Mini Alcohol Stove.

This is a tutorial on how to make a Mini Alcohol Stove!, which is pocket sized so can be taken anywhere with you. This is a great item to have when, hiking camping or just to have to add to your collection of DIY items!, We hope you enjoy making this Alcohol stove as much as we did! Enjoy!

Step 1: Step 1.

Materials you will need ...
1. Aluminium cans x2. (empty)
2. Some fibre glass.
3. Scissors.
4. Sharpie Marker.
5. Ruler.
6. Thick book ( Preferably Argos catalogue, to rest pen on. )
7. Sharp knife.
8. Thumb tacks.

Step 2: Step 2.

Now that you have all your Materials, Start by emptying the aluminium cans and washing them out thoroughly.

Step 3: Step 3.

Now that you have emptied the can of all its discharge, Measure from the bottom of the can upwards, 1 Inch, Lean your Sharpie permanent marker on a book so that the line is straight all the way around the can. Now holding the pen in position, begin to spin the can around until a full line has occurred.

Step 4: Step 4.

Now that you have your line drawn all around the can, Pierce the middle of the can with a knife and begin to work your way to the line with a pair of scissors. Try to be as accurate as possible at this point.

Step 5: Step 5.

Now that you have cut down the line on both cans as accurately as possible, you should have something like this ... !

Step 6: Step 6.

Now, On only one of the cans, You want to sand the paint off. You want to do this as well as possible! This will improve the look of your finished product!. This might be hard though as the can has lots of dints that are not visible when paint is aplied. So just do the best you can and remember not to sand to hard or you will put a hole in the aluminium.!

Step 7: Step 7.

Now that you have the can sanded to the best of your ability, you will need to crimp the edge of the can that still has paint on it, so that the cans fit together later on in a next step! You will need to do this with a small pair of needle nose pliers or something very similar.

Step 8: Step 8.

Now get some fibre glass and cram it in the bottom of the can which has paint on and has crimped edges. You can find fibre glass in your loft, As it is used for insulation! (For those of you who do not no.)

Step 9: Step 9.

We have almost done!, Now all you have to do is get a thumb tack and create 9 air vents. We found that it is best to do 8 vents around the edge and one in the middle. The hole in the middle is used to pour the Alcohol into and the holes around the edge are used as jets for flames like on your gas cooker!

Step 10: Step 10.

Well done! you have finished putting together you mini alcohol stove!
To fuel the stove you can use rubbing alcohol or Heat (American product)
Just pour into the filling hole in the middle, give it a second for the fibre glass to soak
it up and then light it up and watch it go! Give it a few minutes before putting pots or pans on and your Mini Alcohol Stove should work like a charm! Hope you liked the Instructable!

Comments

[c3ralki1l3r]

i put this stove over another stove to ight it and it had amazing flames!!! also if oyu use a 7up can its will burn into white :P.

[scrapedfire1256]

A pic of the finished product would be nice.........

[Xthinker]

I made this, thought it was really cool. My dad says mine looked really professional. We also tried it with lemon extract and it worked great! The instructions were really helpful. For anyone else making this, you really don't need the fiber-glass.

[Roshy10]

I think the fiberglass is used so that you don't spill flaming liquid everywhere if you do knock it over (some how) just an extra safety precaution.

[mr.shorty8]

this is to Xthinker

[mr.shorty8]

ok so if i make one of these do i have to use alcohol if not what else can i use and instead of fiber glass what do i use? thanks if u can reply

[Xthinker]

Well like some of the other comments say, you can use cotton, but im guessing most fibers should work. Yes, you do have to use alcohol, but alcohol is in lots of things, hand sanatizer, extracts, and many other things, just check the ingredients.

[james4]

Yours does look professional.I bet you put time into that.

[Ivan_291]

can u use a sponge

[benedicto_jr]

I built mine using 2 cokes. No fiberglass at all. Just 3 spoons of alchool and it burned for 40 minutes. The secret to start ir is to put an extra spoon of alchool below the stove (I used a metal dish for it) and burn it. After some seconds, the alchool inside the stove starts to vaporize, firing the stove and everything works well. Very simple and efficient. I will make another one and put everything on youtube, of course givving the credit. Thanks.

[swimmer95]

how do you lite it

[bde cock]

try using... a lighter ¬_¬

[chokapi]

That's funny.

