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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 1: WARNING!!!
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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To date, I still regularly use the stove that is in this video, and it doesn't seem any the worse for wear. I haven't even painted it or sealed it in any way. The rack pins have a small amount of rust on them, but other than that, it's still in great shape!
I read all the talk about MSDS sheets and changes folks have made to this great little life saver. I have come to believe most alcohols are dangerous and I have seen people drink liquid sterno on many occasions, well enough on that I will be making mine just like you show, simple is almost always better.
I am about to make my first "Improved Pocket Sized Camp Stove" and I give you 5/5 rating after seeing your video and puppy. I just might make a change to fit my needs and will send you pic's of the results as well as my puppy.
Almost a professional prepper I guess, retired from public safety and now a disaster services worker supporting government communications when they fail thru ham radio, our motto is "when all else fails".
Our people ( many are retired ) carry go kits and the heavy MRE's since we must be self reliant and show up in area's that may be devoid of all infrastructure, meaning we're on our own. Now old and gray, I'm gonna use the much lighter freeze dried meals so I want to heat my water with a "home brew" stove, not a $150 stove made in China.
Most of our people are volunteers on fixed incomes, so I hope to bring this to a training session to let everyone see how great your little stove works with mostly recycled can's. If it's ok with you I would like to send them a copy of the download so they can gather up what they need ahead of time.
I had everything on hand including Denatured alcohol and the same refried beans which I am using as dip for my chips, minus the METOH Kudo's!
Rob
btw, I am curious, why no fiberglass, smell or melting?
By all means, use it at your leisure! I'd be proud to have the stove used in such a way.
The reason for no fiberglass is that it's simply not necessary. In some stoves, the fiberglass supposedly helps vaporize the fuel, or "slows down" spills (neither advantage did I see in my tests). In mine, I saw precisely zero improvement, but did find that it took up space in the can meaning I had to put less fuel in it, so got a shorter burn time per fill. As you said, "simple is better." I've seen and tested literally dozens of different designs of the penny stoves, and found that the absolute simplest model worked the best.
To be fair, there was ONE model that proved to give a very SLIGHT advantage. It was almost identical but that the holes that are punched with thumbtacks here were instead drilled with a very tiny drill bit, on the top, at an angle that produced a "tornado" effect.
This was great if you wanted to quickly heat a single (thin) cup of water, and increased boil times by nearly a full 40 seconds on average. Still, for all the extra work, I determined it wasn't nearly worth the effort, particularly in light of the fact that it would not heat a pan evenly if you were trying to cook fish (which is where this all started for me in the first place).
So yeah, long-story short (I tend to ramble) nothing goes inside the penny stove because there's no point in it.
The point is, you, and about everyone else who has contributed concerning alcohol stoves here are, about 1000% smarter and more experienced with this than I am so I would appreciate your or anyones suggestions.
Please pardon me if this is not the appropriate place to post this.
Regards
I would beg to differ. Nobody is "more experienced" when it comes to doing actual real-world tests. Nothing is "more experienced" than a real-world (aka: clinical) test. Sounds to me that you've taken the testing one (or two) steps further!
I've very much been interested in seeing what the end result of a better reflective internal screen would do on the efficiency, which, realistically, is what this is all about. From what you've said, it sounds like you may have found a method to make this stove even MORE efficient by reflecting more of the heat to the target, which may in fact make the vaporization even that much more efficient! I'd love to see what you've come up with! Are pictures a possibility?
My end barometer in this has been, how long does it take to bring 2 cups of water to a boil? If your method is doing it in under 4-5 minutes, then you've clearly found a further improvement! Please share!
And let me know where you're located so I can add you to my map of "places people have built this stove!"
Again thanks very much for one of absolute best of the best!!
90%ethanol with 10% methanol to make it poisonous so no tax has to be paid on the ethanol.
the natural impulse is to drink alcohol to get drunk
denatured it to mean drink this to get drunk and you will die
nuff said ?
