custom Lite Trail cook Kit

[Matthew / BPL]

Whoa. That didn’t look very efficient with the flames coming out of the sides. I would think you’d want less flame than that.

I haven’t tried mine with alcohol yet.

[Dylan Atkinson]

I tried the kit with esbit last night – one 14g tab easily brought 2 cups of 60* to a boil with plenty leftover esbit. No flame shooting out of the vents.

When I took that picture the entire starlyte burner was covered in flame, the flame wasn’t relegated to the center of the burner and the choke ring seemed to do very little. Again, this is the first time i’ve used a starlyte – should the flame always be held in the center of the burner and not burn so wildly? Didn’t overfill the burner, only 14 grams added.

[Matthew / BPL]

I have two Starlyte burners and I have use them a grand total of one time and it was six or eight mo the ago. I’m pretty sure the flame was confined to the punched hole in the lid. I’ll try them with the cone this week and report back.

[DAN-Y]

When I did one test with the starlyte it was to test for complete combustion of fuel and had not experienced the flame engulfing the entire burner. The burner was on cast iron top of my floor model table saw, lots of heat exchanging going on with air temps around 40 degrees.

It will be interesting to see what others experience. Might want to raise one side of the cone(1/4″) to allow more air to enter, dunno ;)

 

[William Chilton]

I’ve had a similar thing happen with a Starlyte (different cone). The burner appeared to be leaking fuel from the seal around its waist – it had seen quite a bit of use. I put aluminium tape around the burner and it solved the problem.

[DAN-Y]

Looking back at was first said on page one of this thread.

James DeGraaf, the OP of this thread said:

About a year ago I saw a post by Dan Y, aka Zelph, where he added a ridge to a ti pot which got me thinking. After some emails between him and Rand over at trail designs, I have this: a custom ridged ti pot and custom ti tri sidewinder for the 550ml pot. The set up works equally well with esbit or alcohol. I suppose wood would work too. (haha wood would, wouldchuck?) the esbit burner you see is basically the bottom of a starlyte stove with the vent holes. It works well to not leave a lot of esbit gunk on the pot.

IIRC the weight is about an ouce. I’ll get my scale out and double check the weight. I remember it doesnt actually save weight over the original Lite Trail kit though. It will pack up and stay rolled up without the sleeve if i want it too. I was kind of hoping for a vertically rolled ti tri, but Rand said he could make a taller cone if it was stored like a sidewinder.

Efficiency in my kitchen is great! Though no Esbit sorcery by any means. Yes I have esbit left over after boiling 2 cups. Is it enough to boil 2 more cups? No. It will get warm, almost warm enough for coffee or hot chocolate ~ 150*F but that’s about it. Out hiking and especially if its cold or the water is cold, or both, I’ll just let one whole esbit burn, its more of a hassle to try and save to use later.

Do flames shoot out the vent holes? No. I’ve not experienced that, yet. I won’t say that can’t happen, but it hasn’t happened so far.

Dan, you are correct. I was looking for exactly what you see here. I asked for a ridge that would accommodate a cone. You provided the ridge making skills and I then went to TD for a ti cone. You did mock up a cone out of aluminum as proof of concept which gave me the confidence to approach TD with my request.

Thanks,

—————————————————————————————————————————-

I’m waiting on more feedback from those that have purchased the kits. ;)

Dan

[Matthew / BPL]

It’s interesting to read that post again. I don’t think the kit provides any Esbit sorcery but it seems like getting a good burn, even with wind. The cookset  stores really nicely and is much more stable than my Toaks 550 handled mug setup.

I was hoping for more efficiency but it was clearly disclosed in that post that the efficiency was comparable to a conventional setup.

Move tested on my patio three or four times. I’ve got three trips over the next few weeks. I’m looking forward to using it on the trail. :)

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Dylan,

You may want to baseline test this system with a plain old tea light stove.  That could provide some insight as to what is going on.  My 2 cents.

 

“the more you burn, the more you learn”

[DAN-Y]

I did a test with a Starlyte for “simmer” and it behaved well using a toaks 600 pot and the TD cone. Boiled 2 cups and continued for what seemed forever on 1 ounce of denatured. Seems the burner needs to be choked down for the compact set-up. Did not do a timed test, maybe tomorrow.

