@@Joemama555 brilliant. I was trying to imagine of the same thing, and couldn't remember where I saw the concept before. I think for this to work with the ruby precursors, more control over the HHO mixture and pressure would be required.
Maybe you could 3D print ruby in SLM style 3D printers typically used for metal. I’m sure someone’s tried it in a research setting although SLM printers are prohibitively expensive for the average hobbyist.
I am often sad by how rarely you post but I quickly realize its because you dedicate your self to originality, quality, or something you truly deem worthy of sharing and I thank you for it.
@@NighthawkinlightEagle River Research makes wonderful HHO machines that you can bubble the HHO gas through water and drink or even take an arm or leg put like a big bag around it and you pump the HHO Gas in there and incredible healing takes place. I had it done to my back they put like a big cup around it and pump the HHO Gas in there took my pain away within 15 minutes it never came back.
If you do decide to use this for small-scale welding, you might consider adding a third bubbler bottle, and filling it with methanol. The flame as it is now is neutral to slightly oxidizing, which makes for a rough weld, but with the addition of a bit of methanol vapor, the flame is reducing, and reduces metal oxides back to metal as fast as they form. You can also add boric acid to the methanol, and the resulting methyl borate is volatile enough to be carried over with the methanol, leaving a protective flux layer as it burns.
@@NICEFINENEWROBOT This isn't a thing that happens. There's only a tiny bit of oxygen in the system at any one time, and no matter how much fuel you add, it doesn't become more explosive. In fact, it becomes a lot less explosive. The stoichiometric mix burns hottest and ignites easiest too, so adding extra fuel makes the flame a bit cooler, less fast burning, and less likely to explode. For happy fun insurance facts, you might want to check your rates: an oxyhydrogen jeweler's torch with methanol bubbler is cheaper to insure in most places than one that takes tanked gasses, specifically because of the smaller chance of explosion and the small quantity of explosive gas present at any one time.
@@andrewtinker7537 A bottle filled with volatile fuel were gas with a high content of oxygen is bubbled thorough it sounds like a recipe for disaster if there is a flash back and the bottle breaks. And yes there is more oxygen and fuel in such bottle than if it was simply air what is being bubbled so definitely more dangerous specially because methanol has significant explosion limit of 7.3 to 36 %. The risk is not so much huge explosion that will kill you but a fire if the bottle breaks when it explodes and sprays everywhere burning fuel. Its safer to simply inject gas from a propane bottle into the stream with a needle valve to control oxygen balance than have a difficult to control bubbler were the slightest change in ambient temperature throws off your adjusted oxygen balance and that has the risk of exploding.
That compression method I saw you used in an older video of yours - the one where you use small compressors encased in plastic bottles to pump into old "balloon time" tanks: do you still use it? How effective is it?
I prefer making them seperately too, but it's hard to get the same efficiency in a split cell. A lot easier to get the electrodes close together when you don't have to worry about shrouds or membranes between them
We use them for repairing metal eyeglasses because it is a very precise source of heat and saves the rest of the frame of getting charred. its very very useful.
That flame travelling slowly through the needle has got to be one of the coolest things I've seen to date, thanks for sharing! Have you considered using your separate-cell electrolyzer to build a larger, more practical-size torch? I'd love to see a build tutorial for a larger HHO torch, and using separated streams of oxygen and hydrogen gas seems like the best way to go (safety wise at least).
ye it looks cute. Now you need to realize that this also happens in oxy-acetylene torches, and trust me you don't want to witness that shit. It makes a terrifying screaming sound while slowly melting your entire torch and it's handle, burning down to the oxygen and acetylene gas lines. That's why multiple flashback arrestors on a oxy-acetylene is a must have, or things can quickly go kaboom. This is what we call a sustained flashback, or sustained backfire.
There are videos showing 30-40 LPM HHO production on youtube. You just need to stack up enough plates and run a current through them. You want high current but low voltage per plate (2-2.5V). 20A at 240V using ~100 plates will produce several liters of gas per minute. An oxy-propane glassblowing torch usually uses about 5-12 liters of oxygen per minute.
Thank you for doing this all these years! I still remember watching the air soft soda bottle gun when I was a kid. Never thought I’d see your channel grow so huge, but it’s amazing. Your passion for science and educating people about it is a gift to the world! Keep on keeping on man!
I've reacquired most of the hearing in one of my ears, after a flashback blew up one of my plastic bottle bubblers on a similar setup I made several years ago. I stopped messing with hho, but decided the electrolysis chamber design that uses high count silk sheets to seperate the H and O to seperate chambers is a better idea. Had I been wearing hearing protection I'd probably have a large hydrogen casting torch by now. Damaging my hearing sent me down another interesting rabbit hole, learning about the inner ear (the cochlea) that processes a particular range of our hearing. I learned military doctors have used a few vitamins to successfully treat partial hearing loss in many of their patients and took those vitamins for about a year. Even so, crickets still sound like a poor commodore 64 impression at times.
Did the same but was just setting off the bubbles in a soap and water mix, blew out my right ear drum. Hearing is mostly back but i still struggle if im trying to use that ear to talk on the phone
Patrick Flanagan's Neurophone bypasses the ears & allows you to hear even if you are completely deaf. I demonstrated this in Indonesia with 3 completely deaf from birth, people.
I think the electrolysis cell probably makes a sound more like an open bottle of soda pop, a "fizzing" sound, since the bubbles are small and numerous. The bubbles we're hearing in the video are in the anti-backflash bottles.
Awesome. At 64 I wish I could go back and start over learning science. For my grandchildren now watching and learning some cool, may lead them into the wonders of science. Thanks Barry of Colorado
For everyone who thinks two flashback traps are overkill, I remember when the flame somehow made it's way all the way through a trap and into the Tupperware box reaction chamber which then exploded, spraying my whole room with electrolyte solution and making my ears ring for the rest of the day.
In his previous video, the slow motion demonstration showed a few bubbles almost make it over the crest of the tube between the electrolysis device and the flashback arrestor. A second flashback arrestor in series is actually a good idea, imo.
i just wanna say: your microwave rubies project was my absolute favorite youtube video from 2020 and i showed it to anyone who i could get to sit still for a minute. it's cool to see that project pop back up again!
A good way to make them more user friendly is by mixing in a bit of propane into the HHO, the propane will make it more fuel rich and less explosive, it's a really neat way to make a very useful torch, and by changing amount of propane, you can get any flame you want
The old Browns Gas generators used a flame arrester bottle full of methanol to act both as a flame arrestor and as a means of making the mixture slightly rich (reducing). Another trick was to add either borax to the liquid to add a trace amount of flux. The old Browns Gas arrester was a heavy stainless steel cylinder with a wide screw on lid and welded in fittings.
@@pixelpatter01 I like that idea. Passive methanol injection through the arrestor is much easier than piping in propane. Then you need extra caution containing the arrestor though, as a liquid fuel spill would be very dangerous.
I could see this being very useful for chainmail. Historically they used rivets to hold the chains together, but making the rings is very labor intensive. Most reenactment chainmail just has the two ends butted up against each other, fast but weak against an actual blade. This would be a good way to weld the ends together, some people try spot welding but that doesn't scale down very well.
@@benadams5557 each link is surprisingly easy to forge weld closed. (I was surprised at how easy it is - I still gave up after making a 3 inch diamond of welded mail) P.S. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of welds to make an entire shirt
I’ve tried it. Unfortunately The hydrogen flame makes the metal very brittle so the rings just break at the weld. Better than butted but if you are going through the trouble, use acetylene.
@@theCodyReeder Did you try tempering the rings after they were welded? Or was it a result of carbon being driven off by the high temps and lack of oxygen at the flame?
I don't know how you do it, but you come up with the most interesting/fascinating fun things to do with science. You are definitely one of my favorite TH-cam channels.
Same! I think people like him makes all of us realize that high tech things, specially when it comes to techniques, are nearer to us that we usually think. If we ever need to reconstruct civilization it is guys like him that we need the most :V
that's so cool! You could weld the smallest steel rollercoaster with that haha. You're really killing it man. your videos exactly hit the spot of my interests and the production is top notch
@@esepecesito those bubblers cut it off, the flame cannot pass through water even if it started to catch on fire inside the water as a gas bubble it would super quickly collapse into itself and snuff itself out before it could get to the gas source... In this video he has multiple bubblers, they are definitely over filled too.. He didn't really need two bubblers in my opinion, but I guess redundancy is good. Yeah I wouldn't worry about it man, even if it goes up the nozzle all the way and back to the bubbler there will not be alot of destruction... if you're really worried about it you can also put pressure relief valves on the bubbler and you can also use tesla valves as flashback arrestor they work great you just need a good amount of buckets
From wood is fun i remember making a can of charcoal and i had a small hole at the top that i'd light a flame from. It let me know when i wasnt getting anymore gas from the wood and the woods should be charcoal though it would go out before the wood was completely done.
As a scientist I can see a bunch of uses for this immediately in the laboratory (particle accelerator lab). Brazing small parts, glass work, making source cathodes, soldering, certain chemical reactions, producing scintillators, etc. Great job!
