My scrap meths cooker and other stuff.

[irishlostboy]

it has been a while since i posted any of my stuff up here. does not mean i have been doing nothing, just trying to do some stuff to the standard of some of the other people on here. anyhoo, did some stuff i am kinda proud of recently and thought i would share them with you all.

here is my bear unpacking my new camp cooker. all the parts fit in the cup, which has a lid.

Here are all the parts laid out, labeled with what they were made from.

here is the cooker set up and running, cooking up a nice meal for a bear.

the cooker can boil the water in the cup in about 4 minutes easily, then it will stay running for another 10 minutes easily.

the only parts i needed to pay for in the cooker were the mug, meths and lighter. i could have substituted a sweetcorn can for the mug though as they are near the same size. i changed the handle on the lid for a bit of wood. plastic is not nice melted to a bear's fluff. i also added so tie-points to the mug so it can be used like a billy-can.

here is my mallet. the head is beech, the handle is ash. all wood is windfallen branches. all built with small hand-tools. finished with linseed oil and beeswax.

here is my bow saw. the main limbs are ash, the tentioner and pins are beech, and the cord is jute. all wood is windfallen branches worked with small hand tools and finished with linseed oil and beeswax.

that is what i have at the moment. hope it is of interest to peoples. thanks for looking!

 

[Wayland]

Great stuff, I like the meths stove quencher idea....

I may borrow that if you don't mind.

 

[dave53]

excellent work and mostly natural materials regards dave

 

[irishlostboy]

Great stuff, I like the meths stove quencher idea....

I may borrow that if you don't mind.

lol. go for it. i started off on this project off the back of your can stove tutorial. nice to see ideas going full circle. one difference when making the burner to how your tutorial does it is, instead of putting slits in the can to get the top and bottom pieces to fit, i stretched one can over another full can. added some oil first so they would seperate. so you end up with one can just slightly larger than the other. makes a very secure join and also makes for a very solid burner. hope that helps.
thanks for the original tut wayland, and i am glad you like my project.

 

[TJRoots]

hey nice work their mate, really like the mallet

ATB
TJ

 

[QDanT]

Great work and I really like the Bear :You_Rock_
cheers Danny

 

[caliban]

Great stove set up, you seem to be getting good boil times, and I reckon the open centre style is a lot easier to light than the frustrating penny stove type. The mallet and saw are very nicely done indeed...top work mate!

 

[bhofmann]

Lovely work there, and I really like the Bear.

If you boil in 4 and it'll run for another 10 minutes, can I assume you use the Quencher to extinguish the stove? Do you then pour the remainder of the meths back into the bottle? I'm curious because I've made a little burner myself but don't like the fact that the fuel in it is still there when I'm done with the cooking and want it off. Is there an easy and clean way to recover what is left in the stove?

 

[ged]

... trying to do some stuff to the standard of some of the other people on here.

I don't think you need to worry about your standards, from what I've seen they're fine. Presentation is good too.

Thanks for that, I like the mallet and the saw especially.

Ged.

 

[Wayland]

Lovely work there, and I really like the Bear.

If you boil in 4 and it'll run for another 10 minutes, can I assume you use the Quencher to extinguish the stove? Do you then pour the remainder of the meths back into the bottle? I'm curious because I've made a little burner myself but don't like the fact that the fuel in it is still there when I'm done with the cooking and want it off. Is there an easy and clean way to recover what is left in the stove?

What some people do is test out the fuel required to do the job and then just use a little more in the stove, letting it burn out at the end.

That is probably more efficient but I'm too lazy and disorganized for that sort of thing.

 

[irishlostboy]

i haven't actually used the quencher in anger. just used it to see if it works, but i wouldn't bother trying to recover the meths on this system. there is no screw on lid possible like a trangia, so i recon the way to go will be to just put in as little fuel as you can get away with and let it burn off. the advantage of this method is your burner will be totally dry once it is finished burning. i used half full burner for this cup of noodles. also, unlike the trangia, this system is cool enough to pick up very quickly after it goes out. that is quite handy also.

thanks people for all the wonderful feedback.

regards my bear; he is the brains of the operation. i just do the monkey work. here is some of his other work.
check out his cordage.

he also makes baskets.

bears are really more tallented than people give them credit for. we also have a bunny, but she prefers to get wasted and violate international artworks.

each to their own.

 

[bhofmann]

I noticed the link to your games development shows http://www.archangel-studio.net/ which is down/not there, but links to http://archangel-studio.blogspot.com/ which was last posted to in 2008. It'd be awful to think that great work you showed on that blog has not come to something. The graphics and detail looked very impressive indeed.

