Mechanic Mike's Pop-can Alcohol Stove

HikingMano

HikingMano

Joined
Sep 2, 2008
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My GF and I headed to the beach today for a sunset dinner. It turned out to be foggy, but the beach was beautiful nonetheless. It was actually rather serene in its gloom. The air was still for the most part, and only the waves played for us. The trip provided some much needed stress relief.

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Anyway, I used my Mechanic Mike (you can find him on the Bay) "Rivet Side-Jet Alcohol Stove" for the first time, and it absolutely impressed me.

After dinner, I busted out the feather light pop-can stove from my 10x4 Maxped bottle holder (one of the best pieces of gear I have ever purchased :thumbup:); it comes in a little protective plastic case that fits perfectly on top of my guyot and gsi cup in the main bottle compartment. I had brought along about 125ml/4oz of 91% isopropyl alcohol, so I poured about 1/4 into the stove and lit it with my zippo (still in the novelty phase for me, zippos are slick:cool:). Voila!

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I gave it a few minutes to warm the aluminum and alcohol so it would start jetting and functioning as a burner. I believe the flames are large and yellow because the fuel was rubbing alcohol (all I had available at home). Methanol should provide a better, smaller, and hotter flame if I recall correctly. After a minute or two, hot blue flames started jetting out the sides.

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So it was time to throw on a cup of milk for some hot cocoa! The good kind mind you. With the little tiny marshmallows:cool:. Mmmmmm. Made my lady's cup first. The cup can be placed directly on the stove and needs no stand:

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As her milk heated, I improvised a small wind block for the stove by anchoring the empty containers from our dinner in the sand. I'd say it improved performance. It took a few minutes for the milk to heat up, and I removed it from the stove when it was hot enough. The stove burned off the rest of its fuel soon after the center hole was uncovered. As my lady sipped her hot cocoa, all the while purring contentedly, I added another 30ml or so to the stove and re-lit it. In no time my own milk was ready to roll, and we had a little bit of fuel left over to warm our hands.

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Damn, that cocoa was good :D. There's just something to be said for savoring a hot cup of chocolate while watching fish splash and listening to the never-ending story of the Pacific. It really soothes the soul.



So, the point: Mechanic Mike's pop-can alcohol stove rocks! I would definitely not hesitate to use this on overnighter/backpacking trips. It weighs next to nothing, burns all kinds of fuel, has zero moving parts, comes from recycled materials, is cheap, and simply works. :thumbup:
 
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I made one of those myself. There are easy instructions on the interweb.

I need to get fuel for it and check it out.

Sounds like you had a good time bro - good for you!

TF
 
Im gonna have to make one of these with my son. That would be a neat project. I looked them up on youtube and theu use HEET for fuel.
 
Talfuchre said:
I made one of those myself. There are easy instructions on the interweb.
TF
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Yeah, I got this stove as a gift from a friend. I have an aluminum bottle (a gift from BF member Boomstick) here that I want to make a stove out of too :thumbup: Will let you guys know how that turns out. We had an excellent time TF, it was simply peaceful :).

raylaconico said:
That looks cool. A nice beach too. It doesn't look crowded. I hate crowded beaches
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I'm with you Ray, crowded beaches annoy me too :thumbdn:

spyken said:
how do I find the mechanic mike stoves?
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You have a PM :thumbup:

Darteres said:
I have some Heineken cans sitting around to make one of these!
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Haha, do it :D

dipbait said:
Im gonna have to make one of these with my son. That would be a neat project. I looked them up on youtube and theu use HEET for fuel.
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Yes, they do :thumbup:. Heet is just impure methanol right? I don't remember, but yeah, I'm looking to get some pure methanol for the next time I use this stove. I believe you can use methanol, ethanol, and propanol in the form of isoproyl alcohol to fuel this little guy.
 
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Oh man there is nothing better then going to the beach in the evening with your GF. Kick back and chill with hot chocolate...Sound like a great evening bud..

