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NOTE: A lot of work has gone into this instructable. If you appreciate it, please rate it!
This instructable actually came about through necessity. I love camping, and often go hiking in the woods. How often have you spent a day fishing, and wished you could throw some fresh fish into a pan right there on the dock?
For me, this always meant carrying a bulky, expensive kerosene or propane stove which themselves can be something of a pain to get warm enough to use.
There are numerous instructables here on how to make a "Penny Stove." However, there are a series of problems with the Penny Stove concept that need to be addressed. For instance:
1.) You cannot put a large pot on a penny stove without crushing it.
2.) Penny Stoves get very hot, so must be placed on something that will not burn to be used.
3.) Putting a Penny Stove in your pocket or backpack for a hike, it will get crushed fairly quickly.
4.) Penny Stoves are either difficult to light, or do not conserve fuel well.
5.) Penny Stoves are easily blown out in the wind.
As for the commercial "camp" stoves, the *only* ones I've found are either glorified penny stoves (with all the same problems) or require you to carry bulky, heavy, expensive canisters of propane or butane. (Or a mix of the two.) I never did get the point of spending $50 for a "3 oz stove" only to have to carry a 13 oz canister to use it for 1 hour.
Most DIY Camp Stoves I've been able to find use a separate wind screen that's generally a piece of aluminum that would get bent and banged up in my backpack, or no wind screen at all.
All of these issues have been addressed with the new and improved "Penny Stove" or as I like to call it, the "Pocket Sized Camp Stove." I do honestly prefer this over any commercial stove I've yet seen (and I've seen a lot). Better still, it was free. Even a cheap commercial camp stove starts at $30 and goes up quickly from there. I've seen less useful stoves selling for over $100. Considering that commercial stove fuel is also more than twice as expensive as denatured alcohol (calculated by burn time) and harder to come by, there's just simply no reason for me to purchase anything commercial.
While this isn't the size of an Altoids tin, and won't fit in your hip pocket, it will easily carry in a cargo pocket, or in the pocket of your backpack. I keep it in one of the smaller pockets of my ruck sack whenever I go hiking.
For $1.25, you can get a bottle of HEET, and numerous other fuels are even cheaper. (Though I'll tell you from experience, you'll get odd looks buying half a dozen bottles in the middle of the summer. I think the guy thought I was cooking meth.)
Compare this to the Esbit Stove that takes solid state tablets that burn (realistically) for approximately 10 minutes at $0.50 a piece. That's $3/hr, and it's not easy to come by.
While I haven't tested it, I'm pretty sure a $1.25 bottle of HEET (that can be picked up nearly anywhere, including gas stations) lasts me more than an hour.
My preferred fuel is Denatured Alcohol. (See the "Fuel" step.)
Finally, the problem I've had with solid state fuels is the time it takes them to heat up, the amount of heat they put out, and the amount of time it takes to put them away. This stove is ready to go in 1 minute, can be extinguished by blowing it out, or putting the measuring cup over it, and cools off in less than 3 minutes.
For a quick stop to fry up some lunch, this is my stove of choice.
If anyone has suggestions for improvements, I'm all ears.
This instructable actually came about through necessity. I love camping, and often go hiking in the woods. How often have you spent a day fishing, and wished you could throw some fresh fish into a pan right there on the dock?
For me, this always meant carrying a bulky, expensive kerosene or propane stove which themselves can be something of a pain to get warm enough to use.
There are numerous instructables here on how to make a "Penny Stove." However, there are a series of problems with the Penny Stove concept that need to be addressed. For instance:
1.) You cannot put a large pot on a penny stove without crushing it.
2.) Penny Stoves get very hot, so must be placed on something that will not burn to be used.
3.) Putting a Penny Stove in your pocket or backpack for a hike, it will get crushed fairly quickly.
4.) Penny Stoves are either difficult to light, or do not conserve fuel well.
5.) Penny Stoves are easily blown out in the wind.
