Kactiguy
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- Nov 11, 2007
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Wes asked me a question about a little soda can stove I showed him the other day and I thought I'd answer him with a post.
Last year my son needed to do a science project. We found a website that showed how to make these nifty little camp stoves out of aluminum cans. I built one and was amazed how well they work. My son thought he would test to see if the amount of holes around the stove would effect how efficient these little stove are. I was impressed with the results. It could boil water in about 4 minutes.
Anyway, I thought I would share this with the forum because I'm sure somebody here could find a use for one. Maybe to power some stirling engine or to roast marshmallows on.
Here are some little plans that I quickly drew up.
To answer your question Mr. Powder Keg, we just cut the cans with an x-acto knife. I quickly built one today for the heck of it and cut it with a cutting wheel on my Dremel tool. Worked pretty good. I asked Birk how he got nice, clean, un-crumpled cuts in aluminum cans once and he said he would freeze water in the can first and then make his cuts. Maybe he could elaborate.
Here is my boy drilling the holes. Pretty simple stuff.
Making a series of crimps around the can makes it east to fit the halves together and helps in preheating the fuel.
Here he is measuring the results.
Here they are in action. Six hole was definitely the best-- burned hotter and longer.
They are super easy to build. I have done it with a pocket knife before. I even made a smaller version out of one of those tiny aluminum cans. Try it out you might like it.
Here is a link to the website where I originally found it:
http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/penny.html
Last year my son needed to do a science project. We found a website that showed how to make these nifty little camp stoves out of aluminum cans. I built one and was amazed how well they work. My son thought he would test to see if the amount of holes around the stove would effect how efficient these little stove are. I was impressed with the results. It could boil water in about 4 minutes.
Anyway, I thought I would share this with the forum because I'm sure somebody here could find a use for one. Maybe to power some stirling engine or to roast marshmallows on.
Here are some little plans that I quickly drew up.
To answer your question Mr. Powder Keg, we just cut the cans with an x-acto knife. I quickly built one today for the heck of it and cut it with a cutting wheel on my Dremel tool. Worked pretty good. I asked Birk how he got nice, clean, un-crumpled cuts in aluminum cans once and he said he would freeze water in the can first and then make his cuts. Maybe he could elaborate.
Here is my boy drilling the holes. Pretty simple stuff.
Making a series of crimps around the can makes it east to fit the halves together and helps in preheating the fuel.
Here he is measuring the results.
Here they are in action. Six hole was definitely the best-- burned hotter and longer.
They are super easy to build. I have done it with a pocket knife before. I even made a smaller version out of one of those tiny aluminum cans. Try it out you might like it.
Here is a link to the website where I originally found it:
http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/penny.html
) Those would work good for a boiler I think. Be fun to mess with anyway
