Drthumbs' Venom Alcohol Stove

Intro: Drthumbs' Venom Alcohol Stove

I have been toying with alcohol stoves for many years now. For the most part I have stuck the designed of others. While the designs of others have influenced this one greatly, I am calling this my own.

It is a pressurized stove that does not need a pot stand. It has a large fuel capacity for a long burn time but can be adjusted by simply using less full. It is more durable than most stoves if its type.

It is heavier and larger than a lot of alcohol stove designs.

This is a tutorial on making one with items I had on hand, not with the best tools for the job. This is just to help show the ease in building.

I selected the aluminum bottle from a venom energy drink. Any aluminum bottle should work with this design, but I prefer venom. These have thicker walls than any beverage container that I have found. This make for a heavier stove than others out there, but it is much more durable. These bottles also work great as fuel containers. I chose not to remove the paint. I kinda like the way it looks with it, but simply sand it off if you wish.

STEP 1: Select Bottle.

Just about any aluminum or stainless steel bottle can be used.  I have selelected a Venom energy drink bottle because aluminum is easier to work with, free, and has thicker walls than any other beverage bottle. 

STEP 2: Remove Plastic Ring

The first thing is to get rid of the plastic ring around the neck.  A Dremel make quick work of this, but working without one, this is the hardest part.  If you want a smaller stove, you can cut the neck off at the bottom of the plastic ring.

STEP 3: Cut Bottle in Half

Cut the bottle in half with the top part a little longer.

STEP 4: Cut Flow Ports

Cut flow ports to allow the fuel to pass from the fill chamber to the pressure chamber.

STEP 5: Press Top Into Bottom

Invert the top and press into the bottom. Being that it does have thicker walls, it is a little harder, but there is almost not risk of splitting out the side. Using a board will help give you more control and protect yourself. Press till top is seated to the bottom.

STEP 6: Trim

You cannot see it in the photos, but you will be able to see and feel where the shoulder of the top and pressed out on the bottom. Move up about 1/4 inch and mark. Use tape or paper to mark a level line around the bottle at this point and trim to it as flat as possible. A saw will work, but scissors are easier to work with. The trauma shears I used made easy work of this. I then used the file from my leatherman to smooth and flatten the rim.

STEP 7: Mark Jets and Drill

Wrap a piece of paper around the stove and mark the diameter. Decide the spacing you what for you jets and mark. Reapply the paper and tape in place so the jets will about 1/4 inch below the shoulder mark. I had a EKG strip handy and it worked great as a template. I place my jets at a 1 cm interval.

I want my jets small. I did not have any drills with me, but I did have a 24 gauge needle. The 24 gauge has a diameter of about 0.02 inch so that is about the size of the jets. If drilling, I recommend a 1/32 inc bit. drill through the outer wall only

The stove is now ready to use

STEP 8: Testing

Burn time can be adjusted with the volume of fuel used. Maximum capability is 5 oz. That is more than most alcohol stoves, but gives a good deal of versatility.

For this test I filled stove with 5 oz of denatured alcohol, and 2 cups of water in the pot. ethanol (denatured alcohol)  and methanol (HEET). avoid rubbing alcohol, it does not burn well. Do not used any oil based fuels and never used gasoline .


If you over fill, as the stove heats and primes and pressurizes, alcohol will sputter from the jets. This is not a big problem, but it waste fuel and prolongs time till stove can be used.

This is a self priming stove. All you have to do is light the center reservoir. As it heats the alcohol vaporized and pressurizes the outside chamber. The jest will light of the flame from the center. it will take a few moments for the flames from the jet to stabilize then you can place your pot on top. no post stand needed. I tend to prime externally lighting the center, letting it burn for one minute, then lighting the jets

>2 minutes for priming

5 min 45 seconds for rolling boil

total burn time 30 minutes.

Have fun

Comments

[Grey_Wolfe]

On the plus side, the current Venom bottles no longer have the plastic ring.

