Forums > Technical Discussion > What's in your fueling station?

Posted: 19th Apr 2009
White plastic bucket that I put my fuel in, metal can that I use to spin off, just hold the edge of the bucket with the poi dangling inside the bucket and give it a good swing, both have lids. I keep a funnel and my poi in the can and put that in the white bucket when I'm not using any of it.

Thats about it, I carry a towel and the fuel separately.

Thats if I'm not going to be doing poi around people, if I am I tend to have more safety equip. I don't feel I need it with few people around because my fuel is one of the safest you can get, really high flash point.

Posted: 20th Apr 2009
- Old plastic fuel bottle with the top cut off
- Bottles of fuel
- Bottle of water (for soaking towel)
- Towel

If we're performing add:
- large metal mop bucket or two (plenty of space to soak lots of props and the strainer is good for allowing poi to drain)
- 2 x fire blanket
- 2 x fire extinguisher

Working hard to be a wandering hippie layabout. Ten years down, five to go!

Posted: 20th Apr 2009
1x dip tin
1x poi spin off tin
1x fire blanket
1x fire extinguisher
3x towels one for drips, one for extinguishing and one for safety
1x bottle of water
1+* bottles of fuel
1x Funnel
1x fuel candle
1x laminated copy of public liability insurance

This is my performance kit and i generally just take it all no matter where i am going. I found a nice silver metal tool box at the hardware store that it all fits in nicely, Plus it stops any bottles leaking in my car.

I {Heart} hand me downs and spinning in the snow.<br /><br />

Posted: 20th Apr 2009
I use a duffel bag, usually with 2 gallon paint cans, one for white gas one for kero or mixed fuel. A can of white gas, a duveytine, a funnel, MSDS for white gas and kero, first aid kit, head lamp, extra batteries, HoP business cards

O.B.E.S.E.

Owned by Mynci!

Posted: 20th Apr 2009
Ah! I always grab the little torch from my glove box as well, you cant really do without it.

Posted: 21st Apr 2009
Thats what i forgot to list i usually have a little torch in there too.

I {Heart} hand me downs and spinning in the snow.<br /><br />

Posted: 21st Apr 2009
What does everyone always forget though? Personally I never bring a lighter along and have to borrow one. Very professional haha

Working hard to be a wandering hippie layabout. Ten years down, five to go!

Posted: 21st Apr 2009
oh ya i got a couple backup lighters in my bag as well.

I dont have a fire extinguisher....so i always forget that i suppose. You ever forget your staff? that sucks

O.B.E.S.E.

Owned by Mynci!

Posted: 21st Apr 2009

Working hard to be a wandering hippie layabout. Ten years down, five to go!

Posted: 21st Apr 2009
A pair of very battered prototypes, gaffer tape, a mahoosive supply of batteries, a battery charger, sunglasses

Cake or Death?

Posted: 22nd Apr 2009
Stop taunting us.

'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Posted: 22nd Apr 2009
So they chug through a lot of batteries, huh?

Posted: 23rd Apr 2009
Sorry

1 pair of AAA's typically lasts about an hour.

I keep thinking it would be good to make a fuel bucket with a spout and a catch can which fits neatly inside it. The number of times I've been trying to pour paraffin back into a plastic container and spilled it all over the place is almost comical!

Cake or Death?

Posted: 23rd Apr 2009
I always carry a funnel and my boot is filled with collapsable plastic boxes so Everything is easy to move / store / take out the car and stacks neatly (and importantly dryly) on any solid surface.

A couple of balls short of a full cascade... or maybe a few cards short of a deck... we'll see how this all fans out.

Posted: 24th Apr 2009
5 gallon paint bucket (can buy them at the paint store never-used) with lid. inside you can have a 1 gallon metal paint can with your fuel in it for dipping.

The bucket catches any spill when you pull the wick out of the fuel, before you can get your blotter cloth around it.

(this also helps, because the metal paint can will sweat out the fuel. the 5 gallon bucket catches that fuel and the vapors. Depending on the fuel, THE 5GAL BUCKET WILL BE FULL OF VAPOR WHEN YOU OPEN IT-especially with kero, if you leave the paint can in it, but you can't beat it for transporting fuel, and using it in your fuel dump.) As always, make sure to clean off and air out your gear when you get home.

It's not a good idea to use more then one type of fuel in each bucket. A good practice is to label the outside of the bucket and the lid with the fuel type. I use ultra pure tiki torch fuel, and kero, so the buckets are labeled accordingly.

...and beach towels. When I extinguish my poi, I put some terry cloth towels on top of a beach towel, drop them on it, and fold it over. I mention this here, because I also use a beach towel to drape over the bucket, to hold the vapor in and keep it from evaporating while i perform.

It is important to have a specific color beach towel that is the only one used in the fuel dump, and nothing else. It would suck to try to extinguish the poi on a towel soaked in fuel, color coding prevents this.

