Modified Coleman Xtreme Stove

I wonder if a couple of short lengths of those ti rods would work somehow… alternately small scraps of aluminum arrow heads… as long as they are below the burner it might / should work. especially if you add a foil ‘reflector’ to reflect the heat upwards…

Hi Bill-

I’m glad to see you’re taking this up…

Here’s an idea just to get you started — feel free to trash it, of course and do your own thing.

I think a 3 legged support made out of Ti sheet similar in design (but different in dimensions — with longer legs and without the tablet tray) to the Esbit Wing Stove on Thru-hiker.com and Zenstove.net would work well. It could screw into the burner assembly easily and would weigh maybe 15g.

The heat shield cup, spring, and washer on the stove could all be tossed. The new stand would screw on between the pre-heat tube and the gas jet.

As we speak, I’m actually staring at the Ti sheet I got from thru-hiker months ago for just this project. But, my metal working skills are kind of weak, and I’ve yet to start building.

On the valve end of things, I completely agree with Curt P. You can remove the magnesium heat sink around the valve and save about 1.6oz. But then the canisters are *really* difficult to attach. I’m still looking for an elegant solution to this one.

Good Luck.

Best Regards,

-Mike

[Disclaimer: modifying a stove will undoubtedly void the manufacturer’s warranty, and may create a fire or explosion hazard. Proceed at your own risk.]

Well I can tell you one thing so far, “now you tell me” hahahahah
[Disclaimer: modifying a stove will undoubtably void the manufacturer’s warranty, and may create a fire or explosion hazard. Proceed at your own risk.]

But maybe not. Coleman sell’s what they call a “Trail Maintenance Kit” and if the owner is allowed to replace the parts in the “Kit” then I haven’t “voided” my warranty yet. Also if something happens to the stove and I can replace any parts necessary to make it look like it did when I bought it I don’t think I have “voided” my warranty. But do I care about the warranty, NO.

I have weighed each part of the stove and will post my weights later. I agree that my Titanium from Thru-Hiker will play a big part in the Diet I put this stove on.

I will use the name for the parts as found in the Coleman Parts List for this stove.
Parts to replace with lighter ones:

Part list item 4 – Leg-Grate set of 3: Weight 62gr/2.19oz

Part list item 2 – Burner Bowl : Weight 25.2gr/0.88oz

Part list item 8 – Valve & Hose Assembly – 135gr/4.78oz – Dissemble and examine for any weight reduction possibilities. If you remove this and find some other way to get the fuel from the bottle to the stove I don’t think the stove will work. I will look to see if I can remove any of the outter case of the valve and reduce some weight that way. I will see if I can lighten the fuel control knob.

Weight of Stove out of the box: 311.5gr/10.99oz
Weight of Parts: Numbers from parts list
Item 1-35.8gr
Item 2-25.2gr
Item 3-2.2gr
Item 4-Set of Three Legs 62gr
Item 5,6a,6b,& 7-44.3gr
Item 6c,6d,6e&8-135gr
Item 9 -7gr

PowerMax 300gr Bottle – 399.6gr

As a side note: Colemans idea of recycle(ing) the bottle is to give you a “Greem Key” to puncture the EMPTY fuel cartridge. The Green Key works like a “Church Key” can opener. I will turn my empty’s into small stove(s)/parts.

I bought my stove at a local Sportsmans Wharehouse, they also sell the PowderMax fuel and a local Academy Sports & Outdoors store sells the PowerMax fuel but not the stove.

>> Well I can tell you one thing so far, “now you tell me” hahahahah.

Bill — that wasn’t aimed at you. :)

(I must’ve been a lawyer in a past life or something. Either that, or I’m just naturally paranoid.)

Best,

-Mike

do you really need the stove or can you make a pot suport and light the end of the hose when you turn on the feul? (modify hose to point upward towards pot)

nothing fancy, but may work?

(dont sue me if it dosent :-)>)

Ryan F writes:

>> can you make a pot suport and light the end of the hose when you turn on the feul?

Another clever idea, Ryan F!

