Can you make water explode? Well, maybe not
water per-se, but with a simple technique, we can turn one of the most abundant materials
on earth, into a highly explosive gas. In this project we're building a generator that
uses electricity to convert this, into this. For this project we're going to need some
stainless steel. I'm at a local fabrication company, and not only do they have plenty
of scrap metal to choose from, they're even willing to help me cut it to custom sizes.
A job that would have taken me hours with a pair of tin snips and a hack saw, only takes
a matter of minutes with their equipment. This is 20 gauge stainless steel, and this
hydraulic punch is being used to cut precise holes in the tops and bottoms of the plates.
When finished, I have 12 plates measuring 3" x 6", 4 plates at 1 1/2" x 6", and three
1" connector bands that are 6", 4 1/2", and 3 1/4". A belt sander is perfect for smoothing
down the jagged edges around the hole, and now it's time to head home and get to work.
We'll need these 4" ABS cleanout fittings, 3/8" poly tubing, as well as some scrap 4"
and 2" acrylic tubing I found at a plastics company. When I peel the protective layer
from the plates, it reveals a beautiful and attractive surface. But that's not what we
want for this project. Instead, we'll need to hunt down some sandpaper. This is 100 grit,
and I'll place 2 plates in a diamond shape, and sand from top to bottom, then rotate 90
degrees, and repeat. These scuff marks will increase the surface area on the plates and
increase the efficiency of the generator. Ok, I've finished off both sides of the plates
and you can see the criss-cross pattern etched into the metal. The 1 1/2" plates are sanded
as well, but the 3 connector bands are not. Alright, it's time to cut this acrylic tubing
to size, so I'm using a chop saw to trim this edge smooth, then I'll measure 7", and cut
nice and slowly so that I don't chip the plastic. As the blade cuts, the friction also helps
heat the plastic, leaving a fairly clear edge. After I've cut 5" of the 2" tubing, it's time
to make some connections. With some gentle persuasion, I've managed to fit the large
acrylic tube into the clean out adaptor, but before we push them together, let's add a
liberal amount of clear silicone caulking all around the outer base. This will also
go on the inside being very careful not to get any silicone on the threads. Now we can use
a rubber hammer to tap the tubing all the way into place, and clean up the excess silicone.
Paper towel works well, and in a few minutes, it's all cleaned up. We can flip this over,
and repeat the process of attaching, caulking this part, and this part, tapping into place,
and cleaning up the excess. While I'm in the mood for cleaning, I'll use my adhesive remover
to assist in clearing off the UPC stickers, then give everything one final wipe down.
I'm going to seal the bottom with a 4" ABS clean-out plug and some ABS cement. The gooey
black cement is applied to the threads of both parts, and then I'll use this piece of
scrap wood from my "Solar Scorcher Frame" project to help screw it in tight. The excess
is removed, and we can let it sit here to cure. While that's drying, let's get to work
on making the bubbler. I want to attach this 1/4" 90 degree elbow to the cap, so when the
stickers are removed, I'll grab my 1/2 drill bit, and a tap. The hole is drilled in the
center, then tapped at 18 thread, just before adding pipe tape to the elbow adaptor, and
screwing into place. When that's tight, and I've repeated the exact same process with
the other cap, I'm happy to see they fit snug onto my acrylic tubing. It looks unfinished
though, so I'm going to use these top pieces from 2 trap adaptors to slide onto the tubing
first, and now when I add the cap, they screw together giving this piece a clean professional
look. Ok now it's time to work on the generator plates. Similar to the bubbler caps, I'm drilling
a 1/2" hole into the top of the 4" clean-out plug. When that's tapped to 18 thread, we
can add pipe tape to a 3/8" swivel elbow and screw that into place. You can see this swivels
360 degrees, and that's mostly for convenience. Using a 5/16" drill bit, I'll make holes on
either side of the cap, and these will be for attaching the generator plates. I cut
this hole a little close to the edge, but no problem. My belt sander easily rounded
the edges, and now it's a perfect fit. Next, I'll mark the two smaller bands at about 2
3/4", and use my bench vise and a rubber hammer to bend them to 90 angles. The 6" piece is
marked at 1 3/4" and 4 1/4", then bent into a "U" shape. A 5/16" course thread nylon bolt
