Swedish army Trangia stove - Simmer ring

[Martnz]

Hi Folks - just got one of these stoves (thanks to the brilliant info on these forums) - currently wildly enthusiastic about them!

Tried to make a simmer-ring along lines of the “modern” Trangia burner. As the MkIII (!!!) version seems to work OK, and the photos give a fair impression (not easy to get a sharp image of a small meths flame!), thought might be worth sharing here (...2Sept - thanks to Tony for coaching on how to display the images!)

Before fitting...
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http://www.bushcraftuk.com/gallery/data/506/SAMK_simmer_before_sm.JPG


After - Simmer Ring in place...
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http://www.bushcraftuk.com/gallery/data/500/SAMK_simmer_after_sm.JPG


Construction detail...
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http://www.bushcraftuk.com/gallery/data/500/SAMK_simmer_1_sm.JPG

In use - when the stove is fully lit (and after pot is boiling) use a metal fork / spoon etc to drop the simmer-ring over the burner. Takes a minute or so for the flame to reduce (I guess the burner needs to cool down slightly). In transit, place the simmer-ring over the lid. Do I need to make a “not responsible for anyone who cuts themselves on sharp edges or burns themselves” statement?? Seriously, do be careful if you try this. Uses top part of coke can (or any Aluminium drink can around 65mm dia):

Cut to give overall height of 35mm. This provides around 10mm clearance over the burner - any less seems not to work reliably. Optionally, to reduce sharp edges, cut at 40mm and use a pair of pliers to fold/flatten a 5mm inside lip (so taking overall height back to 35mm). The aluminium is very thin - cuts OK with kitchen scissors.
Tear-tab hole is enlarged to around 28mm dia. I used a coin and felt-tip to mark before cutting. Exact size and off-centre location seem not to matter.
Has 2 x 5mm dia air holes in “skirt” in line with top-hole. A desktop paper-hole-punch works OK for this.
My belief is that these holes control the air supply, and so the burn rate. Two give a stable flame on my stove, at slightly less than a simmer (hot enough to steam for an extended period, with lid on, but no bubbling). To experiment with performance, bigger / smaller / more / less air holes might be the place to start.
Regards, Martnz

[rik_uk3]

Hi Martnz
why don't you sign up for a free account with www.photobucket.com , upload your pictures, then you just copy and past the contents of the IMG box under you picture into a post here, like this

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v384/rik_uk3/DSCF0078.jpg
The Army Trangia (most burners are branded SVEA) are a good stove, and using the ring will give you a simmer time of between 30 and 40 minutes, depending on air temp

[moduser]

Well done Martnz,

simple, effective and cheap. Who could ask for more?

I'll knock one up for my sons kit, better still I'll get him to make his own :)

I confess I don't use the army issue burner very much as I'm currently trying out the Tatonka stainless steel version. I want to put it through it's paces for a whole year to see if it is better or worst than the Trangia one (it has a simmer ring with it so I no need to make one).

Nice work

Moduser

[Martnz]

Thanks guys,

Appreciate your advice - would be interested to hear the results if anyone tries this.

Pictures - seem not to work at all on my profile, which has Attachments and HTML code disabled. Can't see how to change this here (have tried emailing the "Contact us" address) - perhaps I am missing something obvious!?

The burner on my stove does have "Trangia" engraved on the bottom. Guess there must be an interesting story behind these stoves - an amazingly practical and robust piece of design!

Regards, Martnz

[crazydave]

not to put a downer on a great effort but its only few quid for a trangia one :)

I'm experimenting with pop can stoves again as the bushes are full and did manage to make one with an adjustable air intake three years ago which did turn the flame down (I also tried high sided versions to act as a wind sheild) but I've moved house since then and cant find a box of survival/bushcraft stuff

I also made burners with just the shells and a smaller hole in the middle (no wall or burner holes) a bit like a cat stove I guess - that did work with a lot less fire so was good for mugs or slow cooking. my redbull version got so powerfull it softened one of my wind sheilds and turned it orange from the black.

the reason for the bigger burner is for longer winter cook times and also alows you to prime/fill the burner before packing and use it through the day. the idea was that with the bottle you should have at least 2 days before needing a replen.

the one wish of scouts and leaders over the years was for their trangias to have bigger burners not smaller ones as they used to miss the burner going out halfway though reconstituting thier vesta meal.