Heineken Cone

[Mark Hurd]

Hey Greg,

Have you been talking to my wife? :-)

-Mark

[Joshua Mitchell]

Wow… the TD guys pull another one out of their sleeve… nice… can't wait to see the final product…

[Mark Hurd]

Rand,

I really appreciate the info, sorry about the cross examination:-). Hope your Thanksgiving was super.

The willingness of developers and DIY'ers to answer questions is the truly great thing about the BPL community. I've been especially impressed with the TD folks. They have always taken time to answer my questions, both on an off these forums.

-Mark

[Casey Cardwell]

Sorry to bump this thread, but I'm new to the community and just had to chime in here to applaud the designs. I'm afraid I didn't understand Lance's spreadsheet, but the thought ya'll have put into these cones is great.

I think having the cone height reach to above the 2 cup mark is a cool idea, and may offset it not being able to fit inside the can (though you could probably work around that by making it in two parts).

Cool ideas! Count me in on giving the Fosters cones a whirl!

Cheers!

[Mark Hurd]

Casey, Welcome!

Rand and his partners have really done a nice job on their other cones and I see this as no exception.

My attempt with the Heineken cone only covers about 1.5 cups of the 2 cups in the can, but the wick insulation above that actually covers the area up to the 2 cup mark, so heat loss is diminished.

The comments about the hazards of fitting the cone completely in the can only to have the cone get stuck on the rim are well taken. However, if you use a side cutter can opener there is no rim inside the can. It is smooth to the top, so nothing to get caught on.

Still I am really looking forward to the Trail Designs cone for this genre of beer can pots.

-Mark

[Rand Lindsly]

All:

Sorry for not jumping back in before now…..but things got pretty chaotic around here. Christmas and day job aside, I'm trying to get carpeting in the house before the snows hit Yosemite….and that involves some tiling work…so….spending a lot of time on my knees :) Also, the TDesigns crew has been making a lot of design changes to the Fosters system since I last wrote. Because of these changes, we really need to go through a round of alpha testing before unleashing it on the greater community here for beta work. I apologize for getting things cranked up….but once you see what we are up to, I think you're going to like it! Haven't gotten permission from the crew yet to post a picture….but I'll get something published here soonish.

Rand :)

[Greg McAuliffe]

I've been hoping into this thread off and out whilst considering making a cone. I couldn't really figure out the spreadsheet calc either but found this link to a nice cone calculator (or you can Google "cone calculator")
This makes is pretty easy to play around with the numbers and see how much material will be needed.

[dingle berrry]

hey thats ace!

i have been looking into making one my self, im just struggling finding one of those tin openers over here!
defo going to be on the list of things to make!
be nice if the guys at trail designs would get one on the market!

[Nigel Parrish]

Hi Dan

We got them in a local hardware chain on the Isle of Wight!!

Nigel

[Franco Darioli]

Greg, thank you for that link. I have tried almost successfully ( read failed…) to make my own cones before but now I can. Did one yesterday and promptly changed my mind about what I wanted. So now I just need to settle on a pot/stove combination and go for it. Then I'll buy the Ti Goat version.
Franco

[dingle berrry]

Hey nigel

cheers for that info, are the openers branded and do they have a web store?
If they are branded i might be able to find 1 on the net!

[Nigel Parrish]

This beast here:

http://www.culinare.com/products/detail.asp?category_ID=1&index=4

Availble on the net here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Culinare-Safetycan-2/dp/B00096JDDK

Nigel

[boba fett]

I made a template based on Lance's measurements & though I'd share.

The first page is the full layout, the 2-4th are printable pages (do NOT shrink) with a lot of overlap so you can tape them together.

Thanks to all for your knowledge, if anyone wants a different cone drawn, let me know.

cone is here, feedback is encouraged:

kjh_dot_ca/cone.pdf (sorry, dont want spam ;)

[Nigel Parrish]

That's great, thanks. A good weekend project.

Nigel

[Rand Lindsly]

All:

Just jumping back in here briefly…..lots of fires in my backyard in Yosemite so no time to chat. Did want to close the loop I started. I mentioned that we made a number of changes….biggest of which is we are altering the fosters can to be supported by the cone. Went through a number of field tests…..started to release it at Trail Days when we found another issue and pulled it until it could be fixed and tested again. All this product development stuff is tough!

Anyway….it is up, online and available now. Like I said…just closing the loop. Check it out at:

http://www.antigravitygear.com/proddetail.php?prod=TDCKEG

Rand

[Mark Hurd]

Glad to see this finally come to market.

As a tester for this system I would like everyone to know what a great set up this is. Extraordinarily, light and compact. Using a mix of denatured ethanol and isopropyl I was getting under 7 min boiling time starting with 60 degree F tap water. And that was on 16 to 17 ml of fuel (just over half and once). YMMV, but it really is nice.

The cone ALMOST fits in the can, but does stick out a little as you can see from the pictures on the Antigravity website, but the stove inverted and pushed on like a top makes for a very compact package.

The can itself is very light at about 1 oz and thin so some care should be taken with it. I'm glad to see they are offering a container to help protect it.

Over all a great system.

-Mark

P.S. Works way better than my homemade version!

[Nigel Parrish]

I recently completed my version of the cone. The cone holds the can snugly in the top with two old bicycle spokes cut to size that the bottom of the can sits on get the right height above the flames.

Two tabs on one end of the cone slot into a slit to hold the cone together with a another tab in the other end which is slightly bent over to hold the cone together

Total weight with two spoke pieces and a small meths stove 85 grams or just under 3 ounces.

[Casey Cardwell]

Hey Mark,

Thanks for the review. What was your ratio of ethanol to isopropyl?

Just out of curiosity too, how did you keep it protected when packing it without the clear container?

Cheers,
Casey

[Nick K]

I am considering making my own cone. It sounds like a few people have ventured down this road already using aluminum sheet metal.

I am interested in hearing experiences/lessons learned so far before I make the leap.

Anyone using titanium to make their own cone?

Thanks,

Nick

[Keith Selbo]

Very nice job and thorough explanation!

Did you calculate the efficiency yet?

Regarding the tabs. You (and trail designs) could save a couple of grams by making the tabs hooks (see illustration).

oops! didn't see that there were two more pages where this was covered.

One other thing is 3M artists adhesive is great for temporarily affixing patterns to metal.

H

[Daniel Fosse]

Rand,
If you send me the Foster's beer I will be happy to empty the contents and send you back the cans. I am willing to do this free of charge and I am very effecient.

[Joe L]

A roll of aluminum roof flashing from Home Depot or Lowes is cheap enough to experiment with. Get the tallest roll since you can cut it shorter and for Keg cans you do need a taller cone. Wear gloves, preferably leather, when handling thin metal.

A truncated (top missing) cone unrolled to flat has a circular top and a circular bottom. To draw two different sized but overlapping circles or pieces of them, put a nail at the center of the circle, tie a string to the nail. Tie the other end to a marking pen. Stretch the string tight then draw your circular line. Repeat with the other, different length of string, using the same center. That is what Mark Hurd's spreadsheet is showing, pieces of two overlapping circles spaced apart.

[Matt Porter]

I have just decided to lay aside my snow peak ti pots and go with a heineken mini keg pot and I found this post. I am unable to download the pdf template link. Does anyone have it and willing to email it to me? I'll provide my email address through PM. Thanks everyone.

[Author]

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