoover……………………...10
The Bed System………………..12
Let Your Love Flow……………..13
Drink and Strive……………..…..14
Be Content—With What?..............20
Here in the North Country……….21
The Perfect Picture…………….22
The Children’s Challenge
Rhyme Time……………………..23