Possible idea for pepsi style stove

[Monkeyboy]

I have already built a SuperCat stove....works great, but I think the 8 minute burn time for 1 oz. fuel could probably be improved on.

And tried the Pepsi can model....very tiring trying to get the inside wall perfectly in place and seems very flimsy at best.

Anyhoo, when working with the cat can model, I noticed the smaller cans are the same height as the bigger cans. With a little engineering, the smaller can could be the inside wall of the larger can, with weep hole drilled at the bottom of the smaller can, and a lid made for the top with a hole in the middle for the smaller can.......

Anyone ever try this? Don't want to reinvent the wheel if not necessary and we find the stove was already made and sucks.......knowhatamean, Vern?!?!?

[Dances with Mice]

Anyhoo, when working with the cat can model, I noticed the smaller cans are the same height as the bigger cans. With a little engineering, the smaller can could be the inside wall of the larger can, with weep hole drilled at the bottom of the smaller can, and a lid made for the top with a hole in the middle for the smaller can.......

Anyone ever try this? Don't want to reinvent the wheel if not necessary and we find the stove was already made and sucks.......knowhatamean, Vern?!?!?

I can't tell, but I think you just described the cat stove.

[Monkeyboy]

Kinda, but was thinking more along the line of the pepsi can stove where it will be low pressure alky.....like this http://www.pcthiker.com/pages/gear/pepsistove.shtml

[atraildreamer]

And tried the Pepsi can model....very tiring trying to get the inside wall perfectly in place and seems very flimsy at best.

This is a post that I put on www.backpacking.net. You may find it helpful:

#89984 - 12/04/05 02:52 AM
"I found a good method of fitting the two halves of a soda can stove together.

I drill the jet holes and cut out the center hole of the stove first, and then I make sure that the cut edges of the cans are smooth.

Take an unopened can of soda and use the bottom as a form to restore the round shape of the the cut can parts. Stick the cut can over the full can and give it a few twists, back and forth. This will stretch the metal slightly.

Using scissors, make a series of tab cuts on the bottom edge of the top half of the can stove. The cuts should be about every 3/16 inch, and about 1/4 inch deep. Take a pair of needle nose pliers and bend every other tab in at about a 45 degree angle. The remaining tabs are also bent inward at a slightly lesser angle.

Insert the inner wall, if you are using one, into the top half of the can stove and then slide the bottom half of the stove aver the bent tabs of the upper half, being careful to keep the inner wall in position. Once you have the two halves together, gently press them together until the inner wall is tightly seated.

With a little practice, you can easily make a tight-fitting soda can stove. The only tape needed is to keep the shape and size of the inner wall steady. I you are using the pressurized type of stove, I recommend aluminum taping the two halves together. I had an untaped pressurized stove blow the top off when the alcohol pressurized the thing. "

Anyhoo, when working with the cat can model, I noticed the smaller cans are the same height as the bigger cans. With a little engineering, the smaller can could be the inside wall of the larger can, with weep hole drilled at the bottom of the smaller can, and a lid made for the top with a hole in the middle for the smaller can.......

I have glued a cat stove made from the small(3 ounce) cat food can inside a larger (5 ounce) cat food can. You just have to use a punch to make air holes around the larger can. I punched 2 rows of holes about every 1/2 inch around the top and bottom of the side of the larger can. The larger outer can acts as a windscreen and makes a wider support base for your pot.

[Seeker]

a can of campbell's soup works as a form for stretching the pepsi can too... if you have access to a vise, it works especially well, as you can force it down about a third of an inch, and the two halves will fit together with no trouble whatsoever...

[Skidsteer]

I have already built a SuperCat stove....works great, but I think the 8 minute burn time for 1 oz. fuel could probably be improved on.

And tried the Pepsi can model....very tiring trying to get the inside wall perfectly in place and seems very flimsy at best.

Anyhoo, when working with the cat can model, I noticed the smaller cans are the same height as the bigger cans. With a little engineering, the smaller can could be the inside wall of the larger can, with weep hole drilled at the bottom of the smaller can, and a lid made for the top with a hole in the middle for the smaller can.......

Anyone ever try this? Don't want to reinvent the wheel if not necessary and we find the stove was already made and sucks.......knowhatamean, Vern?!?!?

Kinda, but was thinking more along the line of the pepsi can stove where it will be low pressure alky.....like this http://www.pcthiker.com/pages/gear/pepsistove.shtml

By all means try it and let us know how it works. My guess is that your pepsi stove link is much lighter and is a better fit for commonly used pot diameters these days.

A trick for sizing the inner wall of a pepsi can stove:

-Find something in your household that measures 1 7/8"- 1 15/16" in diameter. Hint: check your vitamin/pill bottles.
-cut a strip from an aluminum can to the exact height desired.
-wrap it around the pill bottle and secure in place with a small piece of aluminum tape.

Voila! A perfect inner wall to a pepsi/beer can stove.

[Monkeyboy]

I know the pepsi can is lighter, but it is definately made of thinner (and therefore flimsier) material.

