|
Some of these posts are very old and might contain outdated information. You may wish to search for newer posts instead.
|
Diploid
Cuban


Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
|
Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp 1
#1435871 - 04/07/03 11:00 AM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Cheap, easy, and effective alcohol lamp for sterilizing needles, scalpels, and other instruments.
1. Buy Baby food. Banana is my favorite, but other flavors should work as well. Get this at the supermarket. 

2. Buy Some Alcohol. You can get this at a hardware store or drug store. Ethyl or methyl alcohol is best. Avoid isopropyl alcohol. It's vapor pressure is high and will tend to spill out of the jar when it gets warm. Also keep a fire extinguisher nearby whenever you work with an open flame.

3. Buy 3/8" spade drill bit. Get this at the hardware store too.

4. Buy some cotton balls. You can get these at any drug store. Don't use polyfill; it will melt. Use cotton only!

5. Open the jar of baby food and eat it. Yum! Rinse and dry the jar, then drill a 3/8" hole in the lid. Use a small nail to poke a second hole near the rim to equalize pressure.

6. Squeeze a cotton ball and stick it part-way through the hole in the lid. This will serve as the wick.

7. Stick a few cotton balls in the jar. Fill the jar about half-way with alcohol. Don't overfill it. Half way is plenty.

8. Put the lid on the jar with the wick sticking out of the top. Put a few drops of alcohol on the top of the wick to get it primed.

9. Make sure you wipe up any spilled alcohol from your working surface and from the sides and lid of the jar, then light the wick. You'll get a clean, hot flame far better than anything you can get out of a lighter.
To extinguish, cover the whole thing with a glass. The flame will consume all the oxygen in a couple of seconds, then it will go out.
Edit: some have suggested a modification to improve the design. Poke a second small hole in the lid away from the hole for the wick to equalize the pressure.
|
debianlinux
Myconerd - DBK



Registered: 12/09/02
Posts: 8,334
Loc: Over There
Last seen: 5 months, 15 days
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: Diploid]
#1435876 - 04/07/03 11:02 AM (20 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
excellent! a great start for the newbs and the po. maybe try fixing some plate or something to the bottom to prevent tipping. myalcohol lamp is a multi-corner polygon of sorts so that it doesn't knock over and can be used sitting at an angle. only cost like 5 bux too. but DIY si always a good thing imo.
|
kaka
Stranger
Registered: 04/21/03
Posts: 1
Last seen: 20 years, 7 months
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: debianlinux]
#1488945 - 04/24/03 10:11 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
way cool! i love home made stuff
|
dog
straw dog

Registered: 06/20/02
Posts: 2,790
Loc: Route 66
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: Diploid]
#1488960 - 04/24/03 10:18 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
Well detailed post. I'm gonna build me one of those.
--------------------
Fascism (fash'izem) n. A governmental system marked by a centralized dictatorship, stringent socioeconomic controls, and often belligerent nationalism. see also: the Bush Administration.
Edited by dog (04/24/03 10:19 AM)
|
afoaf
CEO DBK?


Registered: 11/08/02
Posts: 32,665
Loc: Ripple's Heart
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: Diploid]
#1488968 - 04/24/03 10:22 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
fantastic post.
I was just thinking to myself the other day just how fantastic my lamp is.
they are an indispensible tool.
MacGyver would be so proud of you! 
I bet you could buy wick from Michaels or other large art/craft stores. they sell lamps and fuel for lamps.
maybe a thick guage cotton rope...or how about an old sock?
also, a shot glass would make a great cap to put out the lamp as well, if you're really crafty, you can get a thimble and use that as well.
use the one in your monopoly set!
-------------------- All I know is The Growery is a place where losers who get banned here go.
|
Hippie3
mycotopiate


Registered: 11/06/99
Posts: 3,090
Loc: mycotopia.net
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: afoaf]
#1488970 - 04/24/03 10:23 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
very well written and illustrated, i'd like to post a copy to the archives at mycotopia.
-------------------- Admin @ mycotopia.net Mycotopia
|
Anonymous
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: Hippie3]
#1488988 - 04/24/03 10:33 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
nice diploid...gonna try that out
|
shirley knott
not my real name

Registered: 11/11/02
Posts: 9,105
Loc: London
Last seen: 6 years, 11 months
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: Diploid]
#1489027 - 04/24/03 10:50 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
Nice work diploid! shrooms duly awarded (if not already) - i'm gonna make one too!
-------------------- buh
|
Diploid
Cuban


Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: Hippie3]
#1489046 - 04/24/03 10:59 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
i'd like to post a copy to the archives at mycotopia.
Go ahead... 
-------------------- Republican Values: 1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you. 2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child. 3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer. 4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
|
biglo
Shroomery BabySitter



Registered: 11/22/02
Posts: 603
Loc: US of A
Last seen: 8 years, 3 months
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: Diploid]
#1489090 - 04/24/03 11:10 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
I've been doing the same thing, only a lil less complicated. I just get a shot glass, soak a kleenex in it and pour some rubbing alcohol, works the same way, a lil less work.
|
Diploid
Cuban


Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: biglo]
#1489115 - 04/24/03 11:18 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
Yeah, but with your method, you don't get to eat the baby food. 
-------------------- Republican Values: 1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you. 2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child. 3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer. 4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
|
afoaf
CEO DBK?


Registered: 11/08/02
Posts: 32,665
Loc: Ripple's Heart
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: Diploid]
#1489164 - 04/24/03 11:35 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
excellent point.
-------------------- All I know is The Growery is a place where losers who get banned here go.
|
Hippie3
mycotopiate


Registered: 11/06/99
Posts: 3,090
Loc: mycotopia.net
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: Diploid]
#1489177 - 04/24/03 11:40 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
done, thx.
-------------------- Admin @ mycotopia.net Mycotopia
|
SixTango
Mycota

Registered: 01/21/02
Posts: 1,996
Loc: A little North of Paradis...
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: Diploid]
#1489187 - 04/24/03 11:43 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
If you don't want to build one yourself & there is a bar or resturant supply place in your town. You can get a refillable table top wick fuel cell for very cheap & just fill w/alc. Works great. 6T
-------------------- ~whiskey river rafting, hot tubbing, dirty dancing & spending money on - wild women - having fun & just gonna waste the rest~
|
SixTango
Mycota

Registered: 01/21/02
Posts: 1,996
Loc: A little North of Paradis...
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: SixTango]
#1489221 - 04/24/03 11:51 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|

They look like this. You see them in bars & resturants.... on table tops.
6T
-------------------- ~whiskey river rafting, hot tubbing, dirty dancing & spending money on - wild women - having fun & just gonna waste the rest~
|
Anonymous
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: Diploid]
#1489590 - 04/24/03 01:18 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
Or for .99 you can be on your way to a buzz.... Nothing like Thor's Hammer in the morning to get ya going 
|
fastfred
Old Hand



Registered: 05/17/04
Posts: 6,899
Loc: Dark side of the moon
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: Diploid]
#8084879 - 02/29/08 03:21 AM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
|
|
LOL, forget ghetto rigging stuff involving fire, that's just crazy. Nobody can really be THAT cheap, can they?
 http://www.cynmar.com/item_detail.aspx?ItemCode=12030895
It's $3.40 for Christ's sakes.
If you want a nicer one then spend $10.00 and get a wickless alcohol burner. http://www.cynmar.com/SearchByKeyword.aspx?word=wickless
-FF
Edited by fastfred (02/29/08 03:40 AM)
|
FooMan




Registered: 02/02/05
Posts: 8,957
Loc: Earth
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: fastfred]
#8084890 - 02/29/08 03:32 AM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
|
|
This thread is 5 years old FF.
--------------------
Quick WBS Prep
|
fastfred
Old Hand



Registered: 05/17/04
Posts: 6,899
Loc: Dark side of the moon
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: FooMan]
#8084895 - 02/29/08 03:37 AM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
|
|
Yeah, but it was recently linked to. Just trying to save someone from burning their house down and getting busted in the same swipe.
I'm really all for making your own homemade stuff, but when you consider how cheap it is to go with safer premade stuff I feel like I have to give people the advice. If you buy babyfood and a drill bit you've already spent more than a premade lamp.
-FF
|
FooMan




Registered: 02/02/05
Posts: 8,957
Loc: Earth
|
Re: Diploid's Home-made Alcohol Lamp [Re: fastfred]
#8084897 - 02/29/08 03:41 AM (15 years, 9 months ago) |
|
|
The thing with Cynmar is that there's a $25 minimum order, which I learned when I ordered stir bars from them. If I could find a local shop that had a real alcohol burner I'd buy one, but to order online and add shipping costs onto that, I might as well keep using a regular old lighter.
--------------------
Quick WBS Prep
|
|