By request - chopping a wax motor in half

Very interesting. I dismantled an automatic radiator valve a while back to see how it worked and that seemed to operate through expansion I wasn't adventurous enough to cut open the business end however, so thanks for the informative video..

Gordo

Thank you so much for this! Unusual little devices very cool

Michael Thompson

I think it's the same principle, but with the piston acting on a lever to amplify the movement.

Big Clive

The top skylight opener for our small 8x8 greenhouse, is adjustable, I have it set to start opening at 75 F, it moves the piston quite a distance, well over an inch, and maxes out at about 90f (full open) opens the window about 2 feet at that point. I would like to see how that works, from what I can tell, it uses Bees Wax,

I saw Matt's video. Another Polaroid technology was Zink that used a thermally sensitive colour paper that could be set to different colours by selective heating.

Big Clive

You might have something there Draton radiator valves operate around room temperature to close. Car thermostats open at about 90'C and since it is a sealed pressure system the water may go above 100'C before the radiator cap spring lifts. Funny thing about car radiators without enough antifreeze will cause a car to overheat in winter since the water in the radiator starts to crystallise due to the increased airflow.

John Harrison

they use these for thermostatic control in a lot of the rotary screw compressors I work on , you were totally correct about failure mode, they either wax out around the crimps or the rubber diaphragms perforate and leak wax out. More common is the heat affects the return springs and eventually detension them

A bit off topic, but speaking of chopping things in half. I recently heard about little photo printers that use dye sublimation printing. Sounds like an involved technology. Any plans of taking one of those apart? They seem to be quite expensive, though.

MrTridac

I didn't know these wax motor even existed, let alone get to see the guts of one! It was amazing. Thank you.

MarkM

i think the copper sets at what temp its melts at these or sum thing simper in a car thermostat i think the more copper the hotter it has to get to melt i think could be wrong LOL :)

Mort

I bet it goes back to the Victorian era.

Big Clive

I'd guess that even without the spring it would still move at the same speed with the same heat source.

Big Clive

That's pretty cool. I wonder how they came up with the idea in the first place. How did they go from "we need to open and close a valve" to "let's use wax"? Hurm....

Nani Isobel

The wax looked really cool when flowing. I wonder how fast the plunger moves out when it's heated, especially when there's no spring to restrict it. It's a shame you didn't heat the whole module before you dremmeled it.

John Carr

This was done spontaneously. The resin is a good idea, but would really need a decent fixed saw to do it justice.

Big Clive

To adjust conductivity?

Cerity

Another possibility is they're using the copper as a filler to adjust the expansion.

I suspect you know but just in case, you can get a nice cross section if you encase the thing in clear resin. I've done it at work many times troubleshooting a bad connector. (I work at a connector manufacturing company, look for Cinch Connectors on any electronics supply site)

Earl Plotner

I expected a shaft seal, prone to fail. The diaphragm type seal seems to be a great idea because of limited travel.

Cutting wax now Clive? I must send you some puzzles to entertain you.

Thanks for the surgery ❤️😘

Cerity