Backpacking lantern

“...at Anti-Gravity Gear will be selling these by tomorrow!

LOL...no ill will Tin Man, your site rocks!”

“I'm going to HAVE to make one of those now.

Dang it! More time eaten away! ;-)
last edited: 4/06/06 1:47:13 PM”

“figure out a way to attach the bottom.....

That way it could be hung from a limb or a roof support in a shelter....

You DID post this over on White Blaze Ninnnd ya?
last edited: 4/06/06 2:06:50 PM”

“that's pretty awesome. after a long time it doesn't heat the plastic walls?”

““figure out a way to attach the bottom.....ST


That's the only option I see that needs to be added.

In general hanging might not work very well with the liquid oil. The wind will blow a lightweight hanging lantern like this around a lot and the tea candle cup will spill the burning hot oil over everything under it.”

“The plastic doesn't seem to get too hot, but I bet it's close. The hole in the top of the pop can (that one drank out of) lets the heat out. If I did it over I might use a pop-can bottom for the top and drill a hole right in the center aligned with the flame. That would transmit even less heat to the plastic.

This seems to work, however.

I could attach the bottom using the same plastic shrinking trick but I wasn't sure how to get access to fill it and maintain the wick. This seemed simpler and sometimes simpler is better.

I am like 99% sure I could cut the plastic on the bottom edge carefully to make a bayonette latch and then cut the can bottom carefully so it mated to the bayonette grooves. Did that make sense the way I explained it? That would make the bottom stay in place. I'll try that tonight perhaps. Then it would stay attached but be able to be easily removed to fill and maintain.

Fun stuff!”

“This seemed simpler and sometimes simpler is better.

Hear Hear!!!!!!!


K.I.S.S. Design is best!!!!!
(Keep It Simple Stupid) ;-)”

“duct tape or wire hinge on one side of the bottom connecting the oil container to the globe and a bent wire hook to hook into the globe on the other side might work OK for getting access and yet be relatively simple

problem with hinge approach is the side wall would pass close to the flame when closing - maybe three hooks and no hinge would be better
last edited: 4/06/06 3:00:27 PM”

“if there is a good way to attach the bottom then to keep it from swinging much when hung attach a weight on a cord attached to the bottom of the lantern or just run the cord down to a tent stake possibly using some shock cord”

“then push a twig through the bottom two holes to hold the bottom in place...?

SS is prolly right...splashing oil would be a problem....

NOW ON TO THE IMPORTANT STUFF:

as with Alcohol Stoves, how small can you get it?

I see V-8 cans, and 16 Oz water bottles...

(Thimbles and 1" clear plastic tubeing?)

j/k”

“I have done tea-light tins and red bull cans. That is as small as I have gone.”

“This was just an update to the original lantern. I basically wanted to see if I could make a version with an attached based. The requirement was for the base to be attached in such a way that it could be easily opened for service (to fill with oil and to adjust the wick basically).

Here is a picture of the solution I tried. Notice two things.

1. The bottom is attached as I am holding the lantern in the air.

2. I changed the top design somewhat. I used a can bottom rather than a can top. Then I used a uni-bit to drill out a hole aligned with the flame from the lantern. This seems to work better than the can top however one should be sure to make the hole large enough so that enough heat gets out so you don't melt the plastic. The change in the top had nothing to do with attaching the bottom. It was just an improvement I thought I would try.



The way I did this was I made a new base and cut tabs in it that I "folded down" to make the latching mechanism. I made three of these spaced equally around the can bottom. Here is a picture. The lit lantern is the new bottom. I included the non-tabbed version for comparison.



Then I cut grooves, bayonet style, in the body of the globe. I didn't cut these quite properly but they do work as is. Here is a close-up showing the tabs that were cut and a matching groove in the globe bottom.



I may cut the bayonet latch in the globe a bit (or use a nail file) to make more of a "notch" the tab can sit in so it will "lock" into place. Still, I think this design is fairly elegant and simple.

I am going to attach a little piece of light cord as a carry/hang strap. Also, I am going to make a shield that will cover the tea-light so the oil will be harder to spill.”

“Jimmy thats pretty cool dude, I may have to try that one out myself.”

“Bravo JS!”

“hikinghq.net had these stoves...convert ideas to candle maybe?

”

“Yeah, i was going to make some sort of cover for the tea light oil container to prevent sloshing however I never got around to it.

I have burned that lantern for hours and hours. my wife is pissed because i am burining all the olive oil. funny, but she never complained about the denatured.

Anyway, it is still going strong. I did notice that it looks like it might overheat and warp the plastic if you aren't careful and get the wick too long. This is certainly a piece of gear that requires a bit of patience to get optimal use out of.

I might field-test it in the Porkies next weekend.”

“http://zenstoves.net/SiteIndex.htm

Check this site out.....”

“i'm gonna play around this weekend.

i'll field test in the adirondacks next weekend.”

“btw if you are testing this at home cheap canola oil works just as well for burning - when backpacking I use olive oil cause I have that with me for food use but any old cheap vegatable oil will work for testing at home.”

“isn't olive oil better for you?”

“yes - that is why I use it with my food but for testing out lanterns etc. any cheap oil will work about the same”

“ya i hear ya, i was just wondering in a kinda off-topic way.”

“Of course the chuckle here is that I never carry a lantern. I have wanted to go to a photon microlight for a light source but feel like in an emergency I couldn't hike safely a long distance on a dark night during an emergency. So I carry it as a backup and use a fairly light headlamp with those lithium batteries.

It's not nearly as aesthetically pleasing.”

“...you can't figure out a way to use a cheap plastic magnifying lens and a reflector to make a Photon light powered lantern?...hmmmm?”