Sorry for the weird title, saw a photo of scooby doo when i was thinkin of a good name 

Anyway i'm going to run in my engine pretty soon and so need to mix up a batch of fuel asap.. Will be mixing a 80-20 ratio and was thinking of using castor only as i really dont mind cleaning up as long as my engine stays nice and healthy 
Methanol is available pretty easily here in Goa (Any kind of alcohol is  actually ) but still cant find castor oil.. So i need some info..
-Where do you guys buy your oil from?
-What kind of shops carry castor oil?
-How much does it cost?
-Is there any specific kind of castor oil that has to be used (degummed/medical grade etc..) ?

Sorry if I've repeated a old topic but i couldn't seem to find the info i needed on the forums..
Waitin for your replies 

Have bought and used the ones available in local pharmacies (at least in Kerala). Can't remember the price, our member Prakkat was the one who did it and we were flying with him.
 

Read somewhere on the net that the medical grade ones are not fit for hobby use as they have high gum content.. is it true?

Hey guys, where do you buy ur castor from?

Strange... no feedback on this one ?  Is it because everyone is using Klotz synthetic ?

Most flyers in Mumbai get fuel from our good friend Sushil Anand.  

There are no doubts his fuel is absolutely amazing !!!  

Sushil generally blends Methanol 72%, Klotz 18%, and Nitro 10% (NO CASTOR) (This is his most selling fuel)
Infact I used to use castor 20%, but after using his fuel, switched over to synthetic. This gives a very clean residue and no gumming on the aircraft. Klotz also gives a nice orangish/reddish tint o the fuel.

His fuel is top quality and nobody has ever had any complaints.   Most flyers buy from him. On request he can even blend the composition of your choice.

Thanks Sushil for all your religious help  

Cheers !!!
Saurabh.

As far is Castor is concerned, you may get it from the Oil depots. Try and search for an oil depot that sells edible oil on wholesale. You will get RAW castor from there. I believe raw castor is more viscous that the purified castor and it is preferred over the medical/purified one.

Cheers !!!

hi.
Dabur markets medical grade castor. Slghtly hi on price but pure enough.

prabhat

Is "pure" a good thing or a bad thing, in terms of lube usage (from the perspective of viscosity etc) ?

"Pure" is more often used in terms of "fit for consumption" (for humans  )

Actually raw castor is mroe viscous and sticky. Raw is preferred in RC engines but has both advantages and disadvantages.
Because it is more viscous, it forms a protective layer on the lining of the engine which protects from rusting.
But since it is thick, you get unburnt castor (soot) from exhaust which sticks to the model and is difficult to remove. Also, since it is thick, gumming is more prominent in case of raw castor.

I have heard people say, raw is better than purified for Nitro engines.

Also there are degummed castor oil which may be available at some shops. (maybe the purified one is called degummed)

Go ahead and mix up fuel with the medicine grade castor (Labelled as Castor Oil BP), it will do no harm to your engines.
I had been using these for years before I moved to Chennai where picking castor up from local provsion was cheaper and more convienent that facing the strange stares (yeah when you want to buy multiple bottles of 450 g laxatives you are kind of bound to get strange looks).
Yes synthetics are much better for all 4T engines    

Gong through the thread, I got a feeling that a lot of people use hand blended fuel. I was just wondering how does one filter the fuel after mixing 'cos I've noticed a lot of particulate matter at the bottom of the mixing can. Till date I've pumped the top 3 - 3.5 liter of fuel mix and dicsarded the rest. But this seems to be a costly affair. I tried to filter the rest with a lab filter paper but still did not work.
Any suggestions? Maybe Sushil sir may be able to let out his secret 
Doc

Hmm.. anyone willing to ship fuel or castor to goa? klotz is a bit too expensive for me.. The only place that used to have castor here now refuses to sell to us as they r into wholesale i think.. Methanol is no problem..

Quote from: flying doc on June 05, 2010, 01:54:36 PM
I tried to filter the rest with a lab filter paper but still did not work. Any suggestions?

Somebody had suggested me to use filter paper to filter the fuel before i use it.. Have you tried using finer grade filter paper?

Even the normal filter paper takes too long and gets clogged to soon. More water content in ur fuel if out in the open for too long. There has to be a better way of doing this.

Another thing came to mind. R there any other synthetic oils available for 2 stroke glow engines other than Klotz?  I hear some flyers in the south are using an oil which costs about Rs. 400 per liter?

No comment?

Quote from: flying doc on June 05, 2010, 04:43:15 PM
Another thing came to mind. R there any other synthetic oils available for 2 stroke glow engines other than Klotz?  I hear some flyers in the south are using an oil which costs about Rs. 400 per liter?

Which oil is this? can anyone shed some light on this?

Also anywhere close to Goa where i can get some castor? I have a friend who visits Mangalore frequently.. is castor available in there? Anobody from Mangalore who can tell me where to buy it?