This tech and concept was popular back in the 70's. Its definitely nothing new, Mike Meyers, made the higihest efficiency design. There was even a system a decade or two back called "H2000 oxy-hydrogen welder". I made a generator as a kid out of sheet metal and nylon hardware with stainless steel and aluminium, not sure why this guy is so scared of it lol. I used a regulated version on my car.
You can buy on at most jewellery supplies outlet. In the UK Cookson Gold sell the Aquaflame Micro Welder, Model 800 for £2000 after Vat. I have a unit that is very close to it and works great. i did a vid on it.
@@NCOGNTO I had a unit going for a while when I first learned about the process. I put it in my 69 gmc pickup. 242 inline 6. It doesn't do too much to an engine+vehicle that size at the levels I was producing except clean up emissions a bit? It's no secret an engine needs to be redesigned to harness the power here. I still prefer Internal combustion engines though. This as fuel can keep the hot rod'rs satisfied and then some. Look up the ft³/sec burn rate differences between Gasoline, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Hydrogen+Oxygen
Some general feedback, you always seem so wholesome and nice. I choose to believe it's not just for the videos. It's nice to see how your channel has grown, and your attention to videography is amazing. I always learn something new, and it's just great. Keep doing what you like doing though, I hope TH-cam doesn't feel like a job and you still get joy out of teaching us all. Thanks!
I agree, he is one of my top 3 favorites of all time. As for wholesome.. usually it's the wholesome quiet types that have the most "interesting" browser history LOL! (no offense intended, just a bit of fun)
@@-robo- Seeing how Ben has a history in pyrotechnics it seems more like he is the guy that was silent in the back of the class until it came time to enlighten everyone.
I'm glad to find someone that understands what I'm doing. I clean cast iron cookware with electrolysis but it's a trial and error for me. I'm currently using my third electrolysis tank and i don't think I can improve it. Let me explain, the tank its self holds 35 gallon made from a 55 gallon plastic barrel. 35 gallons requires half a box of Arm & Hammer Super Laundry Booster or 1 1/2 tablespoons per gallon. The barrel is lined with stainless steel sheet metal for anodes, stainless is much easier to clean than carbon steel. The tank is powered by a 200 amp rolling battery charger that delivers 24 to 38 amps depending on the size of the pieces in the tank. I've used this configuration for over two years with sparks over the tank and everything without surprises. I have it setup on an enclosed two car garage without extra ventilation. It's operated for a week at a time and the tank temperature can reach 125 degrees. I have no idea what I'm doing I just continued to build tanks that cleaned better. This one has removed rust, buildup, paint, and even concrete. It will clean roughly 3 pieces in 12 hours depending in the condition of the pieces. Other people use stainless steel anodes as well without an issue. My question is why is this working safely? Is the gas not concentrated enough? I'm basically doing what you're doing I think.
Just a quick warning: stainless steel is not a particularly safe anode material for anything you plan to use more than a few times. The chromium in the stainless will produce hexavalent chromate (extremely toxic and difficult to dispose of) and turn the electrolyte yellow over time. It’s a slow process but it does happen. Some cheap alternatives are graphite (will slowly break off graphene sheets over time but it’s not fast nor a problem really) or nickel plated copper. The best is platinum plated titanium (which you can buy on Amazon). It lasts the longest and gives the reaction a nice catalytic kick as a bonus. Great project regardless, and video!
Stainless steel is great. With alternating current, potassium hydroxide, and just the right voltage is effective and easy on electrodes. But for direct current. I can't think of anything other than platinum for electrodes.
I played with HHO about 12 years ago, I made a torch from the smallest tip from an oxy acetalyne kit and made a flash back arestor from stainless steal wool packed into a small tube, it worked very well. I had a flame about 4 times as big as what you have showed. It would cut through steel washes and melt all kinds of stuff. My HHO generator was very powerful and could blow up a ballon, and when that was triggered from an electric spark Made the loudest bang I have ever heard.
Perhaps putting a 1" or so piece of sponge that's about 3/4" diameter close to the base of the needle and keeping it wet might work as well as your paper towel, and not have to keep that in a position where you need to grab it. Slide it forward to extinguish the torch.
Yep, I thought that's what he was going to say as another protection from a "sustained backfire" (a sustained flame in the tube, like he demonstrated).
I was wondering about that too. Though I also worry about it increasing the risk of dropping the torch which seems like a worse case scenario for this setup
This would probably make a really great glass blowing tool. You have a really fine point here, and seeing how fast it punched those plates, I imagine that glass welding would be a breeze. Also, you consistently have some of the best thumbnails on TH-cam.
You're right, it works really great. I do thisnevery day,, although I run a LOT higher volume through a stainless steel Carlisle torch tip, and tanked gasses from the welding supplier. It would be hard to do much work on glass or quartz with a flame that small. Itty bitty welds.
Today i had decided test hydrogen as fuel ,so i recall several flame test and before watching your videos today ,,i just decided to test the hydrogen gas using sline pipe and syringe needle ,and i had some little idea about backfiring .But i was sure to test without having precautions like u and it will be deadly for me and i am shocked and sir frightened a lot .And i have no idea about its dangerous back flame propagation .And Finally thanks a lot And yours videos are so informative and and thanks once again
Here is a useful application: welding thermocouple Bimétal junctions like chromel and alumel ( in the case of a type K thermocouple ) . I'm not sure if chemically this application would be suitable but certainly the temperature is more than adequate.
Very Inspiring. I just watched this with my son (8 yr) and he's fascinated by it! We're going to watch more of your videos. Thanks for sharing your knowledge
This is really cool, and while I understand the concern for safety I really want to see this scaled up as a larger flame of that temperature would open a world of possibilities for what you could do with it.
Hey, I found your channel today and you're immediately one of my favorite content producers! Very clear communication, cogent points, and cool experiments! Rock on!
"Definitely do not make this at home." "Anyway it's made out of these very common household materials." You will be hearing from my buildings insurance.
The flame traveling slowly down the needle seems like a great mechanic to make a ruby of size of even good enough for laser production. Would love to see that tried
Wow - this is great! I haven't thought about this much since I tried it as a kid in the 70's. I started with a train transformer filling up glass jars and then moved up to filling garbage bags with power from the wall outlet! I put a weight on the garbage bags. Amazing I never got hurt or burned the house down! Loved the video!
I’ve got to say, having watched you for years, as far back as paper cross bows and air cannons from plastic test tubes. You have come a long way. Although some of the videos seem to be a little too informative and others not enough, you always show how passionate you are in your endeavors. Keep up the good work, even if I still seem to be putting of a vacuum cannon of my own, I always find myself coming back to see what pvc armament, or laws of physics and/or chemistry you seem to be taking advantage of this time.
Only that far back, eh? Let's just say this is not nearly the hawks first delve into energetic experiments....In fact he's really dialed back the danger factor from his old days ;)
As you're giving warnings about flashback, all I can hear is the guy from technology connections saying "ask me how I know". I don't suppose you had any accidental ones recorded. :)
I had a flashback incident many moons ago when playing around with a hydrogen system when I was young and dumb.. I didn't have a water bottle in the line, and the end of the outlet hose which would normally have soapy water bubbles over it, didn't at that moment, and the gas, which is of course invisible, flowed out to a standing candle a foot or 2 across the table.. The gas caught, the flame raced back to the hose, and into my 3 litre capacity generator vessel (a large glass coffee jar) igniting the top 2 inches of gas, and blowing the entire thing apart.. The volume of the sound was incredible. The lid of the jar, also glass, was lodged in the ceiling plaster, and 2 and a half litres of hot, salty (bicarb soda) water was almost instantly distributed quite evenly around my dining room, and easily masked the million or so shards of glass, many of which I was still finding, months later, with my bare feet.. This was 12 or 13 years ago, and is probably the main reason I have very annoying tinnitus now.. I would not recommend repeating this.. As for screaming like a little girl.. dude, there was no time to scream.
Thank you. I have had ideas about how to put something like this together, but I did not have the proper knowledge. You obviously do. I was, and am, very excited to see it in action and I appreciate the practical tips included.
Love this. This is the content for why I'm a subscriber; I follow "technology connections" and I like the connection with a recent video that touches on lime light.
Amazing! I remember making a HHO generator for my grade 9 science fair project, had a bubbler blow up, what a bang lol, we use a ball pump needle as the tip and the flame was so clear, we couldn't tell it was lit. Love your videos!
I have a “commercial HHO torch I bought on Amazon that is advertised for jewelry work. I am trying it as a heater by directing it into a 1” tungsten cube in an old bbq grill in my shed/workshop. It raised the temperature of the shed 20 deg. From 50 deg. F. To 70 in a couple of hours. My shed isn’t insulated but I hope to do that to see if will make my shed warm enough to endure in Michigan this winter. Wish me luck. Also I’ve never had a problem with flash back with this torch. They have you fill the bubbler with alcohol so maybe that makes a difference. You do an excellent job of explanation of this process. Keep up the good work.
Very cool! I had no idea that blunt syringe "needles" were available for purchase for things like this. I especially appreciate you going into depth about the safety measures you've undertaken to make sure your set up is as safe as possible.
Q: Ahh Mr Bond, we've run out of laser diodes for your laser watch so we've equipped you with a modified Oxy-Hydrogen torch. Please use sparingly as the little bottle is only enough to cut 1 big hole through a window.
