Tripod Mount for a Gasifier Stove (Made From an Old Cake Pan)

A few months back I got obsessed with wood-fueled mini camping stoves. Enter the rabbit hole here. The idea of being able to have a small fire and cook a meal outside with fallen twigs and branches sounded really cool. I saw a bunch of great tutorials on how to make gasifier stoves both here on Instructables and Youtube, but found a great deal and ended up purchasing one. The first time I used it, I had nowhere to put it. I had to place it on a board between two plastic chairs. In the back of my head, I knew I wanted to find a better solution. 

A few months earlier I’d saved a couple of cake pans from being discarded by a relative. Like my grandfather would do, I tend to set aside things I think I can use later, at least for a few months :) After some fiddling around, I realized that my stove fits well into the cake pan and that I could affix this to one of my tripods to have a small, portable and convenient stand. I used one of the pans and made a crude prototype (last photo) that worked but I wanted to make it better both functionally and aesthetically. 

This is how I made the improved version. 

If you time your glue drying right, this project can be done in a single weekend.

Note: I altered the order of these steps to be different than the video above because I think they make more sense in the order you see them below. 

Materials

• A pan that fits your camping stove (Mine was 9")
• A ¼”-20 Tee Nut (or Flange nut)
• A Sturdy Tripod
• A piece of wood about 4" square (1/16” thicker than the height of the nut)
• 3x #8 5/32 zinc washers
• 6x 5/32 Neoprene Washers and or 1/4"ID 1/2"OD Neoprene washers
• #10-24 x 9/16" compression/well nut (coarse thread)
• 3x 3/16" x 5-1/2" Zinc Plated Hook To Eye Turnbuckle Stanley Hardware 221846 (Make sure hook is standard threaded or tightens into turnbuckle body when turned clockwise)
• 3x #10-24 Zinc Plated Machine Screw Nut.
• JB Weld original two-part epoxy (gray viscous type)
• Epoxy rated for 300F (just to be safe) See step 9 for more details.
• Sandpaper (I used 150-1200 grit)
• Masking or painters tape
• Paint (optional)
• Isopropyl Alchohol (to remove sharpie lines) 

Tools

• Drill
• HSS twist Drill bits including a 19/64”
• A variety of hand or electric woodworking saws will work. 
• Electric sander
• Scissors
• Center punch (a nail and hammer will do)
• Metal File 

Safety equipment

• Hearing protection
• Respirator/ Dust mask
• Eye protection
• Gloves for adhesives and paint

Here’s an overview of some of the design process. 

Tripod Mount

In order to attach the underside of the cake pan to my tripod, I glued a flanged nut to the bottom. A flanged nut or a T-nut provides more surface area for the glue but I wasn’t sure that it would be secure enough so I made a wooden “doughnut”. The doughnut helps spread the load out more over a larger surface area and secures the nut with more confidence. 

Hooked

The specific type of stove I have is a gasifier stove, it burns super efficiently and hot! (which has its advantages and disadvantages) Here's a great video explaining how they work. Because of their design, gasifier stoves have air inlet holes on the bottom and this mount uses them to our advantage to securely attach the pan and stove together. Another key detail about gasifier stoves is that they stay relatively cool on their underside since they are double-walled. This will make sure our pan and our tripod don’t get too hot. More on that later. It dawned on me as I was rummaging thru old hardware that hooks would work well to temporarily but securely attach the pan and the stove. I just needed to find the perfect threaded hook. 

The Feet

To tighten the hooks onto the stove, I originally was going to just use normal hex nuts but wanted something more elegant and easier to use without a wrench. I’d realized with my prototype that If I wanted to move the stove or use it on a table it wouldn’t sit right and wobble with the “doughnut” (see step 7) and quick release plate attached. I happened to have some rubber feet lying around but my attempts to make those work were futile. The solution was an off-the-shelf, and cheap part, that needed no modification, compression nuts. These provide the perfect amount of ground clearance for the doughnut and QR plate in addition to being both easy to tighten by hand, decent looking, and non-slip. 

Find a Pan and Sand It!

If you don’t have an old pan on hand, ask a relative, or find one at a thrift store I often see them there. My pan is a 9” cake pan with a 1.5” rim but any size or shape that fits your stove will work. You want your stove to fit into the pan with a little bit of room for the hooks (an interior diameter about 1.25” larger than your stove). Although sanding would normally be something that goes last, it will be easier to do now before the next steps.

 An old pan can look quite nice after some elbow grease. My pan had a nonstick coating which made it a little harder but with some patience, it will come off. Be sure to wear a respirator or dust mask. I recommend starting with 150 or 120 grit using an electric sander and your hands where the sander can’t fit.  

Because I wanted to keep mine bare aluminum/unpainted, I sanded it to 1200grit. 

