Re: being safe with ether

Oldenginerod Wed Feb 10, 2016 4:06 am

getback wrote:Quack :: Amyl nitrate is particularly nasty stuff. They sold that stuff in little bottles in the 70s for a instant rush/high in the Yea those stores It was taken off the shelf's a year or so later I cant remember - later getback

I bought some diesel ignition improver (for trucks) and added it to my home-brew diesel mix. It has the right sort of ingredient to replace the Amyl Nitrate, only I had to calculate the % factoring in the major componant of the DII being equivalent to the kerosene. (Naptha)
It took some calculating, but it worked out ok and runs fine in all my engines.

Surfer_kris Wed Feb 10, 2016 3:34 pm

For anyone that has not tried diesel engines before I would strongly recommend commercial fuel and a dedicated diesel engine. There are plenty of options for dedicated diesel engines, eg. PAW and MP Jet etc., both RC and CL versions. They also come with mufflers which makes it very easy to clean of the model after flying.

The reason for using commercial fuel is that you can rest assure that there is nothing wrong with the fuel and that the blend will minimize the wear on the engine from the beginners abuse. Same goes for using a dedicated diesel engine, these are made much stronger than glow engines and can take most of the beating a beginner can come up with...

Once one has understood how diesel engines work and how to care for them, then Cox engines can make lovely diesel conversion subjects too. Make sure you use a proper diesel conversion head though, those teflon disc styles are no good. Been there done that, bought the t-shirt, will never go there again...

For those who haven't seen, or heard, the sweet QB conversion, here is the link again;

jmcalata Wed Feb 10, 2016 3:35 pm

Certainly now Amyl Nitrate is very dificult to find, I use a diesel improver called Cetane booster is cheap and work well, I add 2-3 %

I think also Comercial Fuel is good option.

http://www.modeltechnics.com/diesel.htm

hikikomori89 Mon Feb 15, 2016 7:44 pm

Nice to meet you here !

I am Dafnys3 on the Bay !

jmcalata Tue Feb 16, 2016 12:52 am

Hi J.Morel!
How are you?
I write here for a long time...
Now I´m testing italian diesel engines.

Regards
Jose Maria Calatayud

PeterJGregory Tue Feb 16, 2016 2:38 am

Hi All,
I am surprised that diesels were never more popular in the US. As a kid many decades ago, I don't think I ever even heard of them. Lately, I collected a few engines from .8cc to 10cc and have been really happy with them. Getting back into the sport/hobby/obsession about 2 years ago and now having the proliferation of info on the internet, info about diesels was a lot easier to come by. I tend to like to be able to do things for myself so mixing fuel was on my list. It was far easier to get the ingredients for diesel than glow. The toughest part for glow was getting nitro, and I have kind of given up for the moment.

Here are pics of the ingredients I accumulated for mixing glow. I included the Davis Diesel fuel can for a couple of reasons. First, I didn't want to gooch up my engines as a noob, running my own mixture. Got the engines running on this, first. Second, save the Davis Diesel cans for your own mixture. It is the best storage container.

Note: for some reason I am not able to upload images right now, servimg.com doesn't seem to be working. I will come back and insert at another time.
Basically, I got my castor oil directly from Sig, the kerosene (paraffin) from a local hardware store, went to a John Deere store and bought the engine starter spray (ether), and had to special order a pint of Amsoil Cetane Booster. All these were recommended on several RC forums.

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being safe with ether