My scrap meths cooker and other stuff.

[gw5458]

I've been trying out a few variations of the coke can stove ready for a walk along the Ridgeway next week. There were lots of designs to try on the Zen Stoves website. I need something reliable to produce hot drinks and some basic cooking for two people. I've settled on a sideburner version of the penny stove to use with a 1 litre aluminium kettle. The kettle is very light (135g) and has a lid wide enough to get food in and out easily.

The penny stove is ridiculously simple to make - two can bottoms pushed together, five filler holes punched in the top and a ring of burner holes about 15mm from the top. Primer pan and windshields cut from the remains of the cans. These fit inside the kettle for transport. No need for a potstand. I've tried using cider cans and the narrower Red Bull cans and both work well. You do need to use a broad-based pan or kettle as the ring of flame gets pretty wide! Using Red Bull cans reduces this a little. The stoves seem very fuel-efficient and quick - mine will boil a pint of water with just 15ml of meths in flat calm conditions, though 20ml is more realistic. A word of warning though - only use a few drops of meths to prime the stove. Using too much will overheat it and produce a flamethrower which looks spectacular but isn't that all efficient at boiling water

Some photos of my setup on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/gw5458/

 

[TinkyPete]

Nice work, really like the whole of the cup/cooker idea. small compact but so much in a small package. Great use of wombling

 

[Ray Britton]

The saw and mallet you made look really lovely. Not a mass produced look, but a natural and purposeful look...Tops marks!

As for making cuts in coke/beer can stoves, I have been making/selling these for about five years now, and use the following method to cut them neatly (as opposed to making them in the field):

Decide how tall you want the section of can to be once cut, and then simply insert a craft knife blade between the pages of a hard back book at that height. If you have the blade stuck out from the pages about 3mm, you can simply rotate the can against the side of the book, and the blade will cut neatly through after a couple of turns. Hey presto a perfect edge with no distortions. Then just as another poster mentioned, slip the can section which will become the top of the stove over another (full unopened) can, and this will stretch the can the .06mm needed to make it a perfect fit on the stove.

It is up to you whether you use steel or aluminium cans to make your stoves, but do remember that they are not the same diameter, with one being slightly bigger than the other.
If you also want to spice up your drinks can stoves, then you can always polish the concave base to a mirror finish, and this will not only give you an amusing mirror for when you are bored, but also can act as a concave fire lighting mirror, which is actually quite effective!

 

[ged]

... simply insert a craft knife blade between the pages of a hard back book ... have the blade stuck out from the pages about 3mm, you can simply rotate the can against the side of the book, and the blade will cut neatly through ...
... polish the concave base to a mirror finish, and this will not only give you an amusing mirror for when you are bored, but also can act as a concave fire lighting mirror

Damn, I'm impressed! You've just reminded me why I joined this forum. Thanks!!

 

[Ray Britton]

Hi ged.
The trick with building stoves is to know when to stop, or you get carried away and go too far. An example of building something just for the sake of it is this stove a made a while back.

It is small and fully functioning, but also quite useless lol, it it only holds a tiny amount of meths!

( I have posted this pic on two threads, after recently reading up on stoves on this site)

 

[Ex Member - Sidney Bounty]

perfect size for mr bear...

 

[ForgeCorvus]

Ray, Thats totally daft...I love it.
Whats it made from?