I've had a few attempts at making a lightweight inverted canister stove now, each one evolving and improving as I learn from the deficiencies of the previous ones.
Warning: it's addictive! Here is my latest:



Total weight = 96g (3.4oz).

No lathe was harmed in the making of this stove. Instead, I made this using my pick'n'mix method: the burner and jet came from a Gnat, a cheap chinese stove was butchered to make the canister connector and the needle valve is a spare part for a R/C model nitro engine. The remaining parts were hand made from scratch.

The legs simply unscrew for packing.

Very nice, Stuart. How about simply drilling 3 angled holes and using Ti stakes as legs?

Mike - I did consider 3mm Ti wire for legs but thin Ti is quite 'springy', whereas the 6mm Al tube that I used is much stiffer, not much heavier and gives a much more stable base.

Fair points, Stuart.
Being a CNC machinist, i really should try and make a stove myself. It just seems like more work when you are doing it full time.;)
What did you use for the pre-heat tube?

I'm a software engineer, so I like to make physical things for a change.
The vapouriser tube is stainless 'hypodermic' tubing 2.34mm OD bent to shape.

Very nice! I love that Gnat - pretty versatile little guy. I am experimenting with using it in a Jetboil system and it's interesting.

As I'm sure your tinkering will move on to another design soon, I'm happy to give you my address so you can send that one my way. No need to mail off the Gnat, just the base setup and fuel line will do :)

Hi Stuart,

Very nice designing and machining, keep them coming.

Tony

Hi Stuart

Very neat!
How do you get the fuel line to seal to the aluminium block? Flared tube?
Needle valves with wire handles? Where? Or did you make the handle?

Cheers

Tony - no machining here, all hand made.

Roger - the vaporiser tube is brazed into a M5 screw which is then screwed into the base. The 'up' and 'down' parts of the vaporiser tube are also brazed together near the bottom for strength.
I used a needle valve from a small nitro engine and drilled a couple of offset holes into the end and then just inserted the wire handle from another stove.

Suart - nice work. It's a stove like this that makes me think the stove manufacturers are not really interested in the lightweight remote stove category. For them, something like this would be dead easy - they could do most of it with parts they already have on the shelf. The fact that none of them does it suggest that they do not consider it worth their while.

What size fuel line did you use? I have a super cheap chinese stove that has known fuel line issues, and want to replace the hose and cut down the base before the line spalls and ruins the burner.

This is precisely the outcome that I am hoping to achieve, light and clean. Nice job!

Keith - I used 2mm ID PFA tubing. You can get PFA or PTFE tubing in various sizes - it is by far the best for chemical inertness and heat resistance but larger diameters will be inconveniently stiff for a lightweight stove.

Thanks Stuart,

Edit: I looked about online but could only find inconveniently long pieces, starting at more than the cost of a new stove.

I love tinkering, but can't justify that much of an investment.

Did you find a seller who deals in short lengths?

Keith

Edited by keith_bassett on 02/06/2012 17:59:20 MST.

mcmaster/carr will cut to length

http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-plastic-and-rubber-tubing/=g526na

Bless you sir.

I found the tubing at Grainger, etc. but they only wanted to sell me multiple meters. A bit more than I need. :)