So much I hate those child proof bottle caps. Luckily here in Europe those bottle caps are not requirement so their use is decreasing. Fuel bottle manufactures have noticed that it's nice way to make money to sell fuel bottles with child proof cap and sell separately proper caps with the half price of the fuel bottle+cap. I decided to try if it possible to make that kind on child proof fuel bottle cap usable since I don't want to buy additional cap for the fuel bottle that I am able to use fuel bottle without extra hassle. Also I don't want produce unnecessary waste. I got MSR fuel bottle and it came with this kind of cap: http://www.cascadedesigns.com/msr/stoves/stove-accessories/child-resistant-fuel-bottle-cap/product Cap has outer and inner caps plus spring that tries to keep caps apart from each-others. Outer cap has 6 bigger notches and 3 smaller notches it's inner surface. Those notches will keep inner cap inside of outer cap and allow child proof function to work. With sharp knife you can cut out those 3 small notches that prevent inner cap to pop out from inside of the outer cap. Turn inner cap in correct position and with the help of fuel bottle you can pull inner cap out and spring pops out: Throw spring away and glue inner cap inside of outer cap and you get cap that works without extra hassle. Extra fast glue was no working and now I put polyurethane sealant to it. It's still drying so tomorrow I will test if it is strong enough bond. MSR child proof cap you only need to push to open it. Optimus child proof cap you need to push when you open it and also when you close it. I noticed that when I recently bought Optimus fuel bottle.
I'm curious regarding the opposite; Do the child-safe Optimus fuel cap fit the old version cap bottles? [The child-safe MSR cap don't fit old bottles - since they've hacked away material from the bottle neck...] We can swap fuel caps if the Optimus do fit the old bottle, you get my old unsafe cap(s) and I get yours. BECAUSE I THINK IT'S A GOOD THING TO IMPROVE CHILD SAFETY WHEN IT COMES TO FUEL BOTTLES! The world moves on you know...
I get irritated by the child-proof caps as they are also semi arthritic-hand proof as well. However, I just returned from a trip where one of the fellow campers had an aluminum water bottle the same size and color as my fuel bottle with Coleman fuel in it. A few times, both bottles were both sitting out in the eating area. I had brought just enough fuel for the trip, and it would have ruined my day had he wasted my fuel drinking it. Maybe I am being overly sensitive.
I only have older MSR bottles that have that big mountain logo made of smaller triangles. I have 2002 MSR catalog and that don't have same looking bottles so they are from time before that. Those flimsy child resistant caps fit to those bottles without problems. I think that postal costs will be more than the price of new caps. At least our government is very close to bankrupt so they try to save country's economy by increasing postal costs. I support other approach: Parents and also children should take responsibility about their actions and be able to think with their own brains. Now over protected generation is coming to working age but some of them are so helpless that they are not able to get work. Because nobody want to hire them because they would need somebody to escort all the time to protect and help them that they don't hurt themselves.
Maybe next time you need to take some extra fuel with you so if somebody takes a swig from your fuel bottle you are still having enough fuel for cooking.
Oh I did bring extra fuel, alway do. It turned out to be just just enough because someone else did not bring theirs.
I hate the 'child safe' caps because 1) I usually had a hard time getting into the expedition caps. This would require a very strong/clever child to open one. Also an unattended child. And 2) I feel that it is harder to get a positive seal with the two pieces slipping all the time. I discovered that there are actually two different types of optimus child safe caps. One resembles the msr one and one resembles the brunton expedition cap. I made a video about it. This seems an appropriate a place as anywhere on the internet to share it. I ended up just buying optimus expedition caps from Walmart.com. They were around $4 each iirc site to store. They all seemed quite interchangeable to me. youtube
I can sort of understand a reasoning for them . but I also have arthritis , and some are very difficult for me to undo . kerry
Oh I understand the concept... But let's look at the laws regarding gasoline cans in my country. There are wide ranging laws originating in California known as 'carb' rules. (California air resources board) They dictate that fuel cans have to be leakproof and child resistant. Under these ridiculous standards NATO jerry cans are deemed to be unsafe and leaky. Let's think about that for a second... The gold standard for portable fuel cans for the better part of a century, is considered to be unsafe. Essentially the reason the jerry cans fail is that if the user opens the can and leaves it open, the fuel will evaporate. Duh. So instead we get to endure self closing dispenser spouts that require three hands to operate. I'm not a fan. I've said it many times that gasoline would never pass modern consumer safety standards. But you can't legislate common sense. I mean seriously... Just look at this idiot. And if you want to see more just search for 'how not to light a bonfire'
both bottles were both sitting out in the eating area. I had brought just enough fuel for the trip, and it would have ruined my day had he wasted my fuel drinking it. Or worse your stove filled from the wrong bottle I hate those aluminium drink bottles for just this reason I have a few though
I only use blue and black aluminium bottles for drinks, so they are easy distinguish from fuel bottles that are often red. (Although Edelrid makes black fuel bottles) Nowadays I used Sigg wide mouth bottles for drinks since they are easy to fill from kettle that I use for melting snow and during summer to kill all livestock in water by boiling. Sigg bottles are also quite nice to use since they have insulation pouches for them. 1 liter bottle with it's insulation pouch fits into 1,5 liter bottle zippered neoprene insulation pouch. That will prevent water to freeze 4-6 hours on my winter hikes (-20...-30 C). In vacuum flask water stays too hot to drink in that "Sigg system" water cools down to nice level.
Ihave sitting here 2 aluminium bottles about 600ml in size. One is an Optimus fuel bottle with Optimus writen down the side. The other is a drink bottle bought from what is the closest thing in NZ to Walmart. It has the brand name "fuel" in big letters down the side which apparently is a Canadian marketing company selling Chinese goods. When these were for sale there was a full range of picnic ware. Calling eating ware Fuel is just about the most dangerous thing one can do without breaking any rules
That 4,95 USD (~4 EUR) is reasonable price for fuel bottle cap. Here cap costs 7-8 EUR that is just below 10 USD. 0,6 liter fuel bottle with cap (quite often child resistant) costs 14-16 EUR.
A question to Afterburner re the adhesive used to bond the two parts of the child-proof MSR bottle cap: Afterburner, since this is a very old post, do you remember the adhesive you have used for bonding the two parts of your cap and how good thе adhesion has been? I tried with epoxy but to no avail. According to the stamp on the outer part of the cap (the black part), the plastic is number 4, meaning it is LDPE. However, most of the adhesives on the market exclude LDPE. In your post, you mention polyurethane. But those adhesives exclude the application on LDPE. Nonetheless, what has been your experience? Thanks
Sorry for delay! I have not logged in for awhile.... It is long time ago when I made that "de-child proofing", but if I remember correctly I used Sikaflex 221 ( Sikaflex®-221 ) for attaching inner and outer cap together. I made parts as rough as I could by scratching them with coarse file and coarse sanding paper before I glued them together. That cap still works fine, so gluing still holds .
