Seems like many stoves are sold nowadays on the E Bay...missing their flame spreaders. I don't understand why people are removing them in the first place. Then a stove pops up.....with a "make me an offer" price and its too good to be true so I buy it and wouldn't you know....NO flame spreader. So buying a $20 or $30 flame spreader defeats the purpose of a great deal so I am destined to make one rather than pay for it.....heaven knows that my time was worth much more than the $20 I would have spent. It this damn Stove addiction that has me trying to justify each new stove that comes to me. Here are some photos of making my own "Flame Spreader". Comments and Future advice is welcomed. Tracing the outline for the new flame spreader on a piece of copper plate from the Hobby Store.
Making a Flame Spreader...Last of photo build This is going to my son in Seattle Washington, it is going to be used heavily...its not going to be a Shelf Queen like many of my other stoves. Performance is important. Now its time to relax.
@Edgar Very nice job. I am interested to find out how long the copper will last. There has been discussion here on CCS that copper will react badly to the flame of the burner (hence the use of brass). Cheers Tony
OOPs....well I had a piece of Stainless Steel and I had the copper. I had no idea about any reaction between the copper and the flame....I was just thinking...well they make pots and pans out of copper and stainless. I had a bigger piece of copper so I used it and saved the small piece of stainless for another project. Well we will see. The Copper is thick, I don't see it eroding quickly. perhaps one day...but not soon. Thanks. Wish I knew earlier...what I know now. EDGAR
I think you've solved the question of WHY folks remove the flame spreader - to use as a template to make another flame spreader with. I've passed up bidding on a few myself for that reason. Good job.
@Edgar The reference to copper oxide I was thinking of was made by @presscall: https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/ill-kee-primus-53.20287/page-2#post-210839 Cheers Tony
Your flame spreader turned out beautifully. Nice bit of work there. I especially liked your use of the ball peen hammer to put the curve in the plate. That IPA was well deserved. Ben
Excellent! +1 A ball peen hammer in a vise. Who woulda thunk? Re: copper vs. brass: Looks like you're in a great position to test this. ....Arch
Maybe "react badly" is an overstatement Tony, but my experience on making an inner cap for a silent burner (Primus No.4 size) from a copper plumbing end stop cap was that the heat of the flame would create a black oxide dust on the surfaces of the cap which it would readily shed at each firing, eventually exiting the air intake holes in the burner shroud and appearing on the stove tank top. No bother wiping it off, but avoided by making the component out of brass or steel, which I did. The early forays of BernieDawg into silent burner converter cap manufacture established this basic truth. If the black grime residue doesn't bother you it's not an issue. John
@presscall Thanks for the clarification. See above, @Edgar: I may have sounded a bit too dramatic. Cheers Tony
Beautiful job, on your fabrication and tutorial. I just got one from the scrap yard today and it has no flame spreader. It did catch on fire and shoot a stream of fire into the air so it does work, it needs seals. sorry no pictures of that. What diameter is the center disc? Thank you
@slick "It did catch on fire and shoot a stream of fire into the air...". What?! No photos! The centre disc, measured from Swedish old stock, is 30.5mm or 1.2 inches. Cheers Tony
Slick: You can use a U.S. Quarter coin for the center diameter. Once you scribe your line around the coin, when you are finish filing down for size....if you keep on the outside of the scribed line you will have the appropriate size center circle. Good luck with it. lets see some photos along the way !
Edgar, Nicely done. Only suggestion I have is to buy yourself a jeweler's saw. It's like a coping saw but smaller with much finer blades. With one you could cut out the blank very close to finished dimension and skip a lot of grinder and file work. Not expensive, several listed on Amazon in the $12-15 range.
