Minibilly - pics of my 10cm Zebra cooking system.

[Martyn]

Hi folks, thought I'd share this. I have been playing with a 12cm billy and clickstand for some time, and it's pretty near perfect, but I have realised there is no such thing as perfect because it depends on what you are doing. Better than the 12cm is a 16cm on an optimus 111c, better than that is a double gas burner, regulator and 5kg gas bottle, better than that is a caravan etc... You get the point?

Anyway, I decided I wanted to go a little smaller and lighter than the 12cm system, but there isnt far to go. Much smaller than 12cm and you start to loose too much practical function. I think 10cm is about as small as it's possible, but loosing that 2cm off the hight and diameter is quite a challenge.

I think I have found the solution...

My starting point is a 10 cm Zebra billy can. First job is to remove the bail arm and replace it with a braided steel wire, crimped onto the brackets...

As you can see, it's all held neatly and compactly with a cut-down trangia strap. Undo the strap and the wire bail springs free. Wire bails are excellent, they are light, flexible and stay cool...

Everything packs away inside. Everything you will see in the photos fits neatly into the billy...

First out, a cut down trangia pot grabber, a firesteel for lighting the stove/fire, a plastic spoon, a cut down scouring sponge and a colapsable plastic cup with the handle sliced off so it will fit inside...

The stove is underneath this...

For a windshield, I've used one from a clickstand, cut down to the right diameter to fit the system. The stove as you can see, is from a trangia mini-set and fits absolutely perfectly inside a 10cm billy. One problem here, is the Zebra is VERY wobbly on top of this, it barely balances on top, so I had to reinforce the trangia stand with something. Tada ... a cut down grill from a 12 cm computer fan...

You can see how I've filed little slots into the trangia stand to accomodate the fan grill...

Solid as a rock. You can be really aggressive with your stirring, slopping the pot about and it's all very stable. I'm well pleased with this. The fan grill sits underneath the trangia, in the bottom of the billy when it's all packed away. With the windshield in place and the pot grabber on, it's a very versitile system. Of course if you have an open fire available, then the billy can be used on that. But how often does that happen? Anyway, the full kit...

and back into it's packed state, all nice and snug, no rattles.

For scale, The MiniBilly next to a regular sized coffee mug...

]

Hope this inspires someone.

 

[scanker]

Excellent solo/compact set up, and I like the use of the grill. Very clever.

Have you used it for much more than a brew yet, as someone was asking recently about the 10cm billy and the consensus seemed to be too small really and go for a 12cm?

Oh, and is there anything within the billy to strike the firesteel with?

 

[Squidders]

Very nifty... I'm still developing my ideal system and it's coming along but not done just yet.

I'm not a big fan of the 10cm billy cans though, i'm not going to bang on about why that is, so as to not hijack your thread but if yours works for you, that's all that matters.

I like the little strap, I use some paracord and it can be a little fiddly and easy to misplace.

Also, I like your hanging loop... I've seen a few in wire and like the look of them... where did you get the wire and crimps?

Cheers,

Joe

 

[Martyn]

Excellent solo/compact set up, and I like the use of the grill. Very clever.

Have you used it for much more than a brew yet, as someone was asking recently about the 10cm billy and the consensus seemed to be too small really and go for a 12cm?

Oh, and is there anything within the billy to strike the firesteel with?

The 10cm is too small for anything much more than a brew - though it would be perfect if you were determined to be hardcore, my purpose was to put it together for overnighters, nothing more (for me anyway).

No, nothing in there to strike the steel, it's just there for convenience and I always carry a pocket knife anyway - though in a pinch you could use a rock.

 

[Martyn]

Very nifty... I'm still developing my ideal system and it's coming along but not done just yet.

I'm not a big fan of the 10cm billy cans though, i'm not going to bang on about why that is, so as to not hijack your thread but if yours works for you, that's all that matters.

I like the little strap, I use some paracord and it can be a little fiddly and easy to misplace.

Also, I like your hanging loop... I've seen a few in wire and like the look of them... where did you get the wire and crimps?

Cheers,

Joe

Re the size, see above. I have a 12cm which I prefer generally, this is an "as well as" piece of kit for me depending on what I'm intending to do. I really dont think there is one universal cooking solution for all scenarios. I also have an optimus 111c which I prefer for car camping. Horses for courses.

The wire was from B&Q, I bought a few meters a couple of years ago to modify my 12cm billy in a similar way, see here...

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=3811&highlight=clikstand

You buy it off the roll for about 50p a metre (or it was then). Back then I used a heath robinson method of attaching the wire, just crimped on some brass picture hooks with some pliers (the wire is removable). But for this one, I used some very fine brass tube - also from B&Q, that I got for making mosaic knife pins. Anyway, I just cut off a couple of lengths and passed the wire into it and crimped with a crimping tool. I have seen other people use electrical wire crimps in a similar way - this is just what I had lying around.

I'm a real convert to the wire bails, they are flexible, strong and stay cool to the touch.

 

[Squidders]

Thanks for the information... I should spend more time in B&Q I guess... that'll please my girlfriend

re the size, please don't think I was being snotty... these things are subjective. As you say, horses for courses.

Cheers,

Joe

Re the size, see above. I have a 12cm which I prefer generally, this is an "as well as" piece of kit for me depending on what I'm intending to do. I really dont think there is one universal cooking solution for all scenarios. I also have an optimus 111c which I prefer for car camping. Horses for courses.

