Penny Alcohol stove

[Kactiguy]

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

 

[Powder keg]

Thanks Guy) Those would work good for a boiler I think. Be fun to mess with anyway)

Thanks, Wes

 

[Loose nut]

GASP!!! no safety glasses, don't let momma see those pictures.

 

[Brass_Machine]

Those are pretty neat. I gotta build one.

Eric

 

[tattoomike68]

thats trick, I just so happen to have a pile of empty beer cans sitting here right now.. :big:

 

[tattoomike68]

OK , it will not start, whats the trick?

OK I will try again..

 

[Bogstandard]

Mike,

Put meths in it, not beer.

John

 

[tattoomike68]

Mike,

Put meths in it, not beer.

John

I have 91% isopropyl and it still wont start, I have enough to launch a tennis ball cannon made from soup cans to the next block. It looks like a bomb to me. this better not be an April fools joke. :big:

 

[tattoomike68]

OK I am a dummy, that unit burns great. I needed to push the top down farther.

heck I can cook dinner over that. its just fine. :bow:

I will upload the video of it running.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-IDopbIo-w[/ame]

 

[Powder keg]

Great job Mike)

Wes

 

[Brass_Machine]

Look at that burn! BURN BABY BURN! :big:

Eric

 

[Tin Falcon]

Great post guy. Every boys dream of a "Science Project" playing with fire. Is the ilustrastion your or is it from a web site somewhere.
I have researched them but have not built one yet.
Tin

 

[Kactiguy]

Way to go Mike. I knew you would get it going. The video shows it working well. Thanks for posting it. My son wants to teach his scout troop how to make them, so they can all cook on camp outs.

Tin- I did the drawing myself. It isn't super detailed, but I thought it showed the essentials.

 

[Tin Falcon]

Guy:
no need for any apologizes on the drawing. I like it, clear, concise ,one page, and a nice little narrative to round it out.
I was just curious if it is your work I did not notice a signature . I plan on sending a link to this page to my brother-in-law who is a Royal Ranger leader(kind of like Boy scouts through the Assemblies of God church. )
Do mind if this is copied for scouts , 4-H etc
credit to you of course.
Tin

 

[tattoomike68]

I started mine today and it ran for 40 minutes, its a dandy little unit.

 

[dparker]

Hello All: Take a look at www.instructables.com and put alcohol stove in the search box and several variations will show. This is a fascinating site to look around in. This stove would be a good thing to have in the emergency kit for the house and even in the car or truck, good for backpacking also. One thing I noticed was that some of these had a wicking material inside the stove.
don

 

[old-biker-uk]

Just had to try didn't I ?

Mark