My Machined Aluminum Cat Stove Project.

[headchange4u]

My cousin can work wonders with a metal lathe and i asked him if he would make me a stove from machined aluminum. He said he would be more than happy to do so and even said he has the aluminum lying around and he would let me have it. The cost and time and effort for this project, on my part, will be nothing. Hopefully I will get a nice stove out of the deal.

Anyways, here are a couple screen captures from Google's SketchUp, a great freeware program for 3D drawings.

Shot 1
Shot 2 (different angle)

This is a rough drawing that took me about 5 minutes to do and is not to scale. I did it to give my cousin an idea of what I was trying to accomplish. A scale hand drawing will be coming later today.

I will keep you guys updated as the project progresses.

[Big Dawg]

Too cool,,, can't wait to see the finished poroduct!

[zelph]

Thanks for the link to sketchup, cool site!!!

Look forward to seeing your new creation!!!

Wish I had a lathe

Come join the Stove Build Contest for the Fourth Of July weekend.

Get your cousin to participate also, the more the merrier!!!

[headchange4u]

Here's my entry for the 4th of July Stove contest!

My stove is now pretty much finished except for a few minor details. I call it my Phat Cat Stove. It was machined from a 4 1/2 inch wide aluminum stock (The stove is not that big). The walls on the stove are 3 mm thick. It's larger than your normal Cat stove and from intial estimates will hold 3 1/2 to 4 oz. of fuel. I have only tested it once so far and it burned for about 8-9 min. on a little more than a 1/2 oz. of fuel (methanol). I have not cooked with it yet.

I also designed the inner chamber (the part that holds fuel) to operate as a Super Cat Stove so the stove has a duel use as a Cat Stove with the lid on or a Super Cat with the lid off. That is the reason there are so many holes in this chamber.

I also finished my new windscreen last night made from aluminum flashing that I bought at Home Depot (.0092 thick, 6" tall, 10' long for $3.98. There is enough to build several windscreens.) I made my first windscreen from aluminum oven liners. It has not held up that well and I decided I needed to find something a little sturdier and the aluminum flashing is perfect. I would suggest that anyone building a windscreen use this stuff instead of the oven pan liners.

More details will follow as I get into testing. I have the plans I drew up and I will be posting them to the gallery linked below in a couple of days.


Phat Cat Machined Aluminum Stove Gallery.


Coments welcome (good or bad).

[betic4lyf]

wow, that is the coolest thing ever

[headchange4u]

I would also like to thank my cousin Pavel Dimitrov, Bulgarian master of the metal lathe, for all the hard work he put in on making this stove.

[papa john]

Any pictures of it lit? Have you tested the boil times, etc? Nice looking stove, what's the weight?

[Skidsteer]

Any pictures of it lit? Have you tested the boil times, etc? Nice looking stove, what's the weight?

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v7...20Cat%20Stove/

[peanuts]

OH MY!!!! AWSOME STOVE!!!! When are you going to start selling them???

[Big Dawg]

Sweeeeet,,,, one of a kind!! great pics.

[papa john]

Any pictures of it lit?

I saw those, didn't see any fire...

[headchange4u]

OH MY!!!! AWSOME STOVE!!!! When are you going to start selling them???

They would probably be to expensive to sell. The aluminum stock was free, but I bet it cost a pretty penny to buy that big of a hunk of metal. So far all it has cost me was a hat that I gave a friend to cut the stock down to a workable size with a band saw. The original peice of stock was almost a foot long.

The machine time on this stove was about 4 hours and it took me over an hour to mark and drill the holes. My cousin said that if I was thinking about selling them (which I'm not) that it would be better to have them cast instead of making them on a lathe.

Big Dawg,

I just got the stove this morning and took the pics of it on my lunch so I have not has a lot of time to sit down with it. It seems like it is going to have long burn times. It seems to be a little heavy (compared to my other Cat Stove) but it is bigger. I will probably have Pavel take some off the sides of the base to reduce weight if I think it needs it.

I plan on posting pics with it lit later on as well as pics of the new windscreen and stand and pics with it lit. I will also be doing some extensive testing to find boil and burn time. I will post the details here when I finish.

Gawd, I'm such a stove adddict.........

[Skidsteer]

I saw those, didn't see any fire...

Woops! Misread your post.

[headchange4u]

Thanks for the kind words everybody!

Here you go papa john. Some fireworks of the 4th! Here's a few pics of the stove in action using my GSI HA 1 liter pot:

Couple of shots of open flame:

Shot 1, Shot 2

In Super Cat mode:

Shot 1

In Cat mode:
Shot 4
Shot 1, Shot 2, Shot 3

There are more pic in the gallery link in post #4 or by clicking on my signature.

Spec tested so far:

3 1/2+ oz fuel capacity

Tests below were done using 1/2 oz methanol alcohol and 2 cups of cold tap water. Stove was allowed to cool back to room temp between tests. Tests were performed indoors with no windscreen (optimal conditions).

Cat Mode:

Burn time: 8min 30sec
Boil time (rolling boil): 4 min 15 sec

Super Cat mode

Burn Time: 12 min 45 sec (includes 2 - 2 1/2 min open flame burn to warm up stove)
Boil time: 8 min 35 sec

This is going to be a great stove. Lighting the stove is a breeze: remove top, add fuel, light fuel, replace top. I think my burn times and boil times are pretty good. Right now I have a thin layer of fiberglass insulation on the bottom of the stove. I am going to repeat the same tests with a ring of fiberglass around the side and an open bottom, much like the cat stove. The stove has yet to have ANY discoloration from heat (about 10 burns and counting).

The stove does take a while to warm up to be able to use as a Super Cat. It also takes a few minutes to cool down enough to touch, but I can handle and move it using the handle from my pot (hidden bonus).

I also noticed that it heated better as it warmed up using as a Cat Stove. It started as a thin column of fire focused on the center of the pan and then slowly grew until the flame spread across the bottom.

[StarLyte]

Wow-thanks for posting the pics - the stove is real nice-you are very clever, and a fellow stove addict Where else can you post something like this and others love it eh???

Thanks also for the link to Google SketchUp--I'm going to check that out as well. As you can see--instead of an avatar I chose a photo of my never failed, cheap, lightweight esbit stove. I'm so stubborn. Oh I use an alcohol stove too.

Thanks again.

[Just Jeff]

StarLyte - looks like you have aluminum foil over your GP lid. What's that for?

[StarLyte]

Too lazy to take the pot cozy lid off. Shameful.

[papa john]

Cool...fire! Nice job on that stove.

[zelph]

a super job!!!!! well done!!!!!!!!

[Doctari]

That is one PURTY stove.

Good job, kudos to your cousin!


Doctari.