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Project: To build a replacement for the ugly rusted and burned out oil drum we have been using for a incinerator.
Lets face it when it come to recycling we all end up with bio mass that unless you live beside your recycling plant just become a nightmare to get rid off, my nearest center is 5 miles away in a different council district, the one I should be using is almost 12 miles away so anything that I can safely burn gets burnt.
I wanted to make something that would do for burning paper cardboard and garden waste. but would be nice enough to be used a heater.
We have been using an old 45 gallon steel drum as a make shift incinerator which is almost burned out and rusted to bits. its good point was it had a large capacity for burning, but this was also its bad point was that the large capacity meant you just bunged big stuff in and it tended to go out as it was badly loaded or be very smoky.
I had an old washing machine rusting away in the yard that was due to go for scrap, they have stainless steel drum that well ventilated and look nice and make a perfect incinerator as stainless steel will not burn up like a steel barrel will do over time.
The washing machine drum has a smaller but reasonably good capacity, this will mean it must be loaded better and should hopefully burn much better.
This is a simple and easy project to build if you can scavenge the parts.
UPDATE: Some people have asked what type of washing machine has the stainless steel drum, they are found in the front loading automatic machines. I have added a pic to step 1 of the next victim to be gutted from parts. I will do a detailed instructable of what fab and groovy stuff is to be found in them.
If you cant find a washing machine a tumble dryer should also have a stainless steel drum that will do, it will probably have a larger capacity also.
Materials used.
Stainless steel washing machine drum.
1" galvanized tube (scavenged from an old farm gate) 20 x 6mm flat steel could also be used.
The rim from an old bike wheel.
M6 nuts, bolts and washers.
Self taping screws.
Thanks for looking and i hope that this gives you some ideas for your own design.
Andy.
PS. I didn't plan this out, it was a case just wandering around the yard and sheds and using what ever turned up. So it just kind of happened, sometimes that kind of approach works just as well as the long drawn out plan.
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Signing UpStep 1Preparing the drum.
You will need to find a busted up and scrapped Automatic washing machine that is a front loader. Or if you cant find that a tumble dryer should also have a stainless drum.
I gutted the stainless steel drum from an old washing machine that is due to go for scrap.
I used a hand axe to crudely hack the drum free form the plastic tank it is mounted in, this was my quickest option rather and undo just way to many screws. what ever you choose to do be careful as fingers and eyes don't grow back.
Once the drum is free, you will need to cut it free from the aluminum casting that houses the bearings. The drum is riveted to the aluminum housing at 3 points they will show no resistance to a angle grinder.
I gutted the stainless steel drum from an old washing machine that is due to go for scrap.
I used a hand axe to crudely hack the drum free form the plastic tank it is mounted in, this was my quickest option rather and undo just way to many screws. what ever you choose to do be careful as fingers and eyes don't grow back.
Once the drum is free, you will need to cut it free from the aluminum casting that houses the bearings. The drum is riveted to the aluminum housing at 3 points they will show no resistance to a angle grinder.
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Old washing machines are great, there are so many cool and useful things that can be made from one. there are so many high quality parts used in their construction.
The toughened glass window makes a beautiful glass fruit/punch bowl, we had one full of fruit on our table and got complimented on the lovely fruit bowl and where can I get one? we had to laugh when we said you get them at the skip site.
That is so beautiful, our old machine had one of those but it was very plain, that one is just so stylish the lamp shade really sets it off.
Well done.
Andy.
I wonder how the aluminium bits and the bearings will cope with the fire?
Keep up the good work.
To radiate heat be lazy and let the ash build up and it will slow the burn down and hold the heat longer, or get a line the inside with a strip of sheet metal to block of some of the holes.
hope this helps.
There are probably different brands or models that have a more suitable air-flow for my purpose that I haven't found yet but the one in this Instructable looks very much like the one I made. If the OP ever reads these comments I'd be interested to know how he/she feels theirs worked in that regard.
I made a small plant pond out of a Tumble-Dryer barrel that is still in my backyard, still holding water, twelve years on.
larger pieces of wood will give you a slower burn once you get a good hot bed of ash going, add small pieces to keep the fire going.
The one I made works well as an incinerator until a bed of ash starts to build and then it does not draw as well
The general rule is if you want to incinerate keep it clean and if you want a heater be lazy and let the ash build up.
