Other Projects

This page is reserved for other projects that people might find interesting, i'll post them here as they progress..

Hot Tube Ignition Project
Here's the hot tube I built for one of my engines. Who needs a spark plug? No points to mess with, no wires, and no coils, magnetos or batteries. This technology dates back to somewhere in the late 1800's. I thought i'd share this project because most people have never heard of such a thing. The concept of operation is quite simple. Inside the chimney (the large outer shell) is a smaller tube closed on one end and the other end is connected to a port on the engine head. A small flame surrounds this tube inside the chimney heating it to a low red glow. When the engine compresses the air and gas mixture it forces it into this tube. As soon as it hits the red hot part of the tube it ignites the fuel mixture firing the engine. The engines timing is set by adjusting the legth of this tube. Hot tubes were commonly found on the large engines that were used in the oil fields. The hot tubes were heated with natural gas and the engines also ran off the natural gas. I used propane with this one while the engine I put it on runs on gasoline. The chimney is 8 1/2" in length by 1 1/4" diameter and the the tube inside is 6 1/2" long by 1/8" NPT pipe. The burner tube is made from 3/8" NPT pipe. Click Here for a drawing of the hot tube for the 5HP Field-Brundage Engine.

On the left is a picture of the complete hot tube assembly. Pictured right is looking down into the top of the hot tube, you can see the blue flame and the slight red glow of the center tube.