As for the commercial "camp" stoves, the *only* ones I've found are either glorified penny stoves (with all the same problems) or require you to carry bulky, heavy, expensive canisters of propane or butane. (Or a mix of the two.) I never did get the point of spending $50 for a "3 oz stove" only to have to carry a 13 oz canister to use it for 1 hour.
Most DIY Camp Stoves I've been able to find use a separate wind screen that's generally a piece of aluminum that would get bent and banged up in my backpack, or no wind screen at all.
All of these issues have been addressed with the new and improved "Penny Stove" or as I like to call it, the "Pocket Sized Camp Stove." I do honestly prefer this over any commercial stove I've yet seen (and I've seen a lot). Better still, it was free. Even a cheap commercial camp stove starts at $30 and goes up quickly from there. I've seen less useful stoves selling for over $100. Considering that commercial stove fuel is also more than twice as expensive as denatured alcohol (calculated by burn time) and harder to come by, there's just simply no reason for me to purchase anything commercial.
While this isn't the size of an Altoids tin, and won't fit in your hip pocket, it will easily carry in a cargo pocket, or in the pocket of your backpack. I keep it in one of the smaller pockets of my ruck sack whenever I go hiking.
For $1.25, you can get a bottle of HEET, and numerous other fuels are even cheaper. (Though I'll tell you from experience, you'll get odd looks buying half a dozen bottles in the middle of the summer. I think the guy thought I was cooking meth.)
Compare this to the Esbit Stove that takes solid state tablets that burn (realistically) for approximately 10 minutes at $0.50 a piece. That's $3/hr, and it's not easy to come by.
While I haven't tested it, I'm pretty sure a $1.25 bottle of HEET (that can be picked up nearly anywhere, including gas stations) lasts me more than an hour.
My preferred fuel is Denatured Alcohol. (See the "Fuel" step.)
Finally, the problem I've had with solid state fuels is the time it takes them to heat up, the amount of heat they put out, and the amount of time it takes to put them away. This stove is ready to go in 1 minute, can be extinguished by blowing it out, or putting the measuring cup over it, and cools off in less than 3 minutes.
For a quick stop to fry up some lunch, this is my stove of choice.
If anyone has suggestions for improvements, I'm all ears.
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Signing UpStep 1WARNING!!!
I want to make it clear that Penny Stoves CAN detonate. This is not a minor warning, but a very serious one. Unless you take certain precautions, you *can* actually cause your stove to explode.
Just as with any gas that burns, vapors can be dangerous when you do not handle them properly. You should *NEVER* do the following:
1.) Attempt to fuel a lit stove. (Note that the flames of alcohol can be invisible.)
2.) Attempt to light a stove that is already nearly out of fuel.
3.) Bring a stove that has been saturated with fuel near fire (unless attempting to light as instructed)
4.) Bring a stove that has recently been extinguished near fire unless it has been refilled.
5.) Pack a stove that still has fuel in it.
6.) Place anything valuable (including the face) above the stove while lighting. (Generally, detonation will fire straight up.)
7.) Overfill an alcohol stove. As the stove heats up, it will spew flaming alcohol out of the vents.
Vaporized fuel lights quickly, and can actually cause the stove to detonate. While a stove this lightweight isn't likely to cause severe damage, it is possible that in the detonation, it could throw excess fuel around and catch the surroundings on fire.
Once a "Penny Stove" is extinguished (even if it "burns out") it is still hot, and thus, can still produce gas vapors. These vapors can collect in any space in the stove and detonate with force when lit. Always make sure that a stove that has been recently used is either completely refueled and set up properly prior to re-ignition, or is allowed to evaporate all fuel prior to storage.
I say again, use caution when playing with fire and fuels. Things can get dangerous when proper precautions are not taken. Watch the video, and read the instructions, and do not mess around with the stove otherwise. Always, always, always make sure no fuel is stored inside the stove.
Whenever using any kind of open flame stove, always have a method to extinguish a fire should one occur. (Well, obviously one will occur, but if it should occur where it shouldn't... erm... occur...)
