Author Topic: Roll you own backpacking stove!  (Read 5053 times)

Offline thatGuy

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Roll you own backpacking stove!
« on: June 27, 2012, 11:20:40 PM »
Hey Guys,

Sorry I haven't been around much lately but you know how life, death and taxes can get in the way of everything!

I've been playing around with my Ductwork Multi-Fuel Stove and thinking about what I didn't like about the Bud Bottle stove and I think I might have come up with a solution.

Provided that HH6 doesn't get in the way with her "needs" I'll be shooting some video on how it's done this Sunday.. Stand by to stand by.  [url=http://www.freesmileys.or
« Last Edit: July 21, 2012, 03:43:33 PM by thatguy »

Offline EJR914

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Re: I'm such a tease..
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2012, 12:30:12 AM »
Stop it, you're making me horny...   :o

 :)) :)) :))

Offline thatGuy

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Re: I'm such a tease..
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2012, 01:20:09 AM »
It doesn't get much easier than this guys.

Materials needed will be a tin. I used a 2oz salve tin that I bought at the local herb store for $2.
Fiberglass insulation. I used pipe wrap but you could use pink insulation if its what you had.

Fiberglass cloth repair cloth.

Stainless steel window screen. You could use any fine mesh.


Cut a hole in the top of your tin. I used a razor knife and made several passes remember that this is the lightest gauge metal that the Red Chinese make so it doesn't take much.

Use the bottom of the tin to mark your insulation, fiberglass cloth and window screen and then cut them with a good pair of scissors. Remember that the mark is the outside diameter of the can so cut them just a little smaller than the inside of the line. The fiberglass cloth is kinda tricky because it wants to be strands instead of cloth.



Stuff it all into the can from bottom to top it will go, insulation-cloth-screen-lid.



Pour alcohol in to it and light!



We will be getting more in-depth with this as the week goes on but I wanted to give you guys something to think about until then. Believe that there is more to come and let the photo serve as proof.

Offline gapatriot

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Re: I'm such a tease..
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2012, 01:32:46 AM »
looks good buddy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [url=http://www.freesmileys.or

Offline EJR914

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Re: I'm such a tease..
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2012, 01:36:20 AM »
Yeah, you rock, TG.  I wish I had your skills, bro.

Offline thatGuy

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Re: I'm such a tease..
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2012, 01:47:29 AM »
EJR, buddy I just showed you how!

Now go get 'em tiger, I believe in you.

Offline EJR914

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Re: I'm such a tease..
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2012, 02:00:49 AM »
EJR, buddy I just showed you how!

Now go get 'em tiger, I believe in you.


Like Hope and Change type believing?  I'm on it, Sir!   [img]http://bestsmileys.com/ar

Offline thatGuy

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Re: I'm such a tease..
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2012, 02:09:01 PM »
Not like hope and change at all brother, I believe you can actually do this!

The tin I found has an impression in the lid that let me use the raised rim as a guide for my blade. All things considered it was a fairly easy thing to build and by my estimation a great project for a first timer.



See what I mean?

Offline thatGuy

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Re: I'm such a tease..
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2012, 06:10:09 PM »


All testing was done with a GSI Halide pot, 16oz. of tepid water out of the stocktank with a thatGuyisms Multi-fuel stove. For the test I used 90% isopropol alcohol.

The results showed,

The 2oz. stove brought a pint of water to the first bubble in 6 minutes 39 seconds and a rolling boil at 7 minutes 52 seconds with a total burn time of 23 minutes.

The 1.5oz stove brought a pint of water to the first bubble in 5 minutes 36 seconds and a rolling boil in 7 minutes and 16 seconds with a total burn time of 11 minutes 55 seconds.

I was running the test by myself so these numbers are all plus or minus to the best of my ability but 6.5 minutes to boil a pint is respectable.

Offline NOLA556

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Re: I'm such a tease..
« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2012, 07:51:51 PM »


All testing was done with a GSI Halide pot, 16oz. of tepid water out of the stocktank with a thatGuyisms Multi-fuel stove. For the test I used 90% isopropol alcohol.

The results showed,

The 2oz. stove brought a pint of water to the first bubble in 6 minutes 39 seconds and a rolling boil at 7 minutes 52 seconds with a total burn time of 23 minutes.

The 1.5oz stove brought a pint of water to the first bubble in 5 minutes 36 seconds and a rolling boil in 7 minutes and 16 seconds with a total burn time of 11 minutes 55 seconds.

