This is the second time I have tried to mix my own fuel with no success. The first time I bought some motorcycle castor/synth pre mix at a cycle shop that was supposed to mix with methanol and after about a day it had separated out and would not completely dilute.
This time I tried a test batch with just methanol and castor oil (the 4 0z. bottle you get at wal mart) I shook it up and it turned milky white and then the castor began to separate from the methanol. What is happening here. Am I using the wrong kind of castor or what?

Maybe you have methanol with a lot of water in it? That would cause the difficulty of getting the oil into solution. Just guessing, no experience.

Jim

That's a good suggestion Jim.

acam37...mix a small batch with straight castor in a glass or plastic jar then heat it in hot water. Give it a shake every so often as it warms up and if it's water in the fuel then eventually it'll warm to the point where all the castor will dissolve. As it cools down it'll reach a certain temp where all the oil will suddenly come out of solution and fall to the bottom. With dry methanol you should be able to cool the mixture in a freezer and have no seperation.

Thanks for the info. This methanol I got was given to me (54 cases in one gallon steel cans) and I thought that if it was good my club would have enough fuel for a lifetime. I do not know how old it is but the man I got it from still used it in his race car, but recently quit the sport. It very well could be contaminated. A few of the cans were lighter like they lost some fuel due to evaporation,and if the seal was broken then they could have water. I used one of these for my test batch.

I did what downunder suggested. I heated it up in hot water, and the castor oil dissolved in the methanol. I then put it in the freezer for a few minuets and this is the result. So what do you think? WATER?

I'd suggest finding something else to do with any can which seems to have a leak. Try again with one of the good cans and hopefully it will work. Interesting!

Jim

I think you've got more water than methanol there

Yeah,your right . The can I used had the seal broken and with the high humidity here in East Texas it must have absorbed a lot of water. A few of these cans are noticably lighter , so I can assume these are the ones that need to be discarded. I took a sample of one without adding castor oil and it had major water bubbles.I checked one that was full and it was perfectly clear, so as soon as I get some more castor oil I will try it again and let you know how it turns out.

If you are seeing bubbles of some liquid in methanol it is not water. Water and methanol mix perfectly. No idea what you were seeing. I wonder if the bubbles would burn. You have a lot more interesting stuff there than you had counted on.

Jim

Hello; Here in the frozen north, water in fuel is a fairly common occurance. What we do to remove the water is put your fuel in the freezer overnight, then in the morning pour all the fuel out into another jug (a clean jug) and leave teh ice in the original fuel jug. Then bring the first jug inside to melt the ice and pour it off. I have mixed my own fuel for my Laser engine, and this system works. I buy Klotz technoplate and Methyl Hydrate (usually under $5 a gallon) and mix it 1 to 4. My other engines work well on this mixture as well, Saito mostly.

I would put some of those light cans in the freezer and pour them into a fresh clean jug in the morning.

I noticed in the picture that the boxes were marked with "Duplicating Fluid". Is duplicating fluid a pure enough methanol for our purpose?

Ed S

As far as I know it is pure methyl alcohol. I was told it was used in the old style printers that schools had back in the day. The kind that made the purple ink. So that gives you an idea of how old it is.
I work for a environmental cleanup and disposal company so if I can't use it I will have it disposed of properly. I just figured It is worth a try to see if I could make some cheap fuel. I bought some more castor oil and it mixed great with the fresh can. I am going to run some through an old engine I have to see if it causes any problems.

After doing some research on this stuff I have I found out that it is indeed methanol,BUT it is a lower grade than what is needed for glow fuel. The water content is off the chart,even the sealed containers.Thats why I can't get the castor oil to dilute.

Wonder if you can get it pure enough with a still?

unfortunately a still wont dry it completely only to about 96 percent you will need to use other chemicals to dry it, but with that amount of methanol it may be worth investigating the option of drying it.