After about six or more attempts at making these using diffwrent sourses of information I have at last succeeded and am real chuffed Especially as I found that one of the first was O.K. it was just that I was not giving them a long enough warming time to produce the jets of flame around the side. I found that the worst part was trying to get the one half of the stove inside the other even cooling one on the freezer and heating the other with boiling water. the inner one always ends up with a small buckle in it . As the latest one had only a small buckle. I tried taping round the join up point with Duck Tape and this works well as long as the join is not too close to the side jets. I have I think, invented a good snuffer for these stoves. If you cut the base of of another can just at the point where it is about to reach the straight outer edge. the disk you have fits snugly over the top and covers the Jet holes as well as the centre well. It also gives the whole thing a nice finished appearance and works a treat for puting out the stove. So the secret in having success with these stoves is. Have patience., and let it warm up enough I made the type with the inner wall cut from the side of the can and a strip just wide enough to come from the top of what you anticipate as the depth of the finished article to the bottom.. I glued the ends of the strip together so that it made a circle the size of the deep ridge at the bottom , and top of the can and also stuck it to the base before puting the top on. Once in place ,the top and bottom hold it in place. If you place your pan too low over the stove once it is going this will tend to snuff it out through lack of air, and placing tent pegs in as spacers is also too low. I had some spare pieces of aluminium square rod. The type you set into the wall to hold made- up shelf brackets {the adjustable sort] these were about 12mm square. I cut these into lengths to lay across the stove. Two only and they both hold the pot at the right height and conduct the heat to the pot as well.This is O.K. as long as your pot is not too wide, in which case it is better to suspend it on a bale wire.
Pop Can Stoves
- Thread starter ol smokey
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Well done.
One of the methods that works best fr me is to have a second unopened can of the same type as the bottom one and use that as an initial stretching devive by working it slowly into the bottom section, usually by slowly twisting it in.
ol' smokey said:
One of the methods that works best fr me is to have a second unopened can of the same type as the bottom one and use that as an initial stretching devive by working it slowly into the bottom section, usually by slowly twisting it in.
I don't know why you need to put out a pop can stove its not worth saving. On all my alcohol stoves i do a time test so i don't waste fuel. One most of my stoves 1/2 oz. fuel will burn 7 to 8 min. boil 20 oz. water at 5 or 6 min. Now if i need to do two things like one pot water for coffee and my noddles.First i get the noddles ready in pot add water let it sit then the water in the kettle 20oz. 1 oz. alcohol lite stove put pot on just when i can hear the water noise in kettle take off put noddles on it all works on one filling.
I have had good results using this technique. No glue/epoxy required:
I found a good method of fitting the two halves of a soda can stove together.
I drill the jet holes and cut out the center hole of the stove first, and then I make sure that the cut edges of the cans are smooth.
Take an unopened can of soda and use the bottom as a form to restore the round shape of the the cut can parts. Stick the cut can over the full can and give it a few twists, back and forth. This will stretch the metal slightly.
Using scissors, make a series of tab cuts on the bottom edge of the top half of the can stove. The cuts should be about every 3/16 inch, and about 1/4 inch deep. Take a pair of needle nose pliers and bend every other tab in at about a 45 degree angle. The remaining tabs are also bent inward at a slightly lesser angle.
Insert the inner wall, if you are using one, into the top half of the can stove and then slide the bottom half of the stove over the bent tabs of the upper half, being careful to keep the inner wall in position. Once you have the two halves together, gently press them together until the inner wall is tightly seated.
With a little practice, you can easily make a tight-fitting soda can stove. The only tape needed is to keep the shape and size of the inner wall steady. If you are using the pressurized type of stove, I recommend aluminum taping the two halves together. I had an untaped pressurized stove blow the top off when the alcohol pressurized the thing.
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Here is a link to a stove efficiency test method article and accompanying spreadsheet that I put together with jasonklass:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19616
You might find it useful.
Remember: Makinbg these stoves can become an addiction, but the Alcohol Stove Anonymous support group is always ready to help !
I found a good method of fitting the two halves of a soda can stove together.
I drill the jet holes and cut out the center hole of the stove first, and then I make sure that the cut edges of the cans are smooth.