I find the my wood stove runs very hungry until a good bed of ash has built up, the only ash that gets removed is anything that has fallen into the air intake. i find it uses much less fuel once a few days worth of ash have accumulated.
Michael
http://bluevelvetchair.blogspot.com/2011/09/whats-that.html
Michael
http://bluevelvetchair.blogspot.com/2011/09/whats-that.html
Local repair shop gave me a dryer that was too far gone for them to deal with.
Tore it apart today and got myself a new fire pit in about an hour.
The drum housing was weighted with some monster sized lead weights. Made for a great temp base to hold the pulley assembly (now "stand") until I decide wear it's permanent home will be.
Thanks for a great project!
Indeed,
The metal work teacher I had in 1st year at high school had a black and white photo of the remains of what had been some poor soul got careless on a large industrial lathe in some factory, it was on the wall of the workshop and was the first thing you where shown at the start of first year.
It was a hash way of showing us what would happen if we pissed about in a metal workshop, and somehow it did have the desired effect on us.
I doubt if shop teacher would be allowed to show kids such a graphic image incase they might damage their fragile minds.
Sir, I disagree.
I live on a small farm, the council don't come and take away my organic waste. As i said in the post anything I can safely burn ie anything that is NOT plastic and will not pollute.
5 miles away means a 10 mile round trip and for garden waste could mean numerous trips. With fuel prices now 25% higher than they where 12 months ago well you can do the maths.
If I leave this waste to rot and turn to compost it releases methane gas which we now know to be a much worse greenhouse gas than carbon. Any garden waste I take to the recycle center goes to be composted and therefore is actually worse than me burning it.
Burning organic biomass is also carbon neutral releasing only what the plant already took out of the atmosphere. and the resulting ash can be sprinkled straight onto my garden as a good organic fertilizer.
Kermit the frog was right when he said Its not easy being green. the secret is about finding a balance.
Burning fossil fuel to take biomass to be composted where it releases methane is actually environmentally unsound.
As an over all green project I have canceled out the fossil fuels that would be used to remelt the steel I reused. The stainless steel drum will not burn out in my lifetime and will cancel out the need for many expensive galvanized incinerators that last on average about 2-3 years if you are lucky.
You should look at every side of the green/recycling story before making judgment on anyone else.
But, about methane, although more powerful than CO2, will not stay in the atmosphere nearly as long. And in colder regions (like here) methane isn't as intensively produced as say close to the equator (I see you mentioned that).
If one has the space and could use it, organic waste makes for perfect fertilizers and benefits the soil it is mixed in. I guess it all depends on the needs and whatnot.
So, 'ideally', I would have separated the stuff that's too wet and the stuff that's dry enough to burn, but it all depends.
Conclusion: Self sufficiency is great and green!
The old engineers often said that there is no such thing as a stupid question, the stupid question is the one you didn't ask. I agree with this as the only way to truly learn is to as why and how, this often leads you to the answer of yes I can.
I don't all the answers either, no one does :) I just research as best I can how best to reuse or recycle the disposable consumer goods I am forced to use.
The incinerator was only tested using paper so I could take a picture for the instructable.
It will be used to get rid of bio mass from around the garden, stuff that has to be burned to kill the seed heads or stop the spread of disease. All this stuff will be carbon neutral.
Any paper I do have is pulped to make sawdust fuel bricks (see my other Instructable)
At the end of the day its impossible to be totally green, in the ideal world it would be great to recycle everything and burn nothing, but in the real world it somethings is just not financially viable to do these things. But as long as the option you do have open is as green if not greener than your recycling option you have done the right thing.
You alone can't save the planet, you can only do the best you can and if you can inspire others to be as equally green we will eventually get there.
Its not easy being green!
Keep researching, and good luck with your recycling.
Any bio mass I burn is carbon neutral and only releases carbon the plant has already extracted from the atmosphere, and at the end of the burn I get potash which is a natural fertilizer that I can put straight back into my garden.so I save on fuel and nasty chemical fertilizers. It is often better to reuse than recycle.
If you want to be an engineer you will have to start thinking like one. ie what is the end result of each of you open options and which is the most efficient and environmentally sound process.