Ultralight Kelly / Storm / Volcano Kettle

Spinform seems to be the manufacturer for those UK kettles..
BTW, those three brands are not the same product being of different weight and different capacities.
The one we used in NZ was the Thermette, very similar to the one Devin has made. Ours was provably from the early 70',like this one but green (I think…)
http://www.thermette.com/index.htm
Franco

Those thermette jobs are copper too, right Franco?

Dave
The one I used was provably stainless steel, could have been aluminium ( it was 30 years ago…)
They do have a copper version. (1/2 a gallon , 3 lbs)
Franco

Thanks Steven! – I guess you can relate to MYO projects that take on a life of their own. :) Maybe it wouldn't be prudent to give all my secrets away, especially given the Bush Buddy/ Bush Cooker debacle. Then again it is kind of obnoxious to act like it's some big secret… While I haven't used a micrometer on it yet, I suspect the final wall thickness on the kettle is between .020" and .030," a bit thicker on the fire bowl. I actually don't have any step by step pictures – I was too busy cursing or holding my breath – but I can surely take some later.

Rog and Kevin – very nice alcohol kettles! I knew Rog had been messing around with them a lot, and it looks like you two are headed in similar directions. Little did Foster's know how useful their packaging would be!

Dave – You ask a very good question on wall strength- as I said, the wall thickness varies a little bit right now – some of this is due to the process and some is due to my relative inexperience. Right now, a strong thumb press will leave a superficial dent in some parts of the the outer wall. I'm trying out different techniques and different alloys to find a good balance of strength and other characteristics. As it is, I would feel entirely comfortable putting this in the top of my pack with my food, where I normally put my cooking gear, without any hard protection. I expect that with the normal kind of care one gives to ultralight equipment, it would develop some superficial denting over time, but nothing that would impair its function.

Edit – I should note that I was referring to a stove called the Bush Cooker being sold abroad, not the new one by Four Dog Stove – that one looks pretty cool.

Great work Devin! Remember…free kettles to the first five hikers in this thread that encouraged you. :)

Steve

>Remember… free kettles to the first five hikers in this thread that encouraged you.

If memory serves, you said you'd pay $50 or more for one… :)

But seriously, thanks a lot for the support! If it weren't for the encouragement I did get from the forum, I easily may not have seen this all the way through. Once I get all the kinks worked out (which may be a while), I'll see if I can hit that $50 you suggested on the first batch. I do have a lathe to pay off, you know!

This weekend I was able to put the boiler through over two dozen burns, to both test its performance and see how it held up.

The boiling times were actually better than I had expected with times between 5:00 and 6:00 for 20 oz and under 4:00 for 16 oz. The differences were accounted for by whether or not I fanned or blew into the intake hole. In other words, it would likely perform better in a light wind as seems to be typical of this kind of boiler.

I also wanted to see how the relatively thin fire cup handled the full heat (as it wasn't cooled by water like the vessel itself). The repeated heating of the cup has obviously softened its temper, but it's still strong and doesn't show any evidence of serious degradation.

Here's a photo – I love the fire plume!

Congratulations on a great achievement!

Your Kettle looks fantastic, I'll happily buy one.

Cool! I'll make a note!

Please keep me posted, I can relate far tooo much and kudo's for all you've resolved:) I got my Kelly kettle for emergency use/kit for pontooning rivers. Yours makes me want to become far more proficient with dehydrated meals as I'll want to get your modern version of the Irish item.

> married/grad school/ and obsessive

Ha! You have just captured the three central themes of my life in five words. I'm glad I'm not the only one. What are you in for? (grad school, that is)

> Kevin, I found what worked best was to form the vanes into the chimney itself. This has the advantage of increasing the surface area in contact with the water.

LOL! I obviously didn’t make myself clear; that’s exactly what I did, but my thinking was also that it would be much better heat transfer (simple press fit gives poor thermal contact), and it would ensure that the can wall (and epoxy) never got hotter than 100C.

This is a great example of congruent design; we’ve both approached the same problem, and come up with an identical solution, even, coincidentally, using the same brand of beer can, although I suspect yours is one of the big 24oz cans, whereas mine is a small 440ml can. There are a couple of other minor differences; I cut a hole in the dimple, which makes the top of the inner stable (but makes filling a little difficult), and I used an odd number of vanes, as this seemed to improve the useful cross-section area of the top opening.

> Maybe it wouldn’t be prudent to give all my secrets away, especially given the Bush Buddy/ Bush Cooker debacle.