Although It took a while, it came out so well that I may do this again to restore an old pan in the future!

The Right Fit

While I had initially intended to use modified eye hooks to hold the stove onto the pan, I realized the threads don't go up towards the hook far enough and that there was a better off-the-shelf part. The hook from a hook and eye turnbuckle has threads that continue further up to the hook and have a better geometry for securing the stove.

Note: After buying two different types of turnbuckles from two hardware stores I realized that only one of them worked. Because of the design of a turnbuckle, one side will be normal clockwise threaded, and the other reverse or counter-clockwise threaded. Make sure your hook recedes into the turnbuckle body when turned clockwise so it will work with standard nuts. Stanley Hardware 221846 will work. Unfortunately, this means that you can’t buy a double hook turnbuckle and use both sides. I saved the turnbuckle body and threaded eye for another project. 

The feet can be made in a variety of ways, if you’d rather not use the expansion nut, You'll just want the feet to be about an inch in length.

The order from the top is as follows:

1. Hook
2. Neoprene Washer
3. Zinc washer
4. Neoprene washer
5. Expansion Nut

To assemble the feet first take the hook and from the bottom, slide on a neoprene washer, a zinc washer, another neoprene washer, and then thread on your expansion nut. I ended up with two different types of Neoprene washers and found that the looser fit one works well on the bottom. The tighter fitting washer works well on top to keep everything in place when the feet aren't attached.

After the next step, you can cut off the excess threads protruding from the expansion nut.  

Curious what an expansion nut is used for?

Testing Hole Alignment

To make sure the holes were placed in the right spot, I did a test with a scrap piece of wood. I highly recommend doing this if you have a different stove. In doing so, I found that it works well if you trace the stove out and drill holes about an ⅛” away from this line (on the outside of the drawn circle).

Layout

I noticed that there was about a 1.5" gap between my pan and stove when pushed to one side so, I used three small pieces of 3/4" dowel to center my stove and mark a circle around it. My stove’s holes didn’t line up evenly into thirds as I’d drawn so I just got it as close as possible. My stove has 22 air inlet holes so I marked the pan at the 1st, 8th, and 15th holes. Once you've located the stove air inlet holes on your drawn circle, move 1/8" from the stove perimeter, outward and make a mark for drilling.

Drilling the Holes

I‘d recommend using a center punch or a nail to make a small indent for your drill bit. As I’ve learned from DIY Perks, you can make some incredibly accurate and clean hole’s in metal when you start with a small drill bit and work up. As you make the holes larger, stop and test to see how everything is fitting. I stopped at 19/64” because it allows me to remove and install the hooks from the bottom without completely unscrewing the feet. Once you are happy with them you can clean the edges from both sides with a countersink bit, a larger bit, deburring tool, or some sandpaper. 

Trim the Hooks

Finally, assemble the stove to the pan and mark where the threads of the hooks protrude through the rubber feet. Make a mark and cut with a hacksaw, Dremel, or angle grinder and file off any sharp edges.

Finding Center

The easiest way I found to find the center of the bottom of the pan is to trace its circumference on a piece of paper, cut out that circle, and fold that circle in half twice. The intersection of the four creases will denote the center. Then you can either poke a hole there with a pen or pencil to mark it or fold it back up and cut the tip of the triangle to give you a center hole.

Gluing the Tripod Nut

To ensure I didn’t get glue everywhere, I put some painter's tape around the center before gluing. I left about a ¾” square. Next, take a ¼-20 bolt and thread it a little less than all the way through into the nut. This will prevent the glue from ruining the threads when you push the bolt down and aid you in determining if the nut is perpendicular to the pan.

Note: I think the T-nut may be the better option because there is a little more thread to screw into and the prongs may provide extra strength and keep the nut from twisting or pulling out of the epoxy. 

To get the better adhesion, with coarse sandpaper, scuff up the nut and the area of the pan that is left exposed from the masking tape. Mix the JB Weld thoroughly and apply it to the uncovered square in the center of the pan and push the nut into the glue. Do your best to spread the glue to cover the whole square and the edges of the nut before removing the tape and checking if the bolt is perpendicular in all directions to the pan. Once the glue is starting to get tacky, carefully remove the bolt and set everything aside until fully cured. 

Dimensions

Find or make a piece of wood at least 4” square with a thickness of about 1/16” more than the height of your tripod nut. This is important for strength as the increased surface area between the mount and your tripod will help spread the forces acting on it. Basically, we’re creating a Mitch Hedberg what's holding up my pants? scenario.

If having the numbers is helpful:

A ¼”-20 flange nut has a height of about 7/32” so you’d want your board to be about 9/32 thick.

