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Ice cream maker, Gas to Diesel conversion

41K views 99 replies 16 participants last post by  bindermike 
#1 ·
Here it is with the gas engine


And here's the new Diesel engine


It's a Volvo Penta model MD1, late 60's I think, about 7HP, direct injection, hand crank with optional electric starter/generator.
When swapping engines I'll also put it all on a cart/wagon so it'll be easier to move around. Engine in front, existing pulley arrangement over the output shaft with a short belt, and ice cream maker behind that.

Have almost everything except a good fuel tank and some sort of water tank for the engine. For the water tank I'm thinking about 8" round x 24" tall would be suitable.
I also have a second ice cream maker I'll probably add later on.

Grigg
 
#31 ·
Yeah ya don't want soot flavored ice cream, so an extension might be in order. A coffee can (soup can in this case) would work fine, flappers are just fun to watch at idle for everyone. Will you run a muffler? I've never heard mine without a waterlift muffler. The only sound you hear outside the hull is bub-bub-bub-ploosh-bub-bub-bub-ploosh. And you have to be standing on the same side of the boat as the outlet to hear that. Inside the salon is a different story (with the ER hatches removed a demented monkey in a 55 gallon drum with a couple ball peen hammers would be quieter)

What does your engine use for a water pump? Since mine is raw water cooled it uses a seawater pump only.
 
#32 ·
Probably no muffler, it wasn't so bad without any pipe even. Plan to run it about 1,000 RPM instead of max 2,000 which should help too.
For water pump it has a Jabsco rubber impeller normal raw water pump. Only difference in this cooling system and normal marine is the dry exhaust, no water jacket on the exhaust outlet/manifold, and instead of a lake or ocean I have a 5 gallon milk can.

Grigg
 
#34 ·
#35 ·
Getting closer


Saturday we picked some peaches and then with the old setup made 2 gallons of grilled peach ice cream (our own concoction) for a friends dinner party, it was a big hit, supposedly "the best peach ice cream ever".
Now the push is to get it together in the new version for the 4th of July.

Grigg
 
#36 ·
Cooling system is done.
Made some little bronze pipe flanges to solder on the milk can for the fittings.



Bracket to hold the can, used bolts already there for engine mounts and one for the belt tower.


All together


Belts, pulleys and tensioners are next. Then fuel filter, pump, and tank, and finally clamps to hold the bucket down.

Grigg
 
#38 ·
Here it is


Still need to make and fix a few things but it's at least operational, we'll make a few batches for the 4th, and perhaps another on the weekend, I'll get some video of it actually working.

You might not see it in the video but the thing shakes something terrible. I knew it wouldn't be real smooth, it's a one cylinder diesel, but it shakes way more that I would have guessed, and it already has some really soft mounts. One thing that might help is to use a spring loaded tensioner on the belt off the engine, otherwise the output shaft is sort of hanging by the belt and restricting what cushioning the rear mounts can provide.

Need to figure out a good throttle lever or mechanism and somewhere to mount the oil pressure gauge, and still need to find or make a fuel tank. Turns out there's lots of room on the right side of the engine for a fuel tank.

Grigg
 
#41 ·
I could, and did think about it as I already have a flexible coupling for it that would have been used with the prop shaft. In trying to keep it simple the pulley right on the output shaft seemed best, and a spring loaded tensioner should do about as well as a jack shaft with flex coupling. Actually there's already a jack shaft under the cart and going toward the rear (but not quite inline with the engine output). I turns much slower and will run a second ice cream freezer; with the shaft already running slow the pulley on the next freezer can be a moderate size, not as large as on the first one.

Grigg
 
#44 ·
Mine has softer mounts than yours and shakes even more! They are rigid mounted in Sailboats because of their tendency to shake but you don't have that much mass to do that. I'd say let her shake. You may want even softer mounts to keep from shaking your other parts loose. Perhaps you could use a tensioner pulley off one of our B series to take up the slack due to the vibes between the drive pulley and the jackshaft pulley?

Loved the video-looked like it could've been 100 yrs ago.
 
#45 ·
We'll tomorrow is the first run on the new machine, chocolate with some cayenne and cinnamon, really tasty!

Made a spring loaded tensioner for the belt on the transmission output shaft. looks like a soft spring is all that's necessary and hope that reduces some shake. At speed it's not as bad as at an idle, so should be useable in any case.
Also made a nice shift lever for the transmission. And a throttle that'll work for now.

In the morning need to fix a couple weeping fuel fittings and it'll be ready to go.

look for more pictures and videos Friday or Monday.
 
#46 ·
Here it is working away


Here's the tensioner, it works just great. The whole thing still shakes but not quite as bad now, not a problem any more I don't think.


An overall shot, note the new shift lever for transmission, and mounted the oil pressure gauge so it won't flop around any more.
No video this time, it rained all morning.


It does need a muffler, or I tested and it needs at least a 2' longer pipe to take the harshness out of the exhaust. Picked up a smalll ford tractor muffler of some sort from Tractor Supply this morning, I'll see/hear how that sounds.
Also on the to do list is make a tongue for it, almost done with it already.

Grigg
 
#47 ·
WOW, looks great.
 
#48 · (Edited)
Love it! Put the muffler on-and a flapper style rain cap. Those are fun to watch on 1 lung poppers. My engine is pretty loud itself though. The tensioner and oil gauge look spot on. What have you decided about a fuel tank? What is that cap atop the filter mount down on the frame.

You should build a flat bottomed plywood boat for duck season and use the "ice cream" powerplant for it during the winter!
 
#49 ·
Try these picture links.
https://picasaweb.google.com/m/view...19229/5883796022186669809/5897703521889914530
https://picasaweb.google.com/m/view...19229/5883796022186669809/5897703126652324514

Took the contraption on the road today for a family gathering, made some tasty mint chocolate chip, picked the mint about midnight last night..

It works quite well, easy to start, only uses a few spoon fuels of fuel for a batch.

Bought a muffler to try, not much help so I'll return it. Went back to a 2 foot piece of cardboard tube and a hose clamp, works nicely and sounds great. Anyone have a couple feet of 1.5" stainless tube laying around?

The knob on the filter housing is a primer pump, feels like a diaphragm type and works well for burping the air out. Housing is off some imported truck, got it from a friend who had it new but unused.

Still no luck on finding the right fuel tank. Round or oval to fit on right side of the engine is what I'm after.

Grigg
 
#53 ·
That little round tank is about perfect, not fond of the price but I'll keep an eye on it. Also watching an oval one from a Kohler.
Still not sold on a glass bottle for a fuel tank, but if I decide on it it'll have to be a 1/2 gallon glass milk bottle, they're plain, simple, and tough.

Here's a new video
 
#54 ·
Found a nice tank, it was even free. Muffler too, as I had it on an old Wisconsin 2cyl.



Need to make a bracket for the tank and clean it out, nasty old gas/varnish.
Easy way to clean it is to take it apart which was easy enough to do with a torch and a little compressed air to pop it apart.
It also had some dents that were easy enough to remove once I got it apart.
 
#55 ·
No glass bowl on that one?
 
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