This seems like a good method of making silicon oxycarbide from precursor polymers, meaning you'd be able to do a makeshift additive 3d printing of SiOC parts- useful if you need something structurally complex and very resistant to heat, or if you want a scratch resistant coating on a rough surface. All you need is dimethicone, which is very cheap.
I've been really appreciating your channel since I found it. A good mix of simple science, along with a more practical look at both safety and application without being excessively long. Re: jewelry work, defiantly, and I image it would apply well to welded link chainmail as well as being tidier and easier to handle than electrical spot welding (if a bit more tedious) in that scenario
An artist could use it for very fine cutting and creating surface effects on metals and more. That torch could join various materials, welds them together. An amazing property is the ability to create the temperatures needed for materials simultaneously. Examples are copper to steel, glass to rock or concrete. Amazing flame!
Yeah you know laptop hinges are stainless steel with steel angle iron riveted to them and they break at the joints all the time - Im going to build this to see if I can weld / melt that joint or fuse that joint back together.
I bought a jewelers torch for HHO gas with a flashback arrestor in the handle. With my HHO generator it is now so much easier to melt my tiny amounts gold dust into nice beads. It was very difficult using other gas methods.
Really neat! An easy improvement to the apparatus would be a finger valve on the gas line to the needle. That way you wouldn't have to extinguish the flame with the paper towel to stop the gas flow. Alternatively, a one-way valve would work as once the pressure fell if the power was lost, the fuel would be cut off. I'd also be really interested to see if a Tesla valve could be used as a spark arrester. Since the gas flow is so fast (and thus the pressure), a Tesla valve should really slam the breaks on the reaction.
A telsa valve doesn't work because it only blocks particle flow, Not heat which is the primary driving force of a flashback. The heat will still penetrate through the now compressed and blocked gas, causing the tesla valve to act as a bomb
I always find myself coming back to these videos even though I've already watched them like, multiple times lol. I find your videos to be some of the most inspiring content I've found. Not to say there aren't other inspiring content creators, but in my opinion, your definitely among the best.
Hey. Just an idea for an additional experiment using the Oxy Hydrogen generator. Years ago I saw a video out of Germany that strongly proclaimed that the gas going through the water in the bubblers did SOMETHING to the water that dramatically improved it's ability to nourish plants. He stated the plants he watered with the bubbler water grew at 3-4 times faster than the same plants given regular water. I thought that since you already have the torch, you might be able to get some interesting "experiment" content pretty easily just by trying it out. :) I realize that at one year after you posted this video you might not see this comment , but I figured I'd try anyway!
@@Killianwsh could you provide the original source? It's hard to even begin to try to understand the original intentions, was he using the acidic/salty electrolysis water, or the water of the flame catcher that probably won't contain anything of significance compared to normal water,...? Depending on the salts used for his electrolysis, he might just have produced a very specific and "small banded" fertilizer (could equally likely produce a herbicide too tho xD)
@@braindecay9477 Sorry for the delay. I just saw your reply. I don't have a link for the original video, but I'm pretty sure he was using the water from the second bubblier. (flame catch) Given how simply the generators can be made, it'd be easy for most to build one & try both. :)
A youtube channel called carsandwaters had a setup like this back in the day. It was fascinating to see him melt all kinds of materials with a tiny, yet super hot flame.
Holy cow! I remember talking to you years ago on AIM about making an electrolytic cell out of a 5 gallon water jug for KCLO3 production and you seemed really interested in that. Whether or not you ever tried that process, I see you've been on some next-level projects here. This is one of the most ingenious mods to the typical water separation demo I've ever seen! Also can't believe how much your channel grew from the respectable DIY fireworks content I originally knew it as in the late '00s. That's whats up!
Well you certainly show the emotions that anybody will face if they start learning how to use ideal condition for practicality Learn about things in class and applying it are worlds apart. Great work keep it up.sir
I’ve been following your electrolysis projects from the sidelines and I’m ever more impressed, brilliant content! Finding an engine that would work with a version of your set up would be bewildering.
Well done. I appreciate the time you took for securing a safe experimentation environment for yourself. HHO seems to have a potential that we have not quite tapped yet.
Same here. I was like: "So he's making holes in a piece of plastic. Big deal. I can do that with a lighter." Then I see how it breaks, realize it's glass and my jaw drops. XD
I've always been fascinated by electrolysis ever since a demo of it at space camp. This idea is absolutely fascinating to me and I very much want to try it, but your warning has sufficiently deterred me from building a setup like this. Perhaps I will explore a H2 and O2 generator that mixes right at the tip and has no danger of explosion.
The tanks for the oxygen and acetylene could be used to store the oxygen and hydrogen if they're produced separately. They would just need to be pressurized, requiring a gas buffer and compressor for both sides.
@@RAndrewNeal I know that would work, even if hydrogen is a pain to seal because of it’s tiny particle size, but I was talking more of the same exact set up like he showed in the video, just in a larger scale.
I read a lot about HHO when I played with it about 20 years ago and remember that flame temp was found to be very low, 120 or 140°C. The paper said that it would not boil water or cause serious burns for short exposure to the skin. The heating occurs on the surface of hard materials. It is capable of melting tungsten is seconds and glazing cement without cracking it because it heats the surface quickly. Another paper spoke about the reaction that it does not result in water vapor but directly in liquid water and was a great way to create vacuum in large volumes by first filling them with HHO then igniting the gas. It is not an explosion but an implosion.
"Don't try this at home." I'm _definitely_ trying this at home! (To be fair, this isn't my first rodeo, so to speak, and this video provides a great deal of quality safety information. That said, I'm already planning to ignore the first safety suggestion, "Don't try this at home.") This is great though! I really appreciate all of the safety information especially. I might make one that combines the gasses at the nozzle though, so I don't have to worry about the bubblers or putting it out before turning it off.
@@SToNeOwNz I've decided I'm keeping the gasses separate until they leave the torch nozzle. I'm building a custom torch with nested tubes, such that the outer tube carries the oxygen and the inner carries the hydrogen. This way I don't need bubblers and other flashback prevention measures. I will still need to run it cold for a minute or so before igniting it though, because the hydrolysis chambers and tubes will have atmospheric gasses (including oxygen) in them initially, which could allow for hydrogen to burn until the hydrogen line has been fully flushed. But yeah, I'm definitely being extremely careful! I have some experience with this, so I do know what I'm doing, but you never want to get so comfortable that you get careless. If it's not at least slightly terrifying, you don't understand it well enough to have any business working with it!
My setup was almost the same as yours, the only thing I added was a one way hydrogen valve, so any flashback was only the needle and 5mm length of rubber hose with a 3mm diameter, I did get a flashback at one point and yes it made me jump lol but the valve did its job, making the flashback very small and even stopping it getting back to the first water trap. These experiments are 99 percent safe, as long as you sit and work it all out first, work out the dangerr points and take away as much of that danger as you possibly can without stopping the experiment, if we dont do things like this then how do we advance. From my early teens ive always been doing these kind of things, im 52 and yes somethings did not go to plan, but protection is the main key here and having ways of counteracting things that can and sometimes do go wrong. In my teans I was forever at the library, now it takes minutes to get iformation you need, just check at least 10 sites to make sure the info you are getting is correct and use reputable sites whenever possible as faulse information can kill. Learn, have fun but stay safe.
@@CarlosAlejandro.-ke6gr Yes mine was a plastic one, and cheap, half black and half white with an arrow showing flow direction. I tested it by lightly sucking to see if it held a vacuum (stuck to my tongue) worked perfect, so I had the generator to a water trap then the pipe (3mm id) the valve then about 20mm more pipe then the blunt syringe, the flames burns a few mm from the end of the syringe, so it doesnt get hot, but the water trap is so important, if the valve fails it still wouldnt be a huge problem as there is very little gas being stored, DONT STORE ANY GAS, yes you would get a flash and a bang, but nothing really dangerous, if your worried, run it through 2 water traps, it could never burn back to the generator then, but personally i think thats a bit over the top, All the best, stay safe.
@@DenBlackburn Thanks a lot! I kept googling after writing you and some people use brass arrestors for acetilene, they might be overkill but on the other side they are only like 8 usd here in Brazil so maybe im building a generator with a water trap and putting one of those for a little extra security.
@@CarlosAlejandro.-ke6gr I do not blame you, safety first, but because the amount of gas I was creating there was no reason for me to go brass, and lets face it, the tube is plastic, but you put your safety as number 1 priority ;) If you find me when you make the generator, please let me know how you get on.
I wonder if even though this operates at such a high heat if this could be used as a good wood burning tool, like a professional pencil for drawing but for wood burning. Given that the flame is a vary fine point, I also wonder if it could be mounted on a CNC machine or 3d printer set at a given height to do high resolution wood burning.
I was experimenting with HHO a few years ago. I made working unit with non stainless parts. It worked...but corrosion was fast. I used a bubbler... Which blew up in my son's face (plastic and luckily no injuries). So I spent more time learning how to construct a brass spark arrestor. I still have it and it worked great.
I was going to ask if that was glass that you were burning/melting holes in at the end, but then I heard it break and I think it was. Great video! Love all the safety measures you put into place! An explosive back fire would be REALLY BAD!
