Saturday, September 01, 2012

Bob Lane Collapsible Cup - MYOG Clone


Bob Lane Collapsible Cup - MYOG Clone

August 28, 2012:

Matt Porter started a thread on the Backpackinglight  web site about the "Bob Lane Collapsible Cup he has:


Several other members added comments about the cup.  A couple other members had seen one of these cups or knew someone that had owned one.  I even found that one of these had just sold on ebay for $50.00.

I though the idea was clever and decided to see if I could make one for myself.  The cup had a Patent on it at one time and I was able to find the Patent drawings.

Matt has been very helpful in providing additional information about the cup.

I printed out the Patent Drawing in a couple different sizes and made a few card stock mockups.  The photos show three different sizes.  The largest one is just under 5" wide.  I am still tweaking the pattern.

I am holding the cups together with #8-32 Nylon screws and nuts.  For my own cup I might just use try one with the Nylon screws and nuts.   I can cut the extra off the end of the screws and then heat the tip to melt a cap of sorts on that end.  Then I can use it and see how long that idea will last.

The "for real" cup could be made from one of several different material I have on hand.  I have the .016" titanium, 1/32" aluminum or a thin plastic I have.  The aluminum should be the easiest to work with and I will start with it.

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August 30, 2012:

I have now made a Lane Cup out of two different materials.  I made the first one out of some 1/32" aluminum.  As it turned out it would not open. The aluminum was to thick and the cup would not open.  



I then got out a piece of a thin plastic material (.020") called "Styrene" and made a second Bob Lane Cup - Clone.  This one does open and only weighs 13 grams /  0.46 ounces.  The down side is that it leaks, drip, drip, drip, drip.  It might be possible to tweak the pattern so the plastic might work better.




I plan to make at least two more test cups, one out of 0.010 aluminum and one out of 0.010 Stainless Steel. 

The question for me now becomes "If I add a cup like this to my gear list", how do I plan to use it?  If I want to drink out of it, my first version plastic cup leaks to much.  If I only want to use it as a scope to get water from a creek or spring to put in a water filter, water bottle or other water container, then the fact that it leaks may not be that important.  

At 0.46 ounce the plastic cup might be light enough to add to my gear list but it has to have a real job.  Adding a cup like this to my gear list would only work for me if I don't have anything else to scope water with.

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September 1, 2012:

I have been playing with the "Styrene" Cup Clone #1 and have refined the edge to reduce the leaking problem.  Most of the time now when I open it, it doesn't leak till I handle it a lot.  

I think a cup like this could be used to scope water out of a shallow stream or water hole and maybe even to drink out of, but I am not sure yet if that alone is good enough to add a half ounce to my "Super Ultra Light" gear list.  Since I drink from a bottle I haven't figure out yet what else I might be able to do with a cup like this if I am carrying it.  

and

A half ounce is a half ounce is a half ounce.            









4 Comments:

Blogger samh said...

Bill, excellent to see you back in action in the workshop. I question (as you do) whether this is a worthy project however. I personally carry a mug that is pretty much solely designed for drinking coffee out of and although it's lightweight I don't care about it's weight all that much. You on the other hand have always been absolutely dedicated to each and every piece of gear's absolute purpose and I honestly wonder whether a piece of gear such as this has any place in your kit.

All of that nonsense aside I'm just happy to see you're in your workshop putting ideas to the test. I seriously love your designs.

Friday, September 07, 2012 12:16:00 AM  
Blogger gardenville said...

Hi Sam,

Thanks for leaving a comment.

I think the "Lane" cup is a cleaver design but I don't think it would work for me.

Being on a total liquid diet I need an 8 to 12 ounce container to drink from. When weight is important (all the time if it is on my back) I carry an empty 12 ounce soda can. It is big enough to mix a serving size of my dry Ensure in and then drink out of it. It weighs 0.42 of an ounces and If it gets banged up I just buy another can of Diet Coke somewhere along the way, drink it, cut out the top and save the can to drink out of.

Friday, September 07, 2012 1:55:00 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

hi these seem quite useful. thanks for sharing.

Collapsible Container

Friday, September 21, 2012 8:00:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have 2 of the Bob Lane cups from Circa 1978 and they are still awesome, I forget they are in my back pocket as so light and flat and they work to this day...wish I can find more or some one was making them they were an awesome device for outdoors

Sunday, July 06, 2014 12:10:00 AM  

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