Actually, these kind of stoves usually require a priming tray, or, a metal tray, with a lip, at least two inches wider than the stove. When you fill the stove and cover the filling holes with a penny, (important step! it may flame out,) add a bit of fuel (HEET works best, IMO,) and light the fuel in the tray with a lighter, a match, or a striking steel. It will flame up. Don't freak out; it will burn and boil the HEET. When this happens, the HEET will begin to evaporate quickly through the jets. The flame from the priming tray not only heats the fuel, but provides an ignition for the fuel coming through the jets.

Stove.

Now, cook something! Actually, this stove is best for boiling water. So, rehydrate something for a warm, satisfying meal.

[acurri]

I am wondering the same thing!

[DenseJungle]

lighter match bbq lighter

[smelly210]

8)

[harry88]

great project, i made mine with cotton at first but then found it best not to use anything inside it also it helps to enlarge the holes and put a coin on the fill hole. as well i found it will burn for approximately 10 minutes full on rubbing alcohol.

[clax1227]

sooo, would fiberglass or cotton work better?

[TTB1992]

use fibre glass.

due to the high temperatures inside the stove, the cotton will degrade into carbon. It will have no effect whatsoever. what you can doe is leave the fibreglass out. it works just as well.

[myckro]

Actually cotton would work and not degrade into carbon... Since the flame only burns in the outside and the heat is not enough to burn the cotton... This is from personal experience... I used one for a whole week to cook on and then opened it....

[TTB1992]

I actually found that out a few hours after i posted my comment, which completely contradicts my own statement.

So there you go: Use cotton!
Thanks Myckro!

[Xthinker]

Word of advice,DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT tap the stove, if you don't have the insulator the alcohol will splash all over the place, it will catch on fire and burn like crazy. I cannot stress this enough DON'T touch the stove well it is burning.

[ajena]

can we use normal vegetable oil or hair oil and also can we use cotton rather than using fibre glass

[fmurillo gomez]

hey what other material can i use instead of fiber glass

[ilpug]

ok, cooking on fiberglass insulation is a terrible idea. use cotton balls. Please.

[AnotherNewbie]

Fibreglass ... what exactly is its purpose? How long will it last; i.e. after 'x' number of uses, it would need to be replaced or does it simply go on indefinitely doing what it does? Thanks for anticipated response - and for a great Instruct!!!

[shadow07]

Meth, denatured alcohol, methylated spirits, same thing. Nice project...

[aarsenault1]

You can also use Denatured alcohol.

[tangey]

i need to know what kind of alcohol every other thing is clear to me but i need to know wat alcohol

[R4Man18]

any will do but most like to use Denatured Alcohol for many reasons. its fairly cheap stuff. (From Another Instructable) Denatured alcohol is the best choice for most alcohol based camp stoves. This can usually be found in the paint section (as a paint thinner) of a hardware store, and seems to burn slightly hotter and cleaner than Heet. I don't know if this is found under this name outside of the U.S. In the U.S. "denatured" means "poisoned." This is regular alcohol that has had poison added to it so people can't drink it, thus it does not get the alcohol tax, making it cheaper. (Still runs roughly the same price as Heet though.) Wont link the instructable because its another way to do this.

[Philip J Fry]

In Australia, it's sold as Methylated Spirits, it's basically ethanol, with a little bit of methanol added, to make it undrinkable

[ravenjoey44]

what kind of fuel can you use? can you use rubbing alcohol or char coal lighter

[backyardpyro217]

wouldn't this wear out/break quickly? from my experience with throwing stuff into campfires, flames aren't good for the strength/shape of aluminum drink cans

[day-veed]

Does anyone think that fine steel wool will work? I live in a tropical country so we don't need any insulation. (I think)

[unominame]

If you used steel wool with Alcohol it would would rust.
Try using an old t-shirt and then use the alcohol. It should work just fine.

[eharris3]

It would have been great if you climaxed the instructable with a picture of it actually working.

[rfisher2]

Made my Hobo burner last night, breakfast in the morning. Eggs, chopped potatoes, and sausage links. Made the resovoir a lil larger for more fuel, harder to light but once its going, its a burner. Thanks for this instructable.

[medicoboomstick]

What about sanding the can before you even open it. That way the pressure of the can will keep it from getting all dinged and dented. I have gorilla hands, so this was an issue for me.

'Oh no, another Bud Select! For science, foe science"

[mhajzsó]

I made my about an hour ago. I haven't tried it out yet.... Oh and i left out fiberglass.. i thought i won't need it, then i started reading the comments after i made it, and now i know that i msut have fiberglass in it... how can them out of each? Or should i try adding fiberglass trough the holes with a pin?

[acurri]

Can you please tell me how to light it?