A ¼”-20 t-nut has a height of about 5/16” so you’d want your board to be about ⅜” thick. (3/8" plywood might work as it's a hair thinner than 3/8")

I made mine into a doughnut shape about 4” wide with an interior hole of about 1 ¼”. The shape is not important to the function of this part so if it is easier to make a 4” square with a 1 ¼” square or circle in the center then you can do that. Also, feel free to cut your piece in half if it's easier with your tools to cut the interior hole. When making my prototype, I accidentally split my piece of wood in half and just glued it back together. It won’t affect the strength when glued to the underside of the pan. 

Layout and Cutting

To layout the cut lines for my doughnut you can make a simple compass with a piece of cardboard, a thumbtack, and a pencil. I then drilled a hole in the center and cut the interior and exterior using a scroll saw. After, I cleaned up the lines with a disc sander, belt sander, and rasp and sanded it to 220 grit.

Finish/Paint (optional)

Before gluing the doughnut feel free to paint finish one side and the edges of it. It will likely be neater if you do it now rather than once it is glued. Just leave the bottom unfinished so the glue can stick well. 

Gluing the Doughnut to the Pan

Lastly, eye-ball the doughnut centered and mark around it with a pencil. This will allow you to scuff up the area inside the circle with coarse sandpaper to enhance the glue adhesion while avoiding scratching other areas. Once sanded you can spread some JB Weld onto your “doughnut” and press it firmly around the tripod nut. If some glue squeezes out you can take an old drink straw, cut it at an angle and use that to remove the squeeze-out. 

If you want to flip over the pan and put in weights so that the base of the pan remains flat be careful that the doughnut doesn't shift off-center (don’t ask me how I know). Maybe just skip this step unless your pan is very warped.

More Glue

To glue the tripod nut, the pan, and the doughnut together I poured some epoxy resin into the center of the doughnut. In an attempt to be frugal, my mind slipped and I forgot that you're not supposed to mix epoxy (or silicone) where you plan to use it. Mixing in a separate container will prevent unmixed portions on the edges from failing to cure. A piece of tape or a sacrificial bolt can be used to prevent the epoxy from ruining the threads. Pour the epoxy so it sits just below the surface of the nut and let it cure fully.

If you wanted to get fancy you could color the epoxy, I even know of someone who might be able to help you with some homemade colorings.

You’re almost there! Lastly, make any small aesthetic improvements by wiping off any marker with isopropyl alcohol, sanding blemishes, and or painting it. 

Saftey

In addition to general fire safety and regulations:

• Only use it on a tripod that is rated to take the weight of your stove, stand, fuel, and anything you place atop it.
• If you are using a tripod with a ball head it will always be safer to use with it removed, as that adds a failure point.
• Level your stove before using.
• Make sure all knobs are tightened and everything is stable before use.
• A weight, rock, or sandbag can help to secure your tripod, especially critical around children and pets,

If you want to use the stove on a wooden picnic table, it would be advisable to put something down below it to protect the table from any falling burning twigs. A foil oven liner works well and is still portable.

 When done, always dispose of the ashes properly. 

Testing

I've used my stand several times now each for a couple of hours. I measured the temperature of the mount with a few different thermometers and found that the outside of the pan can get up to 140F with the bottom generally being a little cooler. These numbers were on a hot day though, where it was 90F and the stove was in direct sunlight. For comparison, my car's exterior in the sun read about 125F. In my other tests, it generally reached about 130F. At these temperatures, I am not worried about the JB weld, epoxy, or nylon washers melting or failing and the wooden doughnut doesn't transfer/conduct heat well so it protects my tripod.

Although I wish I could touch it for more than a few seconds without burning myself, touching the mount by accident is much better than touching the stove itself (230-500F) which I have done several times. Another added bonus is that it will cool faster than the stove because it's aluminum and when finished and the rim makes it easier to empty the ashes.

Reflection

Overall I'm very happy with the mount I made for my gasifier stove. With its ease of use, and portability I will use my stove much more often, and coming from the prototype, it is much better looking, more functional, and safer to use. I don't think It would have come out so refined if I didn't have another pan to make a prototype. Maybe that one can become a portable birdbath?

Improvements

I think it would be nice to have storage or some way of attaching the feet when not in use. I don't want to lose them! Maybe you could also have storage for tinder and a Ferro rod. I kind of like how it looks now though and will likely keep my mount attached to my stove unless I've got it in a backpack.

Aesthetically, If done again, instead of painting the doughnut, I would have used a nice hardwood and put some type of finish over it. You barely look at the bottom when in use but it could look really classy.

Also, in the build process or (maybe from use) I've scratched the parts of the stove where the hooks go in. It doesn't look terrible but maybe you could Plastidip the end of the hooks. If I test this, I'll report back on the durability.

If you have any ideas for how you'd improve it, let me know!