Just as with any gas that burns, vapors can be dangerous when you do not handle them properly. You should *NEVER* do the following:
1.) Attempt to fuel a lit stove. (Note that the flames of alcohol can be invisible.)
2.) Attempt to light a stove that is already nearly out of fuel.
3.) Bring a stove that has been saturated with fuel near fire (unless attempting to light as instructed)
4.) Bring a stove that has recently been extinguished near fire unless it has been refilled.
5.) Pack a stove that still has fuel in it.
6.) Place anything valuable (including the face) above the stove while lighting. (Generally, detonation will fire straight up.)
7.) Overfill an alcohol stove. As the stove heats up, it will spew flaming alcohol out of the vents.
Vaporized fuel lights quickly, and can actually cause the stove to detonate. While a stove this lightweight isn't likely to cause severe damage, it is possible that in the detonation, it could throw excess fuel around and catch the surroundings on fire.
Once a "Penny Stove" is extinguished (even if it "burns out") it is still hot, and thus, can still produce gas vapors. These vapors can collect in any space in the stove and detonate with force when lit. Always make sure that a stove that has been recently used is either completely refueled and set up properly prior to re-ignition, or is allowed to evaporate all fuel prior to storage.
I say again, use caution when playing with fire and fuels. Things can get dangerous when proper precautions are not taken. Watch the video, and read the instructions, and do not mess around with the stove otherwise. Always, always, always make sure no fuel is stored inside the stove.
Whenever using any kind of open flame stove, always have a method to extinguish a fire should one occur. (Well, obviously one will occur, but if it should occur where it shouldn't... erm... occur...)
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Thanks for a wonderful project for my sons and I to build! We built it the other day and have boiled water and heated up some chicken noodle soup on it. My fuel consumption results were greater than your instructions called for, but very good nonetheless. We got 22 minutes even out of 2 ounces of denatured alcohol at 68 F (indoors),
I have passed out ths URL to a couple of other handy fellows that I know, and I'm sure they will have fun with it as well.
I took a video of the first firing, but I'm sorry to say that it looks like it's too big to post. Just look at yours...it's the same!
1) I used a penny stove made from the 7.5oz Pepsi cans, not 12oz. It made a small tomato paste can usable for my measuring cup. Also, a box of matches fits tightly in the unit, greatly reducing rattling noises.
2) I added "leveling screws" to the pedestal, so if the ground isn't completely level, an adjustment can be made so the stove section is. In the future, I'm going to add a drop of JB weld to the screw tops, to make them non-skid.
3) I used two washers JB'd to the windscreen for the pot rack leg attach points - it works really well, I had about 4 pounds of water and pot on, held just fine.
4) for heating a sierra cup, I added some heavy gauge wires to the mix. They are notched using my Dremel.
Most of what I've described is visible in the images I've loaded.
I've seen people making this stove literally all over the world now. In google's statistics I can see that almost every single country in the world has now viewed the video, and I get notifications from people worldwide that they have built it! The response has been way more than I ever expected! Thank you so much for the photos! Where are you located so I can add you to the map? ;D
I love your additions to the stove!
It's also not as cheap as its denatured component. This is why ethanol is denatured in the first place:
Because companies can produce vast amounts of ethanol incredibly cheaply, there's an excess availability of ethanol. In the U.S., though, if it's sold for consumption, Uncle Sam has to take his cut in the form of alcohol taxes. Plus, only so much is going to be consumed by the public. The extra ethanol is sold for other uses (paint thinners, gasoline supplements, etc.) To prevent people from drinking it (coz again, the gov't wants its cut if you're going to drink it) they "denature" it by adding poisons.
It's quite likely that when we get ethanol based vehicles (it's inevitable) that they'll denature that as well, to keep you from drinking your car's fuel.