I was running the test by myself so these numbers are all plus or minus to the best of my ability but 6.5 minutes to boil a pint is respectable.


now, as with any other fuel source, you'll have to figure out which one is actually more EFFICIENT. if you're spending/using more raw material (and/or money) to bring your water to boil quicker than you are with your slower source, is it really worth it? just a thought that I figured I'd inject into the conversation.
Rome is burning, and Obama is playing the fiddle - GAP

Offline thatGuy

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Re: I'm such a tease..
« Reply #10 on: July 04, 2012, 12:07:27 AM »
Calm down buddy, that is the next installment.

Offline NOLA556

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Re: I'm such a tease..
« Reply #11 on: July 04, 2012, 10:10:52 AM »
Calm down buddy, that is the next installment.

lol.. STOP TEASING ME *rage*
Rome is burning, and Obama is playing the fiddle - GAP

Offline thatGuy

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Re: I'm such a tease..
« Reply #12 on: July 04, 2012, 11:26:47 AM »
Ok, what would you like the next fuel to be? Gasoline? Lamp oil? White Gas? Mineral Spirt?

Offline NOLA556

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Re: I'm such a tease..
« Reply #13 on: July 04, 2012, 12:06:32 PM »
tannerite.
Rome is burning, and Obama is playing the fiddle - GAP

Offline thatGuy

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Re: I'm such a tease..
« Reply #14 on: July 10, 2012, 11:32:52 AM »
I'm not even sure how I would pull that off Nola,

White Gas

Once again we were boiling 1 pint of tepid water with an ambient temp of 78 degrees. I am assuming because the air temp was lower so was the water temp.

2oz stove, it's hard to say when I got the first bubble because the stove was THROWING fire and ended up boiling the water from the top down, but we got a rolling boil at 4 minutes 19 seconds. Total burn time 8 minutes 19 seconds.

1.5oz stove, same deal with the first bubble, rolling at 5 minutes total burn time 5 minutes 40 seconds.

While the stove showed no damage from using White Gas it did change the method of operation. Instead of the fuel vaporizing at the SS mesh and being ignited there it was igniting at the source of oxygen. This test lit the table on fire and produced quite a bit of smoke and fire. All and all I will say that what is otherwise a very polite fuel was quite rude in this style of stove. In the future I will be mixing it with heavy oil to calm it down.

Offline thatGuy

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Re: Roll you own backpacking stove!
« Reply #15 on: July 21, 2012, 04:12:42 PM »
Hey Gang,

So somewhere along the lines while testing fuels I managed to burn up the insulation in the stove and now it won't boil water!!

Oh no!!

My frustration led me to really start screwing around with Alcohol stove.

Mark Jurey designed a stove called the penny stove and it's what I am playing with now. I recommend this stove over the standard pop can stove, while it looks complex to use and build it really isn't.



Complete instructions

F.A.Q. note that they were originally built out of ribbed Hinny cans. In some stroke of 'shit for brains' Heineken discontinued this can much to the chagrin of the ultralight backpacking community.
« Last Edit: July 21, 2012, 07:34:13 PM by NOLA556 »

Offline NOLA556

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Re: Roll you own backpacking stove!
« Reply #16 on: July 21, 2012, 09:51:39 PM »
so my first penny stove..... success. it's ugly because i rushed it but it's functional.  :))

(edited for late picture arrival)

« Last Edit: July 21, 2012, 11:29:59 PM by NOLA556 »
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Offline thatGuy

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Re: Roll you own backpacking stove!
« Reply #17 on: July 21, 2012, 10:05:32 PM »
And what do you think of your 1 cent stove?

Offline NOLA556

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Re: Roll you own backpacking stove!
« Reply #18 on: July 21, 2012, 10:15:52 PM »
it's pretty legit. I don't know about the idea of packing bottles of alcohol. seems like it would add quite a bit of weight to your pack. idunno, maybe just pack enough for 3-4 uses to avoid overloading yourself. but the stove itself is a pretty solid design either way.
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Offline thatGuy

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Re: Roll you own backpacking stove!
« Reply #19 on: July 21, 2012, 10:23:51 PM »
I re-package my alcohol into empty water bottles. Cheap, lightweight and they don't leak!

So the weight issue is a critical one. (edited because I got lost) The weight of the stove (or lack there of) goes along way in making up for the low performance of the fuel.

