Swiss army volcano stove mods?

[Gotte]

I was trying out my new Swiss army volcano cooker for the first time today, and it seemed to me that when boiling water in the bottle, the bottle sat way too low in the cooker, almost smothering the fire. I also wondered if there were too few holes at the bottom, and that perhaps the main feeding hole was too small.
I tried putting two tent pegs through the upper holes to hold the water bottle higher, which seemed to work much better; it allowed the upper holes to come into play as far as I could see, whereas before with the bottle lower, it seemed to block them.
What I'm wondering, though, is if anyone has either drilled more holes in the base or made the feeding hole bigger - or done any other mids, for that matter?

 

[markie*mark0]

I played with the idea of cutting the bottom off (well a large hole out of the bottom) to enable me to place on/off heat source's fire/s meths burner etc.

 

[wedgie]

open up the enterance and use a borde bomb as the borde was issued together acording to my mate in sw http://www.spiritburner.com/fusion/showtopic.php?fid/399/tid/14077/

 

[MrEd]

did you use the letal handles to suspend the bottle high up in the burner bit?

 

[comeonbabylightmyfire]

I love my Volcano. I've never tried to boil water in the bottle preferring to use the cup. I also use a small Trangia-type meths burner. I slide it down from the top and that removes the need to widen the fire hatch. I've used it as a hobo cooker and with hexi and Esbit blocks. Like anything Swiss, it's remarkably well engineered.

 

[Gotte]

did you use the letal handles to suspend the bottle high up in the burner bit?

I do, yes, but it still seemed too low to me. I put tent pegs through the upper holes to give it more height and air, which seemed to work well. I have just checked, though, and I think one of the inherent flaws in the design is to have the burner made from aluminium. Mine is quite soft now. I can deform it quite easily. I'suppose it'll make it easier to put more holes in, though.

 

[Pacman99uk]

Anyone else noticed when using a civvy Trangia in the swiss stove that alot of the gas is only escaping/combusting through the very top holes and therefore being wasted? I think I remember reading somewhere else that when a small fan was placed in front of the opening the gas burnt properly and the water boiled much faster.

Think ill try drilling 8 x 8mm holes about a third of the way up from the bottom to see if the extra air helps at all. Anyone else managed to fix this problem?

-P

 

[Gotte]

I saw a piece on that, and it seem to suggest that the flames out the top indicated too little air getting in at the bottom. Personally, I'm going to drill some more holes in it and either cut the bottom out so it can be placed over the burner or cut a larger hole so the burner can be placed in it.
Like I mentioned earlier, I tried it with wood, which was how I supposed it was designed, but the aluminium is really soft now, and in my book, it's pretty useless for anything other than a trangia - God knows how soft it would be after more wood burns.