The Vault Regulars

Thursday, October 6, 2011

MYOG Windsheilds

I make quite a number of stoves and windshields and over the years i have used some odd bits and pieces that started life as household items.
Windshields for example, i have used foil roasting tins, take away cartons, baked been tins etc etc.
It gets a bit silly at times, before Sheila throws anything out now she usually shouts me and asks do i want this “Packaging” before it goes in the rubbish bin.
All well and good but to get these items exactly what you want can take a bit of ingenuity with a rolling pin and a pair of scissors or even more if you want to make a cone shape.

Then i remembered that we used to use foil to make templates and prototype parts during my working days and i wondered if i could find out where it came from. Not std kitchen foil, but similar, just thicker and less tear resistant.

It surprised me when i was searching, just how little of it was available nowadays. But i did find one suitable item in the US.
It was in the St Louis craft shop and as well as aluminium, they do copper and brass too.

The aluminium foil is 1ft wide and in various lengths and 36 gauge thickness. That’s 0.005" or 0.127mm. It’s called Maid-O-Metal.

Then by a chance search i found a site in the UK. Fred Aldous and i couldn’t believe it was in Manchester.
It turns out that it is the exact same product as i originally found in the St Louis craft shop.
I ordered it at around 3.00pm and it was delivered before noon the next day. Fantastic service.



I have since found it available on Amazon, search "Aluminium Tooling Foil” but it is still shipped from Fred Aldous in Manchester.

I hope you MYOG people find this useful and put it to good use making your own shields, bases, pot/pan lids etc.
It can be cut with a good pair of kitchen scissors and holes punched in with a standard paper hole punch.

9 comments:

  1. Thanks Alan, may try this. Currently using the windshield kit from backpackinglight but its a little bit bulky.

    David

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  2. A good find, Alan. I tried to find something similar in the craftshops here a while ago (when I needed a windshield for the F1). I couldn't find any, so in the end I used material from an empty mint box + my old windshield (which I use for the Trangia Mini).

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  3. The Timperley Tipplers passed the Fred Aldous shop yesterday on our 'Curry Walk' to This & That. We used the old shop for our stationery at work for many years, and I think it was my annual source of 'everything you need to make your own Christmas Cracker'.

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  4. Hi David,
    Well with this you can make it suit your needs exactly.

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  5. Maria, if you decide to buy one and they don’t ship outside the UK, just let me know and i will post one to you.

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  6. Hi Martin,
    I walked passed it on tuesday. I also passed your exquisite curry house on the way to the tea shop on Thomas St.

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  7. Thanks Alan for your kind offer, I'll keep that in mind.

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  8. Alan, another good find. I will file away for when my shop bought foil windshield breaks or is lost !!

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  9. Thanks Mark,
    Sharing the little bits and pieces is what i like to do.

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