New Stove Gear: Fire Maple 117t and XK6 “HE” Pot

Casey, that is really cool. So that setup, with the foil lid but still with handles, is over three ounces lighter than mine, and has more capacity.

This is worth hunting one down, at least for my version, but it looks like everyone's sold out right now. Waiting can be a good thing…

I thought I'd update regarding ongoing "trials" with this rig and how the set is working out. I've boiled about ten liters and several more small volumes with it, now and have revised my windscreen to allow more air draft from the bottom edge (and less weight).

The stove burns powerfully, and I am getting very good boil times in temperate weather. For example, this past weekend, I brought 900ml of "cool water" to boil in 1:45, with the windscreen in place and stove nearly on full high. Most of my boils have been slower, at lower burn rates, but still notably quick. It also simmers pretty well, as long as the windscreen is there. The titanium has lightly discolored, which looks cool anyway.

The pot is certainly part of the "fast boil" equation and I've been very happy with the handles, pouring ability and shrouding of the heat exchanger fins, but the Achilles heel to the pot remains that lid: it does not like the heat from boiling water below it and the hot air rising up the sides — the tab on the side of the lid gets mushy and has further deformed. Now, this is a problem: the lid is designed with a nacelle in the center that fits a fuel canister and a flat lid replacement won't fit over the top for a "self contained" rig, as I want for the Scouts that will use this.

I have written to the manufacturer, seeking help and suggesting they take a look at the material used. This coming week, the stove swaps over to use/review by nearly 20 Scouts, so we'll see what their feedback is after using it.

So, no response from the manufacturer, which I contacted via their "contact me" link on the Fire Maple site.

However, Backpacking Light's team has just issued their review of the stove(s):

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/olicamp_xcelerator_review.html

I got a good deal on a Primus Packlite setup which is sturdy, has a preheat tube, and generally meets my cooler weather/larger group needs but for the typical primus blowtorch head. Simmering is not great and one reason I wanted a more stable remote cannister stove was to be able to do some more robust cooking on quick overnights and drive up camping where I can bring a bit more gear and perishable food.

this setup looks stable and the larger head and apparently good valve control are appealing although i don't think it will replace the packlite which can be operated in inverted cannister mode…

FYI Update: I just bought four of the Olicamp-branded combo sets like that described here, for under 90 each, shipped via eBay. These are now our Patrol Stoves for the Troop.

Erik,

What did you finally decide to do with respect to the lids? Just live with the meltyness?

HJ
Adventures In Stoving

Yeah, I never heard back from Fire Maple, and we're gonna deal with the lids until we have to swap in aluminum pan lids.

Okay, we've got a few more outings this year to go, but I thought I'd report in on the utility of the Fire Maple/Olicamp stove/pot rigs we're using for the Scout Troop's backpacking stoves.

We're just back from the annual trek that is actually the progenitor of these stoves for us: our 7-day "High Sierra Fishing Expedition". Last year, we trekked with 6, using two Optimus Cruxi and either the related .9l HE pot/pan or my old 1.2l perc pot for all our cooking, which was either "water" for dehydrated food or trout, chopped into medallions and cooked in the mini pan. We learned that the HE pots heat up faster and are more efficient, particularly with a windscreen, but that Scouts will knock them over and that they're kinda wobble for a skillet larger than the mini-thing we had. We heat water for cleaning/sanitizing spoons and for hot drinks, and planned for 19 boils per canister of fuel. We managed 20 with the perc pot and 22 with the HE pot, using about 30oz for most boils, and we fried up fish four times.

This year, we had 12 on trail, with two of the rigs shown above in this thread, one orange and one blue. We used the aluminum foil windscreens at all times and we brought along a nice, wide MSR skillet for fish this year. I planned 19 boils per canister again, being conservative and knowing we'd be simmering and frying up fish and some vegetables we packed in.

In terms of fuel use, the stoves beat all our predictions, albeit with generally temperate weather at 8900-9800', usually. We used less fuel than last year, with more boils and more fish cooked (the Clark Lake Trout Massacre of 2013 resulted in 8 fish for breakfast one morning).

