Recycled PC Stove Build & Hot Tent

[Shewie]

My winter projects this year are to build a canvas hot tent, small wood burning stove and a HDPE toboggan. Working with Ian (Bilmo) the tent is coming along nicely, we've recycled a BCT canvas A-frame tent and have modded it with a decent sodcloth, vents, extra side tie outs, new poles and eventually a stove jack.
I've been working on the stove this last week, with the forum being down I got quite a bit done over the last few days. Just thought I'd share some pics if anyone fancies putting an old dusty PC to use.

Oh yeah, I don't have any welding gear so it's all drilled and stainless rivets throughout ..

Take one very old and poorly PC ..

Rip all the guts out of it ..

Leaving you with this ..

Wait two days for it to stop raining then take it outside let loose with the angle grinder ..

Back..

Front (it looks like it should be the other way round but I have a plan) ..

I managed to source some 5" stainless flue pipe through a friend of a friend, so I hacked a big hole in the top of the PC/stove and adapted a stainless can lid for a jack ..

A touch of fire cement around the seal for good measure ..

Front opened up for the door hatch, the rivets on the side are for resting an internal baffle on so the flames and heat don't shoot straight up the flue ..

More to come tomorrow

 

[Lister]

Looking good so far mate got a few old machines may have to go the way of teh grinder

 

[spandit]

Good project - although will smell pretty bad whilst the paint burns off

 

[Bushcraftsman]

Haha that's awesome! Never thought of using computer like THAT! Very nice work

 

[Bushcraftsman]

 the rivets on the side are for resting an internal baffle on so the flames and heat don't shoot straight up the flue 

What's a baffle? So the stove loses most it's heat up the chimney? I've built a stove and don't have anything like that on mine. That might explain why it doesn't seem to kick out that much heat unless the door is open, it's all going up and out the chimney!

 

[resnikov]

That's brilliant! Cracking use for an old pc. Looking forward to seeing more pictures of this project.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Anzia]

Ingenious! Waiting eagerly for the next instalment

 

[rik_uk3]

Is the metal thick enough to stop a lot of buckling in the heat?

 

[charliefoxtrot]

There are some commercially made portable folding stoves that are pretty thin metal. I think they do distort a bit so the construction would need to allow for that I suppose so as to avoid gaps developing. The ammo box I used is mild steel about 1mm, the side can start to glow red, and bow out a bit, but when it cools down they go back flat.

The paint could possibly be removed with nitromors first, though the steel used in PC cases also has a thin zinc finish, you don't want to be breathing this as it burns off, highly toxic as welders well know.

I would suggest using a nice heavy grating in the bottom to protect the base. I used an offcut of step grating from my local fabrication place.

 

[grey-array]

You my dear sir are a genius, I'm looking forward to see the out come.
And it might indeed be a good idea to scratch some of that paint of if you dont want the outside of your stove smoking and stinking ^^
Yours sincerely Ruud

PS It might be a good idea to put this up on a Computer forum under Casemods

 

[rik_uk3]

Looks like I've thrown out about six 'stoves' this year

 

[phil1981]

nice i like it. think i may look in to this a bit more looking forward to seeing it finished.

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

Crackiing idea mate, im watching with interest and cant wait to see it burn

 

[mousey]

Very nice, I'm looking forward to seeing more photos of this one...

 

[crosslandkelly]

Looking good. Can't wait for more.

 

[jacko1066]

Great idea Rich!!
There were loads of old PC towers down my local tip last time I was there, I may just have to go rescue a couple!!
Watching with great interest
Cheers
STeve

 

[Shewie]

Looking good so far mate got a few old machines may have to go the way of teh grinder

Should have some more pics done tonight, it seemed a waste to just chuck it in the skip

Good project - although will smell pretty bad whilst the paint burns off

Yeah I'll give it a good burn outside to clear off the nasties

Haha that's awesome! Never thought of using computer like THAT! Very nice work

What's a baffle? So the stove loses most it's heat up the chimney? I've built a stove and don't have anything like that on mine. That might explain why it doesn't seem to kick out that much heat unless the door is open, it's all going up and out the chimney!

The baffle basically forces the flames and heat to move to the front of the stove and then up and over the baffle before reaching the flue exit.

That's brilliant! Cracking use for an old pc. Looking forward to seeing more pictures of this project.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2

Cheers mate

Ingenious! Waiting eagerly for the next instalment

Thanks Anzia, hopefully it'll work after all this cutting a filing

Is the metal thick enough to stop a lot of buckling in the heat?

Apparently the steel in PC cases works very well Richard, I won't know until it gets its first burn though. I've got a few ideas to reinforce the bigger panels if they begin to warp or buckle.

There are some commercially made portable folding stoves that are pretty thin metal. I think they do distort a bit so the construction would need to allow for that I suppose so as to avoid gaps developing. The ammo box I used is mild steel about 1mm, the side can start to glow red, and bow out a bit, but when it cools down they go back flat.

The paint could possibly be removed with nitromors first, though the steel used in PC cases also has a thin zinc finish, you don't want to be breathing this as it burns off, highly toxic as welders well know.

I would suggest using a nice heavy grating in the bottom to protect the base. I used an offcut of step grating from my local fabrication place.

Once I've done the first burn I'll Nitromors the casing and then paint it with stove paint. I'm going to use some folded steel plate to create a false bottom, should have some pics for that tonight.

You my dear sir are a genius, I'm looking forward to see the out come.
And it might indeed be a good idea to scratch some of that paint of if you dont want the outside of your stove smoking and stinking ^^
Yours sincerely Ruud

PS It might be a good idea to put this up on a Computer forum under Casemods

Lol

Looks like I've thrown out about six 'stoves' this year

This one was getting chucked too until I had a brainwave, it might be a complete waste of time but it's been good fun.

nice i like it. think i may look in to this a bit more looking forward to seeing it finished.

Cheers Phil

Crackiing idea mate, im watching with interest and cant wait to see it burn

Me too, I hope it doesn't melt into a big blob on the first go

Very nice, I'm looking forward to seeing more photos of this one...

Looking good. Can't wait for more.

Should have some more pics tonight chaps

Great idea Rich!!
There were loads of old PC towers down my local tip last time I was there, I may just have to go rescue a couple!!
Watching with great interest
Cheers
STeve

I'll let you know how it works out Steve

 

[Twodogs]

Lovin it ,,,, yeeer

Twodogs

 

[Jared]

Have a dead Shuttle SFF PC sat on my desk waiting to get around to try something like this.

So will be interesting to see how good it is.

Plans were to shove a SS tin in the bottom and then an Ikea trivet as grate (though might need two just to make holes smaller)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_n..._sacat=0&_odkw=gastronorm&_osacat=0&_from=R40

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/30111087/

 

[theoctagon]

This looks great! look forward to seeing the end result