One of the reasons I built this stove was to protect the fragile penny stove with a shell around it so I was able to stick with the super-light-weight penny stove for the main burner. This said, using the deodorant cans wouldn't necessarily increase your CHANCE of detonation, that would still be the same. But with the thicker walls and (presumably) tighter fit of the two halves, this would mean that any detonation that DID occur would be many times more VIOLENT. The soda cans of the penny stove are flimsy enough that a detonation will be primarily absorbed by the penny stove itself. Even then, in an early test, it was enough to blow off the bits of JB weld, and bend the wind guard enough that I had to toss the stove.
With the thicker walls of the deodorant cans the pressure from the detonation would have to build up to a much higher, more violent level to cause a rupture. I'd imagine that, being that the denatured alcohol isn't massively violent by nature, the thicker stove can MAY be able to contain the full detonation without exploding, but there's also a pretty good chance that this isn't the case. If so, the detonation with a much "stronger" penny stove would be exponentially more violent, possibly even shredding off shards of metal and going off like a small grenade. (Sounds extreme, but rapidly expanding gasses can do frightening things.)
If you have the ability (I'm not sure of your age or experience with this sort of thing) it can be tested like so:
1.) Heat up the unit as if it had been used
2.) Add a VERY SMALL amount of fuel to the penny stove
3.) Pack the stove up as in the video (while it's still hot)
4.) Shake it up to ensure that the fuel is vaporizing throughout the stove,
5.) Place it a VERY SOLID container (box with thick wood, or a metal barrel)
6.) REMOTELY detonate it. (Rocket engines on long wires work well.)
I'd have to do this 20-40 times in succession before I'd be confident that the detonation is contained safely, but even then, I'd probably still be a bit paranoid. You MAY have the equivalent of a miniature pipe bomb on your hands.
Personally, I'd stick with making the penny stove out of a weak soda can since I know for a fact that when/if it DOES detonate, the detonation is small (like a small firecracker) and primarily absorbed by the weak soda cans.
Best of luck to you! And BE SAFE!
We're from Virginia, lived most of our married life in Texas, and now live in East Tennessee. My nephew, who's heading to Fort Benning like I did 27 years ago wants me to build one with him next weekend. This weekend ours will be heating soup on Bald Mountain in Western NC. Thanks again. G
It was actually an after-effect that the stove design did turn out to be so effective for ultralight backpacking. I'd once upon a time purchased one of those $100 ultralight (3 oz) camp stoves only to find out that I had to carry a 13 oz can of propane (love the Hank Hill reference, BTW) to get one hour of use out of it. So this "ultralight" $100 stove turned out to weigh a total of 1lb. and I had to carry a propane tank that was highly pressurized and just hope I didn't accidentally smash the mouth of it while out... For one hour's use.
With this stove weighing in at 6 oz. (4.5 oz. if you remove the unnecessary bits) then every half hour of fuel adds 2 oz. So for the same 1 lb, I could get 5 hours of fuel, or only carry as much as I need for the hike... With the fuel carried in robust, difficult to hurt plastic bottles that if they DO get punctured, the fuel simply evaporates.
For free.
My eight year old son and I are going to build this stove today! KEN
* Heating one half of the can while cooling the other to make the fit tighter.
* Painting the can with heat resistant paint.
* Adding nuts to the bottom to put the rack pins in, instead of drilling the holes. (Or rivets if you have them).
* Using a piece of folded paper to get evenly spaced holes.
* Add a pack or two of matches to tighten things up when it's put away.
I'm sure there's others I'm missing.
Just a note to those who may not understand the priming process: We don't want to light the penny stove directly (lol explosions, see below), so when we pour a little fuel in the "wind shield" and light that, it heats the stove from without, creating more vapors within it, and then lighting them. Priming is the safest way to light these stoves, and yeah, dont shake them, creates an insane amount of vapors.
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
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!
To answer your earlier question: I'm in Virginia now, but when the stove was built, was in Maryland.
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.