Unfortunately, unlike an alcohol stove, the fuel must be precisely mixed with air before combustion. Otherwise, you’ll get partial combustion and an uncontrolled flame.

Keep the ideas coming though. I like how you think outside-the-box!

-Mike

Oh this is going to be really fun.
I’m in.

BPL Ti rods won’t work for legs to support a 2L pot, they are too thin (today’s project)

Howevah…

1/8″ ti rod does work, it has plenty of stiffness. I used 1/8″ ti on my version of the LAAF kit:

This is the LAAF Gear (now defunct) upgrade kit to the Whisperlite. The pot supports use 1/8″ steel rod stock:

(Browse the old LAAF Gear website at the Wayback Machine)

For the Extreme, adding legs like this might require a tight radius to be put into the ti rod to attach it (slide it) to the shaft, and maybe the strategic placement of drilled holes or dents to keep it in place once the legs are spread.

McMaster has ti rod stock ($$!). Search “titanium rod” there, click 1/8″ dia, there are two types: Grade 2 ($, easier to bend) and Grade 5 ($$, stronger).

not sure if the current legs would work for smaller pots (???), if not, what about changing the shape of the legs to also function as a pot support too?

that’s all for now. gotta’ run out for the AM. can’t wait to see how this develops.

oh…and LAAF is an acronym for what, pray tell?

In a recent exchange between Bill and Mike:

Bill wrote:

> OK, so what is the “valve” thing that lets the
> PowerMax canister connect to the Coleman Xtreme for?
> There maybe a better way to say this but the valve
> must be important.  Are the fins really necessary?  I
> want to trim them off to reduce some weight.  I am
> going to take it apart and have a look inside but I
> need to get a very small Phillips screwdriver first.
Bill
========================================================
Hi Bill-

Yeah, that magnesium valve cover weighs 1.6oz!

I’ve run my stove successfully without it, so I bet you could cut it
down or eliminate altogether.  I’m just guessing, but I think the fins
reduce sputtering during startup.  After lighting, the stove needs to
run for a few seconds at low output to warm-up the pre-heat tube.  I
think the fins allow the fuel to vaporize right in the valve assembly
during this low-output startup time.

There is one other piece of the stove that makes me curious.  Inside
the rigid brass tube is a length of wire.  I wonder if its supposed to
provide some kind of pressure regulation, but I’ve never been able to
find out exactly what it does.  Even a call to Coleman only revealed
that “it’s part of the generator…”.

Cheers, -Mike
========================================================
Hi Mike,  Funny you mentioned that little “length of
wire” inside the brass tube.  It is 9.3cm long and is
1/16″ or close gage.  I am sure Coleman’s has an
approved way to remove it and I have another way.  I
connected my gas bottle to the Valve thing with the
knob opened a little but not connected to the stove.
Well, you know how a blow dart works. I am glad it
wasn’t pointed at me. Twang, might be a good word to
describe the event.  That was the second funny thing
to happen today.

That little piece of rod does reduce the hole size in
the brass fitting that the “heat tube” is connected
to. You think Coleman engineer’s were smart enough to
come up with a way to regulate the gas flow like I do
with “jets” in my big Holley carburetors? 

Have you taken the valve assembly apart?  I think it
might act like a carburetor.  Tomorrow I will get a
smaller screw driver and open it up.

Someone somewhere said that a Snow Peak 700 Ti cup was
the best size/thing to use to melt snow.  What do you
or anyone that has melted a lot of snow or ice think
is a good size pot .  I have only melted ice but ice
or snow may be about the same. 

I am thinking about using the Xtreme burner in a
home-made Jet-Boil like stove.  Designed with melting
snow and ice as the primary task and cooking just
because it will. 

Bill

Bill said,
“Someone somewhere said that a Snow Peak 700 Ti cup was the best size/thing to use to melt snow. “

With such a stove, it would be a shame to have it only support such a small pot (if any support idea was dedicated to something that small). For snow melting, bigger and broader is better (to a point)– I use anywhere from 1 -3 L pots. In small pots. you have to keep feeding snow to get appreciable amounts of water. Broader pots (assuming a good flame spread) allow the snow to melt faster.

