Simple, Rugged, Dripless XUL Esbit Burner

[David Gardner]

Brian Green's Esbit Tray (http://briangreen.net/2011/11/titanium-foil-esbit-tray-stove.html) is very cool. But…it's a bit tricky to make (10 folds and interlocking corners), and still has some issues with sealing the corners so that the burning Esbit fluid doesn't drip out.

I happened to be looking at a piece of 1" x 1.5" rectangular steel tubing sitting next to an Esbit, and realized that the inner size of the tubing was almost exactly the size of an Esbit tab. So I decided to make a couple of minimalist burner trays the size of the tubing with some Titanium Goat .005" titanium foil scraps, and see if I could use the tubing as a form to press a slight depression into the tray to hold the burning fluid. The design only requires 4 simple folds.

First I cut and weighed a piece of ti foil using Brian Green's template:

Then I used the 1" x 1.5" tubing as a template, marked off the pattern for the folded flaps, cut and weighed it:

Next I bent the flaps using a vice and two thin pieces of wood as a bending brake:

Finally I placed the burner on the end of the 1" x 1.5" tubing, held it in place with my left hand, and gave the tray some serious love with my right thumb:

The finished product:

I also made one with all four flaps bent down to see how it would work, since it's even more compact and rugged than with one set of flaps up and one set down:

Did a test burn with this rig and boiled 500 ml of 60* F water in 6:31 min. using 11.2 grams of fuel, no drips:

[Bob Gross]

It seems to me that it would be nice if you could get rid of the square corners and sharp edges that will rub holes in stuff sacks. If the corners were more rounded, I think that would be an improvement. Similarly, it would be nice if the whole thing could collapse flat like a Gram Cracker of Trail Designs.

There is not a tremendous amount of liquid Esbit flowing around, so the metal depression doesn't need to be too deep. Some people dribble some alcohol over the Esbit for ease of lighting, but that will burn off before it has to be dealt with as liquid excess.

It would be interesting if a set of Greenlee punches could apply some specialized depressions to the metal. Thumb pressure just seems so low-tech.

–B.G.–

[todd]

I want one David!

I appreciate your detailed tutorial too. You always come up with good ideas!

[Dan Yeruski]

I'd like to see a video of the crystals forming in slow motion just for the fun of it. It's a pyro thing ;)

[Jerry Adams]

I like how, as you're going through life, you see things as how they can be applied to making MYOG stuff : )

and nice description of how to do it…

[David Gardner]

Hey Bob, you're right, it would be nice to get rid of the sharp angular corners. I carry my burner inside my cook pot so I never really worried about it, but maybe there is a way to fabricate it with round corners. I'll give it a try.

I haven't been able to think of a way to make it collapsible without making it flimsier, heavier and more complicated to make. The all-flaps-folded-down version is less than 1/4" thick so it's pretty compact already.

The nice thing about only needing a small depression is that only a moderate amount of bending/stretching/forming is needed.

I'm actually working on a punch, and will report back on that too. Should be much quicker and more consistent. But I thought I would report on the thumb method because it is relatively easy for anyone to do and requires minimal tooling. All one needs to make their own is a small piece of 1" x 1.5" tubing.

[David Gardner]

Following up on Bob Gross's suggestion, I took a stab at making a burner with rounded corners. I decided to go with all flaps folded down for compactness. Here is the pattern:

Here is the cut foil:

Flaps folded, depression formed, and weighed:

The final product:

Looks like it works. Even lighter too.

[Dan Yeruski]

Yes, much better with the rounded corners. I like!

[Bob Gross]

Working that titanium will wear out your Dremel tool bits.

Next, we need a variable height control, something nicer than piling up pebbles underneath the burner.

The good thing about a Gram Cracker is that it has its own pot support. This one doesn't.

–B.G.–

[David Gardner]

[edited to eliminate unintended duplication]

[David Gardner]

Thanks Dan.

Bob, no Dremel (although I do have carbide bits). Just regular Fiskar office scissors, which have survived an amazing 2 years of abuse in my shop.