Way back when…..”Tony Beasley” said the best efficiency comes with a stove/burner that burns slow. I think the name of his stove was “volcano” I’ll do a search on that.

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/12503/

 

[DAN-Y]

Looking good. we’ve got it under control.

Toaks 600 pot with handle, 2 cups boiled, re-modified starlyte burner, 1 once denatured, 2 cups water 50 degrees start temp, garage temp 50 degrees. boiled at 14.5 min, continued to boil for 6 min with lid off pot. Flames stayed under pot, none out the vent holes.

We have to keep in mind the small confined area that the burner is having to function in. It’s only 2″ inches from bottom of burner to bottom of pot. The Toaks 550 is smaller in size and volume content so the boil will take place sooner with 1-3/4 cup water.

I’ll try and get enough burners made this week and send them out to everyone that has purchased a kit with the ridgeline at 1″, no charge. ;)  Those of you that have opted to do esbit as fuel of choice and would prefer not to have a alcohol burner, let me know.

This is the comparison of modified burners. Re-modified on right.

[DAN-Y]

Strange…….I like watching water boil when things go right :-) the new Starlyte for the 550 works great. Got some parts ready to make a dozen tomorrow.  I even had some time to try the StarlyteXL “slow” with the cone and toaks 600. It behaved well and just about the time it was ready to boil, some nice little blue flames came out the top cone holes and said ” it’s ready” :-)  It’s nice to be able to put 4 ounces of fuel in a burner and take off for a 2 day hike to commune with nature.

[DAN-Y]

The new, improved Starlyte Burners have been sent out to all those that purchased a Modified Toaks550/Zelphstoveworks kit.

The burners perform very well in Trail Design’s smallest Caldera Cone.

Next week the 550 kits will again be made available.

[Aaron D]

Thanks, Dan!

[Matthew / BPL]

Cool! Thanks Dan!

[Gary Pikovsky]

Dan – just saw this post string and would very much like to order the kit. What should I do about picking an order for a 550, 650ml or 700ml cup with handles? Went to your site and only saw 550 kit with what seems to be no handles.

[DAN-Y]

Gary, I have Toaks 600 with handles available. Going higher in volume makes the Starlyte burner struggle with the larger titanium pots. I have surprised myself by removing one handle(9grams) and still am able to pour 2 cups of water no problem. Squeeze the handle like a pot grabber and it works great. The 600 has room for 2 cups with enough head room to prevent boiling over.

[Matthew / BPL]

Dan, is the burner you sent out a Starlyte Simmer Burner?

[Gary Pikovsky]

Dan – after thinking more about I decided to go with the 550ml cup with handles. How do I go about ordering it with handles?

[Zack h]

+1 to what Gary said/asked

[DAN-Y]

Gary and Zach, I’ll order 1/2 dozen of them and let you know when they arrive. A day after I receive them, I can ship your order. I’ll have to make a separate sale page for them.

Matthew, it is not a “simmer” Starlyte. It’s in between a Simmer and a Modified so as to keep it in the sweet spot. We needed to keep it as “fast” as possible without the flames coming out the top.

A “simmer” size will boil 2 cups also but at a much longer time to boil.

A reminder…………..the “new” 550 burner was tested using a 600 pot with 2 cups of water and the Trail Designs CC.

[DAN-Y]

This is what the handles look like on the 550.

The ridgeline that I apply will not go completely around the pot but will be sufficient to support it in the cone.

[Abraham Schlossberg]

Hi Dan.  I’d be interested in the toaks 550 with handles kit as well.  Would the 550 pot be the “new version” with graduated markings?

[DAN-Y]

Abraham, yes it would be the “new version” with graduations.

 

[Matthew / BPL]

Dan, I think that photo is the “New Version” (2.8 ounces for the pot) not the “Light Version” (1.9 ounces for the pot). Assuming you are doing the Light Version I will probably want to buy one too :)

[Matthew / BPL]

Oh. I’ll probably skip this version then.

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