The History of ckBurners

Somewhere around 2000, I started looking into alternative ways to heat.  Through searching the internet I found the Yahoo forum altfuelfurnace .  Here I found lots of like-minded folks, looking to become less dependent on foreign oil in different ways. Some were converting their diesel vehicles and some were converting their furnaces.  I spent many hours researching different ways to do different things.  Then I started the many hours of designing and experimenting.  I first started with the idea of casting  a heater block.   I know that poured items are strong and can withstand more stress.  So I built a foundry to start casting parts in sand.  I gradually changed my thinking to milling and machining it because I just couldn't get the accuracy I wanted.

I made  my first preheater block by hand on my mill/lathe combination at home.  Lots of trial and error.  Lots of metal all around my garage.  Lots of reading on the Yahoo forum altfuelfurnace and taking part in discussions there.  Then i started working in a CNC machine shop. .  By this point I'd created a few different designs, with varring degrees of success.  I started heating my garage with one of the early designs.  Having that warm garage made it easier to spend the time there doing the "R & D" that has led to ckBurner's current design.  It was clear once I got the design to work that I should machine it so that it was more precise, and more consistent.  So I bought a cnc controller  and started messing around with it when I had time. Then came  an old Bridgeport and the convesion to CNC by reading and learning on the internet.  It's amazing what you can learn on the internet!

Fast foward to 2009. I've sold kits through eBay and the Yahoo forum altfuelfurnace.  Through word of mouth people have come to purchase more and more kits.  With each sale I make, people ask "do you have a website that I can check out?" Finally, it's led to this website.  I hope that this site can be helpful to the DIY waste oil community.  My hope is to help all of us reduce our dependance on foreign oil.

Keep warm,

Craig
Founder, ckBurners