Least Cost Outdoor Stove

Intro: Least Cost Outdoor Stove

it's really easy to build a stove for use out- or indoor.
This one is very lightweight and easy to use.
It tooks only two minute to build and the weight is about 10 gramm.

STEP 1: Candle Lights

you need two candle lights

STEP 2: The Cups

take away the candles, we need just the cups

STEP 3: Fold

We have to fold one cup in such a way that it becomes little smaller on the upper side.
We can use a tang or just your fingers. One or two millimeters are enough.

STEP 4: The Burner

Put a piece off clothes in the smaller cup.
You can take a piece off your old jeans or something else but take no syntetic.

STEP 5: Close the Cups

We must put both cups together and they should fit smooth.

STEP 6: Cut

Now must we cut some hole in the upper cup.
First smal holes on the outer circle and then smal holes on an inner circle.
Finally cut two lines in the centre.
Open the four triangle in the middle.

STEP 7: Use

Just fill some Tenol or methylated spirits in the cup and light the fire.
The stove will heat two cups off coffee or soup for you easily.
Never use gas or other stuff, only methyated spirits.

Comments

[IdahoDavid]

For the benefit of Yanks, methylated spirits are called denatured alcohol over here. Don't use rubbing alcohol. That has water in it and it will put out black smoke. You can also use the product called HEET in the U.S. -- it's used to remove moisture from auto gas lines -- but only use the kind that comes in the red bottle. Regular denatured alcohol can be found at hardware stores in the paint section.

[the gizmoman]

i use rubbing alcohol with 91 percent alcohol in it. any lower then it is a pain in the rear to light

[IdahoDavid]

True, and it will tend to blacken your pots. I use denatured alcohol nearly exclusively. It gives me the hottest, cleanest burn.

[mondaymonkey]

In the caribbean, there is only 70 percent. So I am left with using Lighter Fluid.... lots of fun making pillars of yellow flame

[mkslocomb]

try "salting" your 70 percent. might work better. i looked it up here on instructables... good luck

[the gizmoman]

my pot that i use for camping (over night backpacking) is black on the bottom now that I think of it

[the gizmoman]

a trick i learned to is rub the bottom of the pot whith a bar of soap be for cooking on it. it makes cleaning the pot alot easer

[blodefood]

In the paint section of your local hardware store it is called Methyl Hydrate and it says "alcohol stove fuel" on the label.

[benhudson]

So denatured alcohol is really just the same as meths?

[Estwald]

The term "methylated spirits" refers to ethyl alcohol (the kind that can be drank) that has has methyl alcohol added to it to make it unsafe to drink. The benefit of denaturing the ethyl alcohol is that is it is not taxed as beverage spirits. To get an idea of the difference, compare the price of the same amounts of Everclear and denatured alcohol.

[IdahoDavid]

I believe so. If I recall correctly when you look at the ingredients on the red container of HEET is says that it contains methanol -- whihc is methylated alcohol. The yellow containers and rubbing alcohol contain isopropyl alcohol. "Denatured" refers to the process used to make this kind of alochol (as well as ispropyl) unfit for human consumption. You can use any liquid with a high alcohol content in these stoves with better or worse efficiency. You could even burn whiskey, vodka, brandy or Everclear. It would just be a very expensive -- and tragic -- waste of consumable alcohol.

[the gizmoman]

cool a use for those bottles of wine my parents keep buying to drink in front of us kids every so often(they drink it more or less once a month & boast about about being able to drink it and & we cant;)

[benhudson]

Thanks for the info :) It's true about the alcohol, though perhaps with the exception of Hungarian cooking brandy and the like....

[chuckr44]

While 70% rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) will burn (I've tried it) it will also leave soot on your pans, which is why methanol (or methyl alcohol) is recommended. If you must use isopropyl alcohol, try to get the highest concentration you can. 70% often does not work well, as it is 30% water.

[Broberg]

I have found that a good hand sanitizer has high amounts of alcohol in it usually around 80-90% and will boil water in a quick using a lid as a holder to keep in place. The original package is great for transport and it is dual purpose as well. I like the idea of having the top on it to direct the flame more. Good idea!

[KittyF]

this isn't really a stove, it's a burner. if you put a pan directly on it it would go out. you need to include some method to support the pan before you could actually call it a stove. but it's a cute burner, and I'm sure it's very light. worth a try.

[SurvivalTopics.com]

This is the easiest homemade method I have ever seen

[KittyF]

also the smallest.

[amniup]

Hi,

just to share some experiments I've done... this is a variation of the stove: only one ring of holes, only 10 holes, and the central large "cross" hole is folded INSIDE so I can put a coin over it after filling with alcohol.

Put some alcohol over the coin to speed up lighting

Well, it probably is the simplest "penny stove" clone ;-) with a nice flame pattern

And, as the flame never go inside, probably cloth padding will last more

[amniup]

Just tried, really nice!

I've done some modification:
- I've done the small holes with a push-pin: faster & better holes
- I've put the top cup INSIDE the bottom cup, because in the original project some little flamed alcohol leaked from the "folder" near the bottom, now it's ok
- I've used rockwool instead of piece of clothes: the flame I've got seems a little more "pressurized" than the one in your photo (but I'm not sure it is for this reason...)
- Lighting it from the top require 2-3 minutes in order to get the stove to full power; it will go to full power in few seconds instead if "primed" wetting the bottom of the stove with few drops of alcohol and then lighting them

Performance:
- I can fill it with max 14 gr of ethilic alcohol (half ounce), with this amount of alcohol it will boil half liter of water in 9-10 minutes, and die a minute later...

Conclusions:
- Really smart and simple-to-build micro-stove! ;-)

Side note:
- I'd like to build a so-simple stove with little more capacity to make more complex "cooking" with it, but don't know how to find similar but bigger cups, and don't want to use a can-stove; ...any idea?