RadioJets

Best home-brewing fuel possible

Mine is(5% nitro): 16% synth oil, 4% castor oil, 3% acetone, 5% nitro, 72% methanol and a few drops of armorall.

Tell yours!!!!


RadioJets

smitty70

My Feedback: (5)

ARMORALL????

downunder-RCU

Usually 20% castor/80% methanol + armorall. Currently using 20% Mobil Jet Oil 2 though. And if I remember (which really means if I've got it handy) I'll add 3% acetone.

DerFly

Usually 80 Shell A : 20 Castrol M too!

Downunder, How does turbine oil perform? Have you heard concerns of it being carcinogenic?

Buz^

My Feedback: (2)

BEST ANTI-FOAMING AGENT FOR FUEL BUT!! WHY 5% NITRO AND ANOTHER 5% NITRO??

downunder-RCU

DerFly...with a brew like that you must be an Aussie too

Shell A has 3% acetone already added to it...BP Racing fuel doesn't. For that reason I prefer the Shell A except I can't buy it other than in their drums. BP methanol (which I get from a local Ampol distributor, just to confuse things) has it in bulk so I can refill my drum.

As for the turbine oils, yes, I've heard about it being carcinogenic but so are tomatoes! As an aircraft engine fitter I was immersed in the stuff for many years, breathed the fumes from jet engines using total loss oil systems and nun off us was effer effectid buy it

Seriously though I think this is only a recent development because none of the cans of oil were labelled as being carcinogenic as it seems they are now (avoiding possible litigation?). As to how it performs, I found that my engine was running about 10C hotter than with all castor. For this reason I'd never use any of the inferior synthetics.

DerFly

Downunder,

Yep, find us everywhere!

Currently living O/S and will be back on shore in about three months, will need to get batch of fuel going then.

Thinking about 80 Shell A, 10 Castrol M and 10 Mobil Turbine or maybe drop the oil to 18% total for certain usages.

The thing I like about Shell A is the included Acetone. Seems to keep the flame lit on cold rich runs and help transition a bit.

Phil Heller

My Feedback: (9)

TOMATOES? AAUURGH!!!! My favorite fruit! Wow! I quit smoking 40 years ago and thought I was safe!

Phil

downunder-RCU

DerFly...can't see any problem at all going 50/50 with castor and Jet Oil 2. Of all the synthetics Jet Oil was the only one that George Aldrich had any time for, in fact he said he was quite impressed with it. We've got him on video in our club's library when he did a lecture here in Adelaide some years ago where he talked at some length on Jet Oil.

The reason I mentioned tomatoes as being carcinogenic was because I read a report once (in New Scientist magazine from memory) where rats had been force fed tomatoes and they developed cancer so therefore tomatoes were carcinogenic. But when applied to humans you'd have to eat something like 10 kgs a day for years on end before you'd be at risk. Maybe turbine oil is similar? Who knows....

As for acetone, Clarence Lee is finally coming around to saying that there are advantages to using it but in support of it he's used the data (and some quotes) directly from the club web page on fuels that I've had there for years!

majortom-RCU

My Feedback: (40)

QUOTE]

Downunder, any chance you could post the URL for your web page on fuels?

downunder-RCU

majortom...here's the link to that web page. I held off for a couple of days because the server seemed to have been down.
http://www.holdfastmac.com.au/techfuels.html

Also click on the link to Tables for more info on things like heat energy, air/fuel ratios etc for other types of fuels.

majortom-RCU

My Feedback: (40)

Downunder, got your website, thanks much; had a good time browsing around. Found your comment about 5% acetone in four-stroke fuel mix. What is your theory behind more acetone for four-stroke use?

rsieminski

Where do you get things like:
80 Shell A
BP Racing fuel
10 Castrol M oil
10 Mobil Turbine oil
Mobil Jet Oil

How much are these products?

I'm planning on mixing my own fuel as well. I wanted ~2% nitro though. The best price on: nitro is $35 a gal, Castor is $23 a gal, Meth is $3 a gal, Klotz is over $8 a qt.

downunder-RCU

majortom...the mention about 5% acetone in 4 strokes was from personal experience by John Modistach (who wrote the first part). He's been making fuel for our largest hobby shop for many years now (and also runs the server that hosts the web site).

rsieminski...these are just brand names for methanol and oil available in Australia. The main point was that Shell methanol already has acetone added but BP is 100% methanol. Castrol M is our equivalent (as far as I can make out) to your Bakers AA (and maybe one of the Klotz varieties). Mobil Jet Oil 2 is what is used in virtually every full size gas turbine in Australia (both civil and military). The brand may be different in America but it will still meet the same Mil Spec so should work exactly the same.

fiery

My Feedback: (2)

Downunder

How does the Mobil turbine oil compare cost wise to Klotz or CoolPower oils sold through hobby shops?