Take an unopened can of soda and use the bottom as a form to restore the round shape of the the cut can parts. Stick the cut can over the full can and give it a few twists, back and forth. This will stretch the metal slightly.
Using scissors, make a series of tab cuts on the bottom edge of the top half of the can stove. The cuts should be about every 3/16 inch, and about 1/4 inch deep. Take a pair of needle nose pliers and bend every other tab in at about a 45 degree angle. The remaining tabs are also bent inward at a slightly lesser angle.
Insert the inner wall, if you are using one, into the top half of the can stove and then slide the bottom half of the stove over the bent tabs of the upper half, being careful to keep the inner wall in position. Once you have the two halves together, gently press them together until the inner wall is tightly seated.
With a little practice, you can easily make a tight-fitting soda can stove. The only tape needed is to keep the shape and size of the inner wall steady. If you are using the pressurized type of stove, I recommend aluminum taping the two halves together. I had an untaped pressurized stove blow the top off when the alcohol pressurized the thing.
-------
Here is a link to a stove efficiency test method article and accompanying spreadsheet that I put together with jasonklass:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19616
You might find it useful.
Remember: Makinbg these stoves can become an addiction, but the Alcohol Stove Anonymous support group is always ready to help !
I've been playing around with various kit, and wanted to try out a crusader cooking unit, but with a home made alcohol stove as the burner, I used irn bru 32 cans, same size as redbull, and just as disgusting.
I've made a few but the last 2 I made were specifically for the crusader unit, so were kept to 25mm approx high, that would allow a minimum of 12-13mm from the top of the burner to the underside of the crusader cup, both had 24 equally spaced holes, made with a drawing pin, 3mm hole in the centre for filling, to be covered by a two pence coin.
Set up was; pop stove was sitting in the crusader cooking unit, with crusader cup on top, plastic cup as lid on top of that ( I have some thin aluminium and stainless steel from the pipe laggers at work) so will be making a proper sized lid shorlty.
The results were surprising; the first was from 2 irn bru cans, worked out at 22 mm high, it brought 0.25L of water to the roiling boil in just over 6 mins, lasted just over 11 mins to burnout.
The second was made from a toast topper bottom (flat bottom more fuel) and an irn bru burner, 24mm high, it brought 0.25L of water to the boil in almost 8:30 mins, lasted just over 14mins to burnout.
top
side
There were only 2 differences as far as I was aware;
1. the second was 2 mm higher and so was closer to the bottom of the cup
2. perhaps more important, the second flared twice the first time I ran it and three times the second time, by that I mean there was enough pressure in the can to lift the two pence coin, releasing the pressure, and spraying fuel.
I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this.
Stephen
I've made a few but the last 2 I made were specifically for the crusader unit, so were kept to 25mm approx high, that would allow a minimum of 12-13mm from the top of the burner to the underside of the crusader cup, both had 24 equally spaced holes, made with a drawing pin, 3mm hole in the centre for filling, to be covered by a two pence coin.
Set up was; pop stove was sitting in the crusader cooking unit, with crusader cup on top, plastic cup as lid on top of that ( I have some thin aluminium and stainless steel from the pipe laggers at work) so will be making a proper sized lid shorlty.
The results were surprising; the first was from 2 irn bru cans, worked out at 22 mm high, it brought 0.25L of water to the roiling boil in just over 6 mins, lasted just over 11 mins to burnout.
The second was made from a toast topper bottom (flat bottom more fuel) and an irn bru burner, 24mm high, it brought 0.25L of water to the boil in almost 8:30 mins, lasted just over 14mins to burnout.
top
side
There were only 2 differences as far as I was aware;
1. the second was 2 mm higher and so was closer to the bottom of the cup
2. perhaps more important, the second flared twice the first time I ran it and three times the second time, by that I mean there was enough pressure in the can to lift the two pence coin, releasing the pressure, and spraying fuel.
I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this.
Stephen
Yep i had penny jump of also take a bolt that fits the hole put a nut on all the way to top use that or a mable make the bolt not to long to hit bottom
I have a computer case bolt that I use on other stoves, I used that, did'nt make any difference to the boil time, still well over 8:30 mins.
