Shop Made Tools

[Bob Engelhardt]

...
On the right we have Version 4, with a (fairly) quiet burner. More complex aerodynamics. I have skipped V-1, V0, V1 and V2.
...

Very nice ... very professional looking. Market worthy. It look like it folds up into a flat-ish form. How much does it weigh? How much fuel does it use & how much does the fuel weigh? What's the minimum diameter pot - it's hard to judge it's size?

Are the aluminum/aluminium legs CNC'ed from blocks? Why 4 legs - I would expect 3?

[Dan Dubeau]

I yearn for a lighter pack......I want a remote inverted canister stove.....So I bought a good CNC machine
Cheers
Roger

We're probably the only group that understands that thought process. You managed to find the holy grail though and get it to pay for itself , congrats, and nice stoves.

[Arcane]

.............My manual machining is tolerable, but not good enough imho. So I bought a good CNC machine, good to 0.01 mm easily (ie not Chinese), taught myself how to write g-code.............
Cheers
Roger

That's very impressive!

[rcaffin]

Folds flat(ish) - yes indeed.
Total weight is ~85 g.
Fuel use for canister stoves depends on two things: pot dameter (narrow pots lose flames up the side) and power output. Run any stove hard and it is inefficient. In the mountains I typically use about 30 g of butane/propane mix per day for the TWO of us. That figure comes from many month-long walking trips.
For winters in the snow, I double that figure, because it takes as much energy to melt a litre of snow as it does to boil it.

Minimum pot diameter is about 100 mm. That is a rather narrow pot. I prefer larger.
There are 4 legs instead of three because it is much easier to tilt a pot over with only 3 legs. It's a geometry thing.
The legs are 0.8 mm 5083 aluminium sheet, folded to a right angle, bolted down and machined to the shapes seen. The Al sheet is soft, but using pulsed misting (kero + olive oil) the cutter stays wet and there is no BUE.

I am currently machining up another 2 dozen stoves for sale.

Cheers
Roger

[Bob Engelhardt]

... Total weight is ~85 g. ...
Minimum pot diameter is about 100 mm. ...

For 'Mercuns: weighs 3oz & 6" overall diameter, legs made from 1/32 thick sheet (flashing, basically). It's tiny - I couldn't tell from the photo. Congratulations on meeting your light-weight goal!

As a former research scientist you must be getting a little bored with manufacturing, no? Be honest.

[BCRider]

Having done a bit of hiking/camping in my early days (but nothing like what it sounds like you do) I can attest to the importance of more legs under the stove and pot rather than less. I know that 3 sounds like a magic number since it can be set onto any surface and automatically not wobbble. But keep in mind that when camping the surface we set the stove on is more often than not soft. So the legs of the stove can be pushed down lightly or shimmed with a handy bit of something so it sits stable.

5 or even 6 legs would be better from only a tipping stability point of view but I'd say Roger's selection of 4 is a compromise he made based on bulk and weight vs stability in use.

[rcaffin]

The sheet Al is 5083 alloy: fairly hard for sheet. Not as hard as 7075 of course. Certainly nothing like what is normally sold as flashing. I suspect flashing is probably 1060 Al alloy or similar: that is almost pure 100% Al and very soft. I got the 5083 sheet cheap: the distributor had over-ordered and wanted to get rid of it.

Yes, I chose 4 legs over 3, but I also supply a square of oiled 1/8" ply to serve as a base board on soft soil and snow. I also supply 4 micro-pegs which can stake the stove down for stability, through holes in the board. Boasting of course, but a big advantage I have over large commercial companies is that I USE the stuff myself. I know what works. That's the difference between wild Go-Fund-Me inventions and what works.

No, I have not (yet) got bored with manufacturing. To be sure, it is a different world from physics research, but somewhat to my surprise I found it a huge challenge, especially at the start. As a research scientist I had workshop staff, purchasing staff, technical assistants, a budget (which was NOT my own money), ... As a solo mfr, I had to do everything - and it was far more complex than I had expected. (Secret: ebay is my engineering supply shop.) Also, there is certain satisfaction in sitting there watching a CNC machine running, churning out highly accurate replica parts.

Ski touring, Australian Alps, breakfast time. The stove is a commercial one, because the photo was taken many years ago. A precursor. The weather overnight had been a little noisy, but it was calm and SUNNY in the morning. Two bowls: my wife and myself. What is not to like?

Cheers
Roger

[mattthemuppet]

You're living the life roger, good on ya!

[Fonzy4140]

Made a "1940's Tailstock Turret" from a Popular Science Article...
Of course I used steel weldments instead for the castings in the article have not been available for 50 years or more!

SEEN @18:37 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMCp_o1E-V8

[Alistair Hosie]

THE CHIPPING HAMMER'S HANDLE IS 180 deg REVERSED or is the photo back to front? Reversed? or front to back? Very confusing I'd not say. Alistair ps might be upside down?

[BMW Rider]

Re: The cut knurler, from 3 or 4 pages back in time:

Moved on to re-purposing orphaned Phase-II bump knurler into a straddle knurler with some 3/4" scrap square stock.
Clamping rod is positioned to allow up to 2-1/4" diameter stock. 1/4-28 threaded. Geometry such that one turn
of clamp screw closes wheel space down 0.060". Added a pin to spring bore to prevent deformation, then added
a small plate to retain the pin. Ooof. Started down that path because did not have material to make a custom hoop
spring that could wrap around arm pivot bolts. Could not put spring at clamp rod and still get 1/8" to 2-1/4" spring action
without work to the original QCTP base to increase the arm pivot spacing.

Tommy bar an after-the-fact addition...thought it would be easier to crank the knurled knob given I made it so large...
so next time, could use smaller knurled knob with tommy bar, or just a nut.

Easier than cut knurler to set up for the random knurl; more forgiving/self centering; better for small diameter knurl,
at least for a terminal beginner like moi.

I've been wanting to get this style of knurling tool for a while. I liked your idea to repurpose the one I have and shamelessly copied it. I did a few minor changes, but pretty much took my design cues from your photos.



I also have been wanting to make a carriage stop for my lathe and finally made this one last week.Not made to hold a dial indicator as I have a digital readout on the lathe, but I can adjust the stop over a small range to fine tune.

[bborr01]

THE CHIPPING HAMMER'S HANDLE IS 180 deg REVERSED or is the photo back to front? Reversed? or front to back? Very confusing I'd not say. Alistair ps might be upside down?

Alistair old friend. I was just thinking a few days ago that I haven't seen you post in a while and was hoping that you are doing OK. If you are talking about the chipping hammer that I posted about ten or more years ago, the flat chipping edge is 90 degrees to the handle and should be parallel to it. You can't very easily slide one along a surface and get spatter off unless it is parallel.

[challenger]

Low level but hopefully handy. I'm trying to much improve my off hand drill bit sharpening and saw a youtube guy that uses two nuts. I have some copper bolts so I silver soldered two together to help check the angles.

[The Metal Butcher]

Highly recommend getting a proper drill gauge. Having the lip lengths even is just as important as having the angles even.

[Mr Fixit]

Metal Butcher,

Can you elaborate on the comment about the lips length? I do try and sharpen mine and do have the drill bit protractor to check with, but I'm not familiar with the lip comment.

We can all learn from each others experiences.

TX
Mr fixit for the family
Chris