I am looking into modifying my Coleman Xtreme so that:
A) It is lighter
B) It is smaller

Along with being a bit heavy, it doesn't fit in my pot and that drives me crazy. The modification I am planning is pretty straight forward...same that has been seen in the past, change the legs out, burner plate removal, etc etc. But I need to shorten the long rigid brass fuel line that attaches to the stove leg. I have read a bunch of posts and articles on modifying the stove but none have touched on the brass line or if they have, they didn't go into detail about it. I know Tony Beasley, Roger C, and Bill F were really involved with this. Assuming I can recreate the mechanical aspect of the flared end, can I just shorten this tube without worry? Or is there more to it than that?

Picture for reference:


Thanks for any help.

Edited by Steve_Evans on 10/14/2010 14:31:40 MDT.

Hi Steve

I understand what you are trying to do, but ... I think the design of the Xtreme was a bit of genius engineering. Almost EVERY bit there is essential. Sure, some of it is steel and could be reduced in weight by changing the materials, but actually removing it - rather unwise imho.

The burner plate: replace with titanium maybe. Remove totally - risky. Upset the flame pattern and the heat radiation pattern, and possibly make the stove susceptible to 'flash-back'. That's something you do NOT want.

The brass tube: CRUCIAL to the performance of the stove, as is the thin brass rod inside it. This tube is the real heat exchanger, not the bit sticking up into the flame. The bit in the flame just collects heat and passes it back down to the straight section. Took me a long while to figure this bit out.

The flattened tubing supports: heavier than Ti, but Ti would sag under the red heat. They are not that heavy in reality.

The legs: good luck reducing the weight of those without weakening them too much. They are either Aluminium or magnesium - can't remember which.

The big spring: maybe, but keep all the spring pressure as it controls the mechanical stability.

The connector to the canister: I know this has been machined down to reduce its weight, but that can be a bit risky. It collects some radiant heat from the stove to assist in the boiling of the fuel. It also provides the needed mechanical strength for the mating process.

Black control knob: yeah, reducible. But not a lot in it.

Brass control valve inside: be very careful about touching this. The design has a few secrets associated with keeping it clear of gunge.

Cheers

Well, this isn't going as smoothly as I had hoped. I do appreciate the reply though. :) Along with the above post, Tony sent me a PM:


With the Extreme stove solid fuel line, I personally would not modify it in any way, it is one of the most important parts of the stove, from my experience with liquid canister stoves getting the fuel line sorted is the hardest part to get right and the Coleman engineers have got it right. When you think about what goes on with the liquid gas you have very small flow rates of usually less than a ml per minute, the Extreme solid fuel line has a piece of brass rod in it and the flexible hose has some rubber o-ring cord in it, this is to reduce the volume in the tube.

Sooooo, I'm thinking I may not mess with it now. While I wanted to lighten it up, I was more concerned with the size - it's just a 1/2 inch or so too big for my pot. I took the entire stove apart today in hopes of hacking it up in the coming weeks. Maybe I'll just look into stretching my pot a bit. ;)

I find it fits in my smaller GSI pot snuggly. may want to consider changing cook ware