The Lynx effect / stove.

[pwb]

what a great stove !!

a couple of quick questions.....do you just pour the meths in the top and then light the small holes ?.....how much meths did you put in it ?

Thanks for the tutorial.

robbi

Hi Robbi,

Just fuel up the stove by pouring meths in the top as you would a Trangia.

As James has pointed out, it's important to preheat the stove, this either means just lighting the meths in the large central reservoir and waiting for the jets to blossom...

Or to speed the preheating up you could use a preheating tray essentially a small piece of foil that you burn meths on , around the stove ,to to heat it up quickly.

I used 50ml of meths as a trial run , as a guide I would think fill it up half way between the jets and the stoves bottom would about right, not played with quantities yet.

The rim needs annealing to make it soft after deep drawing. I think this will need to be done carefully I'm going to try rubbing a little soap on the rim then heating (with a very small flame) the rim until the soap turns black this should soften the edge up to accept the push fit .

I think annealing would be definitely worth a try James. Like you I didn't like the methods suggested for removing a can stuck on a stretcher i.e ' blowtorch until it pops off '

 

[widu13]

To preheat the fuel (and stove) put them both inbetween your base and mid layers in winter for a few mins whilst you set up your brew kit admin. You'll be amazed what a difference this makes. It also helps to put a very small amount of fuel on the foil stove insulator. For instance last night in 4C I did this and lit the reservoir and then the spilled fuel, turned around to get the pan which I had pre filled and literally when I turned back it has already blossomed.

 

[Robbi]

thanks for the answers guys, defo going to give this a go as i'm always looking for new small burners for my tiddly frying pan on fishing trips.

cheers guys.

 

[Neumo]

I had a few hours spare this afternoon so I decided to have a go at making one. I got a can of Lynx for £1.97 & then walked home sparying the backroads of my6 town with Lynx as I went... did not want the smell indoors. After 10 mins of spraying I had all the gas out. Whenb home I popped the top off & held the can upside down in the sink, while pushing the nozzle in, to let the last of the liguid/gas escape. I than dirlled a 4mm hole in the op, next to the nozzle tube. There was no noticible escape of gas. I then left it for 10 mins.
Next off came the top, followed by scroring a ring round the unit (like the more pro coke can stove people do) and cut it in half. A bit of file work, as descibed in the 1st post & Iwas ready to join the 2 togeather. Next time I will mark & braddle the holes before I put the two parts togeather, as doing it when it's all 1 unit is tricky so you dont piece the inside wall. My holes are about 40% of the height up from the bottom, which looks funny but they work. I think I made my holes slightly too big, as I am getting 4 to 6" flames comming out when the jets have lit & the Ti mug goes on to boil up some water. Great little stove, which works very well. The next one I make will be slightly less tall so that the holes sit a bit higher up & I will make small neat holes so I get one like in the other pics with a clean small ring of flames. Thanks for sharing this with us all. Here are a couple of pics:

 

[Neumo]

The flames on mine 'pulse' when it is burning so the flames get bigger & smaller every couple of seconds. This is probably down to the holes being too big. It boiled a tea mug's worth of water pretty quickly, in about 4 mins; it was filled up with about 1/2" of meths. I like this design as the finished product is quite stiff & feels solid when compared to coke can stoves. I reckon a bit of measuring so that the holes are a 1/4" down from where the inner wall expands to lay flush with the outside wall & you would have a perfect stove. I may be off to the supermarket again tonight...

 

[pwb]

I had a few hours spare this afternoon so I decided to have a go at making one. I got a can of Lynx for £1.97 & then walked home sparying the backroads of my6 town with Lynx as I went... .

Bet you got some strange looks not to mention sniffs .

Think your right about the hole size, luckily I seemed to hit it right with 1.5mm as it burns nice and blue.
Half the fun of these home made alcohol stoves is the experimenting .

 

[Neumo]

I have another empty can of Lynx in the kitchen... so will give the Mk2 a go later this evening. I happen to have some 1.5mm drill bits that I have been using for leather work, so I might try those if I decide not use the bradel by hand to make thise small holes I have seen made on coke can stoves, which look like they are the width of a sewing needle.

I will take my time measuring more on this go, so that I have a slightly less tall stove, with the inner wall bulge nearer the top. I will also make the hole that was at the top of the can smaller, so that the resevoir of meths is inside the wall this time; the original one I have made today had the hole made bigger so that most of the dome at the base of the can is visable. I reckon a few more goes at this and I will have worked it out. I am amazed at how quickly it managed to boil some water though & with such little fuel; I bought a small 250ml bottle of meths & I have used about 10%-15% of it on two test burns, each of which boiled a small mug full of water. This stove I am getting to like as it is solid & the sanded/brushed aluminium looks nice. I will let you know how it goes.

