I would like to make my own fuel as others have done using the 4:1 methanol and Castor oil mix. I was wondering if this solution of methanol sold at Home Depot would be ok to use - 80% methanol, less than 20% ethanol, and less than 3% Methyl Isobutyl Ketone. Unfortunately there are not any speed shops or drag strips close by to me so I wanted to ask if this would be ok to use.


Thanks,
Jeff

Jeff:

Ethanol (grain alcohol) will not ignite with glow plug ignition, but when the methanol ignites the ethanol should burn happily. The ketone shouldn't have any effect.

The only problem I see is the possibility of the ethanol diluting the methanol to the point it wont fire.

But how much can your hardware store methanol cost? Buy a quart, mix it with eight ounces of castor oil and try it.

Let us know how it works.

Bill.

That would be very expensive! There may not be speed shops in your town but you don't live far from Philly do you? Also there is a racetrack near Allentown. I did a web search and came up with this.

http://www.300mclub.org/sponsors.htm

You should buy at least 5 gallons at a time to make the trip worth it.

You might want to hunt around the hardware/paint stores... here, at least, we can get 99% methanol (doesn't say what the other 1% is and is labeled as "Methyl Hydrate"... the "old" name for methanol) in 4 liter(approx 1 US Gal) jugs for about $8.00 CDN.

Why do that? Racing methanol will cost around $3.00 per gallon I think I paid $14 for my last 5 gallon can.

S&W Hobby Supply · P.O. Box 208 · Tatamy, PA 18085 · (610)252-2024 is the largest supplier of glow fuel in East Coast. They can blend you a custom made fuel for much cheaper than you can make it yourself. Their regular blended fuels run great too and are some of the lowest priced fuels in the country.

If you insist on homebrewing, you may be able to buy some methanol from them.

Maybe, but lately I have found it cheaper to mix it myself.

Really? I've homebrewed about 50 gallons in my lifetime and I cannot beat their prices:

prices per gallon
10% $9.00
12.5% 1$0.00
15% $10.50

http://www.s-whobby.com/prices.html

10% nitro, 20% oil was costing me about 11 bucks a gallon to homebrew. Then again, I wasn't using home depot adulterated methanol in my brew.

PS I am in no way affiliated with this company. I'm just a happy customer and wish I lived in PA so I could buy more. I'm now stuck using Magnum fuels from Denver :-(

Prices for 10% fuel

Oil $22 * %18 = $3.96
Nitro $50 * %10 = $5.00
Meth $3 * %72 = $2.16
Total = $11.12

Omega at the store costs me $14 to $15.

Four gallons of S&W = $36 plus $20 shipping is $56 which is $14 per gallon.

If you can buy is locally for that price then you are correct.

I have seen this stuff in Home Depot also. It was cheap, less than $3.00 a gallon. Called methylated spirits I think. If you were to make your own FAI fuel it would be very cheap, $6.00-7.00 a gallon. Great for that Moki 2.10! Also on this mix the Moki could fly a lot, it gets very good economy on no nitro fuel for the power it puts out.

Methylated spirits is another name for denatured alcohol. Ethanol with a small amount of methanol and toluene added.

Oh.

Two more questions / ideas...

1. Why can't you use regular gasoline in glow engines if you mixed the right amount of Castor oil with it? From what I have been reading on line, gasoline contains more energy per given amount than methanol.

2. How about adding small amounts ether to your homebrew fuel as a replacement to nitro. You can by cans of it at dolor stores everywhere so it is very cheap. Maybe it would it evaporate into the air inside the bottle though. Just an idea...

Jeff:

The methanol is what ignites the rest of the fuel. A glow plug wont light gasoline or ethanol, you could experiment with the ether using pure compression ignition, but we already have our little diesels. Get one and try gasoline. But the kerosine has a higher specific heat than gasoline, so why change?

Bill.