Fortunately the amount of H2 + O2 in the containers is small. I don't know whether the arrester demo still had air, but the bottle flexed enough to contain the explosion.
So I built this in my apartment.. When I used a 21 gauge needle, the flow rate was too low and flashback occurred. When I used a 25 gauge needle, the flow rate was too fast and a sustained flame was not possible.. but I did learn something that I think could prevent flashbacks at the tip. I didn't trust the 21 gauge after an earlier flashback, but wanted to test it as thoroughly as I did the 25 gauge. So I inserted the 25 gauge up the back end of the 21 gauge. I went to test this setup at maximum gas production and sure enough, the flame is happy to travel up the 21 gauge.. but this time the 25 gauge was in there producing waaaay more output than that gauge can sustain a flame at, so the flashback stopped at the nested 25 gauge needle. I *think* we could have a second level of flashback protection by utilizing this method.. though more testing is needed to see if this method interferes with flame quality at all.
I think he covered the difficulties of splitting the hho in his last video. If I’m not mistaken, the generator he’s using now was one of his more efficient designs.
@@trotyl1432 He had a split cell in his previous video that worked quite well. The design could be upgraded to match his current metal body design, especially now that he has a micro-welder.
Well I rent, so doesn't that mean I'm technically doing it in someone else's home? Legally speaking anyway. I'm only familiar with bird law by training but I think it checks out.
These torches sometimes are bubbled through additives that consume some of the oxygen in the mix. This results in a hydrogen rich reducing flame, which is an even better for preventing weld oxidation than a shielding gas.
Why are these called reducing flames? I realize its the chemical sense of reducing, but whats the significance of a fuel-rich flame being reducing? Or is it just because its the opposite of oxidizing and the opposite of being fuel rich is being oxygen rich?
@@chrstfer2452 Hydrogen itself is a reducing gas - it can bind with oxides on a metal’s surface and convert the oxide back into metal (generally an endothermic reaction, but welding and other physical metallurgy processes) have plenty of heat available to enable that reaction. Just any fuel being supplied won’t necessarily cause the same reaction, as something like acetylene won’t want to bind with oxides anyways.
You've put the oxy-hydrogen torch *in the limelight*, even literally! The tiny torches are useful for smooth sealing glass ampoules but I think you need two for better heat distributions. I do that with butane torch but that allows sealing by only heating the glass and pulling away, melting only very small area not the nice round "cap seal" seen on factory-produced ampoules. BTW it's interesting the flame almost melts lime but not really, since the flame temperature ranges between 2000 - 2 500 °C and the m.p. of calcium oxide is 2 613 °C. An exact stoichiometric mixture (maximum efficiency flame) will get to 2 800 °C, still may not be enough due to small flame and heat dissipation.
That is incredible and has inspired a few ideas! First, it would be interesting to see how it behaves with tig filler rod or a length of mig wire on various steel thicknesses. Second, do you think you could get enough power from solar panels to create a sort of off grid or portable work station that could be used in a bushcraft project? I love your videos and have the utmost respect for the work you put into them!
@@Nighthawkinlight glad to see confirmation for a random thought of mine. What about storage as well as reuse as an energy source? (like say, you store it for use at a later date)...is that even reccommened?
Seems like the power needed would be easy for a cheep deep-cycle- dolor or not it could be mounted in a unit/cabinet. But for your suggested use maybe the old 24vDC with jumper cables and welding rod should be explored?
You ain't lying u do read all the comments I just discovered u on a 3 year old video and u did a little thing on my comment on it. I was impressed 4 sure. Just like in that one I gotta say super cool video I really like I'll Def keep watching.
@@kcjazz62 Not distillation, but rather decomposition and synthesis of new water molecules, deuterium depleted water is formed due to the kinetic isotope effect when splitting the water molecules with electrolysis.
I think your project is great for children of all ages and helps quench the curiosity that some of us find insatiable... when I was a child I loved the old experiments in the Skill Craft chemistry kits... Heath Kit and more... I look forward to your enthusiastic embrace of future projects... and any practical applications of these projects👍
Oh wow its been a while since i been to this channel! This is an interesting series your doing as im very very familiar with HHO. Did you know you can heat treat steal with HHO to make it permanently rust proof even in salt water? You can also use it to fuse two dissimilar materials together like glass and metal! But the main interest i have is to make HHO right at the point of combustion. Great series my friend! : )
Very interesting! I wonder how thick of a steel it can penetrate. Maybe if it could do something like 2 - 3 mm thick steel plates it could be a good mini flame cutter CNC machine
I think you have the necessary ingredients for a ruby 3D printer
Interesting thought
That actually very big brain
@@Joemama555 brilliant. I was trying to imagine of the same thing, and couldn't remember where I saw the concept before. I think for this to work with the ruby precursors, more control over the HHO mixture and pressure would be required.
Maybe you could 3D print ruby in SLM style 3D printers typically used for metal. I’m sure someone’s tried it in a research setting although SLM printers are prohibitively expensive for the average hobbyist.
@@Nighthawkinlight Time to get in touch with Integza, 3D print a ruby rocket engine!
Im a professional glass welder. That torch would be perfect for constructing intricate welds for scientific glassware.
Thanks for the video.
Tom
Hey Tom, it’s me, Tom. How’s it going?
There has been a commercial version on the market for many years. It's called the Aquaflame Torch. Popular with jewelers.
@@_GOD_HAND_ over 100 tho
about 1600 in my currency
rather make one.
in your opinion would it work for intricate steel welding instead of a TIG welder?
@@comradeskywalker8544 pobably could work, but i wouldnt make it expecting it to work for that
I am often sad by how rarely you post but I quickly realize its because you dedicate your self to originality, quality, or something you truly deem worthy of sharing and I thank you for it.
That's part of it. This year I spent a lot of time sick. Recovering from surgery now that hopefully puts an end to that issue.
Love your work ... :)
@@NighthawkinlightEagle River Research makes wonderful HHO machines that you can bubble the HHO gas through water and drink or even take an arm or leg put like a big bag around it and you pump the HHO Gas in there and incredible healing takes place. I had it done to my back they put like a big cup around it and pump the HHO Gas in there took my pain away within 15 minutes it never came back.
Lime light
@@popeantichrist8847 I really doubt HHO has any healing abilities aside from placebo.
If you do decide to use this for small-scale welding, you might consider adding a third bubbler bottle, and filling it with methanol. The flame as it is now is neutral to slightly oxidizing, which makes for a rough weld, but with the addition of a bit of methanol vapor, the flame is reducing, and reduces metal oxides back to metal as fast as they form. You can also add boric acid to the methanol, and the resulting methyl borate is volatile enough to be carried over with the methanol, leaving a protective flux layer as it burns.
Great suggestion.
Flashback into the methanol bottle will make for a gigantic bonfire! Satisfaction guaranteed. Everybody's happy safe insurance guy.
@@NICEFINENEWROBOT This isn't a thing that happens. There's only a tiny bit of oxygen in the system at any one time, and no matter how much fuel you add, it doesn't become more explosive. In fact, it becomes a lot less explosive. The stoichiometric mix burns hottest and ignites easiest too, so adding extra fuel makes the flame a bit cooler, less fast burning, and less likely to explode. For happy fun insurance facts, you might want to check your rates: an oxyhydrogen jeweler's torch with methanol bubbler is cheaper to insure in most places than one that takes tanked gasses, specifically because of the smaller chance of explosion and the small quantity of explosive gas present at any one time.
@@andrewtinker7537 less likely != unlikely.
@@andrewtinker7537 A bottle filled with volatile fuel were gas with a high content of oxygen is bubbled thorough it sounds like a recipe for disaster if there is a flash back and the bottle breaks. And yes there is more oxygen and fuel in such bottle than if it was simply air what is being bubbled so definitely more dangerous specially because methanol has significant explosion limit of 7.3 to 36 %. The risk is not so much huge explosion that will kill you but a fire if the bottle breaks when it explodes and sprays everywhere burning fuel. Its safer to simply inject gas from a propane bottle into the stream with a needle valve to control oxygen balance than have a difficult to control bubbler were the slightest change in ambient temperature throws off your adjusted oxygen balance and that has the risk of exploding.
Ah fun stuff! I prefer to make the gasses separately to begin with so flashbacks aren’t a problem. Still makes me nervous though. 😆
That compression method I saw you used in an older video of yours - the one where you use small compressors encased in plastic bottles to pump into old "balloon time" tanks: do you still use it? How effective is it?
WHOAAHH!! IT'S CODY!!
I've been watching your videos for so long😭
Can i get a comment from you?🥺
WAT R U GONA DO WHEN THAT SHIT BLOWS UP IN YOUR FACEE!!!!
I prefer making them seperately too, but it's hard to get the same efficiency in a split cell. A lot easier to get the electrodes close together when you don't have to worry about shrouds or membranes between them
We use them for repairing metal eyeglasses because it is a very precise source of heat and saves the rest of the frame of getting charred. its very very useful.
That flame travelling slowly through the needle has got to be one of the coolest things I've seen to date, thanks for sharing! Have you considered using your separate-cell electrolyzer to build a larger, more practical-size torch? I'd love to see a build tutorial for a larger HHO torch, and using separated streams of oxygen and hydrogen gas seems like the best way to go (safety wise at least).