As example the MSR Whisper Lite (arguably the finest stove on the market) weights 11oz. That little penny stove can't weigh more than an ounce...
« Last Edit: July 21, 2012, 10:29:51 PM by thatguy »

Offline NOLA556

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Re: Roll you own backpacking stove!
« Reply #20 on: July 21, 2012, 10:34:25 PM »
I re-package my alcohol into empty water bottles. Cheap, lightweight and they don't leak!

So the weight issue is a critical one. (edited because I got lost) The weight of the stove (or lack there of) goes along way in making up for the low performance of the fuel.

As example the MSR Whisper Lite (arguably the finest stove on the market) weights 11oz. That little penny stove can't weigh more than an ounce...

good thinking. I think I'll just keep mine in my truck bag (get-home bag). does rubbing alcohol go bad if you store it inside a hot vehicle?
Rome is burning, and Obama is playing the fiddle - GAP

Offline Kentactic

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Re: Roll you own backpacking stove!
« Reply #21 on: July 21, 2012, 11:05:26 PM »
I re-package my alcohol into empty water bottles. Cheap, lightweight and they don't leak!

So the weight issue is a critical one. (edited because I got lost) The weight of the stove (or lack there of) goes along way in making up for the low performance of the fuel.

As example the MSR Whisper Lite (arguably the finest stove on the market) weights 11oz. That little penny stove can't weigh more than an ounce...

Why would one compare a large backpacking stove to a ultralight home made stove? I think we may have had this conversation before but i think a better comparison would be an MSR pocket rocket (weighs 3oz.) and one 4 oz. canister will boil 1.5-2 gallons (1 liter at a time) of water at 8,000 ft. Thats a run time on pretty high for maybe 1-1.5 hours or so(im just guestimating all this based on my usage with it).

Whats the run time of a given amount of fuel for one of these home made stoves?
Simplicity Is Ideal...

Offline NOLA556

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Re: Roll you own backpacking stove!
« Reply #22 on: July 21, 2012, 11:29:22 PM »


Whats the run time of a given amount of fuel for one of these home made stoves?

it's not very long, only about 20 minutes or so, but it's pretty impressive for what it is.
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Offline thatGuy

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Re: Roll you own backpacking stove!
« Reply #23 on: July 22, 2012, 12:30:56 AM »
Quote
but i think a better comparison would be an MSR pocket rocket (weighs 3oz.)


You know that the pack weight of that stove is actually 4.2oz and that the fuel canister weighs 4.9oz empty?

Quote
we may have had this conversation before


We have and I prepared for you to bring this up again. Go weigh your gear dude.

Since when was the Whisper Lite
Quote
a large backpacking stove
?

Better yet how does a Pocket Rocket compair in reliablity to a Penny Stove?

How about cost?

How about fuel cost?

Could you make one out of trash?

I'm sorry if you feel like I am beating up on you Ken but it gets me all fired up when I try to show you guys how to make a stove that is good enough and I get to hear some shit about how great the Pocket Rocket is. I can and will freely admit that this stove is by no means a replacement nor an evolution of anything that MSR makes. By all means if you have the means go and buy a Pocket Rocket, they are fine stoves unless you loath the idea that you have to buy fuel cans. It's inablity to run on multible liquid fuels is the only fault I can find with it.

It would be good to compair all these stoves one to the other and I should someday but for now could we just talk about DIY stoves?

Offline Kentactic

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Re: Roll you own backpacking stove!
« Reply #24 on: July 22, 2012, 04:29:16 AM »
I cant seem to gather the strength to quote each individual section... so ill just say this... the penny stoves awesome, its cheap and all that jazz. But i noticed an unfair comparison of an 11oz stove of all stoves to compare to a 1oz stove...Im not trying to put down the penny stove but if you are going to bring a fancy modern stove into comparison then your inviting others to critisize your selection for comparision. If the penny stoves in a category all its own due to cost etc then thats fine then just leave it at that and dont drag a backyard propane BBQ grill into the comparison to compliment it. Just giving the readers a fair shake at understanding what they are reading "the MSR whisper lite is arguably the best backpacking stove ever" (not exact quote) is missleading as it is just an opinion not fact and missleads readers that thats as light and efficient as a modern stove gets, when in reality they get much lighter and much more efficient then anything MSR offers.

Not bashing the badass little stove youve so kindly taken the time to show us how to build... just making sure its all kosher is all..   
Simplicity Is Ideal...