So, this has officially become the easiest step. :)

[skeckler]

Using ~4oz of HEET it boiled six cups of water in five minutes. An awesome design for sure. The best I've ever used.

[megaman49]

if you make another one you should try placing the jets at the top of the inside of the bowl. then it would not only be self priming but the jets would light automatically (though probably at the cost of greater fuel consumption).

[jemb103]

Do you have to light the holes? I mad one with something else and the burners didnt light on their own. Do the flames go out easliy?

[Airth]

What did you use to half it? A hacksaw? Looks like you rolled the edges of the bottom half out a bit as well.

[snowluck2345]

this is so weird, this is exactly what I did, however I did four cuts on the lid which you flipped. I did mine about a year and a half ago. I painted mine recently with high temp black paint recently.

[streetpunk99]

I just made one of these today, well two but i scraped the forst one because it had a awful run time, im talkin like 2 min. and it beasted through fuel. I kept the top from the orig. and cut a different bottom. Making the new bottom 3 and a quarter inches verse the 2 inches the first bottom was. which gave me ALOT more burn time. Im talkin over 20 min. I am suffering from a little vapor loss though because i didnt JB weld the inner and outter together so maybe ill do that which should make the fuel last longer since it wouldnt be bleeding off vapor as much/fast.

I lit the inner fuel first letting it heat up, then lit some of the jets, then they finished lighting themselves. It was ready to "bloom" at 1:45 and boiled water in 3:30. I then added more water so the orig. 2 cups wouldnt boil away, I filled the GSI 1.4 litre pot almost to the top. which stoped the rolling boil but let me continue with my test. I let the flame run out totally which was at 23:30. As a guess after i filled the pot to the top, id say the added water was back to a boil in less the 5 min.

I havnt figured out how much fuel it holds and dont even know if its efficent. But im impressed with the amount of time it burned for, and id imagen i could add less fuel if i only need a few mins. of burn time.

[streetpunk99]

Update: I JB welded the inner and outter together and it honestly made the runtime worse. still blooms the same and boils the same, so i dont know whats happening to it now that the inner and outter are JB welded together? Id rather have them seperate but figured id do like everyone else did and connect them.

Just for future ref. id leave them alone, just press fit together. I was useing Alcohol and not HEETbut i seriously doubt it would make that big of a diff. Still got 16 min. of run time which is more than enough. Like i said in my last post i didnt measure the exact amount of fuel, just filled to the same spot each time i tested it. and again used 2 cups of water to start off testing and finished with a 1.4 litre pot full to time the exact runtime.

Great litle stove over all, cheap, if not free. fuels easy to find and cheap. Worth messing around with because its so simple. just dont be stupid and make the outter to tall ti fit inside your cook kit.

[streetpunk99]

Re Update: Used my stove today, worked ok, but the cold ground seemed to cut the runtime short, didnt even boil water. need some mods seems to work likea charm indoors though haha.

[dmdsanchez]

I just made one and it works great I had to use a 1/16 bit instead of 1/32 and I think the flames where a bit too high. I will try and get a 1/32 bit and see if I can get better flame control

[urbanpirate]

first one i made did not work.
second was pure AWESOME

[Mr Lahey]

I just finished making one of these using this design. I tested it by making some coffee. I works great, even with the 90% isopropyl alcohol that I used. The only problem is that the flames were a little too high. I am going to make a second one with smaller holes like this one,. over all this is the best hobo stove that I have ever seen, which is simply due to the fact that the Venom cans are so durable.

[drthumbs]

If you are using a power tool of any kind, then it is easier to pre rill the holes if you already know the placement. I attempt to get the jets as high up as I can and usually drill them by hand. In this manner I prefer to drill the jest last.

[Philthy.Sohoza]

Did you use your Leatherman file to make the flow ports?

[drthumbs]

yes I did. You can use a hack saw or any other metal saw you have.