The stoves are nicely stable and handle the skillet very well. The system is simple and intuitive to those unfamiliar with the stove and it's easier to light for some folks that have trouble with the canister top stove (don't ask me why, this is what they said). They simmer easily and effectively. We determined that a setting of "high but not blasting" is the most effective and efficient use of the stove. We determined that "blasting" is when flame comes out the side vents of the HE fins and kept the stoves operating below that level.

The Olicamp version of the HE pot has imperial markings stamped into it, and the Scouts preferred that "calibration" to the prepared, dehydrated food. The soft, plastic lids require a careful hand if one allows it to get hot from air rushing up the sides of the pot, but this is less of an issue in cool air. The orange, "grip" sections on the Fire Maple's wire bail handles burned and charred for about 1/8" closest to the pot, also from heat charging up the sides of the pot while operating the stove inside the wind screen for that rig, which gives about 1" of draft around the pot. The screen we folded for the Olicamp was longer/larger and we didn't burn anything with that one.

4 Dogs makes a great titanium lid just for the Olicamp and Fire Maple pot – http://fourdog.com/snow-peak-titanium-lids/

Jon,

Thanks for resurrecting this old post. I just got one of the Olicamp mugs and the lid you linked to looks perfect.

The evernew 900ml pot casey demonstrates actually looks like the non stick version which is listed as 4.9 oz and their ultralight version is listed as 4.1 oz. Casey claims his is 3.4 oz (and it seems he was using the lid and handles on the 900 ml pot), anyone know if they were lighter two years ago?

I'm swapping a bit of gear for this coming summer season to better accommodate trips with my son (almost 5) and I'm thinking about the Olicamp Xcelerator Ultra Titanium Stove (aka FireMaple 117t) w/ a .9 or 1.3 Ti Evernew pot. This thread has been very helpful to see the gear in use and hear others' experience with a similar setup. Thanks!

I received the Olicamp Xcelerator Ti stove today. Looks and feels good, but the pivoting pot support arms are a tad loose for my liking. Not overly loose, but I'd like them a bit tighter similar to the action of the leg supports.

Anyways, I figured I'd give the rivet head a whack with a small ball-peen hammer or maybe it would be better to squeeze the rivets with some pliers. Does anyone know the preferred way to tighten up such small aluminum rivets?

What harm does it do to have loose pot support arms?

When the weight of the cook pot is on them, they stop at the level point, don't they?

Do they just rattle around, and the sound bothers you? If so, wrap a piece of aluminum foil around the burner head when it is transported.

–B.G.–

"What harm does it do to have loose pot support arms?"

Good point. It may function fine. I just received the stove so I won't know until I have a chance to use it.

Wobbly parts just don't give the impression that it's going to be stable, which is the main reason I picked up a remote stove. Maybe they'll be fine?

Just imagine the other way. Imagine if the pot support arms were extremely tight. You might put a cook pot on top, and then one arm might stick and prevent the cook pot from a stable level seating.

I purchased a similar stove burner (Gnat), and they were pretty loose. But, I just ignored that and used it, and it turned out fine.

–B.G.–

They are NOT aluminium rivets, afaik. They are titanium. Aluminium would be far too soft.

I suggest you leave them alone. You are more lkely to do some damage than any good. Have you considered that the rivets are like that for a very good reason?

Loose arms are not a problem: they will support the pot very well. Arms which are too tight can be a big problem.

Cheers

"I suggest you leave them alone. You are more lkely [sic] to do some damage than any good. Have you considered that the rivets are like that for a very good reason?"

OK, you guys convinced me. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

I'm pretty sure the rivets for the pot support arms were intentionally set a bit loose since the ones that connect the legs are much tighter, which indicates to me that it's by choice and not a manufacturing flub.

Fire Maple is now making a new “Blade 2” remote canister stove, the FMS-117H, which combines the titanium of the 117T with the preheat tube of the 118. No more need for frankenstoves! Quoted weight is 135g (4¾ oz), and it’s just US$35 shipped from China: aliexpress.

Nice.

This is going to be serious competition for the MSR Windpro II.  Lighter and cheaper.  Hopefully more reliable than the BRS-3000T

It’ll be interesting to see if they’ve fixed the sputtering problems that have been reported with the FMS-118 in inverted mode.

@hikin_jim, we look forward to your adventures with this stove.