I just got back from a quick overnight camp with my motorcycle. It’s much cooler than truck camping but one must adapt their gear big time.
For truck camping I use a crude bulletproof old school Coleman Dual Fuel single burner camp stove. I also bring my Coleman Dual Fuel Lantern, which is a delightful luxury. For motocamping (and prior to that many years of canoe camping) I nope out from heavy liquid fuel and use lighter (and more high tech) iso-butane canisters. In my case, I use a Jetboil. It’s mostly for boiling water (though I do have a special Jetboil fry pan for fish).
One bummer is that “lightweight trips” a super bright lantern is out of the question. I’ve gotten used to having a stationary lantern around which the campsite seems to orbit. It’s a pleasant way to camp. There are funky little “butane candle” type lanterns by Firemaple. I think they might bridge the gap between LED efficiency and warm flame light… but I don’t own one.
My Jetboil is battered (and not exactly like the modern version in the link) but it’s two decades old. I have an accessory French Press that goes with it. The press and stove combine to make darned good coffee.
All Jet Boils have a removable bottom cup. This can be used for eating but I never needed it for that. It’s mostly to cover the delicate heating fins. My cup is battered nearly to death.
When I first got my 3d Printer I was noodling around making an “improved” cup. (In case you’re missing the idea, I made the red part.)
There’s unused space around the fins in a Jet Boil. I got clever and 3d printed a container to fit in that very specific space.
I used it for coffee!
Cool eh?
My coffee container fits loosely but precisely in the Jetboil base. The red cup goes over everything. I feel like the Jetboil company should already sell an accessory which does precisely that. (I’m not a dumbass, I know to let the heatsink fins cool before putting plastic near them.)
Given the little coffee stash and the ridiculous bright red base, there isn’t a single JetBoil on earth like mine. That’s the kind of obscure utilitarian use for which I bought a 3d printer.
Someday I’ll tweak the design even more. It sounds like a mid-winter project. In the meantime, it’s pretty cool having a bespoke campstove.
A.C.
I’d say start producing and selling your base cup and coffee container but before you could say Chu En Gum the Chinese will have copied it and be selling on Alibaba and other suchlike websites. Bar stewards!
Maybe selling the computer files to other 3D printer owners might make you some coffee money?
Phil B
I’d be perfectly happy producing and selling the base & container. It would be fun. There are four things I’d have to figure out.
1. Anything involving food is a PITA. From a practical standpoint, dry coffee grounds is fine, but that’s me living on earth. For the public you’ve got to assume some bizarre person will smear it with mayonnaise and Taco Bell drippings and then leave it in the sun for a week before they lick it clean and summon a lawyer. Bambulab has made my life easier offering new officially food safe PLA filament. I’d probably use that. But still it’s officially absolutely not for food… carry AAA batteries or tinfoil wrapped bullion cubes or soap or something. Also, my wife says I need to pick a better color. 🙂
2. My Jetboil is archaic. I’d have to buy a new Jetboil to make sure it fits. That’s about $100. Anyone want to loan me theirs? 🙂
3. I’ve been flailing away at a WordPress commerce plugin. I can’t get the damn thing to work. Good news though. I think I’ll sort that properly by the end of the month. So that’s nearly solved.
4. How many people want this thing? If it’s like three I could maybe just make a few on the side. If it’s 20 I’d better get that commerce plugin ready!
Another option, of course, would be to upload your files to one of the libraries for free distribution to anyone who wants it. A very altruistic option, but on the other hand, have you benefited from downloading a project or two that others had made available? It’s just something that occurs to me because I use a lot of free software myself (Linux, LibreOffice, and the like), and appreciate the benefits of not having to support Microsoft, etc.
That’s not a bad idea. I might post free files once I have better skills and my designs are better. I made this particular design when I’d only had my 3d printer a few months. It’s overly crude by most measures, though it works just fine. You never know, in a few years maybe my stuff will have perfect chamfers and all that. Then I won’t feel goofy sharing the 3d model with the world.
I also just looked at a new Jetboil in a store. They have changed a lot! Much squatter; wide and short instead of narrow and tall. I can see how my old Jetboil is made for the smallest gas canisters and the new design is made for the medium size canisters. I was like “oh that’s cool, maybe I’ll upgrade”. But the price was well north of $150! Apparently my old design Jetboil and I are staying together as long as possible. 🙂
Speaking of iso-butane canisters, I just ordered a Fire Maple Orange “lantern” that uses the same canisters. Theoretically, it’s an unnecessary luxury, but it’s not really unnecessary if it packs small and makes for improved vibes. I was definitely missing my Coleman lantern. I’ll post a few photos when it arrives.