Bill,

Do you mean to try to convert the engine to diesels and use kerosine in it, or try a mixture of kerosine and Castor in a normal glow setup. Sorry, I am just a little unclear on your post.


Thanks,
Jeff

Jeff:

Sorry. If it takes a gallon of methanol for a particular amount of power, you will need approx 1/2 gallon of gasoline for the same energy. Then if you're burning kerosine you will only need a quart for the same amount of heat. Not exact, but that's the idea.

My point was if you want economy in a glow engine go to kerosine instead of gasoline, but neither gasoline nor kerosine will light from a glow plug. Kerosine burns nicely in a diesel. diesel engines and diesel conversions are already on the market, they are the way to go for a quick rise in fuel economy.

Using either kerosine or gasoline you can't use the silicone fuel lines, the "Tygon" hoses are necessary. And the methanol turns Tygon into a rigid pipe.

There are more problems than just the ignition.

Bill.

you can run gas with a glow plug, [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_1267448/mpage_1/key_ether/tm.htm]click here[/link]

i've tried it a few times too but just for fun. with gas at $4 a gallon it's just not worth my time to perfect...


dave

Dave:

I stand corrected. I had tried gasoline years ago, and never got it to work well. But you will note in that thread they were still using a methanol/ethanol mix with the gasoline when they had it running well.

Bill.

How much oil do you use for a 2-Stroke homebrew fuel mix?

I plan to try a mixture of 20% methanol, 75% gas, and 5% acetone.

When one says to use a 100:1, for example, does that mean percent of gas plus percent of oil = 75%? Or does it mean 100:1 for the entire mixture - meaning I mix everything except for the oil (20% methanol, 75% gas, and 5% acetone), then I add a part of 1/100 of oil to it for the final solution.

Also is there a brand of 2-stroke oil that would be recommended among the rest because when I go into Walmart or Pep Boys there must be at least ten different brands to choose from.

ZAGNUT, thank you for the link. It was very very helpful.

100:1 would be for the overall fuel to oil mix. remember though that some oils don't mix with methanol and some don't mix with gas, i think that's the reason people tried amyl acetate and ether in that thread. never ever try these low oil percentages on a glow engine that has a bushed rod...all my gas engines run on 3-4 percent Klotz benol while my glow engines get 20% of the same oil.

those experiments and mine were mostly done on gas engines with carbs that are good for metering gas, a glow carb can get real finicky with gas and a glow engine can also overheat when run on gas...

i was just pointing out that you don't have to use 100% methanol to get combustion with a glow plug and that your home depot 80% methanol would probably work just fine and is worth a try if you can't find a source for real meth.

bill, you're right about gas not working very well all by itself. not worth my time to figure out some exotic mix that does work. in my gassers i continue to use ignition and my glow engines still use methanol.


dave

Where do you get your methanol, Sport-Pilot? I am down here in rural S.E. GA., not exactly a hotbed of racing activity.

jess

There is a guy next to a local drag strip that sells VP racing fuel. You might be surprised at the number of tracks in the SE if you look try Yahoo yellow pages. If not I am sure you can have fuel shipped from one of these links.

http://www.roadsters.com/fuel/

I know that World Wide Racing Fuel ships.

Thanks!

jess

I still am unsure of what kind of oil to use in a methanol and gas mix. From what I understand you just can't use any old two-cycle chainsaw or weedwacker oil. Any suggestions or ideas on brands that are sold at Walmart/Home Depot/Pep Boys.

Sport_Pilot, what do you use? Where do you buy it? And where do you get your Nitro from?

Just one other thing- how much oil should be used for a 2-cycle glow. Is 4:1 correct?

Klotz benol fuel is available at most speed shops and is compatible with methanol.

The amount of oil based as percentage volume of total fuel mix is based on the engine size. As you increase the engine displacement you can get away with slightly less oil than smaller size 2 stroke engines.

For an engine above .90 size 16-18% oil is sufficient.

For engines .90 and below 18-20% oil is adequate.