However as an experiment, I increased the gap to the underside of the cup by 2mm, cup came to the boil in 7:30 !! I knew as per gas torches the distance from the flame matters, but that was a bit of a revelation, it seems a bit of tuning is involved to get the most out of your alcohol stove, 2 mm does make a difference it seems.
Stephen
However as an experiment, I increased the gap to the underside of the cup by 2mm, cup came to the boil in 7:30 !! I knew as per gas torches the distance from the flame matters, but that was a bit of a revelation, it seems a bit of tuning is involved to get the most out of your alcohol stove, 2 mm does make a difference it seems.
Stephen
Yep gap does make a difference on all my alcohol stoves if it dont get a boil in 3 to 4 min. out they go with 20 oz. water. A alcohol stove closed type with jets on top the sweet spot is 3/4 to 1 in. from pot my best stove type is a small shoe polish can made with fiber glass insulation. ask if you like to see it or how to make it
At a guess I would say the crusader cooker unit is heat sinking and feeding heat back into the stove, causing the meths inside to boil agressively, overpressurising the stove. Dunno what you could do to stop it, maybe add more burner holes or make the existing ones a little bigger.
Just for a benchmark, have you done a burn test with just meths poured into the well of the crusader unit?
Yebbut conditions affect burn time massively. Windy/calm, hot/cold, high/low etc. It all makes a difference. I suppose eventually, you would get to know how much fuel is needed for a particular weather condition, but it's a bit of a PITA.
Now thats an interesting thought, nice one, I'll try that tonight.
Oops I would like that, and Im sure other people would too.
Cheers
Stephen
The problem with using a burner in the crusader stove is as you've already sussed, the distance from the flame to the cup is very low, so your burner needs to be about 15mm high ideally, that means a tiny fuel capacity. I tried it with just meths in the well and actually got half decent boil times. I suspect the best solution for this setup is just using something like rockwool or firbreglass cut to fit the well and used to stop the meths slopping about and maybe trying to find a lid of some sort to make carriage convenient.
The burner I use in mine is about the same height as the fuel well itself, and holds just enough meths to boil 0.5L of water in reasonable conditions (using a lid and a full-height windshield). Boil times are in the region of 7-8 minutes, IIRC... I've got 6 or 8 (can't remember which) 1mm jets.
Martyn its a much calmer night, but just meths in the cooking cup 0.25 l to the roiling boil in 7:15, I have yet to try it with the stove, I'm waiting till nightfall, so I can see the jets.
gregorach I'll try that as well, I presume the smaller amount of jets, increases the pressure somewhat tho did you use a nut and bolt approach ?
With what oops56 stated about the sweet spot being 3/4-1" in height, a redesign of the folding arm might be the best approach, so that the cup does sit the correct distance from the bottom of the cup. A bit of coat hanger wire will sort that.
Theres some interesting stuff here, it will be fun to experiment.
Stephen
gregorach I'll try that as well, I presume the smaller amount of jets, increases the pressure somewhat tho
did you use a nut and bolt approach ?With what oops56 stated about the sweet spot being 3/4-1" in height, a redesign of the folding arm might be the best approach, so that the cup does sit the correct distance from the bottom of the cup. A bit of coat hanger wire will sort that
.Theres some interesting stuff here, it will be fun to experiment.
Stephen
O K here is 3 burning shoe polish stoves at work. its about 2 in. o. d. with a 1 in. hole in cover then a windscreen put in cover fiberglass insulation in bottom half jut a little over to don't pack leave it lose. the one one the right is a altoids can with picture hangers pop rivent to can the 1/4 alum. for pot stand they side into hangers and it all fits in can the othe two you can see . a 1/2 fuel 10 to 11 min. burn in 8 min. 18oz. water boil in front there is a shoe all a part but cant see to good if need better picture i can do down look on it as you can see the middle one the sweet sopt not there allmos but all three was started at the same time all went out at the same time
gregorach I'll try that as well, I presume the smaller amount of jets, increases the pressure somewhat tho
Nah, just a 2p coin. While there may be fewer of them, they're a full 1mm each.
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