Slippery Pot Bottom

[rickb]

I have a new Microrocket stove (good upgrade from Trangia) and biggish MSR aluminum pots-- 1.5 and 2.5 liter, I think.

I expected the posts to be tippy on a small stove-- I can live with that.

What I didn't expect was how slippery the pot's bottoms are when placed on the stove. By slippery, I mean like ice slippery. Very odd. If not perfectly level ,the pots want to slide right off the three small point of contact.

Has anyone else had this problem? I tried sand paper on the pots bottom, but it hardly helped. Perhaps I need a courser grit. Any other ideas?

[4eyedbuzzard]

Maybe the issue isn't the pot surface, but the stoves pot support surfaces. Perhaps rough up the pot support surfaces with a file?

[rickb]

Maybe the issue isn't the pot surface, but the stoves pot support surfaces. Perhaps rough up the pot support surfaces with a file?

I hate to admit it, but I never thought of that.

It seemed to help!

Before:

31023

After:

31024

[Dogwood]

It may not be the pot! Here's what I found in real world use. I found pairing a MSR Micro Rocket or Pocket Rocket w/ a Snow Peak Mini Solo 28 fl oz(828 ml) Ti pot, a rather upright narrow bottom designed pot, to be VERY slippery and unstable. I actually dumped over a few dinners before I realized this after NO meal mishaps in umpteen yrs cooking trail dinners with other canister gas stoves. Why? After careful inspection I found only 1 contact spot on each pot stand leg contacted the pot bottom just like your thumbnails show but, I assume, on your wider 1.5L pot! Further, looking closely at your thumbnails I notice potential instability based on where that contact pt is in relation to the curvature of the pot bottom where the bottom and sides of the pot meet. With a Snow Peak Lite Max stove and the SP Mini Solo pot I get six(6) contact pts on the bottom of the pot on each support leg out of a possible 11 on each fully extended leg. The legs can also be folded in for very narrow bottomed pots. The Lite Max is also only 3" high making it an overall more stable design no matter what pot shape I employ in my cookware arsenal. The designs of both the SP Mini Solo Ti pot and the MSR Micro Rocket stove were only marginally compatible. With the MSR Micro Rocket design there are 4 teeth on each pot stand support with a possibility of 6 contact pts with the bottom of a pot on each of those supports. Additionally, with the MSR Micro Rocket Design each of the pot stand legs are attached to the main body of the stove with first a rivet and then a hex had screw. These are two areas that can loosen up causing pot instability, especially those rivets. Maybe, not a huge problem but certainly a possible one. I've witnessed this. Another thing about the MSR Micro Rocket design is that the pot stand legs can be misshapen/bent. This is to be expected with such a UL stove design but even a little bending of one or more legs can cause pot instability. Make sure everything is compatible. Make sure you're getting MANY/ALL those contact pts on each support in contact with the bottom of your cookware and/or getting good friction/a good bite between what pts do contact the pot and the pot. Make sure your supports are fully open, not misshapen, or aren't loose. You'll generally get more stability with these types of gas stove designs especially with the 4" high Pocket Rocket and 3 3/4" high Micro Rocket when using the larger 8 oz iso cans with a wider more stable base being mindful of not getting too high a center of gravity with some cookware, the squat 4 oz MSR cans(one of the things I like about these cans is that they lower center of gravity), and when pairing with wider based more squat or small volume cookware. Even still compare the unfolded stove ht of the MSR Pocket Rocket or Micro Rocket with other similar UL gas stove designs. I like to have a lower center of gravity no matter what type of pot I'm paring my iso stoves with. Just an inch less in ht can make the difference IMHO. It makes for less potential instability and lesser risk of the pot slipping off the stove supports.

[rickb]

Thanks, Dogwood.

You mention the potential for the 4 teeth (and 6 potential contact points) on each pot stand support.

As as you can see in my photos, the flat top of the support does not run parallel to the bottom of the pot. There is no way to fold the legs differently to make it do so.

Does this strike you as odd?

My filing created a bit of extra contact area but not very much extra -- perhaps 1/8" more at best. Seems a shame that those 4 teeth will never touch the bottom of my pot.

[Dogwood]

You mention the potential for the 4 teeth (and 6 potential contact points) on each pot stand support.

As as you can see in my photos, the flat top of the support does not run parallel to the bottom of the pot. There is no way to fold the legs differently to make it do so.

Does this strike you as odd?

It did but my Micro Rocket is the same way. I was wondering about that too. The Micro Rocket must be designed that way. I wish I had my other UL/SUL super compact iso stoves of similar folding leg design and a few other pots to compare but this I can tell you with my SP Lite Max I have here of different design. I get more teeth on the pot bottom with the SP Mini Solo pot and the two other non MSR pots I have here to compare. These other two pots are of different design with different width. ???

[Rocket Jones]

I bought one of those cheap Chinese knock-off cannister stoves from Amazon and the fold out arms were the same way. I used a file and pliers to gently bend them into a more stable shape. That was easy for me to justify on a $6.00 stove. YMMV.

[Starchild]

Those extra teeth are made to hold (cradle) a smaller pot centered on the flame. You should be able to file/grind a flatspot into your stove for your pot to rest on which should help. But the stove you chose which is center flame may be better paired with a smaller pot, you may want to consider a stove with a wider flame pattern for the pot you are using.

[rickb]

Turned out that the combination of 80 grit sandpaper and an orbital sander did the trick. the paint/coating that MSR had on the pots was the core issue, but filing the stove a bit helped too.

Starchild-- your thoughts about the efficiency of my little stove on such a big pot makes sence. One more thing to dial in, but at least now my couscous with fresh vegetable masterpieces will be at much less risk.

Thanks all.

[Vegan Packer]

After seeing this post, I opened my Micro Rocket, and it has the same angle to the arms when fully open. I have smaller pots, but it would certainly seem that having the base making full contact would be a better way to go.

I see some filing in my near future. ;)