 

[jdlenton]

Nice make yeah i recon your holes are two big too, other than that looks like a fine build good job

 

[glyn77]

A mate of mine left a can of this vile stuff in my bathroom years ago, I've finally found a use for it (although it did improve the smell of my wheely bin).

I made a balls of cutting the top off, so I've made it a bit smaller than the OP, with a bit more of the (original) top cut off:

Mine also 'pulses' when first lit, but seems to calm down once it warms up.

17 x 1mm holes.

I might do a pepsi challenge with this vs my coke can stoves at the weekend.

Cheers

 

[farmershort]

Those all look amazing.. I'd love to have a go at making one, but I can't for the life of me figure how works from the OP instructions... any chance of a pic of a finished one from above, so I can how it looks inside, and perhaps once it has fuel in...

I understand the concept of putting meths in a tin and lighting, but once that top part of the can goes in, with those 4 grooves, and the holes get drilled, I'm completely lost!

what are the grooves for? does the meths sit in the bottom? how far in does the top section of can go... is it inverted or not?


you get the idea...

Thanks
Adam

 

[Hugo]

Those all look amazing.. I'd love to have a go at making one, but I can't for the life of me figure how works from the OP instructions... any chance of a pic of a finished one from above, so I can how it looks inside, and perhaps once it has fuel in...

I understand the concept of putting meths in a tin and lighting, but once that top part of the can goes in, with those 4 grooves, and the holes get drilled, I'm completely lost!

what are the grooves for? does the meths sit in the bottom? how far in does the top section of can go... is it inverted or not?


you get the idea...

Thanks
Adam

Your not alone mate as I was thinking the same thing.

 

[pwb]

A mate of mine left a can of this vile stuff in my bathroom years ago, I've finally found a use for it (although it did improve the smell of my wheely bin).

I made a balls of cutting the top off, so I've made it a bit smaller than the OP, with a bit more of the (original) top cut off:

Mine also 'pulses' when first lit, but seems to calm down once it warms up.

17 x 1mm holes.

I might do a pepsi challenge with this vs my coke can stoves at the weekend.

Cheers

Looks good Glyn. Like the flared top , good idea that.

Those all look amazing.. I'd love to have a go at making one, but I can't for the life of me figure how works from the OP instructions... any chance of a pic of a finished one from above, so I can how it looks inside, and perhaps once it has fuel in...

I understand the concept of putting meths in a tin and lighting, but once that top part of the can goes in, with those 4 grooves, and the holes get drilled, I'm completely lost!

what are the grooves for? does the meths sit in the bottom? how far in does the top section of can go... is it inverted or not?


you get the idea...

Thanks
Adam

Hi Adam,
Here's a pic looking down into the stove. The top of the can once cut off is inverted and pushed right down inside the bottom half of the Lynx can until it actually rests on the bottom.

The four filed in slots are to help the meths to flow into the ,now created, cavity better.

 

[Robbi]

Ah....great piccys, thank you

Robbi

 

[jdlenton]

I do like that rolled top how did you do that then?

 

[Neumo]

Thanks for that last pic. I can see that having a smaller hole where the top used to be is a good thing; I made my hole bigger but I can see that yours keeps the fuel inside the wall better. I will have a go at the MK2 at the weekend.

 

[glyn77]

To flare the top, I used the bottom of a glass bottle to stretch it out. It's a bit hard to describe - I'll post some pics when I get home.

Cheers.

 

[farmershort]

Hi Adam,
Here's a pic looking down into the stove. The top of the can once cut off is inverted and pushed right down inside the bottom half of the Lynx can until it actually rests on the bottom.

The four filed in slots are to help the meths to flow into the ,now created, cavity better.

Brill, thank you for that... sooooo, Does the fuel only come up to the level of the grooves? i.e. so that it is kept in the cavity created by the bottom dome, or can you fill above this level so that the fuel comes half way up the can, meaning that the grooves are redundant until the fuel level is low?

do the jet holes then go through both skins of material, or do you have to be careful to drill them above the level of the inverted top?


Thanks again...

Adam

 

[glyn77]

Hi,

The holes only go through the outer wall, not the inner.

The fuel gets into the wall cavity via the filler holes (grooves).

The diagrams here explain it better than I can

Cheers.

 

[Robbi]

very interesting and informative article, many thanks

 

[glyn77]

To flare the top, I used the bottom of a glass bottle to stretch it out. It's a bit hard to describe - I'll post some pics when I get home.

Cheers.

OK, here it is:

You keep the bottle still, and rotate the stove whilst giving it some slight pressure. Keep it rotating evenly, and take your time, and you get a nice flared edge.

Cheers,
Glyn.