Copper Fire Log Heater: Burns clean with alcohol!

i getting the same, starts you wondering about the intrisical values of the website.

let that be a lesson to everyone... DON'T crimp the ends down!!!!

Even better, right next to my bench was a entire cabinet of chemicals, flammable ones.

lol

It's 2011, do you know where your 'ible is? I don't see it here. Nice headers for the steps, though.

your instructable is not been working for weeks

I want it to be fixed! I want to make one for the holidays!

im still having problems with it and i really want to make it all i can see is 1Matrials

I don't have any questions, but i do have something to say about it: This is a great idea, and it loooks really cool. I can't wait to make it!

Thanks!!!

if you search the types of salts used in fireworks you probablly could find one that, if mixed with the alcohol, would burn similarly.

Food Coloring of some sort in the Alchohol?

 A bit of table salt should make the flame more visible, but other colors may be more difficult to achieve.

Boric acid for a deep green color. You can also use borax, which gives a more yellowish green.

thank you!

No Problem =D

oops (eyebrows gone) Three holes it is.

Wouldn't widening the holes make a lower flame because the gass would come out at lower pressure? But that looks awsome!

Not really. Not when the holes are SO small.

Can you see in the picture on the right (the dark one) three small flames and four bigger ones? Well, the bigger ones correspond to the biggest holes, and the smaller ones to smaller holes. That's a fact, now I'll try to explain it.

I'll try to give an answer, but I'm not sure wheter it's true or not :) What I think it happens is that the pressure in the whole thing is the same at any point inside it, so through the smaller holes the gas should escape at a higher speed. That would be true if the holes where big enough, but being so small, you have to take into account the friction loss. That is, the gas escapes easier through bigger holes than through the smaller ones as through the smaller ones the friction loss is much bigger than through the bigger ones.

That's my attempt to explain why it doesn't work like you said (cause it actually doesn't) but yours was a good thinking. I never thought about that before.

Thanks mate!

try building top pipe above it for oil fragrance

Thanks mate! i'm glad you liked it, but the idea was yours! ; )

it would probebly work, but after a while when the pressure builds up, some of alcohol would leak from the slits of the tin and catch fire so the sides of the tin would have fire comming out of it too

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Nice idea and cheap to do. Your idea inspired me to go further. I wanted to avoid scratches on the table top, so I used a couple of "T" fittings, made my legs, and used 90 degree elbows with end caps to stabilize the whole thing.

I also used my dremel tool with a wire brush to polish the tube to a mirror finish. I also upgraded to 1 inch pipe. I'm working on another one now that is square, with the copper leg mounts I mention above. May also make an octagon shape after that. This device certainly has started many conversations at my home, and many have learned from me I found it on instructables on the internet. Kudo's to ya.

thats what i use and even with tiny bits (even some smaller than 1mm) it doesn't walk if you take it slow and use a good drill press and clamp. i think i got mine for $1 at a yard sale though.

i thought so. thank

its probably a storage issue. When copper is heated it expands makeing the joints very tighter. When cold and say stored (upright for example), then there may be a possiblity that it could leek?

i got an question about the soldering when it stays on verry long and then it would overheat could the soldering melt?

How large of a log could one do? What is the scale on this. I know that you are using alchohol but would lamp fluid work as well, the kind that goes in the slate lamps that use a hollow glass base?

yes it needs to be a torch. a soldering iron wouldnt have anywhere near enough power for that. a small propane torch works just fine though.

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OK I'll take a look :D

Does it give off much light. I just love this project!

Cool, I might make one of these. How do you stop the alcohol from coming out the side?

I used 1/2" and filled it as full as possible. about 80%.

Here's a pic...
http://www.instructables.com/file/F6XBHXSFQCTO1XK/
There's no alcohol left when it burns out. I pre heat by spilling some alcohol on the tile and lighting it up. If I use too much, the flame gets to be about a foot tall and then it burns out really fast.

you took that way too seriously.

Hey, when I saw the title that's what I thought. I read through the Instructable and discovered thats not what it was for. Someone with less technical knowledge than me may try to use this to start a log fire. There are propane versions of what you have built here that are used to start fires. Just trying to keep people safe. We deal with a lot of potentially dangerous stuff here. It's important that every step is taken to keep people safe.

