If you come across an old thermos with a case made of aluminum or stainless steel, do not rush to scrap it. A skilled craftsman will need two hours to make an original and comfortable bowler hat.
For work, you will need a minimum of tools and materials that everyone has:
- hammer;
- screwdriver;
- pliers;
- file;
- hacksaw for metal;
- drill;
- a piece of wire or a stainless steel electrode, a few rivets, a newspaper or a sheet of Whatman paper, a marker or some paint, thread.
Step one: do the markup
Having carefully disassembled the structure, you can proceed to the first and, perhaps, the most important operation - marking. A sheet of paper tightly wrapped without distortions at the desired height will help to get a straight and clearly distinguishable line for cutting on a cylindrical surface. Having fixed it from unrolling with a piece of adhesive tape, it is enough to walk along the edge with a marker or a brush so that after removal there is a clearly distinguishable border.
It is even more important to achieve accuracy in determining the locations for the holes for attaching the handle. Diametrically opposite points can be found using a tape measure, but this is not very convenient - it is better to wrap a thread or a paper strip with an overlap around it, cut it with a knife at the place of overlap, remove the resulting segment and divide it in two. Having made such an unpretentious template, you can provide a thermos pot with high resistance to overturning during operation.
Step two: Saw the body of the thermos, make eyelets
The bottom part cut off from the body with a hacksaw or grinder is the main workpiece, and the eyes are cut from the top. Due to the same curvature and material, a snug fit and the absence of galvanic effects that contribute to corrosion are ensured, but they can, of course, be made from scraps of galvanized sheet. The sharp edges of the lugs and the main workpiece are blunt with a file or a piece of an abrasive wheel by hand.
It is undesirable to drill a canopy - it is better, in order to avoid deformations, to support the bottom part with the inner surface on the corner of a table or workbench, placing a piece of bar. The diameter of the drill must be selected so that the rivets fit tightly into the holes.
Step three: making the handle and assembling
A stainless steel handle bent on a pipe or log is inserted into the holes and the edges are bent with pliers. Those who like to add a design twist to the product can experiment with its shape and size.
Weight with and without cover
Conclusion
If you don't want to mess with rivets, there is an option to cut out a solid body with lugs - this will slightly complicate sawing, but will eliminate the need to repeatedly drill holes in a stainless steel that is difficult to give in to this operation.
Actually, the pot from the thermos is already ready - it's time to think about outdoor recreation with friends, where you can be a trump card with your skillful hands!
Slightly altered a couple of small stainless steel boilers from the manufacturer 555.
When did I buy them? ... Almost six years ago. I used it infrequently. Two of my friends have these too. The price tag they had then was ridiculous, 55 and 65 rubles for 0.5 and 0.75 liters boilers, respectively. These boilers have two minuses - heavy, infection, and one does not fit into the other - the eyelets for the bow interfere. At one time, my friend and I quickly abandoned them and made pots from mugs of the same manufacturer
So, the weight of the boiler is more than 270 grams, the smaller one is 240 grams, for a total of 510 for both. Plus they take up a lot of space. I take the bigger bowler in my paws and use a grinder to cut the bow from it. Instead, pulling a strand of cable. I also cut off the bow from the lid, along with the lugs for it - the pot is ready, we have 225 grams (164 grams without the lid). From the second boiler I cut off the bow together with the lugs, closer to the upper edge opposite each other I drill 2 mm holes and pass a cable through them. I throw away the whole lid. The total weight is 125 grams. I rarely use boilers with lids, one for two pots is quite enough.
Now the boilers fit easily into each other. In order not to rattle, I throw between them two army wipes for disinfecting dishes - 3 grams of weight. The total output is 353 grams and almost half the space occupied. In principle, we don't have to take the second lid, then the weight will decrease by as much as 61 grams, and 292 grams will be released for both pots. An army bowler hat weighs 232 g, plus a 135 g lid. It is inconvenient to use any cauldron with lids, the only thing is that you can fry on the lid of an army one, but in fact the benefits are dubious, because everything burns to this aluminum.
Stainless steel mugs come out much easier. There, the meaning is the same - we cut off the handle with a grinder, drill holes for the cable and the pot is ready. They will be more convenient for the burner than these are mine. Their service life, on the one hand, is shorter, on the other hand, we are unlikely to feel it 🙂 Minus the pots from the mugs - food burns in them more often, but it depends more on the skill of the one who cooks, as well as the approach to nutrition ...