is cut into two pieces 4" long. I'll get some nylon washers ready, and add two stainless
steel jam nuts, to the end of each bolt. The bolts are fitted with two of the connector
straps, and one of the smaller plates, then a plastic washer is added on each bolt. These
washers are 3/4" diameter, and about 0.06" thick. Another 1 1/2" plate is added, and
secured with a nut on each bolt, and now the big plates can go on. I'm stacking these in
the order of plate, washers, plate, nuts, and repeating until I've got a total of 8
plates in place. This is the center of the generator, and the other connector strap is
added at the top and secured with another nut. I'll add one more nut to the bottom to
compensate for the gap, and then get back to my routine of adding plate, washers, plate,
nuts, until I run out of big plates. The two smaller plates are added last, and now all
we need to do is trim down the bolt ends to about 1/2" so we can snap the bottom connector
into place, add a nut, and tighten. The other bolt also gets a finishing nut, and then is
trimmed down, and now we just need to turn the generator around and move these screws
so that we can tighten the inner ones. The generator plates are done, and looking very
nice, so let's connect them up to the 4" plug. To do that, I'll add a nut to a 5/16" x 2"
stainless steel bolt and push them through the hole in the right connector strap. This
1/4" washer is stainless steel on one side, and rubber on the other, and I'll push that
down the bolt with the rubber side up. That's all repeated on the left side, and now the
cap is placed over the bolts. Two more washers are added, this time with rubber side down,
and secured with another nut. Using an allen wrench, the nut is tightened securely, and
then a few more nuts and metal washers are added to the posts for convenience. This piece
is finished. I'm really happy with it, and when I dry-fit it into the casing and screw
it into position, I'm starting to get excited. We're going to need a way to secure the bubbler
to the side, so using some leftovers from the 2" pipe, I'll very carefully cut two 3/4"
thick circles, then use a wood 2x4 to hold the piece flat while I trim off the top. What
I've done is created a clip for our bubbler and you can see it clips easily onto the tube
and holds firmly in place. The other circle is cut, and a belt sander used to match the
pieces as closely as possible. I've got some left over acrylic rod from my "Fire Piston"
project, and I'll cut off 2 pieces about 1 1/2" long. I'll use some acrylic glue to secure
the clips to the connector rods, and after 2 minutes they're firm, but will still take
over 2 days to fully cure. While those are setting, I'll use scissors to cut my poly
tube at 20", and another piece at 2". The 2" piece connects to a one-way check valve,
and gets inserted into the swivel elbow. This will prevent anything from flowing back into
the generator. The 20" tube goes on the other end of the valve, and then connects to one
of the bubbler elbows. It looks like we're ready to attach the clips to the body, so
let's use the bubbler body as a form for spacing the clips, and with the generator on it's
side, find where it balances. That looks good there, so acrylic glue is added to the clips
and replaced on the body. When it sets, I'll use a little more glue in the gaps, and remove
the bubbler to let it cure. In the mean time, we can ready 6 cups of distilled water, and
some flakes of potassium hydroxide. 4 Teaspoons of flakes will act as a catalyst to help the
electricity flow, so when they're stirred in, we can open the generator body, and attach
a coffee filter to filter the fluid into the super cleaned casing. The filter is removed
and thread tape is added to the cap, then the generator plates are slowly inserted into
the solution, and screwed in water tight. To finish up, we can remove the top cap from
the bubbler, add some water, and screw it back together. The remainder of the poly tube
is attached to the bubbler elbow, and there it is! A sexy looking hydroxy generator! This
system produces an extremely powerful OxyHydrogen gas. Running on 2 car batteries, it will make
about 5 liters per minute, and when the gas is used, it simply turns back into water.
The amount of water already in this system is enough to produce thousands and thousands
of liters of fuel. Some people say this is the fuel of the future. Whether or not that's
true, the amount of power in the gas, is humbling. Well there's how to build a simple water/fuel
converter. If you liked this project, perhaps you'll like some of my others. Check them
out at www.thekingofrandom.com
