Step 17: Usage (Video)
1.) Remove rack from around stove.
2.) Remove lid/base, and empty contents (rack pins).
3.) Place lid/base upright on stable surface.
4.) Remove fuel cup and set aside.
5.) Remove stove/penny.
6.) If you created the optional hook tool, remove this.
7.) Place wind guard on top of lid/base.
8.) Insert rack pins through appropriate holes, and set them in their "nubs."
9.) Place stove (sans penny) into center of wind guard.
10.) Slowly add fuel to stove (either with fuel cup, or squirt bottle) by dumping fuel into the top of it and letting it drain.
11.) Dump small amount (will differ for each stove, experiment) of fuel into wind guard as primer.
12.) Add penny to stove, covering fuel hole.
13.) Place rack into rack pins.
14.) Light with flint striker over stove, or bring lighter near a side hole.
15.) Stove will take approximately 30-45 seconds to heat up.
16.) Use only stable flat-bottomed pan/bowl/cup to cook.
Note that if desired, the penny stove itself can be turned upside down and used to burn solid state fuels such as esbit fuel tabs.
Notes when using:
Enjoy!
Any comments, improvements, or any critiques are welcome!
2.) Remove lid/base, and empty contents (rack pins).
3.) Place lid/base upright on stable surface.
4.) Remove fuel cup and set aside.
5.) Remove stove/penny.
6.) If you created the optional hook tool, remove this.
7.) Place wind guard on top of lid/base.
8.) Insert rack pins through appropriate holes, and set them in their "nubs."
9.) Place stove (sans penny) into center of wind guard.
10.) Slowly add fuel to stove (either with fuel cup, or squirt bottle) by dumping fuel into the top of it and letting it drain.
11.) Dump small amount (will differ for each stove, experiment) of fuel into wind guard as primer.
12.) Add penny to stove, covering fuel hole.
13.) Place rack into rack pins.
14.) Light with flint striker over stove, or bring lighter near a side hole.
15.) Stove will take approximately 30-45 seconds to heat up.
16.) Use only stable flat-bottomed pan/bowl/cup to cook.
Note that if desired, the penny stove itself can be turned upside down and used to burn solid state fuels such as esbit fuel tabs.
Notes when using:
- The pictures of the lit stove were taken in a dim room. Keep in mind that outdoors, or in bright light, you will often not be able to see the flame at all. Take care not to burn yourself.
- Read the 2nd step's warnings.
- Try to measure your fuel so it burns out just as you're done with it.
- The stove can be extinguished by placing the inverted "measuring cup" over it, or blowing it out. Water will also quickly put out any alcohol fires. (Make sure the measuring cup has no fuel left in it.) Do not store the stove with fluid in it.
- When primed, it can be started with a flint striker.
- The thinner/smaller the utensils used to cook on it, the faster and hotter they will get. Have gloves handy.
- If using this indoors, make sure you have a *very* stable place for it to sit where it will not get knocked over. Have a method for putting out the fire handy just in case.
- If you cannot understand how to build it by reading these instructions, do not attempt to do so. You shouldn't be playing with fire.
Enjoy!
Any comments, improvements, or any critiques are welcome!
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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.
Second, I know this ible has been up for a while so it may be too late to ask this but...
I notice in the ible you use the tacks to ouch 8 holes yet in the comments I see that you used the pin and drill press idea to punch more, smaller holes and it was more efficient. Should I stick to your instruction or go for the smaller holes?
The same goes for the idea of using a threaded stopper that I thought I read in the comments. Stick with the instruction or is it safer to switch to the rivetable thread?
Thanks again for such a wonderfully thought out instruct able. My son just crossed into boy scouts and will be doing a lot of hiking with his new troop. I this this would be a great project for us to work on...as long as this style of stove is permitted.
James
I found that the "needle" sized holes work well if you're wanting a stand-alone penny stove, but for my rig, the heat transfer done by the wind guard makes the "needle" holes cause the whole system to overheat. This results in larger flames, and lower fuel efficiency. So far, the 8 thumbtack holes have served me the best (they're also less likely to clog.)
As for the rivet-able thread, I would avoid this. The "penny" of the penny stove is to allow the system to self-regulate if it gets overheated. If too much gas is vaporized, it will push the penny out of the way and vent instead of causing the stove to "pop". As another user said, this would result in a "spewing fiery fountain of OMG." Anything threaded would not allow the excess heat to escape from the stove.
While the most likely scenario is that your flame jets would just get larger, and nothing else would happen (these are fairly stable stoves), you DO run the risk of actually boiling the alcohol and causing it to shoot out of the holes turning your stove into a small, wide-area flame thrower.
In extreme cases, the two halves of the stove can separate, and then you really have a fiery mess on your hands. So I'd stick with the penny vent.
Plus, it's just kinda neat.
We actually did not get around to building it this weekend so hopefully over the next couple of nights we will.
We are both excited to see it go!
Who knows, maybe after this weekends backpacking trip, the whole troop will be building them ;-)
Thanks again!
(*) Following some others' leads, I did not J-B Weld the two halves together. I also didn't bother to punch holes in the lower portion of the can as shown here almost halfway down the page.
Don Johnston's Photon Stove
I suppose that vapors and pressure built up but were not able to vent to the outer chamber and escape out the jets. Since the two halves were not epoxied together, they blew apart when the pressure got to a certain level.
Rather than only punching holes and trying the stove without glue to prove the pressure theory, I erred on the side of caution and punched holes and glued the stove as well.
Extreme caution needs to be observed until you completely understand the refueling process as everything that can go wrong can go wrong. I've even had one instance where fire did manage to travel back up the tube (was a short tube) but the syringe had come loose so it effectively sprayed fire... user beware.. With a large enough injection needle (some turkey ones are pretty large) you can effectively refuel the can enough to keep it running for days... now you can mini slow cook roasts or make slow cooked soups in the woods... You can also use the technique you used to make your pot stand to make a rotisserie. Make them about.. 3x taller and form loops for a pin to go through - using this method I've made rotisserie dove breast and a mini morel kabob...
Enjoy