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Author Topic: Gas Bottle Multifuel Hobo Stove  (Read 20178 times)

Dowser

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Gas Bottle Multifuel Hobo Stove
« on: November 22, 2010 »
The first time I saw one of these was a few months back here on NI-Wild.  Somebody was talking about making an alcohol stove from a Lynx aerosol can and was worried about cutting into it.  Somebody else replied saying something like "Try cutting into one of these!!!" and posted a picture of a gas bottle stove.

As soon as I seen seen it I thought to myself "I want one of those" since my Homebase patio heater had disintegrated into a pile of rust.

Being handy with and angle grinder, and a bit of a closet welder, I set to work:

The first AND MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU HAVE TO DO is purge every single drop of gas from the cylinder.  the only safe and reliable way to do this is fill the bottle completely with water.  The valve on the top of the bottle I was using had a ball bearing on a spring.  I was able to depress the ball bearing with a fine screw driver and trickle water into the bottle till it was full.  This was the longest part of the process and took a good couple of hours:


The next thing to do was drill a hole in the bottom of the cylinder while it is on it's side so that you are definately drilling into water and not a gas pocket.  This is the scariest part of the process, when your doing it for the first time.  Make sure your Will is up-to-date before attempting this bit:





Some water will escape when you drill the hole on the bottom so top the cylinder up again completely and seal the hole with duct tape:



Now to make the door for putting fuel into the stove.  Using masking tape, mark out a rectangle to the size you want and get cutting... Do not over cut and keep the piece your cutting out whole as you will be using this as the actual door.





Should look like this when your done:



To get draw and allow air into the stove you need an air intake at the base of the cylinder below the door.  So again mark out the area you want to remove and get cutting.  You don't need to save the bit you are removing this time so cut it out whatever way you find handiest:






Next thing to do is remove the valve so that the chimney can be attached.  This was a tricky bit.  Other than drilling round it wth a fine drill bit and then going round again with increasingly bigger drill bit till all the holes joined, I could not think of any other tool that I had in my possession to use to remove it.  A cutting torch would be handy but not too many people have these lying about!!!





Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me when I was welding it all together but here's the photos of it after it was assembled.  I welded a hinge to the door and then welded that to the cylinder.  I also used a piece of mild steel square tubing to make the air intake.  I've extended it out about 2 inches so that I can put a regulator valve in it at some time to regulate the airflow. Oh, nearly forgot, I welded a strip of 1 inch mild steel down the outer edge of the door so that it doesn't close in on itself.  So, as they say in Blue Peter... Here's one I prepared earlier:











Now that it's all stuck together the next thing to do is light it and get a nice big roaring fire going.  This will burn off most of the red paint so that the stove can be painted with a Very High Temperature paint.









Finally, the stove needs painted to protect it from the elements and then lit again to cure the paint and hey presto... One Multi Fuel Hobo Stove:








Just noticed I did it all in my slippers (Very A-Team... Not).  Probably advisable to wear sturdier footwear  :D

Total Build Cost:
Gas Cylinder - Free
Additional Steel for Chimney, Air Intake and Door Lip - £2.75
Very High Temperature Paint - £3.50

Total Build Time - 2hrs

 ;D
« Last Edit: November 22, 2010 by Dowser »
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RedLeader

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Re: Gas Bottle Multifuel Hobo Stove
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2010 »
This is blummin awesome. You're making the rest of us look really, really bad with your can-do attitude :)
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LennyJ1

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Re: Gas Bottle Multifuel Hobo Stove
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2010 »
Great effort Andy, really impressed.
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whoRya

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Re: Gas Bottle Multifuel Hobo Stove
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2010 »
Fantastic!

The only thing I'd have done differently would be to have brought the washing in off the line earlier ;D
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Dowser

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Re: Gas Bottle Multifuel Hobo Stove
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2010 »
Quote from: whoRya on November 22, 2010
Fantastic!

The only thing I'd have done differently would be to have brought the washing in off the line earlier ;D

Yeap... My wife had something to say about that too.   >:(
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suspectmonkey

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Re: Gas Bottle Multifuel Hobo Stove
« Reply #5 on: November 22, 2010 »
My life was nearly ended prematurely when we removed the valve on an "empty" butane cylinder.  Surprising how much pressure is left in there even when depressing the pin releases no gas ;)  I guess water is the way to go!  Once we retrieved the cylinder (which had basically taken off down the drive way horizontally) we added a regulator for compressed air with a two valve.  We were then able to top up the cylinder with compressed air from our compressor and use the cylinder as a portable compressor.  Wonder if still have it in garage actually... I know its defintely empty so could give it the hobo stove treatment :)
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Matthew

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Re: Gas Bottle Multifuel Hobo Stove
« Reply #6 on: November 22, 2010 »
Where was my invite for the manufacture of this bad boy?

It looks the mutts nutts lad, great job.  It make me want to get the welder in work sorted out, I wonder if they will order acetylene for me too.
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ChuckMcB

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Re: Gas Bottle Multifuel Hobo Stove
« Reply #7 on: November 22, 2010 »
Nice, very nice.
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Drongo

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Re: Gas Bottle Multifuel Hobo Stove
« Reply #8 on: November 23, 2010 »
Snap...!!!

Only thing I didn't different was that I bolted mine together as my welder was out of action...

Also, to empty the cylinder, I connected a regulator and left it open for 3-4 weeks before using a monkey wrench and wooden mallet to 'unscrew' the valve...

Then filled it full of water (mine had sticky oil residue in it that then poured out all over our decking and took about 2 hours to clean...!!!)


First Burn...


New flue, salvaged from house being knocked down behind us...


Coated with HT Paint...  (Which I've since found out is not weatherproof...!!??)


Since this picture, I've added 6 x 20mm holes around the bottom for a draft...
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