New Alcohol Stove Design (?)

Looking good David!

Years ago when I went through the stove making phase I did something like that with a cat stove to get a narrower flame.

(one of many )
It worked but can't remember now why I did not use it in the bush.
possibly because in the end I could not match the Caldera Cone.
I might try that Pepsi Plus version…

Were those burn test results with or without a full windscreen in place?

@Thayne: Thanks

@Glenn: With a windscreen, absolutely. It's an integral part of the system.

I mentioned under one of the photos "sans windscreen for clarity." But it would have been more clear to add a photo of the system as tested. So I have edited my original post to show it.

In the meantime I came up with an even better windscreen that stabilizes the pot laterally, is more effective in windy/breezy conditions, and cuts 20-30 seconds off the boil times (the partial melt is from also testing the windscreen with a different stove):

Great stuff again David. I like how you are heading with the focusing for narrow pots.

You have quite a nack for these windscreens too.

"It's an integral part of the system"

Agreed, that's why I asked. I can never seem to get my stoves from going overboard from the thermal feedback once the water starts to warm up. They work great without a windscreen, or even with it to start off, but as soon as I try to incorporate anything, the stove overheats and boils away too fast and I don't even get a pot boil many times. Clearly I'm doing something wrong. I can't find large enough material to make a good "cone", so maybe I'll just search down that avenue harder, and try to replicate something like that.

But at least I have a nifty little bale handle with eyelets ;)

@Adam: I was surprised at how much of a difference the tight-fitting windscreen makes, but it definitely works better. I think at least a part of it is that the hot top of the windscreen touches the pot and conducts heat into it, heat that is otherwise just radiated away.

@Glenn: Cones ("frustums" actually) are the way to go. They keep the lower portion of the windscreen from being too close to the stove and getting too hot. Plus, the larger volume at the base provides a plenum/manifold of relatively still air to feed the stove.

I use 12" wide aluminum flashing from my local hardware store to make prototype windscreens. Easy to work with and cheap.

I like the bail for your pot. It looks like you used rivets? If so, what kind and size?

It was actually an eyelet kit I picked up as an impulse purchase at a local home improvement store. Basically a mini grommet tool using 3/16 inch holes in the material with the ID of the eyelet being smaller yet. It was only $2 and came with 100 eyelets designed for shoelace eyelets, etc. The setter and anvil were on a pliers device that bent the first time I used it, but I just pulled the hinge pin and used the 2 halves like a regular grommet tool then.

A quick look online shows a few things in the craft stores for eyelets, notably for leather it appears.

I've only seen the aluminim flashing in 6", all the 12" was steel, but we have a few flavors of store brands around here. I'll have to shop around and give the cone concept a little more effort.

@Adam: Thanks.

I've just run 10 boil tests, and the new windscreen design also improves fuel economy. The system now uses slightly less than 13 ml to get a boil (a 9% improvement) in an average time of 5:35 minutes.

@Glenn: I'll be checking my local hardware store today for an eyelet kit. I really like the nice finished look they have and the strength they add to the holes. I think it solves the last hiccup with my system, where you have to use a hand to lift the pot (usually gloved, or not if you're thick-skinned).

The green can used a piece of springsteel. I found at work, nice material. This old blue can used just a piece of coathanger, shown for hole size reference. Someday I'll stumble across something aluminum and use that preferably.

Note the hole disformation though. The pliers didn't have the throat depth to reach down quite far enough to clear the beveled top and it kinked up the can pretty good. This is my first attempt, when I bent the cheap-o pliers, before. I took it apart.

If you are trying to build a bail wire for a cook pot, I think the coathanger wire is OK if you need to keep it cheap. I got some stainless steel safety wire (used in race cars) and installed it on a titanium bowl that I use. Works good. Lasts a long time. You want something that is flexible enough that you can form it, but you want it stiff enough to hold the form once it is done. Also, you might want it to be flexible enough that you can deform it for packing and then straighten it a bit later.

–B.G.–

An alternative to a coathanger for a bail wire would be to utilize a bicycle spoke.
Ti spokes cost a little more than $2 each (depending on gauge & color). Stainless cost less than a $1 each.

@Glenn: I picked up an eyelet kit at a local crafts store, and it worked great. Thanks for the tip (I didn't even know that eyelet kits existed before you wrote about it). I used a step drill because it goes through thin material very neatly, and put my eyelets on the shoulder of the can so that the bail would clear my tight-fitting windscreen:

@Tony: The spokes are a great idea. Cheap and easily available. I plan to pick up a couple of SS spokes later today. Thanks for the idea.

Wow, that looks nice. I might have to redo mine lol

Hey, I got that cone done, thanks for the tip in return :)

I did my own thread in it, so I wouldn't ramble on yours, but threw a link in back to here.

Glenn, can you also throw in a link from there to here?

"threw a link in back to here"

I did that first off, if I'm understanding you correctly.

It's hyperlinked with the words "his thread"…?

Sorry, I meant "from here to there" not "there to here" so we can go see your other thread. I tried finding it in "Recent Threads" but didn't see it. Thanks.

Oh, sure, it’s right here. It’s just my kitchen setup, but the cone windscreen really made it all come together.

Might just skip the bale wire all together after trying this with a Lawson stake. Unless the lid is left on during a hard boil, when steam is pushed out the hole along the length of the stake, the titanium dissipates the heat so well that it stays cool enough to handle even if left on through the whole cycle. So it's more of a removable handle than a bail wire. Always trying to find that lowest common denominator ;)