The SuperCat stove is so easy to build that my 11 year old daughter and I constructed one in about 10 minutes, and that included feeding the cat and washing out the can.

I tested it 3 times but it was under less than ideal conditions. My windscreen was not completely effective, the aluminum pot was too large/thick, the garage floor was cold and the air temperture was about 4*c. With about 1.5 oz of Heet fuel in the stove I was able to just get 2 cups of water to the edge of boiling in 9 minutes.

The set-up needs some more tweaking, but it was a fun father/daughter evening adventure making hot chocolate at the edge of the garage, while the neighbours looked at us strangely!

Mike

I've built a couple of "photon" pressure stoves. They are a little bit of work to slide the two halves together. The advice was to put the top part in the freezer and heat the bottom then slide the top into the base. Mixed results, if you can't get them pushed together within 20 seconds the heat will from the aluminum will transfer very quickly. I found it easier to cut slits into the top and simply push them together. A little high temperature epoxy to seal the joint and then I added a slightly larger cut down tuna tin to act as a preheat basin.

I add up to 1.5 oz to the stove and .5 oz in the preheat area. Light it and add the windscreen and stand and then my pot of water. By that time the preheat has created enough heat INSIDE the stove to create expansive forces. The tiny holes around the rim of the stove become jets and a flame of about 3" high shoots out. (I drilled a larger hole in the middle of the stove to allow for the fuel to pour into to it. I seal this with a screw so that the pressure can build up.

On one overnight camping trip, I refilled my small alcohol container with fuel for the trip. It looked very odd, almost oily, I thought I had old ethanol mixed with new ethanol and never gave it a thought (was there water in the old ethanol?) The stove took forever to get lit, I had to use an abnormally amount of preheat fuel. When it finally did light, the flame shot out at least 12" high which was unusual and my pot blackened. When I got home I checked the containers again - I had mixed paint thinner from a nearly identical container with the ethanol! No wonder it behaved very odd. That mixture got tossed out and new clean fuel was used for my next occasion.

On a previous post here we talked at length about the super cat, I made several, and they worked great. I bought a better teapot for hiking, and know they work fantastic! So the vessel to be heated makes a big difference, that's for sure.

Thanks for the tips fellows, tomorrow I will try the stove again with a lighter/thinner pot and in a warmer area.

I am having a difficult time finding thick-walled aluminum beer cans in my part of Ontario, I will need to take a trip into Quebec to see what they stock over there.

The girl at the local Beer Store (they are government run here) is on the look-out for "aluminum bottles" for me, but the deal is that I have to build her a stove if she finds me some.

Mike

That is some really interesting stuff.
I usually camp in state parks adn such but my wife and I are going backwoods backpacking for the first time in the fall and this kind of thing is usefull info for us.