Hydrogen Generator Project Part #2

After my last post about trying to make a hydrogen generator, things weren’t going too well. So I figured I’d try something different and went out to buy a stainless steel thermos to salvage some decent metal for the project.

I brought a neodymium magnet with me to check if the “stainless steel” was actually stainless or just some cheap magnetic alloy. I found a generic one that felt right for the job — cost me 20,000 pesos (around 20 USD).

As soon as I got home, I cut into it and peeled off a sheet from the outer wall. But the steel turned out to be really springy and hard to work with. I needed it to be softer so I could flatten it out and shape it into the plates I needed for the HHO generator.

So I decided to anneal it. I fired up a charcoal forge I built, heated the piece until it was glowing red-hot, and then let it cool down slowly. That heat treatment relaxes the internal stresses and softens the stainless steel, making it way easier to work with.

You can see the color changes after annealing — those rainbow hues are from oxidation, and they’re a good sign that the steel hit the right temperature. Once it was annealed, I managed to flatten the sheet and cut it into square plates for the build.

Not the most elegant process, but it’s definitely working out better than before.

I looked into the specs and found out:

• Most stainless steels (like 304 or 316) need to hit 1,040°C to 1,150°C (1,900°F to 2,100°F) to properly anneal.

• A good charcoal forge (like the one I’m using) can reach up to 1,100°C to 1,200°C (2,000°F to 2,200°F).

So in theory, the setup I’m using should be perfect to get the metal where it needs to be.

Here's me making a couple of prototype shapes

While the stainless steel was cooking, I decided to mess around with some aluminum cans to test out what shapes might work best in the jar I’m planning to use—and how I could attach them. I cut a bunch of squares and started figuring out how to stack or space them. This helped me plan the layout I’ll probably go with for the stainless steel version.

Once I had a rough idea of the shape and how I’d stack the plates, I felt a lot more confident moving forward. The aluminum can mock-ups were super helpful for planning things out before cutting into the real material.

That’s it for now — just a bit of prototyping and fire, but we’re getting there.

Next post will be all about building the actual HHO generator with the stainless steel plates. Stay tuned!