Well nobody would like one tank full of hho , so separete them we should
ye it looks cute. Now you need to realize that this also happens in oxy-acetylene torches, and trust me you don't want to witness that shit. It makes a terrifying screaming sound while slowly melting your entire torch and it's handle, burning down to the oxygen and acetylene gas lines. That's why multiple flashback arrestors on a oxy-acetylene is a must have, or things can quickly go kaboom. This is what we call a sustained flashback, or sustained backfire.
There are videos showing 30-40 LPM HHO production on youtube. You just need to stack up enough plates and run a current through them. You want high current but low voltage per plate (2-2.5V). 20A at 240V using ~100 plates will produce several liters of gas per minute. An oxy-propane glassblowing torch usually uses about 5-12 liters of oxygen per minute.
yes, me want bigger torch too
Great Content
"This is a project not meant to be replicated at home"
*eyeballs the DIY in the title*
Yeah...I'm totally replicating this at home one day.
My thoughts exactly. 😆
Replicate it in your garage. Problem solved.
"Do it yourself. Just don't do it yourself!"
Do it yourself
elsewhere
Thank you for doing this all these years! I still remember watching the air soft soda bottle gun when I was a kid. Never thought I’d see your channel grow so huge, but it’s amazing. Your passion for science and educating people about it is a gift to the world! Keep on keeping on man!
I've reacquired most of the hearing in one of my ears, after a flashback blew up one of my plastic bottle bubblers on a similar setup I made several years ago. I stopped messing with hho, but decided the electrolysis chamber design that uses high count silk sheets to seperate the H and O to seperate chambers is a better idea. Had I been wearing hearing protection I'd probably have a large hydrogen casting torch by now.
Damaging my hearing sent me down another interesting rabbit hole, learning about the inner ear (the cochlea) that processes a particular range of our hearing. I learned military doctors have used a few vitamins to successfully treat partial hearing loss in many of their patients and took those vitamins for about a year. Even so, crickets still sound like a poor commodore 64 impression at times.
Which vitamins if you don't mind sharing?
I have hearing damage from explosions and gunfire. I can still hear fine but I have constant ringing. Like I always have crickets in the backround.
Did the same but was just setting off the bubbles in a soap and water mix, blew out my right ear drum. Hearing is mostly back but i still struggle if im trying to use that ear to talk on the phone
@@hobbesscott1014 so eat food, got it.
Patrick Flanagan's Neurophone bypasses the ears & allows you to hear even if you are completely deaf.
I demonstrated this in Indonesia with 3 completely deaf from birth, people.
I could seriously listen to that asynchronous gentle bubbling sound of the electrolysis device all day.
He should make a 8-hour electrolysis bubbling video for sleep!!
I think the electrolysis cell probably makes a sound more like an open bottle of soda pop, a "fizzing" sound, since the bubbles are small and numerous. The bubbles we're hearing in the video are in the anti-backflash bottles.
@@BrightBlueJim Technically you are correct. I suppose I was just referring to the whole apparatus as "the electrolysis device".
Bang 💥
@fzigunov uhauhauha good idea
Awesome. At 64 I wish I could go back and start over learning science. For my grandchildren now watching and learning some cool, may lead them into the wonders of science. Thanks Barry of Colorado
For everyone who thinks two flashback traps are overkill, I remember when the flame somehow made it's way all the way through a trap and into the Tupperware box reaction chamber which then exploded, spraying my whole room with electrolyte solution and making my ears ring for the rest of the day.
Hm... I would rather not get caustic electrolyte into my eyes and mouth.
In his previous video, the slow motion demonstration showed a few bubbles almost make it over the crest of the tube between the electrolysis device and the flashback arrestor. A second flashback arrestor in series is actually a good idea, imo.
Ouch
Now this one is underrated; you learn about H2/O2, Ruby productions, lighting/welding techniques, safety measurement.
I'm 71 and I wish you were around when I was a kid !! You are a superman teacher !! I hope young minds will find you sensei!!
i just wanna say: your microwave rubies project was my absolute favorite youtube video from 2020 and i showed it to anyone who i could get to sit still for a minute. it's cool to see that project pop back up again!
A good way to make them more user friendly is by mixing in a bit of propane into the HHO, the propane will make it more fuel rich and less explosive, it's a really neat way to make a very useful torch, and by changing amount of propane, you can get any flame you want
Nice !
Interesting idea. Potentially useful and potentially safer, but I would still use a lot of caution.
The old Browns Gas generators used a flame arrester bottle full of methanol to act both as a flame arrestor and as a means of making the mixture slightly rich (reducing). Another trick was to add either borax to the liquid to add a trace amount of flux. The old Browns Gas arrester was a heavy stainless steel cylinder with a wide screw on lid and welded in fittings.
@@pixelpatter01 I like that idea. Passive methanol injection through the arrestor is much easier than piping in propane. Then you need extra caution containing the arrestor though, as a liquid fuel spill would be very dangerous.
@@Nighthawkinlight ive seen it suggested that the bubbler have a mixture of water acetone and alchohol... I already commented this
Im glad you emphasized the cautionary steps because most of the other videos like this don’t go that deep, good vid
I could see this being very useful for chainmail. Historically they used rivets to hold the chains together, but making the rings is very labor intensive. Most reenactment chainmail just has the two ends butted up against each other, fast but weak against an actual blade. This would be a good way to weld the ends together, some people try spot welding but that doesn't scale down very well.
Chainmail was also made via forge welding but that sounds like a nightmare making thousands of tiny forge welds
@@benadams5557 each link is surprisingly easy to forge weld closed. (I was surprised at how easy it is - I still gave up after making a 3 inch diamond of welded mail)
P.S. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of welds to make an entire shirt
I’ve tried it. Unfortunately The hydrogen flame makes the metal very brittle so the rings just break at the weld. Better than butted but if you are going through the trouble, use acetylene.
@@theCodyReeder Did you try tempering the rings after they were welded? Or was it a result of carbon being driven off by the high temps and lack of oxygen at the flame?
@@thenoobplaysit6923 bump. i want to see the reply.
I don't know how you do it, but you come up with the most interesting/fascinating fun things to do with science. You are definitely one of my favorite TH-cam channels.
So true, Ben allways has fascinating video ideas, great content
Same!
I think people like him makes all of us realize that high tech things, specially when it comes to techniques, are nearer to us that we usually think. If we ever need to reconstruct civilization it is guys like him that we need the most :V
totally agree.., Ben is the guy every kid wanted for a science teacher
Seriously one of the best youtubers around. Always moving things forward.
that's so cool! You could weld the smallest steel rollercoaster with that haha. You're really killing it man. your videos exactly hit the spot of my interests and the production is top notch
Interesting idea! I have to try this myself.
He explicitly says not to try this at home tho
@@ShotgunMonkey1 he won't do it in his home.. he will do it in his shop
Good seeing you here! Best content
At the beginning I though it also... but later in the video, as I saw the flame goes backward so easily, I though "better no" :D
@@esepecesito those bubblers cut it off, the flame cannot pass through water even if it started to catch on fire inside the water as a gas bubble it would super quickly collapse into itself and snuff itself out before it could get to the gas source...
In this video he has multiple bubblers, they are definitely over filled too..
He didn't really need two bubblers in my opinion, but I guess redundancy is good.
Yeah I wouldn't worry about it man, even if it goes up the nozzle all the way and back to the bubbler there will not be alot of destruction... if you're really worried about it you can also put pressure relief valves on the bubbler and you can also use tesla valves as flashback arrestor they work great you just need a good amount of buckets
I love these electrolysis experiments! If it involves electrolysis, getting gas from wood or plastic, or making pure carbon from wood I’m all for it!
From wood is fun i remember making a can of charcoal and i had a small hole at the top that i'd light a flame from. It let me know when i wasnt getting anymore gas from the wood and the woods should be charcoal though it would go out before the wood was completely done.
Hello, I am from Germany and I love your absolutely clear speach. It is very easy for me to understand your explanations, thumbs up.
As a scientist I can see a bunch of uses for this immediately in the laboratory (particle accelerator lab). Brazing small parts, glass work, making source cathodes, soldering, certain chemical reactions, producing scintillators, etc. Great job!
This tech and concept was popular back in the 70's. Its definitely nothing new, Mike Meyers, made the higihest efficiency design. There was even a system a decade or two back called "H2000 oxy-hydrogen welder". I made a generator as a kid out of sheet metal and nylon hardware with stainless steel and aluminium, not sure why this guy is so scared of it lol. I used a regulated version on my car.
You can buy on at most jewellery supplies outlet. In the UK Cookson Gold sell the Aquaflame Micro Welder, Model 800 for £2000 after Vat. I have a unit that is very close to it and works great. i did a vid on it.
As a mad scientist: torturing.
@@kornshadow097 noticed you said " used on your car"
Not any more tho ?
@@NCOGNTO I had a unit going for a while when I first learned about the process. I put it in my 69 gmc pickup. 242 inline 6. It doesn't do too much to an engine+vehicle that size at the levels I was producing except clean up emissions a bit? It's no secret an engine needs to be redesigned to harness the power here. I still prefer Internal combustion engines though. This as fuel can keep the hot rod'rs satisfied and then some.