That was an unpleasant and unnecessary debacle, IMHO. On the thread, I argued the case for congruent design, and lo, Roger and I have given a perfect example of the phenomenon. No doubt bpl’s worthies will be along later to shout “RIPOFF!”… I can look back and see how the idea came about, given the past history of things I’ve experimented with, and I bet Roger can do the same. No doubt the design history is different (and collides a little where Roger’s aluminium water bottle kettle gave me a prod to play with some ideas I scribbled on heat exchanger pans when I got a JetBoil), but the end result is remarkably similar. We even made the same error of folding the wall the wrong way so that the paint is the water side, rather than the epoxy-phenolic coating (corrected in the earlier photos)!

OM Bush Buddy Ultra thread
OM How To Make Meths Stoves Q&A thread

Devin, your efforts have caused me to lurch out of lurkdom and post my congratulations and encouragement. Please keep going with this project. Make sure you protect your design and consider seeking partnership from established companies. Who knows? Maybe Mountain House could see enough of a tie-in to assist you in the tooling expenses.

In the mean time, when you are ready to knock out a few yourself I certainly want one!

Thanks JJ! I'm currently working on moving this from a one-off prototype to something that I can make a small production run of. It's taking some time, but I'll add you to the list of folks that I will notify as it gets closer to that point.

Again, thanks! I'm honored to have elicited your first comments!

Devin,

I just stumbled onto this long running thread… Wow! What a great story! What great patience! I'll be watching for developments.

–kerry

Awesome journey- looks like it will roar, right on!

I have been wanting a kelly kettle type stove for some time but have been awaiting an ultralight version. I was cruising the web and here we go!

How do I get on that list to order one?

Cool! Add me to the potential sales list too!

Great work and perseverance!

Doug

Thanks guys! I'll add you three to the list!

Unfortunately, I'm still working on getting that first batch together and am increasingly understanding BPL's reluctance to give stock dates for their custom lines of gear. Since I'm doing 99% of the production myself, I don't have third party delays to worry about, just work, weddings, the call of the trail, and now… school.

I'll keep you all updated on my progress, and believe me that nobody is more eager to get these in your hands than I am!

Patrick – if you set up your PM address, I can either contact you through that or you can send me your email address.

Thanks again!

Hi Devin,
I would love to buy one when you are ready.You have done some amazing work and I am sure they will be worth every penny you charge for them.
Thanks,
Anna

Hi Devin,

I thought I'd bring this up from the ashes to see if you have made any progress with this project. Also, I just ran across this thread on another forum where someone fabricated a kelly kettle out of a 40 oz. stainless Guyot/Nalgene bottle:

http://www.hoodswoods.net/IVB/index.php?showtopic=25081&st=0

Maybe this can add to your inspirition base. Also, Exotac has prototypes ti water bottles pictured on their website. Perhaps whoever is doing their fabrication could produce a ti kelly kettle.

Hey Flix, it looks like you have to be a member of that forum to see the site, but I appreciate your interest!

The project is pretty much on hold until spring. Unfortunately, graduate school and a workshop exposed to the elements aren't the best ingredients for ultralight manufacturing.

Some good news is that since September, I've been able to nail dow the alloy I'm going to use for the kettles! Small progress, I know.

Unfortunately, I think a Ti kettle would be cost prohibitive. With the contortions one has to put the material through, all but the most pliable Al alloys will simply rip apart. Ti exponentially more expensive and harder to work with. :(

Add me to your list, I have read this several time and am continually amazed at the determination and progress

Thanks Malcolm! Please send me a PM with your email address, so I can reach you when this all comes together.

I just got a batch of the new aluminum, and I've got a week of spring break coming up. I sure hope to make some progress!

Awesome. Add me to the list. Love this kind of stuff, and you, sir, are one perseverin' kinda guy.

I learned something important this week: When a commercial spinning shop won’t give you a quote in either the alloy OR the thickness you want, making a part that way on your own is going to be really hard!

After making that revelation and moving back to a softer AL alloy (but keeping the thin walls), I have been able to make my elusive second boiler. With that problem solved, I’m ready to start taking the names of those who are interested in getting one of these beauties. But because this is now clearly more than a MYOG exercise, I’ve started a new thread in the Gear Deals forum to handle their sale. If you’re interesting in buying one of these please get back to me there or through PM. If you’re interested in metal spinning or making your own boiler of this type, I’m still glad to answer those questions on this thread.

Thanks to all who have followed my work here. Being able to share the process with other ultralight MYOG fanatics has been the most rewarding part of the kettle’s development. I can’t wait for others to actually get the chance to use one!

Best,
Devin