Sasha
 
This is a better pic of what the jets look like when you set a pot, or in this case a cup, on the stove:

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Looks neat! :)

Missing a pic of the lovely lady though. :D

Are those pressed aluminum? How long did it take for the can to cool off? How was it extinguished? Did the bottom get hot? (I wouldn't mind having a link to them either. :) )
 
Yes, they are pressed aluminum, he doesn't use any adhesives to put it together. The can cooled off in seconds after use; it's only a thin sheet of aluminum :thumbup:. I extinguished it once simply by oxygen deprivation (covered it with my empty gsi cup), and I'm sure you could blow it out as well. I didn't try though, and it remained lit with mild wind. You could probably extinguish it by dousing it with an excess of water too. I'm not sure if the bottom got hot, I didn't touch it. I'm assuming it did though since in order for the stove to work, the aluminum and alcohol inside need to reach a certain temperature.

I'll send you the link in a PM since it's an ebay thing and I don't want to deal spot. :thumbup:

And as for the lovely lady, she'd rather not have her pic up here, so I can't show off :grumpy::D
 
rksoon said:
Yes, they are pressed aluminum, he doesn't use any adhesives to put it together. The can cooled off in seconds after use; it's only a thin sheet of aluminum :thumbup:. I extinguished it once simply by oxygen deprivation (covered it with my empty gsi cup), and I'm sure you could blow it out as well. I didn't try though, and it remained lit with mild wind. You could probably extinguish it by dousing it with an excess of water too. I'm not sure if the bottom got hot, I didn't touch it. I'm assuming it did though since in order for the stove to work, the aluminum and alcohol inside need to reach a certain temperature.

I'll send you the link in a PM since it's an ebay thing and I don't want to deal spot. :thumbup:

And as for the lovely lady, she'd rather not have her pic up here, so I can't show off :grumpy::D
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All's good. :D I just think that there's a severe shortage of women who appreciate the outdoors.
 
I used Google to track down his E-Bay site. He also has a slightly larger version for a few dollars more that is riveted together. There are videos of both stoves on the site. Pretty cool little gadgets: I think I may have to get one.
 
Yup, the one I'm using is the larger rivet one, the other smaller model is much cheaper. :thumbup:

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smaller model:
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rksoon said:
Yes, they are pressed aluminum, he doesn't use any adhesives to put it together. The can cooled off in seconds after use; it's only a thin sheet of aluminum :thumbup:. I extinguished it once simply by oxygen deprivation (covered it with my empty gsi cup), and I'm sure you could blow it out as well. I didn't try though, and it remained lit with mild wind. You could probably extinguish it by dousing it with an excess of water too. I'm not sure if the bottom got hot, I didn't touch it. I'm assuming it did though since in order for the stove to work, the aluminum and alcohol inside need to reach a certain temperature.

I'll send you the link in a PM since it's an ebay thing and I don't want to deal spot. :thumbup:

And as for the lovely lady, she'd rather not have her pic up here, so I can't show off :grumpy::D
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Please be very careful with this!!! You could well just launch the flaming alcohol out of the stove and all over the surrounding area/people.

-- FLIX
 
yo russell come by my pad and I will show you how to make those. it is super easy. instead of paying for them. I can show you how to make a few others also. we can take some pics while doing it and post a tutorial....
 
FLIX said:
Please be very careful with this!!! You could well just launch the flaming alcohol out of the stove and all over the surrounding area/people.

-- FLIX
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Yes, you're right FLIX, that's why I prefer to exclude oxygen to extinguish it. I said an excess of water in this case because the amount of fuel you have in the stove at any time is very small; I don't expect careful dilution of such a small volume in a contained area to pose significant risk (in contrast to one deciding to empty a cup of water on it from 5 feet in the air, resulting in the still burning alcohol splashing everywhere). In this particular case, I was on sand and didn't have to worry about burning alcohol running all over the place if I decided to dilute with water. But yes, thanks for the warning, better safe than sorry :thumbup:.

ETA: There wasn't much fuel left in the stove each time I used it yesterday, so I predict I'll just (carefully) let the rest of the fuel burn off most of the time. One shouldn't have to directly extinguish it very often :thumbup:.
 
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BOOMSTICK said:
yo russell come by my pad and I will show you how to make those. it is super easy. instead of paying for them. I can show you how to make a few others also. we can take some pics while doing it and post a tutorial....
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Boomer, I definitely have to man :thumbup: I think stingray said you still have some of his tools as well; maybe we could square up the spine on my Bravo-1 for better firesteel striking at the same time :)
 
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