Look up the ft³/sec burn rate differences between
Gasoline, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Hydrogen+Oxygen
Some general feedback, you always seem so wholesome and nice. I choose to believe it's not just for the videos. It's nice to see how your channel has grown, and your attention to videography is amazing. I always learn something new, and it's just great. Keep doing what you like doing though, I hope TH-cam doesn't feel like a job and you still get joy out of teaching us all. Thanks!
Thank you!
@@Nighthawkinlight how about water cooling the needle? Maybe fix the wet paper to the needle
I agree, he is one of my top 3 favorites of all time. As for wholesome.. usually it's the wholesome quiet types that have the most "interesting" browser history LOL! (no offense intended, just a bit of fun)
@@-robo- *“It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues."* - Abraham Lincoln
@@-robo- Seeing how Ben has a history in pyrotechnics it seems more like he is the guy that was silent in the back of the class until it came time to enlighten everyone.
I'm glad to find someone that understands what I'm doing. I clean cast iron cookware with electrolysis but it's a trial and error for me. I'm currently using my third electrolysis tank and i don't think I can improve it. Let me explain, the tank its self holds 35 gallon made from a 55 gallon plastic barrel. 35 gallons requires half a box of Arm & Hammer Super Laundry Booster or 1 1/2 tablespoons per gallon. The barrel is lined with stainless steel sheet metal for anodes, stainless is much easier to clean than carbon steel. The tank is powered by a 200 amp rolling battery charger that delivers 24 to 38 amps depending on the size of the pieces in the tank. I've used this configuration for over two years with sparks over the tank and everything without surprises. I have it setup on an enclosed two car garage without extra ventilation. It's operated for a week at a time and the tank temperature can reach 125 degrees. I have no idea what I'm doing I just continued to build tanks that cleaned better. This one has removed rust, buildup, paint, and even concrete. It will clean roughly 3 pieces in 12 hours depending in the condition of the pieces. Other people use stainless steel anodes as well without an issue. My question is why is this working safely? Is the gas not concentrated enough? I'm basically doing what you're doing I think.
“I created a micro hydrogen torch. Let me show you it’s features!
Hits laughter made me thank of joerg
Just a quick warning: stainless steel is not a particularly safe anode material for anything you plan to use more than a few times. The chromium in the stainless will produce hexavalent chromate (extremely toxic and difficult to dispose of) and turn the electrolyte yellow over time. It’s a slow process but it does happen.
Some cheap alternatives are graphite (will slowly break off graphene sheets over time but it’s not fast nor a problem really) or nickel plated copper. The best is platinum plated titanium (which you can buy on Amazon). It lasts the longest and gives the reaction a nice catalytic kick as a bonus.
Great project regardless, and video!
I'm pretty sure he addressed that concern in the previous video?
I thought 316L was a good material. Many sites recommend it.
I didn't realize the electrode got hot enough for that. CR6 doesn't start to form until 200c.
Stainless steel is great. With alternating current, potassium hydroxide, and just the right voltage is effective and easy on electrodes. But for direct current. I can't think of anything other than platinum for electrodes.
He already addressed that in the last video.
I played with HHO about 12 years ago, I made a torch from the smallest tip from an oxy acetalyne kit and made a flash back arestor from stainless steal wool packed into a small tube, it worked very well. I had a flame about 4 times as big as what you have showed. It would cut through steel washes and melt all kinds of stuff.
My HHO generator was very powerful and could blow up a ballon, and when that was triggered from an electric spark Made the loudest bang I have ever heard.
Perhaps putting a 1" or so piece of sponge that's about 3/4" diameter close to the base of the needle and keeping it wet might work as well as your paper towel, and not have to keep that in a position where you need to grab it. Slide it forward to extinguish the torch.
Yep, I thought that's what he was going to say as another protection from a "sustained backfire" (a sustained flame in the tube, like he demonstrated).
I was wondering about that too. Though I also worry about it increasing the risk of dropping the torch which seems like a worse case scenario for this setup
This would probably make a really great glass blowing tool. You have a really fine point here, and seeing how fast it punched those plates, I imagine that glass welding would be a breeze.
Also, you consistently have some of the best thumbnails on TH-cam.
You're right, it works really great. I do thisnevery day,, although I run a LOT higher volume through a stainless steel Carlisle torch tip, and tanked gasses from the welding supplier. It would be hard to do much work on glass or quartz with a flame that small. Itty bitty welds.
Today i had decided test hydrogen as fuel ,so i recall several flame test and before watching your videos today ,,i just decided to test the hydrogen gas using sline pipe and syringe needle ,and i had some little idea about backfiring .But i was sure to test without having precautions like u and it will be deadly for me and i am shocked and sir frightened a lot .And i have no idea about its dangerous back flame propagation .And Finally thanks a lot
And yours videos are so informative and and thanks once again
Here is a useful application: welding thermocouple Bimétal junctions like chromel and alumel ( in the case of a type K thermocouple ) . I'm not sure if chemically this application would be suitable but certainly the temperature is more than adequate.
Very Inspiring. I just watched this with my son (8 yr) and he's fascinated by it! We're going to watch more of your videos. Thanks for sharing your knowledge
I would love to see a replica limelight. I can’t help it sing the Rush song every time I say it. Thanks again for sharing!
Ah yes. Tom Sawyer, great song.
Moving Pictures, great album.
This is really cool, and while I understand the concern for safety I really want to see this scaled up as a larger flame of that temperature would open a world of possibilities for what you could do with it.
Look around on youtube for HHO generators. People have made some crazy big ones.
@@WaffleStaffel I'm aware, but I like how nighthawk does his content and think it would be a good tool in his kit.
Best thing for safety is the use two separate tanks with two separate hoses like oxyacetylene torches.
Hey, I found your channel today and you're immediately one of my favorite content producers! Very clear communication, cogent points, and cool experiments! Rock on!
"Definitely do not make this at home."
"Anyway it's made out of these very common household materials."
You will be hearing from my buildings insurance.
“dont do this but if u do this do it properly” 😭
"well you're going to ignore my warnings so I might as well show the safest method of doing it" idea
The flame traveling slowly down the needle seems like a great mechanic to make a ruby of size of even good enough for laser production. Would love to see that tried
Wow - this is great! I haven't thought about this much since I tried it as a kid in the 70's. I started with a train transformer filling up glass jars and then moved up to filling garbage bags with power from the wall outlet! I put a weight on the garbage bags. Amazing I never got hurt or burned the house down! Loved the video!
I’ve got to say, having watched you for years, as far back as paper cross bows and air cannons from plastic test tubes. You have come a long way. Although some of the videos seem to be a little too informative and others not enough, you always show how passionate you are in your endeavors. Keep up the good work, even if I still seem to be putting of a vacuum cannon of my own, I always find myself coming back to see what pvc armament, or laws of physics and/or chemistry you seem to be taking advantage of this time.
Only that far back, eh? Let's just say this is not nearly the hawks first delve into energetic experiments....In fact he's really dialed back the danger factor from his old days ;)
@@FerretyWeasel I’m aware of his fireworks. I hadn’t found him till after.
As you're giving warnings about flashback, all I can hear is the guy from technology connections saying "ask me how I know". I don't suppose you had any accidental ones recorded. :)
In the beginning of this video, flashbacks are shown
@@YounesLayachi I know. I'm looking for the unexpected ones that makes a man scream like a little girl in surprise. 😂
that was exactly my thought :)
I even said it when NightHawk didn't.
I had a flashback incident many moons ago when playing around with a hydrogen system when I was young and dumb..
I didn't have a water bottle in the line, and the end of the outlet hose which would normally have soapy water bubbles over it, didn't at that moment, and the gas, which is of course invisible, flowed out to a standing candle a foot or 2 across the table..
The gas caught, the flame raced back to the hose, and into my 3 litre capacity generator vessel (a large glass coffee jar) igniting the top 2 inches of gas, and blowing the entire thing apart..
The volume of the sound was incredible.
The lid of the jar, also glass, was lodged in the ceiling plaster, and 2 and a half litres of hot, salty (bicarb soda) water was almost instantly distributed quite evenly around my dining room, and easily masked the million or so shards of glass, many of which I was still finding, months later, with my bare feet..
This was 12 or 13 years ago, and is probably the main reason I have very annoying tinnitus now..
I would not recommend repeating this..
As for screaming like a little girl.. dude, there was no time to scream.
Thank you. I have had ideas about how to put something like this together, but I did not have the proper knowledge.
You obviously do.
I was, and am, very excited to see it in action and I appreciate the practical tips included.
Love this. This is the content for why I'm a subscriber; I follow "technology connections" and I like the connection with a recent video that touches on lime light.
Amazing! I remember making a HHO generator for my grade 9 science fair project, had a bubbler blow up, what a bang lol, we use a ball pump needle as the tip and the flame was so clear, we couldn't tell it was lit. Love your videos!
the slow flash back in the needle is so freaking cool. sweet.
