Mini Alcohol Stove.

by DenseJungle

85K11996

Intro: 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!

98 Comments

addermc 4 months ago

For a rough up to date info on YouTube waypoint survival channel also has this but it's called a "Penny stove" cause you place a penny in the middle covering the middle hole which directs the flames to the outside Holes better. Also fiberglass insulation is mainly used to soak up the rubbing alcohol to help against being knocked over and fluid doesn't spill out so fast. Can use cotton balls or even tight rolled up t.p. minus the cardboard roll. Again it's mainly as a precaution in case it's knocked over. Also if you place it (stove)on an upside down baking pan it want get the surface it's sitting on hot and safer to move around. Also take couple of pieces of wire coat hangers and you can make a stand over the mini stove to set a small pot or small pan for cooking on top. This is how I been using it for use in my Ford Excursion. Just don't use it if your driving!! Remember common sense and patience is the key to safety. Try making one with your kid's they'll really enjoy it when they see it in use.

2023.kunz.hayden 6 years ago

Dear Dense Jungle,

I am a 7th grader at Sisters Middle School i am doing a genius hour projrct and i would love to ask some quick questions. I know that you are really good at creating useful portable objects and it will only take a couple minutes of your time.

1. What kind of fuel works best?

2. how much does it cost?

3. how hot does it get

TravisM18 8 years ago

These things are great. you have two halves of the bottoms of cans. You have a piece of metal and a wick made of paper towl or just a thin strip of aluminum can that used capilary action to sip the alcohol up. The trick is geting the thing together and you need to use shims to get it together. Now I am no expert but my uncle and cousin are in the boy scouts. They know better than me. But the idea is to have a burner for denatured alcohol to warm some water or your camp food like rice. The holes in the tip are for the flams. As the can gets hoter it makes more fuel vapors to make a higher flame. I just wish could explain it better.

TravisM18 8 years ago

These things are great. you have two halves of the bottoms of cans. You have a piece of metal and a wick made of paper towl or just a thin strip of aluminum can that used capilary action to sip the alcohol up. The trick is geting the thing together and you need to use shims to get it together. Now I am no expert but my uncle and cousin are in the boy scouts. They know better than me. But the idea is to have a burner for denatured alcohol to warm some water or your camp food like rice. The holes in the tip are for the flams. As the can gets hoter it makes more fuel vapors to make a higher flame. I just wish could explain it better.

DEEJAY642 8 years ago

tell me how to friggin make it!!!!!!!!!!!

fraser02 8 years ago

It might help if you look at the instructions. I think they might just tell you how to make it.

DEEJAY642 8 years ago

how do we know how long it burns for or if it smokes. The guy doesn't even know that yellow itchy stuff is called batts

DEEJAY642 8 years ago

well where the hell are we supposed to get fiberglass blady blady blah what other fuel can we use instead???????????

tangey 14 years ago

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

JavierBA 9 years ago

Isopropyl Alcohol.
Sorry for the response 5 years after your initial comment.

R4Man18 14 years ago

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 12 years ago

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

roshen 9 years ago

can I use kerosene instead of alcohol

medicoboomstick 13 years ago

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"

chornbeck 10 years ago

do you pit over the stove or what

lunakid 10 years ago

Why is the fiberglass needed? I like the idea (especially as I have a big bunch to get rid of, so a couple'a hundreds mini stoves and done...), but it would be nice to know if it also really makes any difference.
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