Survival Steam Engine <G> Question

Which means your rig is safe as long as the 80 m dipole is disconnected when not in use.

Ah. But then, isn't most consumer electonics connected to the power lines? And as such, susceptible to common-mode signals arriving on them? Granted there will be a lot of attenuation on the incoming service entrance, but there's a lot more than

Jim

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I even wonder if it's an issue with the power grid. It's designed to recover from a direct lightning strike. Your point about the capture area is well taken, but I'd like to see a simulation before I'd assume that an NEMP would do permanent damage.

Change the timing sprocket to 1-to-1, only use the exhaust valve, use the exhaust manifold exactly the way it was intended, and you have fixed much of THAT problem, but you are still left with the intake valve situation; neither of the existing valves is really suitable for that job because they are designed to hold pressure INSIDE the cylinder, not hold it out. Perhaps an electrically-operated valve connected to the spark plug hole?

Vaughn

Vaughn

The grid is designed to be tolerant of lightning strikes. But a 200 km altitude NEMP detonation would cause the grid to face the equivalent of *simultaneous* lightning strikes every 1.4 km along its length. I don't think the grid is up to handling *that* level of surge gracefully.

Gary

There are two ways of doing this (and I've done one of them and it worked):

1. change the crank to cam ratio from 2:1 to 1:1. Easiest is to do this on a chain driven cam and replace the sprockets and chain. I've seen plans for doing this conversion to a straicht six engine, they just put normal old sprockets (both the same size) on the crank and cam and connect them with a chain. You are right in that the timing isn't quite right and that the valves are not going to be open long enough to take advantage of the full stroke of the engine and you will incur some pumping losses. That said, it would run, and for a conversion you could do to an old engine in an afternoon with probably minimal (or no) machine tools I'd say it fits the bill of what gunner was asking for pretty well.
2. Do what I did with my little Briggs 3.5hp when I converted it, just weld anothe set of lobes opposite the existing lobes on the camshaft (a cardboard template helps), clean it up best you can, put it back in, and just like that you have a steam engine. This will make much better use of the full stroke of the engine so if you did a good job of making your additional lobes this thing can run pretty well.

Valves, not a problem. If we are talking about a home built powereplant after the fall of civilization you won't have a nice burn center to go to after your boiler explodes. For this reason I'm thinking it would be best to shoot for a rather low pressure system. I know in the early days of locomotives some were run at very low pressures, might not be the worst of ideas. since the idea was an easy conversion I'd say leave the valve train alone and run it as is.

Dave

Given that every insulator on pylons and poles has an attached spark gap, I see no particular reason why there should be permanent damage. YMMV :-)

Mark Rand RTFM

That was my thought. I have a surge protector on my computer that has survived numerous lighting strikes that have blown out other protectors used by roommates (mine is APC, really like it). Is an EMP going to put more energy or higher voltage into the power lines than a direct lightning strike?

John

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Yea, why does gas cost $4/gal in England? It ain't because their crude oil costs are higher. Walked into a shop in Ireland once looking for a NiMH charger, my 60Hz unit fried on the stepped down

John

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Ah, for the good old days, when we could blame our exorbitant taxes on England!

R, Tom Q.

It isn't a matter of permanent damage to the wires and insulators. The surge is so pervasive that it trips out grid breakers and interties all over the network. In the 1950s, the US conducted a high altitude nuclear test in the Pacific. It knocked out the electrical and phone systems in Hawaii. Fortunately there was virtually no solid state equipment connected to the grid in those days, so it was more of a nuisance than a serious matter in terms of damaged electronic equipment.

Gary

The NEMP has a quicker risetime than a lightning strike. That means a lot of surge protectors won't clamp the surge quickly enough to avoid damage to solid state equipment. There are NEMP rated gas discharge protectors, but I doubt any ordinary computer surge protectors use them.

Polyphaser is one manufacturer of NEMP rated surge protectors. They have to be installed correctly, or they won't be effective. The plug in the wall power strips with surge protectors inside won't do against common mode surge. They have too high an impedance thanks to the cord sets.

The surge protectors have to be permanently mounted on an entrance bulkhead, called a ground window, where every conductor in or out of the protected area must pass, and be suppressed to the bulkhead. This keeps all conductors in the protected area at the same potential (plus or minus operating potentials) during a surge event. With no potential difference, no damaging currents can be forced through the equipment. It is a very simple concept, but it must be strictly followed. Even one conductor which bypasses the ground window can undo all the protection it offers.

Gary

VAT (sales tax) isn't the problem. At least it is a fair tax. The problem is that instead of using it to replace other less fair forms of taxation, they levy every other sort of tax too. So they wind up grossly overtaxed compared to the US.

(Those of us who consider the US to be grossly overtaxed find the level of European taxation to be simply unbelieveable.)

Gary

To pay for their "free" health care.

You can say that again, time for a second revolution me thinks.

John

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Unbelieveable is the least of it. What I find outrageous is all the hidden taxes, which I think you were alluding to. When I pay "X" dollars ofr "X" product how much of that price is tax? Who knows. Vote for me when I run for president and we'll end all the hidden tax crap.

John

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Yea, that and all the other free things socialism provides.

John

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For a real eye-opener, John, take a look at the taxes (income, corporate, value-added or equivalent) of the US and our major trading partners, which are mostly advanced economies. You'll find that our total taxes are so close to theirs, overall, that you'll probably be shocked. Finland, France, Italy, and one or two others are quite a bit higher than us, but most are fairly close. Even China has almost the same basic tax structure and percentages overall.

(BTW, to figure out where we are without a VAT, consider that our state and local sales taxes are close to the same thing, although much lower in percentage. Italy's VAT is the highest or close to it, at something like

Then take a look at all of those countries with really low taxes, and think about how much it's done for them. They're mostly the Third-World pisspots where you may get one good meal a day and where economic opportunity means a chance to set up a roadside stand selling exotic roadkill.

This tax business may require further thought, after all...

-- Ed Huntress (remove "3" from email address for email reply)

Gonna mobilize an RCM revolutionist party?

"Mr. President, that group of old folks is outside shaking their canes again" :-P

Tim

-- In the immortal words of Ned Flanders: "No foot longs!" Website @

What you're saying is the the exporting country looses revenue because it's taxes are not in the production of the item but in it's sale, a tax not collected since it was not a retail sale?

John

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