My DIY alcohol stove

[Turnstone]

I got a book about ultralight trekking for christmas, and there was an instruction on how to build an alcohol stove out of a few cans of beer / cola. (I now found a quite similar instruction on SOSAK  ) Last weekend I tried to build one myself, and it works!





















Now I have to to it again, with just a SAK 

[Smitty44]

Great idea,thanks for sharing.

[Sparky415]

That looks great Turnstone 
That is some very neat and precise work 

[Turnstone]

That looks great Turnstone 
That is some very neat and precise work 

Thanks!
I had lots of good tools to work. My father in law has a turning lathe, and a box column drill, and much other tools. Took some time to make it with all this stuff, but the output is great!

When I try it with just a SAK it will look much different, I guess 

[Sparky415]

It really looks good and the pot stand is very clever 

Maybe there's something wrong with the pictures but I can't see any blood    

[Turnstone]

No blood for me, but my better half cut his finger while he tried to break the wires for the pot stand instead of using pliers

[Mr. Whippy]

I love these little home made stove.  I've built a few of the Penny Stoves

The work great.  Seriously.  What I like about your stove is there's no need for a penny as a regulator. 

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Nice job there

Quite fun to make aren't they

[stressmaster5000]

So what kind of fuel are you burning in there? Where does the fuel go?

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

So what kind of fuel are you burning in there? Where does the fuel go?

Meths, and it goes in the middle

[stressmaster5000]

So what kind of fuel are you burning in there? Where does the fuel go?

Meths, and it goes in the middle

OK, in the middle sounds and looks right but here is a real question for ya. Keeping in mind that I am from Texas, what is Meths? Here in my part of the world the word Meth conjures up thoughts of illegal drug labs and drug abusers.

Meth short for Methamphetamine.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Nothing so grand I'm afraid

Methylated Spirits

[Sparky415]

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denatured_alcohol

[stressmaster5000]

OK, so I don't have to call up my red neck cousin who has a meth lab in his van now. Cool since I here those things explode easily.
 
Meth Lab Explosion


On the plus side now I know where I can get some illegal moonshine that should burn just fine. 

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

 

[Gareth]

Great job Turnstone.   I've done a few different versions of these myself and think they're great fun to produce.  I like your pot stand a lot.

[ducttapetech]

nice job! I love making those stoves. My next i am going to try is a wood gas stove.

[ducttapetech]

oops, i forgot to say, nice pics.

[Tabasco]

Agreed, great post and pics. 

[Turnstone]

Thanks!

Next thing to do is to build a wind shield for it. No chance to use it outside right now without one, and a simple one build out of aluminium foil doesn't work with the wind we have, it simply flies away...

[Threeme2189]

What do you use as fuel?
I haven't been able to produce a big consistent flame.

[Turnstone]

Methylated Spirits

I have no problems with the flame so far. But if there is just a slight breeze the flame can die without a windscreen. That's why I have to build one!

[jzmtl]

Thanks!

Next thing to do is to build a wind shield for it. No chance to use it outside right now without one, and a simple one build out of aluminium foil doesn't work with the wind we have, it simply flies away...

Use the heavy weight aluminum oven drip catcher, and a few fold over tab on ground to either stake to earth with twigs, or hold down with a few rocks.

[Turnstone]

I am thinking of building something more lightweight, like that:


http://zenstoves.net/PotStands.htm#WindScreen-PotStand

Using the windscreen as a potstand will solve the wind problem, too, without making it too heavy. But I don't have the right aluminium sheet right now. The local hardware stores don't have such thin material in stock, I guess I have to get it from the internet...

[Sparky415]

I don't know if this would work but you could try 

A; Cut top and bottom off a tin and open up, you would end up with a squarish piece of Ally
Fold over a strip about 5mm (I'm guessing this) along one edge, do this with two tins
B; Hook one lip over the other,
C; use a flat piece of wood to flatten together

If this isn't stiff enough you could bend a 5mm lip along the top and bottom and flatten it down  this might make it stiff enough
 
I found a pair of scissors is good for cutting ally cans 

good luck and watch your fingers! 


Did any of that make any sense? 

I have just seen that's how they joined the tin in your picture 

[Turnstone]

Yes, makes sense!

Maybe I can try tomorrow. But these tins are really thin. You can fold them once and if you leave it alone it will be OK, but if you stress the folding it can easily break. I had the problem with the inner ring of the stove. I had to build it twice because with my first try the folding broke. The tins are about 0.1 mm thick, I am planning to use 0.3 mm aluminium sheet.

(At the moment I am stuck inside and close to the bathroom with a bad looseness  )

[nuphoria]

Ooh, a bad looseness sounds very unpleasant

Your stove is cool though

I think you would enjoy reading this thread for more ideas:
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33879&highlight=honey+stove

[Sparky415]

And

There are a few more links (and funny things ) 


http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,16351.0.html

http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,19031.0.html

[Turnstone]

Ooh, a bad looseness sounds very unpleasant

Your stove is cool though

I think you would enjoy reading this thread for more ideas:
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33879&highlight=honey+stove

And

There are a few more links (and funny things ) 


http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,16351.0.html

http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,19031.0.html

Thanks for the links! Enough stuff to read for the next bad weather day! I hope I am feeling better tomorrow so that I can leave the house (I am already feeling much better than earlier this day, but very tired...). I want to build a Super Cat stove (http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/SuperCat/index.html), a very simple stove design. (I just don't know what to do with the cat food inside the can that I bought  I don't have a cat, and our neighbours just have dogs)

This is really fun, and I enjoy building these simple but effective stoves a lot!

[Sparky415]

Thanks for the link Turnstone!
I know where you can send spare cat food