case study
Building the Rocket Stove
In addition to the services that MTS provides to clients in designing, machining, fabricating, and welding parts and structures for various industries and uses, MTS from time to time also produces retail products. One such product is our rocket stove, sold under a separate brand name.
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Design +
Fabrication +
Welding
Problem
Many rocket stoves on the market are not well designed and consist of metal parts that are hacked together so that the stoves are either too bulky or too flimsy. Tobias Flood, Co-Founder of MTS has a passion for camping and outdoor cooking and saw an opportunity to design and fabricate a more efficient rocket stove.
Solution
The first iteration of MTS’s rocket stove was certainly not the last and the latest rocket stove came to be after 4 revisions of the original. MTS continued making improvements on the original prototype with the priorities being functionality first and price second. Keeping track of the weight of the stove and cost of components was essential to achieve price efficiency. The goal was to construct a higher quality rocket stove that is well priced. Some of the design iterations introduced included a bigger chute and larger holes for better burning performance. MTS also modified the platform to be concave so that a pot or pan sitting on it only touches the edges of the platform for improved stability. Another innovation included making the chute adjustable from 0 to 60 degrees. The latest rocket stove design has 14 components. All parts were originally manufactured in-house at MTS with the exception of the main tube, which was laser cut by another manufacturer. MTS used CNC plasma to cut all the remaining pieces, a press brake to mold the pieces according to the design and welded the parts to create the rocket stove.
Production
As our volume of customer projects picked up, in order to maintain production on rocket stoves, we began outsourcing all of the components, but continue to assemble, weld and ship the final product to customers.
Our Philosophy
We have all the expertise and equipment to bring a new product to market and in the event that we are not the best producer for certain parts, we are happy to collaborate with suppliers who are a better fit in order to manufacture a high-quality product that is cost and time-efficient.
With freedom of design, we are confident that we can improve both the functionality and cost of your product enabling you to achieve your goals and vision.
