Success smells like burning hair? Sticking it to big butane.

OK, we’ve all been there. We’ve bought one of those little butane torches (perhaps for creme brulee, perhaps for heat-shrink tubing). And then we’ve discovered price discrimination. You see, it costs $7 for 150g of ‘lighter refill butane’ but a 3-pack of 227g containers of ‘stove propane’ is $10. Wait a minute, about 3x as much for ‘lighter propane’. Is this not exactly the same product? Compressed gas? Yes it is. The only difference is the diameter of the refill hole.

Am I going to let big-butane stick it to me? No way! I have a 3D printer, it seems like this would be the perfect opportunity to make something that was two cylinders stacked on each other, which, in the greater scheme of 3D modelling is not that hard.

OK lets give it a go. First we’ll try PLA (photo below). OK, well, this works as a proof of concept, but the tip is a bit too soft, and there is some leakage. Still, on the first test the torch lit (and so did the sink and my arms. Ooops, lets turn on the exhaust fan, burnt hair is pretty stinky…. Its no stinky cat… but… definitely not the smell of success I was looking for).

OK, lets give this a go w/ ABS. Fortunately my printer is dual extruder so just switch temperatures and light up the other side (I also used 100% infill). For kicks I’ll also print one at 95%, and one at 98% size. And bingo, we are in!