if you find that stove give us a heads up - it is an interesting idea - a stove that will work in a Trangia but also on it's own.... Hmmm
The Nova comes that way. I was just assuming you didn't have to destroy the legs to use the burner in the Trangia, another possible incorrect assumption.
Both the Polaris and the Nova can be used in the Trangia without unscrewing the legs, just keep them folded and let it stand there in the burner hole. It works, but not as neat as changing out the legs for the Trangia MF adapter #788205 … Which is easily reversible by the way.
I understand now - the curved pot supports wrap around the burner the only stove I have that fits the bill is an old school msr x-gk with the cruciform pan wires the burner shown is from an incomplete older version - it needs to be sitting on a riser about 20mm thick removed from the trangia and pot supports back in no longer made but service parts are still available I might give this a go later on - I have 10 litres of cheap panel wipe to burn - not all of it today - probably last a year or two sounds like the nova is the perfect stove to meet your requirements
A Depends on what you're after. The Polaris is roughly 20% more money compared to the Nova - but it's also unique in the fact you can operate it on just about any liquid fuel (bar alcohols) without any change of nipple/jet. From diesel via kerosene and Jet fuel through petrol/gasoline to gas (both in liquid and gaseous form). No real competition there. And the manufacturer knows it, so why not price it accordingly? [The Nova does the same things except: it cannot use gas.] B No you don't. You can just operate it (with the legs still folded) in the burner hole of the Trangia kit. Not as neatly looking as when fitted into the Trangia MF holder #788205 but still fully functional. And IF you fit it into the 788205 it's easy to revert - just undo the nut / take the cup off / refit the legs / redo the nut. Done! C It regulates and simmers badly - due to not having a fuel regulating valve at the burner. Being a gilded Primus Omnifuel it needs (in comparison to the Optimus design) copious amounts of pre-heating fuel. Being a gilded Primus Omnifuel it puts out way less heating energy compared to all the alternatives. It's got no freestanding on legs option... Cheers, /Odd
I certainly did - thanks for the heads up - I was greedy and bought 2 five litre tins but they have plenty left! the only question that arises is - if the nova is such a brilliant stove, why do I not own one? Hmmm I am curious to know the meaning of the word gilded here - is it covered in gold perhaps?
Hmmm... Maybe because the Polaris is even better than the Nova? Sorry, misspelled gelded = castrated… /Odd
@Odd Thanks for answering my above questions. Your clearly explained answers give me a better understanding of this situation. Cheers Ray
I had also been wondering what it was in the stove design that allowed some stoves to simmer and others not, so that was helpful. For cooking I need a simmer stove, not a jetboil.
@Odd Was it Primus Multifuel EX that was the stove with Omnifuel style burner without control spindle at the time when Trangia X2 was released? (Previous Multifuel stove was with a generator loop over the flame) Primus still has 'Multifuel' model but the have left/dropped 'EX' from the name since nobody remembers older type Primus Multifuel stove anymore: https://www.primus.eu/shop/multifuel-P328896/ One more point for Polaris over Trangia X2... It has integrated cleaning needle operated with magnet on stove tool (works also by shaking the stove like cleaning needle in MSR stoves). Trangia X2 jet you need to clean with separate cleaning needle (that is in stove tool)
I managed to buy one of the older Trangia adaptors (the cup style one rather than the piece of metal) on ebay. I was in the middle of trying to source (AKA find somewhere in the shed/garage/house) the right piece of metal to bend when I found it on ebay for a reasonable price. I was then able to install my Omnilite into my trangia once I'd added some washers to make it a more secure fit to the adaptor, filed a bigger hole in the side of the trangia to let the handle pop out and cut a notch in the base to let the hose pop in and out more easily. I now have a multifuel trangia that I'm quite pleased with. Haven't actually used it in anger but I'll be taking it on our family holiday for cooking/making drinks when we're out and about
I've decided to follow Odd's tutorial and do the Optimus Polaris - Trangia modification. I've got a 25 and 27 so I'll try it on both of them, even though I nearly always only use the smaller 27. Although I have regular metal drill bits, I know how easy it is to tear thin metal sheeting in larger diameters so I've sent off for a step drill bit and should get it done as soon as that arrives - I want to put some side holes in my Vargo Hexagon stove too so it'll be a good purchase for that as well as the Trangia. Cheers to Odd for the the information shared here. I must say, I'm really bummed about the Trangia / Primus X2 which has lead to me deciding to do this Optimus modification. Outrageously expensive and, equally annoying, virtually no flame control worth talking about unless used with canister gas.
I got my step drill bit this morning and bored out the Trangia Lower Windshield. On my Optimus Polaris, the green wire handle of the burner flame adjustment is 17mm and I didn't want to tinker with that so I bored it out to 18mm. I held up 9.5mm from the row of ventilation holes and the stove was a perfect fit. My first time using a step drill bit and they're a wonderful item. Smooth cutting and safe from any risk of grabbing the metal or tearing out a rough cut and accidentally making a larger hole than wanted. As well as the Trangia, I put 24 holes in my Vargo Hexagon titanium stove and the bit was excellent there too. On a flat sheet you can gently use the angled start of the next step size up from your required hole to create a smooth bevelled edge which is really handy. Of course, I couldn't do that on the Trangia, with the curve of the Windshield, so I finished the holes and bevelled edges off with some MicroMesh instead. Now to plan some cooking with the Trangia / Polaris Cookset!
Just a quick note to add that I used the Primus Trangia Adaptor, from the X2 stove, for my conversion and found that the Polaris was a much better fit into the adaptor when I bored out the spring bar rod hole out to 10mm (that's the part with the two round lugs which hold the stove in place) using my step drill bit. This allowed the Polaris burner unit to sit further down, straighter & stronger, into the adaptor and allowed for fuller nut threading to the brass base underneath the adaptor. The hole in the adaptor body was perfect as is for the threaded burner base section to fit through. When assembled, the measurements I mentioned in the previous post above are perfect with the burner flame adjustment arm coming out centre of the new hole and the fuel line coming out centre of the irregular shaped existing Trangia hole.
I used the smaller Trangia 27 with the Optimus Polaris for the first time today. Absolutely brilliant! Boiled some potatoes then fried them later with sausages and baked beans. I had a canister of gas with me just in case but it wasn't needed and I used the stove with paraffin. I gave it a really strong start, priming with meths, and it never flared yellow for a second after turning on the main flame... firing off straight away with a nice blue flame and it continued to burn lovely. The only time I had any smoke was after I turned the bottle over to OFF to kill the stove and when it was blowing off the pressurised air at the end there was a little amount of paraffin which must have came out too and that smoked but it was only a little puff or two. I know paraffin burns hot and it was the smaller cookset so I never had it turned up full because it had more power than I felt I needed and I was really pleased to see everything going perfect. The real treat was when I was finishing off my frying at the end and able to turn the stove down to a really nice simmer. I'm looking forward to trying everything out again, only with the burner cap fitted, later.
@Odd What is the reason that you drilled a third hole in the wind shield, instead of enlarging the smaller one, that is already there? Kind Regards Simon
To get the canister connection through the hole it would have needed to be enlarged to at least the same size as the original large hole = a much more involved and complicated operation. Just drilling a smaller (and round!) hole is easier to do.