Glad you’re on the case, Bill. I like the rod stock idea for pot support–I had been thinking along the lines of the MSR Dragonfly configuration, but what Ryan shows is simpler.

Do you have milling capabilities? I’ll share a possible idea, if you do.

Nice picture. I was going to post a similar pic today – glad someone beat me to it.

My current setup includes #1, #5 (with spring removed), and #8 (with the big metal block removed). That’s it.

As I mentioned earlier, I have put a Pocket Rocket tri-support upside down onto #5 (required a little mild dremel work to widen the hole – didn’t effect use for the Pocket Rocket, by the way – in fact, all my changes so far are completely reversible). This will support the stove just fine. I’ll post a pic later.

For pot support I’ve just rolled a windscreen and used that. Works fine on the bench, but wouldn’t want to use it in the backcountry.

Ti rods could work out. I’ve messed with a coat hanger and come up with a couple things, but my creative juices weren’t in high gear and I didn’t come up with anything good.

I think the pot/stove support is a relatively simple problem to figure out. A Mo-Go type thing could work, or a Ti-Pod assembly maybe.

The bigger problem will be the fuel bottle attachment. It’s a pain without that metal block. Possible, but a pain. I’ve thought about cutting the block with a hacksaw so just the bottle flare would be kept. This would probably get it down to .2 or .3 ounces I figure, but it goes against my “reversible” plan. Maybe some kind of “key” would work. Essentially it just needs something that can hold the plastic very firmly while the bottle is pressed/twisted on. It rips my fingers apart to use them, so something else needs to be found.

By the way, I’m guessing you know this but there is a smaller fuel bottle. The one you show (10.6 oz. fuel??) is pretty huge. The small one serves as plenty for all but the longest trips or snow-melting intensive trips.

Glad folks are picking this up! I’ve been working on it for a bit and was running out of steam. Multiple minds certainly are better…

-Curt

For just the fin function–assuming they really are
necessary— what about using alum.or copper foil wrapped
around a reduced valve assembly ( stock magnesium block milled down to remove fins and beyond). Although, one wonders if in milling the somewhat flammable magnesium, a conflaguration could occur? Or perhaps foil around what Curt suggests (retaining just the bottle flare).
The foil could be shaped to form fins, compacted in places as a heat sink, whatever you like.

x

Sorry about that – trying to figure out the picture posting thing…

Here’s the completely stripped stove

And the inverted Pocket Rocket

And with a Peizo just for kicks

very useful pictures, Curt
can you do a close-up of just the stripped valve assembly for benefit of those of us who don’t own the stove?

thanks

Hi everyone,
FYI,Campmor has the Xtreme stove “on sale” for $49.97. I’m not sure if this is a deal, but I thought I’d post it anyway.
Paul

I did talk to Campmor a few days ago but by the time I add shipping I don’t save much vs buying local. Two local store have the 300 gr canisters and one of the stores sells it at $2.99. I think that is a bargan but have never seem the smaller canister for sale. I haven’t been able to find the smaller canister anywhere near me.

I think the Coleman Outlet Stores sell the Xtreme at the Campmor price and this weekend coming up they are having a big Tent Sale with most of their stuff on sale.

Paul and Bill,

I think that this is the normal price for Campmor. I bought mine (for that price) at the store and picked up the larger cannisters as well for $4.99 each I believe in July. I am not sure if they have the smaller canisters. But, if Bill was able to get the smaller cannisters for $2.99 each, I believe that to be a very good price.

Rich

Bill,

I will be very interested in the modifications for the Coleman Xtreme that you come up with. Hopefully, at least some of them will be simple enough for even me without the right tools to make.

Rich

I can buy the large (300gr) PowerMax canister for $2.99. If you have a Sportsmans Warehouse near you that is where I bought mine.

Bill,

We don’t have any Sportsman’s Warehouse in Eastern PA. One will open in Pittsburg on November 23, but that is 400 miles away. $2.99 for the 300 g canister sounds like a great price. As I indicated, Campmor’s price when purchased last was $4.99.

Rich