Can you order it from your local Mobil distributor?

I'd like an alternative to the synthetic oil I use at the moment.

regards

fiery

downunder-RCU

fiery....the last can I bought was (I think) about $16-18/litre which is about the same as for the usual synthetic stuff. I get mine from a guy in the club but if there's an airport near you then go ask them where they get it from. They might even sell you some. To be honest I wouldn't hesitate to use any that was drained directly from a gas turbine into your own can because it basically doensn't get contaminated. Check out the tourist helicopters up your way

fiery

My Feedback: (2)

Downunder ...

I'll look in to it.

Regards

fiery

Exile182

Hi Downunder

I was given this blend from a friend who once taught me on electrics. Im wondering if you or anyone else knows where I could get Shell A Racing fuel, and Castrol M in the Ipswich/brisbane QLD area?

He also has writen on the blend, Glow glide, I have no idea what this or where you would pick this up.

Thanks heaps

Bratpak

I have been following these fuel making threads for a bit now since I want to start mixing my own fuel.
One question I have is can acetone be used as a substitute for Nitro ?? According to the guy that I buy my fuel from, he cannot get 100% nitro shipped to Canada anymore, it it a 50/50 mix of nitro and methanol in a 5 gallon can. So I am not sure if I want to buy this if acetone will do near or the same job the nitro will do.
I was also wondering about the oil.
I have a case of Amsoil 0w30 and wondered if anyone has experimented with this oil. I know it will mix with methanol.
Just trying to throw a few different things out here for discussion
Very interesting thread guys.

Mark

XJet

First up, the Amsoil will not mix with methanol.

Secondly, acetone won't replace nitromethane if you're looking for more power but some say that in small amounts it can promote a better idle.

Bratpak

I thought I read somewhere that it would mix....maybe I was mistaken

I am not looking for more power, I bought an Irvine 47 and have been told they run best on 0-5% nitro. So I was going to try 0% and see what happened then I got to reading these threads.

Mark

Sport_Pilot

Well the Air Force techs wear masks when changing the oil. That should tell you something. Though it may be for specific types, I don't know.

Just looked at MSDS for turbine oils. Some are not carcinogenitic and some are either known or suspected. It depends on the formulation, even several oils in the Mobil One brand have products in this entire spectrum. I suggest you look up the one you may be using and quit using it if it contains a carcinogen. If not for yourself then for the bystanders breathing in your exhaust fumes.

http://siri.org/msds/gn.cgi?query=turbine

Fuelman

My Feedback: (6)

Guys,
Turbine oils are good lubes but you have to remember they are formulated for 10,000 hour wet sump engines. This means it is heavily fortified with anti oxidents, corrosion inhibitors, friction modifiers, dispersants, viscosity modifiers, pour point depressants etc..... OK, so what you ask? Even if the msds indicates that it is not a carcinogen in its liquid form, the lube was never intended to be used in a total loss system (i.e.: two stroke) where the lubricant is subject to combustion. When you subject most, if not all of the additives that make turbine oil work as well as it does, to the forces and temps of combustion, you have a highly toxic mix of heavy metal fumes, smoke and micro particulates that can be inhaled. The lungs can metabolize these substances much more readily than absorption through the skin and none of these heavy metals in the turbine lubes are anything but harmful. This stuff has zinc, phosphates, sulfates, calcium, boron, manganeese, magnesium and a whole lot of other stuff in there, again; none of it is good for you and could certainly cause you great harm as an inhalation hazard.

I'm not going to preach to you guys about this because many of you will play around with it regardless if it is harmful or not. I urge you guys to not play with this stuff. Stick with proven model engine lubes.

If you home blenders want safe lubricants, we have an entire line of glow fuel synthetics that are non-toxic, biodegradeable and non carcinogenic, we have them and thats all we use. They are not cheap since it is all modern technology and they perform much better than any off the shelf oil that is suitable in home blending glow fuel.

MJD

My Feedback: (1)

It's also very hard on glow plugs. There are other anti-foam chemistries available that don't glaze the plug. It might be the best hardware store solution.

As to acetone, I have not read any of the reports mentioned here, but I'm assuming it's benefit at idle is it's combustion range, i.e. a wider tolerance of O/F ratio than methanol. Methanol/MEK burns more reliably in pulse jets than straight methanol for what I believe is the same reason.

MJD

slopflyer

armorall ?? ... Which one?
I found lot of Armorall's in Internet Shops.[&o]
Please show me photo of outside bottle(or can?)...