Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Super ultra lightweight flashlight...

Attaches almost anywhere. Deal extreme.com forty cent light, a twist tie, and a little epoxy.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Three ouncer, Brasslite homage....

Fancy feast can, Red Bull type inner. Simmer control via leg adjustment, also via simmer ring. A tea light candle fits perfectly too!!
Boils fast. Perfect flame.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Latest stove...twist to simmer...

Fully adjustable simmer from 0 to 100%, just twist to set. Removable pot stand legs. Interchangeable internal fuel chamber can be swapped for different containers permitting differing heat outputs/faster boil times/lower simmers. Primer base built in to the stove. Additional simmer plates can be used for extreme flame control.
Construction hours??? Don't ask ;-)

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The Hobbit Stove setup...


A trip to my local hardware store turned up this gem of a tin, made of aluminum, originally it held mints. What intrigued me was how it seemed perfectly designed to become a miniature alcohol stove, with the tremendous advantage that it permits complete simmer control which is purely dependent on how far open the tin is.

So, this is the tin closed.

And this is the tin fully open, showing the small amount of fiberglass wick installed.

And this is the rest of the cookset: small eyedropper for 5ml of denatured alcohol, tripod for potstand, match and a small strip of emery paper for striking (much lighter than a whole book of matches), and a catfood can cookpot.
Boils a catfood cat of water in under 3 minutes. Now I need to track down a supplier of ultra-small teabags. Next up bacon and eggs.
I am working on making a functioning backpackers oven that will fit inside the cookpot.















So, here it is, at the two and a half minute mark, coming to a boil.









And finally at about three minutes the rolling boil. All achieved on two and a half tiny capfulls of yellow Heet. It continued at a rolling boil for a further minute or so till the fuel was exhausted.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Alcohol backpacking stove with continuously variable simmer control...




The latest in a long line of prototypes.
Maybe the most difficult stove to make so far, it's especially difficult achieving the accuracy of construction that this application of simmering control demands.
Each spoke leg/simmer control/pot stand support screws out (from a baseline that is the end of the spoke being level with the bottom of the larger can)eight full turns. This gives a degree of simmer from 100% down to 0%. Additionally, a simmer ring can be placed on top of the stove.
The stove permits fast swapping of the inner 3 ounce can for other cans with different hole configurations punched into them, giving a tremendous variation of heat output.
The only real drawback to this design is that the simmer control needs to be done with the larger can/spokes not hot. Otherwise, you'd need heat-resistant gloves to turn the very hot spoke ends. In other words, the degree of simmer has to be set before the stove is lit. I am currently working on a design that will permit real-time adjustment, even with the stove roaring.

Four different stoves. All using cat food cans.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Wood-Gas stove...




A clone of the Bushwhacker, with a small add-on to enable flame control. Made out of a quart paint can, a 29 ounce tomato can, some hardware cloth, and a 19 ounce Progresso Soup can for the fire container.
The flame control ring has holes in it which exactly match the vent holes in the paint can. Turn the paint can a small amount and the holes are either exposed or closed, or somewhat in between.
Everything nests within the paint can for storage, including the pot support.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Backpacking baking attachment...



I found locally the perfect bowl that fits exactly/perfectly inside my MSR 1.1 litre pot ( thus will fit anything larger too), and constructed a air-gap spacer for the bottom out of a spoke (it's actually a very short tripod).
The greatest thing too, is that the inner bowl is a very useful size for backpacking in its own right: it's 5.375 inches in diameter by 2.5 inches deep, with a small lip, and a very small lower radius between the wall and the base. This makes it useful as a soup/cereal bowl, or to have a side dish in. The bottom is flat, so it'll sit on any stove well if used by itself, and the gauge of it is exactly the same as my MSR pot, and it's stainless!!!
I decided to drill it around the rim for 2 reasons:
1...the holes allow a little more airflow, and thus temperature equalization.
2...in 2 of the holes I screwed small screws and nuts. As the pot is such a perfect fit, it's nice to have something to hold on to to extract the baked goodies afterwards.

Monday, February 06, 2012

Modular Alcohol stove, with simmer adjustment...






Been fiddling around making lightweight alcohol stoves lately. It's become a consuming addiction.
Anyway, the latest creation is a stove made principally from a Friskies can, and in to the modular base you can insert a variety of Fancy Feast cans, which can give various burn properties based on the hole configurations punched into them.
Priming plate is built in, though the stove needs very little priming.
Lastly, I devised a way of minimizing or maximizing the air flow to the stove by way of a simple twist of the Friskies can relative to the base. This gives a steady simmer when closed, full blast when open.
One can also use a variety of simmer plates on the top of the stove too, giving even more granular flame control.
Weight is 35 gram. Boils a pint of 55 degree water in about 4 minutes 20 secs in my basement with no wind. Flame is very uniform and even, burns clear on both high and simmer.

Friday, February 03, 2012

Latest home made stove....

With simmer attachment. Weighs 35 gram.