Caldera Cone and gas

[Franco]

This is more to inspire some rather than state or prove anything.
For 3 seasons I am very happy with the TiTri Caldera cone using metho. I can boil consistently 500 ml with 14ml (1/2oz) of fuel (about 11g) but most of the time I boil less than that and can recover most of the fuel not used.
Anyway I have been thinking of a gas conversion for longer trips or winter trips where snow melting is not required.
Having found a 160g stove with pre heat tube on Ebay Igot that and stripped it down as I don't need the pot support.
It is now 105g , so with the Cone and the protective caddy (some use that as their re-hydrating container and eating bowl) it is 305 g all up and pretty compact too.
I find that the Ti cone is very strong and pliable, no problems with dents. Ti Goat have a cone/pots combo from 550ml to 1100 ml.
http://www.titaniumgoat.com/TiTri.html
Alternatively you can look at the Anti Gravity Gear offerings. I just bought a short cone for a 1.3 L pot for $25 inc the alcohol stove.
http://www.antigravitygear.com/products.php?cat=52
The shorter cone is not as efficient in trapping heat but it is more stable than a standard home made version. (BTW $27 postage...)
Or have a look at the Trail Design site (the makers of the cone) , they will be offering soon a Ti cone called Inferno that is designed to be an efficient wood burning stove too. I have made my version of that and it works well
(basically a smaller inverted cone inside the other one with a grate at the bottom )
http://www.traildesigns.com/index.html
Franco

[ninjapuppet]

Thats really neat how the caddy fits into the kettle.
If thats how you carry it around Frank then do you just leave the kettle's lid dangling around inside your pack?

any reports on how the modified gas unit has been working with that caldera?

[Maelgwn]

So how much gas does it need to boil 500mL water?

What is the advantage over standard remote canister stove and normal windshield?

And what gas stove was that? Doesn't look like an MSR windpro and seems to be a wee bit lighter?

[ninjapuppet]

I think one advantage is that you can use the other fuels & the efficiency with these other fuels. a normal windshield wont give you that versitility.

This many people cant be wrong
http://www.calderacone.com/quotes.html

Theres actual references to the comments there so you know Rand from Trail Designs isnt just making it up.

Just a note tho.
i bought the sidewinder system and all up was over $180 USD delivered.
keep in mind, that AU $300-$400 stoves like the msr XGK, Optimus nova and MSR reactor sometimes cost only 2/3 of this in the US
If something like this were to be sold here, it'd have to be well over $400, for a couple pieces of metal and pop can stove.

When you compare the high quality & robustness of these more famous stoves to a caldera, its hard for someone new to all this to pick the caldera if they dont know the benefits. Especially when when you can build versions of this yourself...... (its abit easier than trying to build yourself a homemade reactor)

Quite expensive - but considering the ingenuity thats gone into this system, I would say its the best $200 bucks ive spent all year.

[Franco]

I forgot about this one...
The thread started with this comment :
This is more to inspire some rather than state or prove anything.
That was meant to spell out that I was not going to spend a lot of time on this but maybe give someone else something to do/try.
It occurred to me that the cone would address two common problems with most stoves, including gas stoves. That is stability and diminished performance in the wind.
so I looked on the Net for a cheap remote canister stove that had a pre-heat tube (in case I wanted to turn the canister upside down at low temps) and came up with this, a Bu Lin BL100 B5.
As for me I am still using metho.
Franco