Creating pure ethanol is actually so easy that you can do it with some stuff laying around your house. Assuming you don't want to ferment your own sugars, you can even distill the ethanol out of beer, wine, etc. (Moonshine.) Now, don't take this to mean that you can just distill anything with alcohol in it and call it ethanol. You'll find the old-school moon shiners will pour off their first batch of alcohol from a batch because it's poisonous. This is because of the following:
The boiling point of methanol is 68 degrees Celsius while ethanol's boiling point is 78 degrees Celsius. This means it's possible to "boil off" the methanol while keeping the ethanol if the environment is perfectly controlled. Would I ever do this to save a buck or two? Not in a million years. Don't know why I bothered to mention it, really... But this lower boiling point (and thus vaporization point) is why methanol is so much "colder" when it evaporates than ethanol. Because the evaporation happens so much faster. (The lower the boiling point, the faster the evaporation.)
Because in many types of fermentation a small amount of methanol (aka: wood alcohol) is produced along side the ethanol (grain alcohol). The distillation will first vaporize the methanol making that first batch highly poisonous.
Mostly I'm just rambling right now because I'm partaking of some ethanol at the moment, in the form of a martini. :D
Drinking 10 ounces of denatured alcohol (of course, talking about denatured alcohol that has been denatured with methanol, which there are some that are denatured with other chemcials) will have the same effect as drinking 1 ounce of Methanol (ie: high probability of death).
So yeah, try not to drink either one. :D
For instance, look up the MSDS on polymethyl methacrylate, and then the MSDS on crazy glue. While their MSDS's look quite similar, the polymethyl methacrylate is about three times more toxic than the crazy glue.
I love the modifications you've made. The riveting and using the tuna can could only make the build that much easier, and dare I say more stable. Makes me wish I had a rivet gun. I also like the idea of welding the nuts to the base instead of drilling the holes and using JBWeld.
The rubbing alcohol is definitely your problem. Rubbing alcohol is typically about 60% alcohol with the other 40% being water. Denatured alcohol is 99% alcohol with 1% "additive" to keep people from drinking it. (It's also used as "marine stove fuel". Commonly used to fuel stoves on boats.)
Your problem with keeping the rubbing alcohol lit is because the rig eventually cools down enough that the alcohol stops vaporizing. You won't have this problem with denatured alcohol, and lighting it will be MUCH easier. I even light mine with a flint striker if I don't have a lighter handy.
do i put it in before i connect the two pieces?
sorry if it's a dumb question
Instead of the fancy pot holder, I cut 4" pieced of coat hanger that I bent at 90 degrees. I then inserted it into an upper hole and wove it down into a lower hole. The first time I had to bend and play with them a bit to get them to sit firmly. This way I didn't have to walk twenty feet to the garage and find my epoxy. I also ended up with about six legs so the pots sit very securely.
Great post. Fun to make, Satisfying to use.
The standard stove fits neatly into a pouch for me to take on cycling trips. I use a metal mug directly over the flame, 15ml of fuel does a 500ml cup for me. I have a Trangia (Swedish http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4l1JveEAdE) alcohol stove which is fine as it is a full kit but this little guy can't be beat for size and weight - but most of all for fun!
While 0.002 in. might seem small, it's enough to greatly simplifiy the assembly. Here are my calculations... http://www.editgrid.com/user/mwarren/Aluminum_can_walls
The JB Weld used in the stove is good for up to 500 degrees as well, and as of yet hasn't had any problems. I would think if you were to spot-weld as opposed to soldering you would have 0 chance of a problem. If you're stuck with solder, then I'd say your best bet is to just give it a shot and see where it goes.
Finally, you have the added problem of most solders being lead alloys, which you absolutely do NOT want in a cooking utensil, even if there's little chance of them melting. Lead in food is bad, mmkay?
So... I'd say if you can't spot weld, drop the money to get a food-safe solder, and even in THIS case you won't know if the heat retention will be enough to melt the solder until you've actually tried it.
How sturdy do you need it to be? Trying to use cast iron on the stove? :D
The thin pop cans? no, they would probably get smushed
90%ethanol with 10% methanol to make it poisonous so no tax has to be paid on the ethanol.
One thing though, with this step. Instead of drilling full holes, why not just make little divots in the bottom of the can, with a nail set or something?