Feeding The Fire by Robot
It might seem a little bit counterintuitive, but one of the more carbon-neutral ways of heating one’s home is by burning wood. Since the carbon for the trees came out …read more Continue reading Feeding The Fire by Robot
Category Archives: Boiler
Enjoy an Open-Source Espresso
One of the core principles of the open-source movement is that anyone who wants to build on a piece of work, in whatever way they want, is easily able to. …read more Continue reading Enjoy an Open-Source Espresso
Bringing a Steam Train Back from Extinction
There’s no denying that while railroads have switched to diesel and electric as their primary power sources, there’s a certain allure to the age of steam. With that in mind, …read more Continue reading Bringing a Steam Train Back from Extinction
Steamy Hack Chat Vents Some High Pressure Wisdom
Ask the average person about steam power and they’ll probably imagine a bygone era, a time when the sky was thick with smoke belched out by coal-burning locomotives and paddle-wheel …read more Continue reading Steamy Hack Chat Vents Some High Pressure Wisdom
Fail of the Week: Learning How Not to Silver Solder
Sure, there are subtleties, but by and large it’s pretty easy to pick up soldering skills with a little practice. But wait! Not all soldering is created equal, and as …read more Continue reading Fail of the Week: Learning How Not to Silver Solder
Arduino Reduces Heating Costs
While almost everyone has a heater of some sort in their home, it’s fairly unlikely that the heat provided by a central heating system such as a furnace is distributed in an efficient way. There’s little reason to heat bedrooms during the day, or a kitchen during the night, but …read more
Retrotechtacular: The Art of the Foundry
Mention the term “heavy industry” and the first thing to come to mind might well be the metal foundry. With immense machines and cauldrons of molten metal being shuttled about by crane and rail, the image of the foundry is like a scene from Dante’s Inferno, with fumes filling …read more
Suffer No Substitutes — The Hudspith Steam Bicycle Is One-Of-A-Kind
In a bit of punky, steam-based tinkering, Brittish engineer [Geoff Hudspith]’s obsession for steam and passion for cycles fused into the Hudspith Steam Bicycle.
Built and improved over the past thirty years, the custom steam engine uses a petrol and kerosene mix for fuel, reaching a top speed of 32km/h and has a range of 16km on one tank of water. While in motion, the boiler is counter-balanced by the water tank on the rear as well as the flywheel, water pump, and the other components. However, [Hudspith] says he doesn’t have an easy go of it carrying the bike …read more
Continue reading Suffer No Substitutes — The Hudspith Steam Bicycle Is One-Of-A-Kind
Brasilia Espresso Machine PID Upgrade Brews Prefect Cup of Energy
Coffee, making and hacking addictions are just bound to get out of control. So did [Rhys Goodwin’s] coffee maker hack. What started as a little restoration project of a second-hand coffee machine resulted in a complete upgrade to state of the art coffee brewing technology.
The Brasilia Lady comes with a 300 ml brass boiler, a pump and four buttons for power, coffee, hot water and steam. A 3-way AC solenoid valve, wired directly to the buttons, selects one of the three functions, while a temperamental bimetal switch keeps the boiler roughly between almost there and way too hot.
To …read more
Continue reading Brasilia Espresso Machine PID Upgrade Brews Prefect Cup of Energy