Generating electricity from alcohol

thermoelectric-generator-lamp

Here's a thermoelectric generator which [x2Jiggy] built. The concept uses heat from a flame, biased against cooler temperatures produced by that huge heat sink making up the top portion of the build to produce electricity via the Peltier effect. The build is passively cooled, using a sync assembly that takes advantage of heat pipes to help increase the heat dissipation. A nearly flat heat sink … [Read more...]

Red-bullet: cooking stove from cans, fueled by gas additive

red-bullet-cooking-stove

A couple of beverage containers and a little bit of fuel additive bring together this aluminum can stove project. When lit it shoots flames out each of those holes around the top to heat the vessel resting upon it. [Peter Geiger] calls it the Red-Bullet because one of the stove pieces started as a Red Bull can and the other piece was a Coors (aka silver bullet). This is basically an alcohol … [Read more...]

Building a coffee roaster from junk

building-a-coffee-roaster-from-junk

[Rxdtxd] has tried his hand at roasting coffee beans in a frying pan. It works but he can only roast small batches at once. What he really needed was a large-scale roaster that would have no problem with a few pounds of the green beans all at once. He ended up building this large-scale coffee roaster out of junk parts. The vessel which holds the beans is the drum from a top-loading washing … [Read more...]

Hackaday links: March 6, 2011

link-omnidirectional-seway-clone

Omnidirectional personal transport [Dan] sent us a link to this Honda U3-X personal transport device. It's kind of like a Segway that can move in any direction but our head already hurts from the thought of going over backward on one of these. How light bulb filaments were developed Now that incandescent light bulbs are about to be outlawed here in the US, we thought you might … [Read more...]

Beefy battery backup still running after a decade

beefy-ups-runs-for-years

In 1997 [Michael Butkus Jr.] found an uninterruptible power supply in the dumpster. The batteries were shot, but he needed a backup to keep his pellet stove running for heat, drive the exhaust fan to keep the smoke out of the house, and power his computer and other electronics. After a bit of head scratching he decided to beef up the UPS using deep-cycle batteries. He actually built two of … [Read more...]

Stove built from beer can. Hobos rejoice.

beer-can-alcohol-stove

[Charles] sent in a tip about an alcohol based stove built from beer cans and a penny. The burner is efficient, lightweight, and tiny all while still packing a pretty big punch. It can boil water for sterilization, cook some rice for your meal, or make a spot of tea. The penny is used as the regulating valve. The cup in the burner has a hole in the center where the penny is placed using gravity to … [Read more...]