I also found that if i take with me a slim plant stand (the ones you use in gardens, wrought iron pole with a hook on it) I have something to put the hot poi on after i use them while they cool down. Simply put the handles on the hook.

so add:
-two 5 gal buckets w/ lids
- two to four 1 gal paint cans w/ lids
-plastic bottles to transport fuel
-3 beach towels
-Wrought-iron plant stand

to the list:
Safety:
-MSDS for each fuel used
-1 fire extinguisher per performer, additional 1 per 4 performers
-1 fire blanket per performer
-1 first aid kit (preferably each performer has their own)
+-With at least:
+-Burn Cream
+-Gauze (at least one roll, and some individually packaged pads)
+-Medical Tape
+-scissors (for gauze and medical tape)
+-Peroxide/alcohol swabs
+-Bandaids
+-Small book on burn care

Fuel Dump:
-1 small plastic tarp (to protect the ground from your nasty fuel)
-2 five gallon buckets w/ lids
-2 to 4 one gallon paint cans w/lids (per fuel type)
-? plastic fuel bottles for fuel storage (as needed)
-1 tool to open paint can lids
-1 funnel per fuel type
-1 to 2 beach towels to lay over five gallon buckets during use.
-Blotting towels as needed.

General:
-wrought-iron plant stand
-beach towel for extinguishing
-Bag of terry cloth towels (for blotting and extinguishing)
-Small screw box with:
+-wrench
+-extra quicklinks
+-extra swivels
+-extra handles
+-extra chain

For Indoor Performances:
-large canvass dropcloth (HAZARD-SEE BELOW)
-sandbags to weight dropcloth down
-additional copies of MSDS to leave with people you are performing for.
-additional plastic tarps as needed to enlarge fuel dump area.

*First-Aid followup: Components of a first aid kit work best when you have everything individually packaged. I'll give you an example, we can use a bottle of hydrogen peroxide versus a box of alcohol swabs.

+One bottle of hydrogen peroxide can be had for less then a dollar in most cases. With some cottonballs, you can sterilize wounds before dressing. Unfortunately, it is very easy to contaminate the whole bottle, cottonballs, or both, and liquid is harder to work with.

+In contrast, the box of alcohol swabs costs between 5 and 10 dollars. However, each swab is packaged in it's own sterile, sealed foil wrap. Nothing else is needed, so no worries of contamination in multiple places. You also know exactly how many uses you have, since each package is good for one use.

So we have learned that individually packaged alcohol swabs are a better choice then a bottle of peroxide and a bag of cottonballs. Smaller packages and more of them are a better way to go in the area of first aid, since having something sterile is the most important part.

It would be a good idea to have a couple small cans of burn cream, instead of one big one. Having individually packaged gauze pads of different sizes is helpful too, but don't write off having a roll of it. Neosporin is optional, but doesn't work nearly as well as burn cream, and you shouldn't use it on the first few days of a burn. The burn cream you can use immediately. By the way, HOP burn cream works extremely well.

*Large canvass dropcloths can be had at any paint store, and can come with plastic liners on the bottom of them. This is done so if you spill paint, it won't bleed through the dropcloth onto the floor. However, this makes the dropcloth slide around on the floor, which is a trip hazard, and also is highly flammable, in a melty sorta way. Melting plastic is no fun, especially when it contacts your skin. So stay away from dropcloths with plastic liners.

I do not recommend using anything to cover the area you spin on, unless you absolutely have to. Overlaying a covering on the floor makes it dangerous to walk on, because of the trip hazard. A GOOD BLOTTING PROCEDURE should make covering the floor unnecessary.

*Insurance. Anytime you are performing for more then just a few friends or family, or are somewhere you don't own, it's a good idea to have insurance, and most places will require it to put on a show. make sure to have extra copies so that you can always prove you have it. Generally a good idea to keep it with your MSDS info.

The whole list actually compresses to a small physical area, once everything is packed up. I have two small canvas bags, one for poi gear and one for towels, and everything fuel packs up into the 5 gal buckets.

as a fun aside, I also have a small bag I carry with me for digital stuff, which has my digital camera in it for taking movies of the spin, some cd's for the boombox i drag with me, and some extra batteries for it.

So, little more then just what's in my fueling station, but hope it helps you have a good, safe time.

Posted: 28th Apr 2009
Something I also like to carry, among the stuff mentioned. A fire diablo. Then it means after you light it, there's no fussing around with lighters. Then when one side is out, just flip it over and light the other half. You get a good lighting torch for like up to 15 mins depending on wind conditions etc.

Once my father gave me a kiwi... I thought it was a rodent and I stroked it until all the fur fell out - White Ninja

Posted: 29th Apr 2009
Nice idea....

'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Posted: 29th Apr 2009
In the past we've used paint tins with a toilet roll in for a lighting point, works quite well and a bit cheaper than a diabolo, although you can't decide to perform with a toilet roll in a paint can!

Working hard to be a wandering hippie layabout. Ten years down, five to go!

Posted: 29th Apr 2009
Yeah there are many many cheaper alternatives. Like a small tiki torch. Much less expensive and you can stake it into the ground fairly easily!

Once my father gave me a kiwi... I thought it was a rodent and I stroked it until all the fur fell out - White Ninja

Posted: 8th May 2009
Originally Posted By: *HyperLight
I keep thinking it would be good to make a fuel bucket with a spout and a catch can which fits neatly inside it. The number of times I've been trying to pour paraffin back into a plastic container and spilled it all over the place is almost comical!

a mini-funnel is what you need, take up practically no space and is less effort than making the fuel bucket with spout.

[/sim]
EDITED_BY: _Aimée_ (1241829356)

Posted: 4th Jun 2009
Originally Posted By: ElectricBlue
1x fuel candle


What's a fuel candle???? is it a "lighting point" for the fire tools???
EDITED_BY: bentforkx (1244104508)

Spinning makes the world go round