I have a “commercial HHO torch I bought on Amazon that is advertised for jewelry work. I am trying it as a heater by directing it into a 1” tungsten cube in an old bbq grill in my shed/workshop. It raised the temperature of the shed 20 deg. From 50 deg. F. To 70 in a couple of hours. My shed isn’t insulated but I hope to do that to see if will make my shed warm enough to endure in Michigan this winter. Wish me luck. Also I’ve never had a problem with flash back with this torch. They have you fill the bubbler with alcohol so maybe that makes a difference. You do an excellent job of explanation of this process. Keep up the good work.
We think you are going to have to make a video.
This looks like a Dr. Stone kind of project. It’s so simple yet so useful.
bro i was thinking the same thing, i can just imagine senku thinking of making this to weld tiny wires
Yooo I just started watching that and I thought the same thing! XD
It amazes me how you keep talking and it never getting boring.
Very cool! I had no idea that blunt syringe "needles" were available for purchase for things like this. I especially appreciate you going into depth about the safety measures you've undertaken to make sure your set up is as safe as possible.
You don’t know your gadgets well enough Mr Bond. Get off the mission please.
They are lots of times used for arts in craft, such as refilling ink ccartridge
Farm supply stores will also have needles as well.
Q: Ahh Mr Bond, we've run out of laser diodes for your laser watch so we've equipped you with a modified Oxy-Hydrogen torch. Please use sparingly as the little bottle is only enough to cut 1 big hole through a window.
This seems like a good method of making silicon oxycarbide from precursor polymers, meaning you'd be able to do a makeshift additive 3d printing of SiOC parts- useful if you need something structurally complex and very resistant to heat, or if you want a scratch resistant coating on a rough surface. All you need is dimethicone, which is very cheap.
This is the first video i watched of this guy , I'm a fan now.
Absolutely genious! I hope my kids will have a science teacher like you some day :D
I've been really appreciating your channel since I found it. A good mix of simple science, along with a more practical look at both safety and application without being excessively long.
Re: jewelry work, defiantly, and I image it would apply well to welded link chainmail as well as being tidier and easier to handle than electrical spot welding (if a bit more tedious) in that scenario
An artist could use it for very fine cutting and creating surface effects on metals and more. That torch could join various materials, welds them together. An amazing property is the ability to create the temperatures needed for materials simultaneously. Examples are copper to steel, glass to rock or concrete. Amazing flame!
Yeah you know laptop hinges are stainless steel with steel angle iron riveted to them and they break at the joints all the time - Im going to build this to see if I can weld / melt that joint or fuse that joint back together.
I bought a jewelers torch for HHO gas with a flashback arrestor in the handle. With my HHO generator it is now so much easier to melt my tiny amounts gold dust into nice beads. It was very difficult using other gas methods.
Really neat! An easy improvement to the apparatus would be a finger valve on the gas line to the needle. That way you wouldn't have to extinguish the flame with the paper towel to stop the gas flow. Alternatively, a one-way valve would work as once the pressure fell if the power was lost, the fuel would be cut off.
I'd also be really interested to see if a Tesla valve could be used as a spark arrester. Since the gas flow is so fast (and thus the pressure), a Tesla valve should really slam the breaks on the reaction.
tesla valve is an interesting proposition.
i was right about to suggest one myself.
both require no moving parts buy i love yours a bit better.
A dead man's switch is the best kind of switch.
A telsa valve doesn't work because it only blocks particle flow, Not heat which is the primary driving force of a flashback. The heat will still penetrate through the now compressed and blocked gas, causing the tesla valve to act as a bomb
I always find myself coming back to these videos even though I've already watched them like, multiple times lol. I find your videos to be some of the most inspiring content I've found. Not to say there aren't other inspiring content creators, but in my opinion, your definitely among the best.
I love how you create inventive ways to make and handle things. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Cannot wait to see what is next.
Hey.
Just an idea for an additional experiment using the Oxy Hydrogen generator.
Years ago I saw a video out of Germany that strongly proclaimed that the gas going through the water in the bubblers did SOMETHING to the water that dramatically improved it's ability to nourish plants. He stated the plants he watered with the bubbler water grew at 3-4 times faster than the same plants given regular water.
I thought that since you already have the torch, you might be able to get some interesting "experiment" content pretty easily just by trying it out. :)
I realize that at one year after you posted this video you might not see this comment , but I figured I'd try anyway!
How would that work? You think hydrogen gas dissolved in water helps the plants grow? Or oxygen?
@@braindecay9477 Honestly I don't know, but the guy in the video was quite adamant that the bublier water had a VERY potent positive effect.
@@Killianwsh could you provide the original source?
It's hard to even begin to try to understand the original intentions, was he using the acidic/salty electrolysis water, or the water of the flame catcher that probably won't contain anything of significance compared to normal water,...?
Depending on the salts used for his electrolysis, he might just have produced a very specific and "small banded" fertilizer (could equally likely produce a herbicide too tho xD)
@@braindecay9477 Sorry for the delay. I just saw your reply.
I don't have a link for the original video, but I'm pretty sure he was using the water from the second bubblier. (flame catch) Given how simply the generators can be made, it'd be easy for most to build one & try both. :)
Some say electrolysed water has a similar effect. But I have seen no proof of it so far.
Has someone done a properly documented experiment yet.
A youtube channel called carsandwaters had a setup like this back in the day. It was fascinating to see him melt all kinds of materials with a tiny, yet super hot flame.
One way to get a better air flow is to make each set of tubing slightly smaller to increase the pressure which should increase air flow velocity
Holy cow! I remember talking to you years ago on AIM about making an electrolytic cell out of a 5 gallon water jug for KCLO3 production and you seemed really interested in that. Whether or not you ever tried that process, I see you've been on some next-level projects here. This is one of the most ingenious mods to the typical water separation demo I've ever seen! Also can't believe how much your channel grew from the respectable DIY fireworks content I originally knew it as in the late '00s. That's whats up!
Every time someone says don't do this at home, I instantly want to do it at home. Thank you for the cool info.
In addition to the blast shield, hearing protection would be wise.
PERFECT 🔥
Well you certainly show the emotions that anybody will face if they start learning how to use ideal condition for practicality
Learn about things in class and applying it are worlds apart.
Great work keep it up.sir
I’ve been following your electrolysis projects from the sidelines and I’m ever more impressed, brilliant content! Finding an engine that would work with a version of your set up would be bewildering.
Well done. I appreciate the time you took for securing a safe experimentation environment for yourself. HHO seems to have a potential that we have not quite tapped yet.
Definitely have not tapped, but made properly, it runs cars. It's physically sound, look into charge clusters
Such great videos! Thanks for making!
12:20 At first I thought it was plastic because of how easy it melted, then I heard the glass noise. Amazing 😁
Same here. I was like:
"So he's making holes in a piece of plastic. Big deal. I can do that with a lighter."
Then I see how it breaks, realize it's glass and my jaw drops. XD
I've always been fascinated by electrolysis ever since a demo of it at space camp. This idea is absolutely fascinating to me and I very much want to try it, but your warning has sufficiently deterred me from building a setup like this. Perhaps I will explore a H2 and O2 generator that mixes right at the tip and has no danger of explosion.
You know I watched it more than once, It's really interesting and amazing. cool
Reminds me of the dangers that come with oxyacetylene torch welding. Very interesting! I wonder if it would useful for minute detailing in glass work.
I would love to see a full scale oxy-acetylene torch set up with HHO, but I’m terrified of the thing turning into shrapnel.
The tanks for the oxygen and acetylene could be used to store the oxygen and hydrogen if they're produced separately. They would just need to be pressurized, requiring a gas buffer and compressor for both sides.
@@RAndrewNeal I know that would work, even if hydrogen is a pain to seal because of it’s tiny particle size, but I was talking more of the same exact set up like he showed in the video, just in a larger scale.
Stop over to the glass shop, crunk machine- we welds the quartz.
I read a lot about HHO when I played with it about 20 years ago and remember that flame temp was found to be very low, 120 or 140°C. The paper said that it would not boil water or cause serious burns for short exposure to the skin.
The heating occurs on the surface of hard materials. It is capable of melting tungsten is seconds and glazing cement without cracking it because it heats the surface quickly.
Another paper spoke about the reaction that it does not result in water vapor but directly in liquid water and was a great way to create vacuum in large volumes by first filling them with HHO then igniting the gas. It is not an explosion but an implosion.
"Don't try this at home."
I'm _definitely_ trying this at home! (To be fair, this isn't my first rodeo, so to speak, and this video provides a great deal of quality safety information. That said, I'm already planning to ignore the first safety suggestion, "Don't try this at home.")
This is great though! I really appreciate all of the safety information especially. I might make one that combines the gasses at the nozzle though, so I don't have to worry about the bubblers or putting it out before turning it off.
Be very careful with with hydrogen, if it were to ignite it could deafen you.
@@SToNeOwNz I've decided I'm keeping the gasses separate until they leave the torch nozzle. I'm building a custom torch with nested tubes, such that the outer tube carries the oxygen and the inner carries the hydrogen. This way I don't need bubblers and other flashback prevention measures. I will still need to run it cold for a minute or so before igniting it though, because the hydrolysis chambers and tubes will have atmospheric gasses (including oxygen) in them initially, which could allow for hydrogen to burn until the hydrogen line has been fully flushed.
But yeah, I'm definitely being extremely careful! I have some experience with this, so I do know what I'm doing, but you never want to get so comfortable that you get careless. If it's not at least slightly terrifying, you don't understand it well enough to have any business working with it!