The wire was from B&Q, I bought a few meters a couple of years ago to modify my 12cm billy in a similar way, see here...

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=3811&highlight=clikstand

You buy it off the roll for about 50p a metre (or it was then). Back then I used a heath robinson method of attaching the wire, just crimped on some brass picture hooks with some pliers (the wire is removable). But for this one, I used some very fine brass tube - also from B&Q, that I got for making mosaic knife pins. Anyway, I just cut off a couple of lengths and passed the wire into it and crimped with a crimping tool. I have seen other people use electrical wire crimps in a similar way - this is just what I had lying around.

 

[Wayland]

Nice set up. The fan grill is an inspired touch..... :notworthy

 

[Martyn]

Thanks for the information... I should spend more time in B&Q I guess... that'll please my girlfriend

re the size, please don't think I was being snotty... these things are subjective. As you say, horses for courses.

Cheers,

Joe

Hey no worries Joe.

I debated whether or not it was worth making one this small myself. But I decided I had a use for it and besides, I liked the challenge of making it all work.

I knew I wanted to use a trangia burner, because after years of playing with aslcohol stoves, I've come to the conclusion that they are all crap apart from the trangia.

Well, at least they are as far as I'm concerned. So then it was what stand to use and how to overcome the stability problem.

There are still some issues. The stove burns hot. The stand gets hot and you get a heat feedback into the trangia making the meths inside evaporate faster than normal. This makes for a quick boiling stove, but possibly less efficient. Personally, I see that as an advantage, but it may not be for some.

Also, on the test burns I've done, the windshield can restrict airflow - it suffocated the O2 supply on one occasion - it definitely needs air holes drilling round the base.

It's a compromise, no question, but for it's size, I'm very pleased with the result.

 

[Martyn]

Re the size issue, I've just measured the realistic capcity of the 10cm billy at about a pint or 600mls. If you think that the average tin of soup is about 400mls and that packet rice mixes usually ask for 3/4 pint of water to be added, you can see that this billy will give you hot food - not gourmet meals, but it will fill you with packet mixes, boiled rice, boil-in-the-bag, soups etc and obviously hot brews.

The full kit, with (full of fuel) trangia, weighs in at 600g.

 

[Martyn]

Nice set up. The fan grill is an inspired touch..... :notworthy

Cheers, I'm thinking about adding your hobo mod as well ...all the bases covered.

 

[twisted firestarter]

That is a lovely set-up Martyn- I hope you don't mind a bit of plagiarism

Did you make the bag or is it a stock item?

 

[Martyn]

Steal away.

Bag is stock - from a horrible foil sleeping bag IIRC.

 

[spamel]

I wanted to do this a while back, and saw the problem with the billy on the mini trangia pot stand. I tried to get a welder to knock up a cross to use on top in the same way as your fan grill, but he never did it and I packed the idea in. You have given me the perfect solution, I've just got to find one of those grills now!

 

[Jared]

I wanted to do this a while back, and saw the problem with the billy on the mini trangia pot stand. I tried to get a welder to knock up a cross to use on top in the same way as your fan grill, but he never did it and I packed the idea in. You have given me the perfect solution, I've just got to find one of those grills now!

£1.79 from Maplin.

Or find a dead PC somewhere, chances are might have one. Though I think 80mm fan grill maybe more common.

 

[spamel]

Cheers Jared, I'll give them a try!

 

[topknot]

Very nice, i like the wire whip handle with copper crimps?
topknot

 

[Gailainne]

Thats a very nice set up Martyn, may I ask whats the dia of the mini trangia ? would it fit in the crusader cooker unit cup for instance ?

I had the same idea, to use an old computer power supply fan grill, but as usual when you go to look for one, theres none to be found, (the newer supplys have the grill punched out of the casing .

I did however run across this in Lidl (it might have been Aldi's) and thought it could work,

Its quite large the outer circle is 16 cm, the can I have is 12 cm so should cut down quite nicely.

The difference with my set up is, I'll use it on my hobo, I will put it in the bottom of the hobo, in the second last set of holes, that should allow more air in at the bottom, for a more efficient burn.

I need to work on my packing tho , both yours, and Waylands are very nicely put together.

Stephen

 

[Jared]

How big is the Morrison SS container?

IKEA is closer to me, and their SS cultery stand looks good for £2.29
(Diameter: 12 cm x Height: 13.5 cm)

Was thinking cutting a vertical line of them holes, and joining each hole with its horizontal neighbour. So if fit a grill (with 4 prongs pretruding through those holes) inside can raise it or lower with a twist, raise, twist back into the neighbouring hole. If you see what I mean.

 

[kato]

Jared they make perfect hobo stoves you can just use a couple of lengths of wire coat hanger and poke them through the holes to support the billy that way you can use the lower holes if your using a trangia burner or the upper holes if using fire
No need to cut any more holes and you can just add more fuel to the fire if needed by lifting the pan off.

Martyn thats a neat set up you have made

 

[Wayland]

How big is the Morrison SS container?

The Morrisons container is a snug fit around the 10cm billy ( I've just measured the internal diameter as 103 mm ) while the Ikea one will fit the billy in wrapped in a bag and then some.

I used an Ikea drainer until I made my current hobo stove and It worked well.

I made a hole in the side by cutting out one set of holes and adding some small holes near the top for two skewers but no other modification was needed on mine.