Why variable height control? Some sort of burn rate/efficiency adjustment?

Also, not sure what you mean by the Gram Cracker having its own pot support. I was looking at the Gram Cracker and its side panels are for burn control, not support. At least, according to Trail Designs' website. Do you mean that the side panels can actually be used as pot supports too? That would be very cool. Or perhaps you were referring to the Caldera Cone being the pot support?

[David Gardner]

Bob Gross got me thinking about an Esbit stove (which supports the pot) as opposed to just an Esbit burner with his comment about the Gram Cracker having pot supports, and I came up with an idea to prototype for proof-of-concept purposes using just .005" titanium foil.

It looks pretty funky because the foil is sliced rather than slotted which causes the components to skew, and I wouldn't exactly call it rugged, but it works. 11 minutes to boil 500 ml of 50* F water using 11 grams of Esbit. There is also a "fiddle factor" to assemble it which takes a couple of minutes.

If I had more foil I would try slotting instead of slicing, and I came up with an idea to make it easily collapsible too to make it more compact and reduce fiddle factor time. But those will have to wait…

Open end view:

Side view:

Oblique view:

Weight 5.6 grams:

Supporting pot with 500 ml water:

Burning:

[Peter S]

David, i like the first edition you made the best. Super simple to make, and the sides ads a little bit of protection. I've been wanting to make the Brian Green version for some time, but you've made an even better version. Thanks David!

[Franco Darioli]

The good thing about a Gram Cracker is that it has its own pot support. This one doesn't.
Yes, it's called Caldera Cone

[Bob Gross]

"Why variable height control? Some sort of burn rate/efficiency adjustment?"

Yes.

"I was looking at the Gram Cracker and its side panels are for burn control, not support."

"Do you mean that the side panels can actually be used as pot supports too? That would be very cool."

I've done it with the side panels curved a bit.

It's not very cool at all. It gets hot.

–B.G.–

[Franco Darioli]

This is the Gram Cracker with an EMPTY 2 oz pot on it :

[Bob Gross]

Franco, nobody said that it was perfect.

It is a little different if the titanium panels are curved for strength.

–B.G.–

[Franco Darioli]

I'd like to see anyone that does have the Gram Cracker trying to put a pot with just a cup of water on top of those wings.

[Bob Gross]

Ahhh, you want water, too?

–B.G.–

[Ethan A.]

David congrats on a great design and thank you for sharing it. I can't wait to try it out.

[dale stuart]

Here are pic of my Brian Greens esbit style stove and my simmer cap. They have many trips on them so are not nice and pretty, just functional. I use this stove with a 5.5" wide bottom 800ml pot and a caldera style wind screen (pot supported by wind screen not tent pegs). Under just boil condition 1/2 esbit will boil dinners 2cups water and 1/4 esbit will boil breakfasts 1cup water. Under boil and simmer/cook, that's where the the simmer cap come in. I can boil 2 cups water and then drop cap on top of burner to continue simmering for 20 minutes or more, allowing many dinner options and still low fuel use.

-Dale

[David Gardner]

Very cool. I like the simmer cap, although I'm a "just boil water" and freezer bag cook when camping. Is that a rivet on the simmer cap? If yes, what does it do?

[Rod Braithwaite]

@Bob Gross – not intending a hijack from the OP thread, but here is a template of a tray with top/bottom slots for removable legs and sides. You can carry different height legs for each stove you use. The tray has bread-pan corners to keep liquid in. Weight on my scale flickers between 2 and 3 grams with legs cut to Gram Cracker height and no sides.

Sorry about the low res pics.

LBGET template

LBGET showing bread-pan corners

LBGET showing leg slots

LBGET with legs and sides installed

LBGET with Gram Cracker for comparison

Legs and sides store in bottom of tray, shown with 4 gram Esbit tabs

[Rod Braithwaite]

@Dale – that is a nifty looking idea – great approach to the simmer problem.

[dale stuart]

In response to "Is that a rivet", no its just a blemish on the material I had.
-Dale

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