1 oz. grill

[Ultralite Hiker]

How much does your grill weight with SS spokes?

[Mike M]

I found some on sale at a bmx shop- shorter spokes, so cheaper (you don't need long ones)

ss vs ti- not sure on the weight savings?????

[D G]

Weight difference is minimal, maybe 2 grams per spoke. Stainless spokes will be about 5-7 grams depending on length, guage, etc. Titanium spokes are about 4 grams I think.

For lots of MYOG projects (bails, grills, etc) the spoke will be cut down in length so of course the weight difference will be even less.

I'm guessing titanium might be better for a grill because of the higher melting temp. It may distort less with heat, but that's totally conjecture on my part.

[Jason L]

Do the BPL rods bend much? I tried to use 1/16" titanium rods and the could not hold my pots stable. I ended up with 1/8" rods, which seemed heavy:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=31042&skip_to_post=297287#297287

[Mike M]

can't speak to the BPL ones, the spoke ones I have are ~ 2mm, so a little bigger than 1/16" (but less than 1/8")- I wouldn't attempt to stand on my grill :) but it's strong enough to put a pot of water- length and spacing will effect the over all strength as well

[Jason L]

Ah, yeah. I was actually wondering how stiff those spokes are. I don't live anywhere near anything, so I was hoping someone could give me an idea about how stiff they are.

[Roger Caffin]

Ti wire is very tough and stiff – until it reaches red heat. Then it bends quite easily. I bend Ti regularly this way.

So if you don't expect to ever get 'hot', the Ti would be fine, but if there is a chance that the wires will get red hot you might be better off with SS.

Cheers

[Mike M]

^ good to know :) I find that trout cook much better when the coals "lie down" a bit, so mine haven't been exposed to overly hot temps and don't expect they ever will

[Shane Bailey]

For those of you who are interested, I thought I would revive this thread and add pictures and commentary of my grill. I must say that my grill was highly influenced by this thread and the grilliput. The criteria I wanted my grill to meet were: lightweight (duh!), easily packable, legs for support (in case you can't find the rocks you need), can hold up a quart pot filled of water, and cheap.

Materials:

1/2" aluminum tubing (8 inches long): 1 oz.

3/4" aluminum tubing (8 inches long): 1 oz. – thinner wall because it's what I had.

#6-32 stainless steel all-thread (7 inches long x 4 legs): 1.3 oz.

15 Gauge stainless steel bike spokes (cut to 8 inches long x 4 spokes): .6 oz.

Total weight: 3.9 – 4 oz.

The manufacturing of the grill is self-explanatory, except that after I drilled small holes into the aluminum tubing for the legs, I tapped the tubing with a #6-32 tap so that the all-thread could just screw right into the tubing without having to use nuts to support the tubing.

With all-thread for legs, you can adjust the height of the grill to whatever's convenient at the time by just screwing in the all-thread more.

The 4 stainless steel spokes set up the way shown in the picture is for my convenience based on the size of the pot I use most of the time. The pot/cup in the picture is not the one I normally use, but I just put it on the grill to give some perspective. Displayed is a 32 oz. cup.

The grill packs away similar to the grilliput. Slide the 1/2" tubing into the 3/4" tubing, and then slide in the spokes and legs. I capped the two ends with 3/4" plastic leg tips, but you can use whatever you can find. However, make sure the caps go on the outside of the tubing, so that all the materials can pack away without hitting something on the inside of the tubing. Packed away, it's an 8" x 3/4" tube.

It weighs in at almost exactly 4 oz., and all the materials would cost someone around $10 (maybe less, maybe more). You can make it even lighter by changing the stainless steel to titanium, but it would cost more. Also, the amount of spokes you use will change the weight (.15 oz. per stainless steel spoke).

I haven't used it yet other than putting water in the pot and seeing how the grill handled the weight – no problem because of the smaller length of the spokes. How well will the aluminum hold up to the heat? I don't know yet, but I will find out this weekend. I'd assume it would take a lot of heat to affect it, and people do use aluminum pots. I'm not sure if there is a big difference between the aluminum used for pots and the aluminum used for tubing. If the aluminum isn't going to work out because of the heat of a fire, I'd probably switch to titanium, because stainless steel tubing is heavy.

Maybe this will give others some ideas, just as you all have given me plenty of ideas, and I welcome any suggestions or questions.

[J B]

B-)

Nice idea….good starting point

/JB

[Jolly Green Giant]

Looks like something already on the market, at least to a degree:

http://www.thepathfinderstore.com/grilliput-duo/

[Author]

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