Guess I'll have to try it......but really getting tired of eating all of that cat food.....bleah.

[sum41punk91]

hey monkey boy... my advice is ditch soda cans completely and go with snapple or bud bottles its double the weight but it still weighs practically nothing and way stronger

[arkwater]

FYI A diet mtn dew can bottom fits perfectly over a snap. energy bottle. no stretching or sealing needed. You may have already known this?

[Monkeyboy]

hey monkey boy... my advice is ditch soda cans completely and go with snapple or bud bottles its double the weight but it still weighs practically nothing and way stronger

Actually a question for both of you.....what do you use for the inner wall? Do you still use a piece of regular soda can or can you bend the thicker snapple or bud bottle into a tube to make the inner wall liner?

[freefall]

I know the pepsi can is lighter, but it is definately made of thinner (and therefore flimsier) material.

Guess I'll have to try it......but really getting tired of eating all of that cat food.....bleah.

I built a pepsi can stove in 06/2005. I tested and tested then took it on my attempted thru this year. Now back in CO I have used it on a regular basis and it is still going strong. The only thing I've had to do to it was clean out the burner holes once(from using iso for a month or so).
I built it slitting the top and using JB Weld to glue the top and bottom together. Granted, I have never stood on it but it is holding up VERY well!
16 months and still going strong!

[freefall]

I can boil 2 cups of room temp water with denatured(+/- 3/4 ounce) in 4 minutes. Ramen is ready in 6.5( I let it soak on the end side for about 2 minutes), Lipton sides in 7 minutes (soak for 3 minutes) and mac/cheese in 11 minutes.
construction:
total height=1 7/8 using pepsi can bottom and natural ice top(same manuf.), 32 burner holes using a shirt pin to make holes. the outside is sprayed w/ high temp(500 deg) paint, after finished, and it is joined using slits and JB Weld. inner wall is just pepsi can with 3 notches cut in it.

[atraildreamer]

I know the pepsi can is lighter, but it is definately made of thinner (and therefore flimsier) material..

I have noticed that the Pepsi cans are coming through without the narrow ridge on the bottom. They look like the Coke cans with the rounder ridge. The aluminum seems to be a bit thicker, also.

.[/quote]Guess I'll have to try it......but really getting tired of eating all of that cat food.....bleah.[/quote]

Spread it on some crackers and take it to your church social...tell them it is pate'. (I'll never tell! )

[sum41punk91]

ok monkeyboy for the bud bottles and snapple bottles i make an ion stove such as this...http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/...s&cutoffdate=1 (ty skids) not a pespi style
but if you are making a pepsi type stove i highly highly reccomend u use this http://www.hikinghq.net/sgt_stove/ion_stove1_pf.html (ty sgt rock) this is byfar the best stove of that kind around

[Monkeyboy]

OK....here's the deal.....

Made one with a Starkist tuna can on the bottom and a large Friskies cat can on the top......placed a smaller cat can in the center and drilled 32 pinholes around the outside, just like the pepsi stove.....

Results with two cups water and one ounce fuel :

Lit instantly on the inside, but didn't start up the jets in the pinholes for another 60 secs.

Brought water to boil in 7 mins....not fast at all.....but it was a constant simmering heat.

However, the cool part is that it burned for 12 mins. on the nose with only one ounce of fuel and more fuel could have been added, possibly up to two ounces until holes in the smaller cat can were covered.

Like I said, a good low simmering heat and slow burn times.

And the smaller cat can in the center just slides in and out, so I am going to try it with smaller holes in the center feed, maybe putting three small holes in the bottom and three other holes slightly up from the bottom, maybe 1/8" up so that more fuel can be added......will let you know.

But 12 mins at a simmer.....it that a good burn time for one ounce?

[Skidsteer]

12 minutes total burn time or 12 minutes of simmering/boiling after the initial 7 minute boil?

[Monkeyboy]

12 mins. total burn time.......but if I put in two ounces, it would probably give me about twenty or so mins.

[Skidsteer]

It's not horrible.

I guess my next big question is: How much does it weigh? Between 2 and 3 ounces is my guess because of the steel tuna can. May as well carry a Trangia.

If you can find an aluminum replacement for the tuna can it would reduce the weight and very possibly increase the effeciency of the stove.

It sounds as if fuel capacity is important to you?

[Monkeyboy]

Fuel capacity isn't so much of the issue as burn time....8 mins total on one ounce in a supercat seems like a waste. As well as no simmering ability. Can also try it with a lg. cat can on the bottom if you think it will improve efficency.

The extra capacity is also nice so that you don't have to watch the burn closely for fuel outage. I'd rather fill it up once and burn for twice the duration.

Or maybe heat with the supercat quickly and instead of switching to another supercat to simmer, change to the other for simmering ability.....

[Skidsteer]

I agree with you on the supercat.

My main point, I guess, is that if the design can't be made significantly lighter than a Trangia, then I would just carry a Trangia because it's reliable, relatively effecient when using large amounts of fuel, and has a workable simmer ring.

Do you have a scale to weigh the stove?