I immediately thought about a lid for it. Even if it is not a frying pan, at least it will be possible to cover the contents of the pot from dust and debris. I chose options for a long time, how to make a lid on a pot and settled on the simplest one - from another cover!)))
I just had an aluminum lid from a small saucepan lying around. Naturally, it is larger in diameter than a liter mug, so I had to cut off the excess pores in the circle. Food-grade aluminum is quite soft, you can literally wrinkle it with your hands and cut it quite easily.
I put the lid on my bowler hat and traced it around with a pencil. Then he cut it off with scissors for metal. I filed the edges of the lid so that they did not protrude beyond the side of the pot. Otherwise, the bow will interfere with covering the pot with a lid.
The factory lid has a small groove along the edge that prevents it from sliding to the side. Since I do not know how to mint, and I am not sure that it is possible to work with aluminum of this thickness, I had to invent another way to keep the lid on the pot. I couldn't think of anything better how to simply make small cuts on three sides of the lid and bend the resulting petals inside the pot. Now they rest against the wall of the pot from the inside and the lid does not come off.
The shop lid had a black plastic handle. I decided to remove it to make it a little more compact. I simply drilled the rivet on which it was held and broke off the handle. I decided to make a new one in the form of a folding wire bracket.
Drilled holes for rivets in the cover and in the mounting plate.
Since a rather large hole from the old handle remained in the lid, I made another plate that will cover it from the back side.
The foldable handle on the lid must be locked in an upright position. Otherwise, it will be difficult to remove the hot lid from the boiling pot.
Since the metal of the bicycle spoke is resilient enough, the handle itself will act as a spring. You just need to bend it a little more than the size of the mounting plate needs. And at the edges of the plate itself, I made three small cuts with a file. One - for fixing the vertical position of the handle, and two on the sides - for the horizontal position.
It remains only to put everything together and rivet. I used pieces of aluminum wire for the rivets. You can, of course, use a modern rivet, but "we are not looking for easy ways")))
The resulting lid weighs 33 grams. The handle holds firmly in both upright and folded positions.
After trying on the bowler hat, it turned out that its bow still slightly interferes with covering it with a lid. Therefore, I had to make another, longer bow and bend it a little differently, and pierce the edges with a file on the lid itself.
Yes, I also drilled a few holes along the edge. Well, sort of, so that you can see: steam is coming, so the water is boiling. Maybe they don't need them, but let them be)))
If the bracket handle gets very hot, maybe I will glue pieces of cork on it.
As I expected, the handle of the lid heats up so much that it cannot be gripped with bare hands. So I want to try the cork handle option.
A tripod under a cauldron or a kettle is a real find for a tourist. Especially if it is a folding model of the mechanism. The cost of purchased models is too high, therefore, despite the demand, the level of sales cannot be called high. I don't want to give a round sum for simple iron.
Features of using tripods
An experienced tourist can make such a device himself. The design scheme is not complicated, and there are more than enough options. A tripod for a bowler hat with your own hands is an irreplaceable thing in a tourist's inventory. The device is useful for both the fisherman and the hunter.
Often, improvised means are used as a stand for a camping bowler - spears or crossbars found in the forest. And this option is good, but it is more convenient to make a tripod yourself, using more reliable materials for this.
Of course, you can resort to a simpler option and just find spears or purchase a ready-made model of a stand for a field kitchen, so as not to bother with the design and preparation of parts. Many people do so, but true connoisseurs of outdoor recreation prefer to do everything on their own. Having designed a stand, you do not have to waste time looking for crossbars in the forest or planting, or throw out a considerable amount for a purchased model.
By the way, making a tripod with your own hands is a great chance to get a survival experience on a camping trip. After all, without having a place to cook food, you simply remain hungry.
What is required for construction
In the process of assembling a tripod with your own hands, the following materials will come in handy:
- Nuts and screws - 6 pcs. It is better to choose parts called lambs. This is a great trekking option.
- Din-rail made of steel - 3 m. You can buy it in a hardware store.
- Wire 2-3 mm - 30 cm.
- Chain.
