Beer can stove and toasted sandwich maker

[G]

I suspect the 'Beer can stove' is known by some on here, but thought I'd post as I had some success with it at Reading festival over this weekend and I'm sure plenty haven't seen it.
Details can be found over the internet about how to make one, most of them go into a lot of detail and worries about precision. The one pictured below I made at the festival in 10 minutes or less:
https://gees.zenfolio.com/img/v0/p826301790-4.jpg
Basically fairly neatly cut the bottom of two drinks cans off. I then (as opposed to the recommend way) cut down the side of one to make it slightly conical so that it can easily fit into the outer one.
I then make the 'filling hole' in the middle and 16 small holes around the outside using a pen knife. Fill with meths, put a small coin on top and add some fuel to the top after, light this fuel on the top to 'prime' it.
When it warms up, it pressurises and the side jets light. Sometimes I tipped a bit of fuel around it on the ground to help the priming process. You can see in the picture that it's got the (not very great) metal grill hot enough to be glowing.
Apparently can be used with petrol too, though doesn't work quite as well. My design did seem to use quite a lot of fuel, but then it did boil water pretty quickly and was far from precision engineered.
(Note, there may be a reason others recommend precision, such as not blowing up and mutilating the user, I suggest you investigate before bodging!)

Other item of interest, though not sure I'd take it touring is an Australian-style sandwhich toaster. Can be used on any hot thing - once it's hot the thick iron stays pretty hot too, so toasting time speeds up a bit.
Much better than the English style 'triangle' electric toasters to my mind as you get a much better filling to bread ratio.
https://gees.zenfolio.com/img/v4/p579680102-4.jpg
Can also be used as a small frying pan (probably just right for an egg?)
I got mine from here: https://www.pie-iron.co.uk/irons/1105.htm

[stinkwheel]

Ahh. I have a bit of an obsession with improvised camping stoves .

What you have there is a variation of a "penny stove". A semi-pressurised, top-burning alcohol stove.

I can offer you some refinements which will make it WAY more efficient and takes no longer to make.

First off, you have too many burner holes and they are too big. You're essentially running lean, you have a large number of small, fairly weak flames.

From experimantation, you need six, equally spaced holes about the same diameter as a drawing pin made OUTSIDE the rim on the base of the can.

This gives you a fairly good stoichiometreic ratio and an really intense jet of largely blue flames.

You've also made it a bit too deep. Ideally the burner should be about 3/4" to 1" off the ground. Too deep and you either overfill it which takes ages to prime properly and wastes fuel or you underfill it which leaves too much of an air gap inside the fuel chamber and drops the pressure.

Leaving a 1/2" "lip" of metal above the burner directs the flame jets inwards towards the base of the pot and gives a little protection from the wind (although they do need to be really well sheltered all the same).

Many drinks cans now have numbers stamped into the aluminium base. These can prevent the penny making a good seal. Try to find one with either no number or number 1.

Insulating the stove from the cold ground on a bit of wood or card will make it prime much more quickly. Putting a lit one of these stoves onto cold concrete can make them go out.

I count on boiling two mugs of water (proper, rolling boil) on four capfuls of meths with this stove. I've been using this one for lightweight camping and as a backup for nearly a year now.

https://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f216/stinkwheel/summer%202009/pennystove.png
https://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f216/stinkwheel/pennystove2.png

It is also possible to make one using very small cans like red bull ones, these only require three holes and take longer to boil but use a tiny amount of fuel.
https://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f216/stinkwheel/Image050.jpg

[garth]

Fair play for being sober enough to cook anything at Reading. I sure as hell wasn't.
____________________
You ain't a has been if you never was

[lofty]

I tried to make a beer can stove and failed miserably, my friends brother has one and I was amazed with how well it worked when he used it at Glastonbury.

[G]

Cheers for the thoughts.
The one shown in the first pic was made at the festival. I did actually take a pin to make the holes, on the expectation that one or both of the ones I pre-made would die somehow. However, I then tried to use the pin to make the centre hole first, while killed it without any penetration. So all the holes were made with my knife, which limited their finesse.
When I first made one at home I started with a fair bit smaller holes, but it didn't seem to be doing that well. I did suspect it needed more priming time, but got impatient and made bigger holes which did the job .
Will try it with six holes next time .

The 1p only noticeably came off once to release pressure - though I presume it could be moving small amounts - however the rest of the holes may just have been big enough anyway.
The three 500ml bottles of meths I took just lasted us 'till the end of the festival, allowing some tea (served in bowls), super-noodles and a can of spaghetti to be cooked in the early hours of Monday morning, so I was happy enough with it's performance.
Will try your suggestions next time .

[stinkwheel]

[smegballs]

Have you experimented with wood gasification stoves stinkwheel?

I've just heard about them and they sound promising!

[stinkwheel]

[dibbster]

My first attempt a few weeks ago, needs some refinement though.
https://bikechatforums.com/files/dscf1735.jpg
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Suzuki RF 600 - The two wheeled Testarossa (Deceased)
Suzuki GSXR - Now stops on a sixpence; SBK3's
www.bikepics.com/members/dibbster

[ms51ves3]

I just watched this video. Now I just need to drink a couple of cans of beer.

Clicky

EDIT: Would I be able to run it on nitro fuel?

EDIT 2: Never mind. It contains methanol and burns with a clear flame leaving an oily residue.

[ms51ves3]

Made one using the instructions from the video and it worked well. I filled it with white spirit so it was very smokey.

First attempt:

https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a376/ms51ves3/DSC01140.jpg

https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a376/ms51ves3/DSC01141.jpg

Second attempt:

https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a376/ms51ves3/DSC01142.jpg

https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a376/ms51ves3/DSC01143.jpg

It worked well

[stinkwheel]

[UnknownStuntm...]

Ahem, you're missing the obvious, mr Stinky:
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/chives-wow.jpg

[stinkwheel]

[ms51ves3]

It was fine. In the end I did find some meths in my garage.

https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a376/ms51ves3/DSC01147.jpg

And yes, the gas bottle is a (not very good) wood burning stove, I was waiting for someone to pick up on that

https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a376/ms51ves3/DSC00885.jpg

That's before I fitted 3 chimneys that were too small and don't work.

[smegballs]

I think a gas bottle can be made into a good stove if its done properly....

Then again my old woodburner was a homebuild, just a simple steel box. It was tiny but oh fuck did it get hot. My dad build a "ramping plate" for lack of words to describe it. If you wanted to make it go like, shit or when it was cold just place the plate over the entrane, it locked on the door hinge and the door lock bracket and it would make it go bezerk with all the air drawn into the bottom. Once made the lower flue a very dull red

[stinkwheel]

[Clanger]

[ms51ves3]