Cotton ball cooking oil lamp floating puck

thingiverse

This is a floating puck for a cooking oil lamp / small heater, that uses an ordinary cotton ball for a wick. To use, get a container (preferably metal or glass); something about the size of a mid-size (20 oz. or 1-2 cup) candle jar is or 1 quart (liter) mason jar is great. (You could put several pucks in a larger container, I suppose.) A container with a lid is ideal, so you can smother the flame without releasing smoke into the air. Fill the container with cooking oil about 1/3 to 2/3 of the way to the top, leaving an airspace for the flame to sit inside lower than the lip of the container. (I get flames about 20mm high.) Insert an ordinary cosmetic cotton ball through the center from the bottom (the flat side) as the wick. The ball should extend above the top of the puck about 5mm, or even a little more. The more, the easier it will light. (Any excess will burn.) Put the puck in the container, and let the cotton soak up some oil for a few minutes. The oil will enter the central cavity of the puck, creating a buffer between the portion of the wick above the oil and the plastic. That is how it is designed to work. The oil immediately under the flame will protect the plastic from melting/burning, and will warm the oil so that it flows better into the wick. Lighting the candle is the most difficult part, because cooking oil isn't as volatile (flammable) as other fuels such as kerosene or alcohol. (That also makes it safer; it won't cause a big fire should you spill the container.) The wick needs to become hot enough to evaporate off some oil and produce a flame. There needs to be a spot in the cotton where the oil is thin enough to evaporate easily: this is where the cotton will turn black, and where the combustion occurs. A butane barbecue lighter works well, with the arm to get to the inside of the container. It helps to make a small pigtail in the cotton on the side to light. Be patient: it can take a couple of minutes to get it going. If the flame starts and goes out, pull up the cotton a little more and try again. The rate of oil consumption is slow, comparable to a candle (probably much better, actually). In a 20 oz. container the oil will drop less than a millimeter per hour. The cotton will eventually be consumed by the flame. When the flame goes out, break off the carbon, pull the cotton up a couple of millimeters, and relight. While you're at it, you can top off the oil. You should not allow the wick to touch the bottom of the container or the float may tip, which could expose the puck under the flame and destroy it. Replenish the oil in the container, or put the lamp out before that happens. Recommended cooking oils are heavier weight corn or olive oil (it doesn't need to be virgin). If you use a cheaper vegetable oil such as canola, you may get smoke and odors. Do not burn engine oil with this. DO NOT USE GASOLINE, DIESEL FUEL, KEROSENE (e.g. "lamp oil"), ALCOHOL OR ANY OTHER VOLATILE FUEL WITH THIS DEVICE. The heat output of one of these should be in the 50-100 watt range, depending on the size of the flame. That's not enough to heat your house, but it could be enough to keep the chill off a small tent or a gardener's hoop house. I'm still playing around with the dimensions on this. Yes, you can melt the puck if your wick is too large! If your puck emits bubbles it means an air pocket has been breached, in which case the puck may sink a bit (which protects it in the oil). Using this puck requires an open flame. Take all prudent precautions, keeping the flame away from flammable clothing, household articles, and flammable atmospheres. Flames consume oxygen: use with adequate ventilation. Use at your own risk: if you burn your house down, I'm not responsible. It works. I may improve upon this / and do some file cleanup soon.