Hi guys, work continues on the Kyko fan this time with the burner. I could have cobbled something together and called it good but that just wasn’t going to work for me here. I really wanted to create a burner that was a decent copy of the original. I have been thinking about this for some time and couldn’t put it off any longer.
I spent some time creating CAD models of all the major parts. Probably the biggest difference is on my ½ size one I will just be using a small round wick instead of the larger flat wick and adjuster mechanism as on the original. That was just too much to try to scale down and make for no real good reason. The original brass parts were all spun, soldered and crimped together, I chose to just carve everything from stock.
I purchased a 13’ long piece of 3-½” free machining brass years ago at an auction, probably don’t have $20.00 in it, glad that I didn’t have to purchase it today. It has just been quietly sitting on the shelf waiting for this day. I cut a piece large enough to make both parts of the font. Starting out, the font top was machined and threaded ¾”-16 for the burner housing.
Then parted off.
The cover was flipped around and bottom machined to receive the font tank. The rim was machined to simulate the rolled over crimped joint of the original.
The remaining leftover piece was machined into the font tank.
Then flipped around and the outside profile machined including some draft as on the original.
The font tank and cover were soft soldered together after the fill port was added to the top.
The burner housing (my term) was roughed out from a piece of bar stock, and single point threaded to screw into the font. The original was quite ornate; I tried to add as much detail as reasonably possible.
The housing was parted off, flipped around and the inside machined.
Over to the mill, the vent slots were added, using a .03” end mill. The shaft sticking out is a gauge pin that I used to find the center of the axis.
Next is what I call the chimney base; this part sits on top of the burner housing and will be bonded together. They were originally crimped together; we are not going there this time around. The parts were designed to have ample surface area for either solder or Loctite to bond them together.
The first operation was to bore the inside to accept the chimney. There was also some profiling work involved here.
The Chimney Base was parted off and bonded to a previously machined aluminum mandrel. This was done with plenty of CA adhesive. After the adhesive had plenty of time to set up the bottom features were added. Also at this time the upper chimney area was thinned down to .015” wall thickness.
Back over to the mill the mandrel was held in a collet in the spindex. Two programs were used to cut the shapes one for the basic shape repeated every 30 degrees. Then the part was rotated 15 degrees, and the heart shape machined every 30 degrees. It only took a couple of hours to do all this.
I wasn’t sure how this was going to go, but it was uneventful.
I didn’t have any Acetone so let it go for a swim overnight in some fake MEK that I had on the shelf. The next morning the parts slipped apart without any issues.
The wick tube is a silver soldered assembly made from ½” and ¼” stainless tubing with transition piece to join them, the transition piece also contains a small vent hole. The larger ½” diameter is a press fit in the burner housing.
Here is a photo of all the burner parts assembled. My wife was even impressed!
I did choose to Loctite these together with some 680. Testing showed that they barely get warm to touch, so I feel that this will be a good option.
The original chimney is not going to win any awards, but it is what it is. I was able to purchase some chromoly tubing form McMaster that is exactly ½ size of the original, little heavier wall thickness but it will work. The middle connector was machined from stock and all three-parts silver soldered together.
The mica viewing window was a fun little project. The window frame blank was laser cut from .015” ½ hard brass shim, then annealed because it is quite springy.
I made a simple tool to press the recess for the mica.
This worked quite well, it worked ok on the non-annealed material, but it was difficult to form after that.
The window frame was easily formed around a piece of stock to match the chimney’s diameter.
Here is a photo of the completed chimney. I chose to use 1-72 round head screws to attach the window, the tubing has a thick enough wall that I was able to tap it and get a good thread.
In the upper section of the chimney there are three small clips that serve to hold the chimney in place when you slide it up to light the burner or refuel. They also help keep the burner and chimney centered under the hot cap. The blanks were laser cut from .016” half hard 301 stainless steel sheet. They were left a little long so they could be trimmed after forming.
Here are the formed parts, this was pretty much all hand work.
This shows how they mount in the chimney. I chose to use 1-72 hardware instead of riveting them in place. Ran out of round head screws, the fillister head will be replaced.
Here is the completed assembly, I just need to paint the chimney with some high heat black paint.
And after that long winded post, here is a photo of the burner assembly in its new home.
Thanks for checking in, more to come.
Dave