My setup was almost the same as yours, the only thing I added was a one way hydrogen valve, so any flashback was only the needle and 5mm length of rubber hose with a 3mm diameter, I did get a flashback at one point and yes it made me jump lol but the valve did its job, making the flashback very small and even stopping it getting back to the first water trap. These experiments are 99 percent safe, as long as you sit and work it all out first, work out the dangerr points and take away as much of that danger as you possibly can without stopping the experiment, if we dont do things like this then how do we advance. From my early teens ive always been doing these kind of things, im 52 and yes somethings did not go to plan, but protection is the main key here and having ways of counteracting things that can and sometimes do go wrong. In my teans I was forever at the library, now it takes minutes to get iformation you need, just check at least 10 sites to make sure the info you are getting is correct and use reputable sites whenever possible as faulse information can kill. Learn, have fun but stay safe.
Can you please give me some reference for the valve? i found some cheap tiny plastic ones but i dont know if these are enough for such a hot flame.
@@CarlosAlejandro.-ke6gr Yes mine was a plastic one, and cheap, half black and half white with an arrow showing flow direction. I tested it by lightly sucking to see if it held a vacuum (stuck to my tongue) worked perfect, so I had the generator to a water trap then the pipe (3mm id) the valve then about 20mm more pipe then the blunt syringe, the flames burns a few mm from the end of the syringe, so it doesnt get hot, but the water trap is so important, if the valve fails it still wouldnt be a huge problem as there is very little gas being stored, DONT STORE ANY GAS, yes you would get a flash and a bang, but nothing really dangerous, if your worried, run it through 2 water traps, it could never burn back to the generator then, but personally i think thats a bit over the top, All the best, stay safe.
@@DenBlackburn Thanks a lot! I kept googling after writing you and some people use brass arrestors for acetilene, they might be overkill but on the other side they are only like 8 usd here in Brazil so maybe im building a generator with a water trap and putting one of those for a little extra security.
@@CarlosAlejandro.-ke6gr I do not blame you, safety first, but because the amount of gas I was creating there was no reason for me to go brass, and lets face it, the tube is plastic, but you put your safety as number 1 priority ;) If you find me when you make the generator, please let me know how you get on.
@@DenBlackburn Sure! I will get in touch. Have a good day.
Thanks Ben. I love your channel. You're one of the few youtubers who does actual science experiments on here. I love it
That Flame traveling down the Tube is like a little Fire Demon laughing "HAHA I will Ruin your day aaaany minute now" love it!
I wonder if even though this operates at such a high heat if this could be used as a good wood burning tool, like a professional pencil for drawing but for wood burning.
Given that the flame is a vary fine point, I also wonder if it could be mounted on a CNC machine or 3d printer set at a given height to do high resolution wood burning.
That's what you got lasers for
Yeah just search on youtube: laser wood engraving.
@@sigibaes CO2 lasers are kinda expensive and they are consumable. I’d be interested in an HHO “laser” for a CNC machine
If you mounted the workpiece above the flame, it could work.
@@drew899 For engraving only, laser diodes are okay.
I was experimenting with HHO a few years ago. I made working unit with non stainless parts.
It worked...but corrosion was fast.
I used a bubbler...
Which blew up in my son's face (plastic and luckily no injuries).
So I spent more time learning how to construct a brass spark arrestor.
I still have it and it worked great.
Ah HHO,feels like 2010 all over again.
KOH? So old school! LMaO!
I was going to ask if that was glass that you were burning/melting holes in at the end, but then I heard it break and I think it was. Great video! Love all the safety measures you put into place! An explosive back fire would be REALLY BAD!
Fortunately the amount of H2 + O2 in the containers is small. I don't know whether the arrester demo still had air, but the bottle flexed enough to contain the explosion.
So I built this in my apartment.. When I used a 21 gauge needle, the flow rate was too low and flashback occurred. When I used a 25 gauge needle, the flow rate was too fast and a sustained flame was not possible.. but I did learn something that I think could prevent flashbacks at the tip.
I didn't trust the 21 gauge after an earlier flashback, but wanted to test it as thoroughly as I did the 25 gauge. So I inserted the 25 gauge up the back end of the 21 gauge. I went to test this setup at maximum gas production and sure enough, the flame is happy to travel up the 21 gauge.. but this time the 25 gauge was in there producing waaaay more output than that gauge can sustain a flame at, so the flashback stopped at the nested 25 gauge needle.
I *think* we could have a second level of flashback protection by utilizing this method.. though more testing is needed to see if this method interferes with flame quality at all.
"This is not a project to be replicated at home" sure thing :)
Couldn't you split the H and O lines to run through 2 different tips that were bonded together?
I think he covered the difficulties of splitting the hho in his last video. If I’m not mistaken, the generator he’s using now was one of his more efficient designs.
@@trotyl1432 He had a split cell in his previous video that worked quite well. The design could be upgraded to match his current metal body design, especially now that he has a micro-welder.
Well I rent, so doesn't that mean I'm technically doing it in someone else's home? Legally speaking anyway. I'm only familiar with bird law by training but I think it checks out.
These torches sometimes are bubbled through additives that consume some of the oxygen in the mix. This results in a hydrogen rich reducing flame, which is an even better for preventing weld oxidation than a shielding gas.
Why are these called reducing flames? I realize its the chemical sense of reducing, but whats the significance of a fuel-rich flame being reducing? Or is it just because its the opposite of oxidizing and the opposite of being fuel rich is being oxygen rich?
@@chrstfer2452 Hydrogen itself is a reducing gas - it can bind with oxides on a metal’s surface and convert the oxide back into metal (generally an endothermic reaction, but welding and other physical metallurgy processes) have plenty of heat available to enable that reaction. Just any fuel being supplied won’t necessarily cause the same reaction, as something like acetylene won’t want to bind with oxides anyways.
I know H2O as hydrogen and oxygen since my childhood but never thought this way of mixing them. Thumbs Up.
You've put the oxy-hydrogen torch *in the limelight*, even literally!
The tiny torches are useful for smooth sealing glass ampoules but I think you need two for better heat distributions. I do that with butane torch but that allows sealing by only heating the glass and pulling away, melting only very small area not the nice round "cap seal" seen on factory-produced ampoules.
BTW it's interesting the flame almost melts lime but not really, since the flame temperature ranges between 2000 - 2 500 °C and the m.p. of calcium oxide is 2 613 °C. An exact stoichiometric mixture (maximum efficiency flame) will get to 2 800 °C, still may not be enough due to small flame and heat dissipation.
That is incredible and has inspired a few ideas! First, it would be interesting to see how it behaves with tig filler rod or a length of mig wire on various steel thicknesses. Second, do you think you could get enough power from solar panels to create a sort of off grid or portable work station that could be used in a bushcraft project? I love your videos and have the utmost respect for the work you put into them!
Lots of panels that can deliver 40w easily. Wouldn't be hard to use solar for this.
Doable, but I do not see a torch that small being useful for bushcraft.
@@Nighthawkinlight glad to see confirmation for a random thought of mine. What about storage as well as reuse as an energy source? (like say, you store it for use at a later date)...is that even reccommened?
It wouldn't work well for welding. The iron will reduce water at those temperatures, you'd get a lot of hydrogen impregnation and oxidation.
Seems like the power needed would be easy for a cheep deep-cycle- dolor or not it could be mounted in a unit/cabinet. But for your suggested use maybe the old 24vDC with jumper cables and welding rod should be explored?
You ain't lying u do read all the comments I just discovered u on a 3 year old video and u did a little thing on my comment on it. I was impressed 4 sure. Just like in that one I gotta say super cool video I really like I'll Def keep watching.
LightHawkInNight
Hey Ben! Thanks for teaching me what a limelight is! Really enjoy your videos, keep up the great work!
I dont have a comment, I'm just so impressed with this creation I had to like the video and comment for the algorithm. Good job this is really cool
“Today we’re going to turn water into something else, and then turn it back into water”
My first thought was to collect the vapor coming off the tip and condense it back into water.
Distillation... what a concept! :-)
@@kcjazz62 Not distillation, but rather decomposition and synthesis of new water molecules, deuterium depleted water is formed due to the kinetic isotope effect when splitting the water molecules with electrolysis.
Great stuff! Have you tried to create a water "permanent" jacket around your nozzle, in place of the soaked paper that you use on this experiment?
I think your project is great for children of all ages and helps quench the curiosity that some of us find insatiable... when I was a child I loved the old experiments in the Skill Craft chemistry kits... Heath Kit and more... I look forward to your enthusiastic embrace of future projects... and any practical applications of these projects👍
Oh wow its been a while since i been to this channel! This is an interesting series your doing as im very very familiar with HHO. Did you know you can heat treat steal with HHO to make it permanently rust proof even in salt water? You can also use it to fuse two dissimilar materials together like glass and metal! But the main interest i have is to make HHO right at the point of combustion. Great series my friend! : )
Glass to metal, and rust proofing metal against salt... yes please.
Very interesting! I wonder how thick of a steel it can penetrate. Maybe if it could do something like 2 - 3 mm thick steel plates it could be a good mini flame cutter CNC machine