I see plenty of 'ibles that are or have the potential to become or are outright dangerous. They vary from combustables to chemicals that are very toxic and in none of the threads is any pre notice on safety and the elements of danger that exist in some of the 'ibles that the originator has neglected to address. If you using combustibles then proper care over their use should be maintained. For the purpose of this ible, I will demonstrate... Rubbing Alcohol is also Surgical Spirits and also Isopropyl Alcohol and also better known as IPA Rubbing alcohol is dangerous as it can combust easily, flash point of 12°c. -"- -"- has a boiling point of 82°c -"- -"- in confined spaces is dangerous from build up of explosive fumes. Symptoms of isopropyl alcohol poisoning include flushing, headache, dizziness, Central Nervous System depression, nausea, vomiting, anesthesia, and coma. Use in well-ventilated areas and use protective gloves while using. Poisoning can occur from ingestion, inhalation, or absorption through the skin. Theirs a risk of fire, as with any 'ible that veres off from Health & Safety... if those stands used were to become unstable, they could catch fire and so on, you home or garage or garden shed is at risk. Its metal, it gets hot! Shall I stop?

It is a fire hazard if it gets knocked over. Alcohol would spill all over and catch on fire. Can it be stuffed with cotton wicking?

you could use fiberglass insulation (formaldehyde free). I use this in my alcohol stove.

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Or simply change the title to Copper "Fire-log" Mini-Heater so that people know it's a heater for heating a room and not for starting fireplace fires. I wonder if it would be feasible to create an electric coil you could place the "log" in to heat it up with the flick of a switch? I'm hesitant to sit with a torch on a very small pipe-bomb.

So then it's an easy-to-use, portable alcohol stove? I really like it. It would be easy to bend the tube into a ring for a "gas-burner" effect. How much burn time do you typically get out of this volume of alcohol?

would it be possible to use heavy coper tubing and thus easily make all sorts of curved and complex whimsical shapes, or would it be too thin to be able to take the heat?

If you had a sufficiently large pipe bender, you could do it. For that though, you'd need a machine shop.

It shouldnt walk if you use a bench drill and clamp the copper pipe.

A drill bit that small will walk even if everything is clamped down - it's thin enough to be flexible.

I filed the notches first and the drill bit didn't walk at all.

If there is an electronics store near you, get a bit designed to drill printed circuit boards. They are very sharp and won't walk if you take it slow. They are also easy to break so they are best used in a drill press of some sort. It is possible to use in a hand help drill, but take it easy and don't flex it or it will break. Just my two cents worth.

Oh, that's what I do. I have the small drill bits (in a few sizes) and I use a Dremel tool in the official Dremel drill press stand.

Even with copper? Not in my experiences, just take it slow at the start.

Yep. It happens quite a bit when I'm drilling holes in PCBs, making circuit boards.

Not sure it would matter, but how often do you sharpen your bits?

It does matter if you use sharp bits. And, a sharp bit certainly walks a lot less, though it still happens (in my experience)

Okay. I wasn't entirely sure if the groove was important for the operation of the lamp.

if you want to use a drill bit you can file a groove like he said or use a punch and lightly tap it enough to make a small dent. i will give the drill bit a start point then you drill a clean hole

Yeah, that's probably what I'd do.

Try some modeling cement (I think a popular brand is JB Weld), according to Wiki, it can withstand a constant 260°C or 500° F, so i dont see why that wouldnt work.

thanks, i used JB weld. i love that stuff...

wow u out that up fast

put*

great did you want me to write some stuff up for you. i just thought of something if the hole was to big and so that the vapors from the fuel didn't evaporate fast enough air would seep in until it got to the right concentration then pop and if that pop was to powerful to let out of the holes quickly then it might shoot the cork out and since it uses an explosion of fire as a propellant then it is a simple fire arm so what im saying here if this i mis-designed properly then u are making a gun

yea i understand but it is still possible if it is "mis-designed properly" it uses fire to propel an object so its a firearm and yea the chances of it happening are so remote without precision engenereing

oh, well i gave it 5 stars anyway

Not an expert, but my opinion....since alcohol burns cool, that is, if it is on you hand and lit, the alcohol itself does not heat up, I would tend to think you are correct and that it would burn away, and anything dissolved in it would precipitate out. A candle is different, all the contents of the melted wax are drawn up into the wick and burned, so color flames on candles is possible.

Well, what really makes me mad is that, early in the year, last year, I was thinking about doing an ible on how to make birthday candles that were different colors; and although I never got around to getting the chemicals together, what do I find in the stores a couple of weeks ago? Birthday candles that have different color flames arrrrrgh. I could kick myself for not moving faster...

Do it anyway. It doesn't matter if you're first.

No, it doesn't as far as in here is concerned.... *sigh*

Also, take a gander at this, another of his hybrids...

I am on a low-sodium diet, and I have some potassium chloride! Yay for me! It also comes in other brands.

see what effects the alcohol would have on the gorilla glue, ie dissolving it.

Did you look at the others he has out there....there are some really interesting designs illustrated.

If you plan on using a drill to make the holes instead of filing them like Nepheron done (neat solution btw) drill your hole BUT just before the drill pokes right through stop and finish of the hole with a pin/neddle & small hammer. Tom