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The tinyfilt picture book

You will need ...

a Kodak (TM) Cassette can.
From left

A grey top 35 mm film can
A new black-top can
A topless can (no censorship here)

Drill or melt (the Manual has details) a 5/16 inch or 8 mm hole, and clean it up with a thin sharp knife blade.

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You will need ...

an ordinary PET drink bottle and cap for the filter funnel. Choose the bottle size to suit yourself in the local supermarket, and take along a Kodak cassette can with you. The photo shows an unopened bottle, so the tamper-proof ring is still joined to the bottom of the cap. .

The supermarket test

Drop the cassette can lightly over the top of your selected bottle (don't push it down). It should rest about half-way down the bottle cap itself, not including the anti-tamper ring still attached to the bottom of the cap. If you find the bottles and caps in your supermarket will not fit a Kodak cassette can in this way, read the Manual for assistance.

Take your selected bottle (or bottles) home, dispose of the contents appropriately and wash out the bottle.

Remove the tamperproof ring then drill or melt a 1/2 inch or 12 mm hole through the bottle cap and clean up or enlarge with a round file or thin sharp knife blade.

Make your filter funnel by neatly cutting the end off the bottle with tinsnips (no photo) or a heavy pair of scissors. Many other tools can be used. Melt four neat holes if you want to suspend the funnel. Practice may be needed.

Use a heavy pair of toenail clippers to clip off piece by piece the wide ring on the bottle neck. The job is easier if you clip off small pieces rather than try for a few big ones. The previous photo (drilling the cap) also shows a wide ring that has been clipped down to size.

Running the filter

Screw the drilled cap firmly onto the filter funnel.

Take your drilled cassette can and pack it full of cotton wool under moderate finger pressure. Pour tap water into the can to wet the cotton wool, then push the funnel cap as far as it will go into the can. This should compress the wet cotton wool plug.

Rest the funnel in a drinking-glass or wide-mouthed bottle, unless you are adventurous and want to try suspending it as in the blue photo.

Pour tap water in to almost fill the funnel. The cotton wool filter will take half an hour to flush, so discard filtered water over that time. The Manual has much on cotton wool, and alternatives to flushing.

Once the filter has been flushed, you may begin filtering water for use. Filtering is not an easy or straightforward business. If you have a working filter with no leaks, it is high time you downloaded the Manual and read it before possibly trusting your life to water filtered on a camping trip.