After building the prototype (see blog post Max Makes A Heater), and designing the stove on Solid Works, I put in the order with Kammetal for ten, 22 gauge, 304 stainless steel, mill finish stoves with the hope that I wasn’t wasting well over 1000 dollars at a time when the boat could use the money.
The parts were ready a little over a month later. I rushed over to Kametal excited and nervous
to see if the parts I had dreamt up would actually fit together, or if I had
just purchased the world’s most expensive pile of scrap metal. 3D modeling may seem like the end-all be-all
of product design, but the truth is that it’s a tool, and like any other tool,
it requires skill and patients to master.
The best advice I can give is to never assume anything. Check and recheck everything, buy parts that
you plan to incorporate into your design, look at them, feel them, measure
them, whatever you have to do to uncover the next problem with your model. If you can’t find any problems, it means your
not looking hard enough.
I assembled the first
Kufner Stove on the kitchen table as soon as I got home. The parts slipped together with such
precision, I was jumping up and down.
She had the perfect proportions and looked elegant yet modern with a
dull reflective finish that expressed both modesty and reliability, or at least
that was my first reaction. As anyone
who has ever built anything knows, after the initial sense of accomplishment,
you begin analyzing your creation over and over again for every possible
fault. I can only imagine how many
inventors kept their inventions from the world simply because they couldn’t
help but fix that one last problem they had discovered.
· I designed the fan control switch board for a
potentiometer. I had assumed the
potentiometer would have enough resistance to completely shut the fan off, but
I was wrong. I eventually tracked down a
SPST Rheostat that would do the job and fit nicely into my custom bracket. A Rheostat is essentially a potentiometer
meets rotary switch combo.
·
While I had designed the heater to use standard
parts and as few different parts as possible, I hadn’t realized how important
the sequence of installation was. The
result is a difficult to assemble product where its easy to skip a step and end
up with no access complete it later on.
·
I designed the bracket which supports the burner
to long resulting in the burner hanging too low. The flower pot wasn’t heating up and the
heater was under performing. I
eventually had to ask Kametal to make me a new bracket.
·
The propane burner I designed for is a high
pressure burner whereas boats typically use a low pressure propane system. This is a huge problem that I have yet to
solve. The stove still works with a
kerosene burner, but most people want propane.
Unfortunately, I think the only solution will be to find a different
burner. This problem was actually
discovered by the first person to purchase a Kufner Stove on Ebay. I am fortunate that he is a really nice guy
and has been sending me updates on modifications/installation.
That’s it for now, at least for the problems worth
mentioning. I don’t regret building my
stove. In fact I still think it as
beautiful as the first day I saw it. I’m
sure my affection towards it will grow as I tinker with it at sea, or as it
keeps us warm in the southern ocean. I
don’t think it will ever be a money maker, but that doesn’t matter. The Kufner stoves are out there and its
because of me.
My stove is not free of faults, in fact it has many, and those
that I have discovered have kept me from selling them in any great
numbers. To be fair, Laura and I are
busy preparing the circumnavigation of an American continent, which has nudged
the Kufner stove to the back burner of my mind.
Regardless, in the interest of full disclosure and the informative
nature of this blog, I am prepared to share all the problems I have found no
matter how embarrassing they may be.
