Soda Can Stove

by stuntdude47 in Outside > Camping

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Soda Can Stove

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Today i'm going to show you how to build a portable alcohol stove made from two cans
it burns great. There is a lot of steps but it does not take more 10-15 minutes to build.

 p.s. This is my firist instructable, so if there is some thing to make this better please tell me

What You Need

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Two Cans
Chalk bits
A razor
needle nose plyers
sharpie or marker
scissors
A clamp
a ruler
 a inch thick book
Sharpie sized book
denatured alcohol 
matches

Optional tools and material
Wire or coat hanger i use wire
wire cutter
inslation can be  used  instead of chalk
newspaper
tape
lighting can a tuna fish can that a soda can will fit in with room to spare

Mark the Can

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Take your 1in. book and placing your marker on the book  twist the can against the sharpie marking it.
You want to mark the bottom of the can as shown.

Cutting the Can

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After both cans are marked, find your screwdriver and get that blade from the knife.
Next get your clamp and both books. 
Now clamp blade on the books on a table.
The blade should be about half an inch out from the books. 
Next grab a can and start to twist the can against  the blade.
Do not cut the Can simply twist and twist.
Keep scoring the side of the Can until you start to split it .
Then push around the Can with your finger the top should come right off.
Repeat with other can.

P.S. have a spare can  it's eay to mess up. so don't get mad.
 

Punch Some Holes

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take your maker and mark 16 holes around the egde of the can .
start with  4 then add 4 between those then 8  between those eight.
This is when you use something small like a thumb tack if you make bigger hole make less.
Then add some fuel drain holes at the center.look at the picture.
 If your having a hard time punching those holes make a indent with your tack. 
Next push the can against the tack this will not hurt your fingers as much.

This is the top piece.

Inner Chamber Pt. 1

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take your 1in. book and sharpie and mark the top of one of the can as shown.
Next puncture the can at the line. cut a 2 in. line then in the middle of the line cut towards top of can.
Nexts grab those scissors cut following the line.
When you first cut it does not look pretty so now clean it up a bit.

P.S. there is 3 step to this part because of all the pictures, thanks.

Inner Chamber Pt. 2

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After you have cleaned up those cuts, cut up the middle.
The straighter the better.
Now cut a small triangle at the bottom of the can about an inch in from the egde. as shown in picture.
At the tip of your triangle cut about half way up the piece.
Next  take this piece and make a cylinder in the inner circle of the other can.
Next being careful take the can cylinder out  and mark the can using the triangle you cut. It is now ok to let the cylinder come apart.
From the triangle you drew draw a line down/up the can ,deepending on which way you are looking at the can.
Now make sure the drawn triangle is at the bottom.
Then mark a little over half way down the can.
Next you should cut to the line, that marks a little over half way, towards the marker triangle. look at pictures 5 and 6 to get a visual.

Inner Chamber Pt. 3

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Now test fit the cuts, it should make the cylinder.
 If it does not fit evenly as with mine cut a tiny bit more on one line to make them fit flat.
 Do not mind the long tail we'll cut that later.
Next make a line on the clinder using your sharpie and one of your can bottoms as shown.
Then cut along that line.this removes what won't fit right.
Now if  you want to shorten up the clinder side tabs you can.
If you have masking tape you can tape the cylinder at the cut using one piece of tape.
It will burn off, but for now it will make it easer.

set this aside for now

Crimp the The Top

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Crimp the bottom of the top can as shown.
 Do not crimp all the way up the can, only crimp up about an inch.

Put It All Together

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First get the bottom can (the with out holes or crimping) ,then stick the clinder with triangle on the bottom in the bottom can.
Now crunch up some chalk and put it in the inner chamber(have all different sizes) Fill it up about 5/8 of the chamber.
After that take your top and try it on. if it does not fit in, crimp it some more.
When it goes in push it down all the way.
If it split you can make another bottom and try again or go to step 10 or if you get it to work with out splitting go to step 11.

Fix Your Split

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So it Split, well you can fix it (I did and it still works great).
What you need to fix it is some wire or a wire coat hanger and wire cutters or needle nose plyers.
 With a coat hanger or wire you need at least to cut a 12in. piece.
Take your wire and wrap it around the stove your two tips should touch and have tails. Wrap your tails together with you plyers.
This should be with the loop around the cans tighting them.
When it's tight you can cut off most of the tail leave at least three turns of wire.

Loading Fuel

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Use denatured alcohol in well vntilated area Do not Light untill vapors are gone.
 In thirty seconds or so.
 Use at your own Risk.
Alright let start stick your stove in a fire proof/safe place and pour denatured alcohol about a 1/4 dry cup into inner chamer. 
To prime stove pour some denatured alcohol into your can.If you don't have a can use tin foil.    Wait  thirty  seconds then light.

Look at That Flame

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Pictures of the Flame and Stove.