 

[Andy2112]

Very nice work you have done. I was wondering if you could use the top and bottom off one can ?

 

[irishlostboy]

I noticed the link to your games development shows http://www.archangel-studio.net/ which is down/not there, but links to http://archangel-studio.blogspot.com/ which was last posted to in 2008. It'd be awful to think that great work you showed on that blog has not come to something. The graphics and detail looked very impressive indeed.

thanks, i will have to change my sig. ya, Rabbit project dried up about a year ago. which is a shame as i had a lot of interest in it. nvidia were even interested in helping me out. unfortunately i am a designer not a businessman, so i just couldn't keep a team going. the last stuff i put out regards the rabbit project was some screenshots for the engine i was working on.
http://www.terathon.com/c4engine/shots/rab/index.php
it is a shame, as the work we did on rabbit really pushed C4 into being the lead 3d graphics engine available at it's pricepoint. even now 2 years after i know only one project that looks near as good on the C4 engine. i have not given up on rabbit completely though. the actual game concept was way better than the graphics. just very hard to implament. also after 2 year i have gotten better at the 3d graphics, so when i do dust off this project it will be light years ahead of these screenshots. but this will have to wait untill i am a little more well heeled. currently i am a bum barely covering the rent. at least if i end up homeless i have the skills to be one bad-bottom bum. lol. but hey, if you know anyone looking for a games designer/artist, be sure to let me know!

 

[irishlostboy]

Very nice work you have done. I was wondering if you could use the top and bottom off one can ?

after spending the evening experimenting, the easy answer i find is no. the top section lip is wider than the bottom section lip, so to make it work you would need a slightly wedge shaped inner wall. way too tricky for me to figure out in my sleep depraved state. lol.

 

[TJRoots]

i keep coming back to this thread to look at the meths burner, and i've come to the conclusion i need to drink some beer. not right now cause its not even 8am and i have work soon, but later im definately drinking some beer, then tomorrow im gonna try one of those, would do it tonight but i dont like making stuff when i've been drinking, i make it, cut myself a few times, decide its fantastic then look at it the next morning with a fuzzy memory of something brilliant and notice its pants

cheers for the inspiratioon
TJ

 

[bhofmann]

If you do want to make one, there are instructions on NBC that I used to make my first (and only one): http://www.naturalbushcraft.co.uk/kit/reviews/how-to-make-a-pop-can-meths-stove

I have a tough time cutting the cans neatly so I eventually ended up putting them in my lathe and I managed very neat cuts. Then, on assembly, realised that it really doesn't need to be perfect. Odd thing about mine is that it "pops" when burning. Almost like it runs out of Oxygen and the flame jumps, making popping sounds. Still burns, so not too bothered.

 

[irishlostboy]

for cans, i just walked around the town at about 6 in the morning. got a fair few without needing to drink any beer.
for tutorials on making these stoves i started with wayland's tutorial here; http://www.ravenlore.co.uk/html/drink_can_stove.html
then went on to find more info on different methods of making stoves here; http://zenstoves.net/
to cut the metal, i do rough cuts about an inch off the mark i want with a box cutter, then i trim in with scissors. gives clean cuts. to get the hole in the bottom of the can i just score a line around and around in the natural groove of the can. after a bit the center piece just pops out easy and clean. i sand all cut edges afterwards as i had some bad cuts from one i didn't do this on. hope this helps.

 

[Andy2112]

for cans, i just walked around the town at about 6 in the morning. got a fair few without needing to drink any beer.
for tutorials on making these stoves i started with wayland's tutorial here; http://www.ravenlore.co.uk/html/drink_can_stove.html
then went on to find more info on different methods of making stoves here; http://zenstoves.net/
to cut the metal, i do rough cuts about an inch off the mark i want with a box cutter, then i trim in with scissors. gives clean cuts. to get the hole in the bottom of the can i just score a line around and around in the natural groove of the can. after a bit the center piece just pops out easy and clean. i sand all cut edges afterwards as i had some bad cuts from one i didn't do this on. hope this helps.

Thats for that, i've seen Gary's method on his site, just got to drink one more can of beer tonight and i can give it a go over the weekend.

 

[irishlostboy]

well good luck with it. i just cycled out to my mom's place and back, stopping along the duel carriagway every time i saw a can in good nick. it must have looked daft. i was barely going when i would be stopping again.
so far i have made 5 stove sets, and they have all been claimed by various friends. sure glad i dont have to drink all the beer or fizzy drinks i need to complete all these stoves. i would be quite ill. (note, i do not drink beer, and it is a good job they do not sell whiskey in cans, cos i DO drink that.)