Material preparation
The classic version of a tripod for a do-it-yourself pot, 1 meter high, consists of three steel supports. The lath is cut into equal parts, resulting in three identical parts 100 cm high.After that, each lath is further divided in half. The result is 6 structural parts, 50 cm each.
When folded, a tripod for a bowler hat with your own hands will be 50 cm in length, when unfolded - about 100 cm.This option is invaluable in field conditions, especially if you have a long transition with an overnight stay.
Having prepared the supports, at the end of each part of the rail, transverse holes are made into which a ring of wire will be threaded in the future.
Insert the slats into the ring or triangle, whichever is preferred, and secure the structure. So, a tripod for a pot with your own hands 50 cm in height is almost ready.
With the help of lambs, the remaining 3 rails are screwed to the tripod legs, increasing the length of the structure from 50 to 95 cm.
To fasten the chain, take a nail and bend it in the shape of the letter "M". It turns out a good do-it-yourself tripod under the bowler hat.
Remember! When folded, the tripod is half the size of the product when fully unfolded.
This is one of the simplest options for a do-it-yourself bowler hat.
Such a product will come in handy while relaxing by the river, lake, in the forest. A foldable tripod is the best option for hiking and weekend tours. It is easy to fold, carry and operate. Thanks to the presence of a chain and a homemade hook, you can adjust the height of the hanging kettle or kettle.
In preparation for the next "March-Throw", I decided to make myself light bowlers, since the stuffy amphibian did not allow buying ready-made titanium ones. In fact, everything is very simple, first you go to the store and buy 1-2 mugs of a suitable volume, while it must be borne in mind that the volume that is indicated on the price tags, it clearly does not correspond to reality, for example, a mug with a diameter of 11 cm is advertised as one-liter, while while it only holds 800ml. A 12cm mug holds 1 liter, although it is written 1.4.We remake 555 mugs for use as a kettle In preparation for the next March-Throw, I decided to make myself light kettles, since the stuffy amphibian did not allow buying ready-made titanium ones. In fact, everything is very simple, first you go to the store and buy 1-2 mugs of a suitable volume, while it must be borne in mind that the volume that is indicated on the price tags, it clearly does not correspond to reality, for example, a mug with a diameter of 11 cm is advertised as one-liter, while while it only holds 800ml. A 12cm mug holds 1 liter, although it is written 1.4.
So, we take a freshly bought mug by the handle and deprive it of what? Right! This very pen! It is most convenient to do this with a small cut-off wheel on a typewriter like "DREMEL" or, in my case, "SKIL". Fortunately, at a cost, it is quite affordable and will pay for itself already on the second made pot.
Moreover, it is not at all necessary to cut to the end, so you can cut through the mug itself, it is made of a rather thin stainless steel, it is enough to cut a little in the area of ​​\ u200b \ u200bthe welding place ...
Then just break off. Unevenness of the trim then needs to be sanded with a sharpening stone.
The upper mount can also be cut off or, if lazy, simply torn off, while in the pot in the places of contact welding, almost ready-made holes for the cable are formed.
It is advisable to make the lower (and upper) stub as flat and smooth as possible so that it does not cling to anything in the future.
The holes for the cable can either be drilled, unless of course you feel sorry for the drill, or, as in my case, just punch through with a punch
And then remove the bulging metal with a small grinding wheel.
Now all that remains is to cut off a couple of pieces of about 1cm from a suitable tube (I used a piece of an unnecessary telescopic antenna) and squeeze it onto a 1mm thick cable (bought in the same Maxidom as the mugs).
And the cauldron with a volume of about 800 ml and a weight of 104 g is ready to use.
In the same way, the next largest pot for 1 liter weighs only 124g.
Tellingly, the pots will fit into each other remarkably, you can make up to 6 pots that fit into each other in different volumes and take with you those that are most suitable at the moment.
You can also make a very small pot for one mug of tea, while you can hang it over a fire or a burner to boil water. Effective volume 450ml, weight 80g, mug diameter 9cm. Or 600ml 95gr 10cm, respectively.
And if you sew a ribbon to the cover for the bowler hat, you get a light mug!
Tellingly, the resulting pots, although they cost 10 times cheaper than branded titanium ones, do not weigh a bit more, with the same volume.