Made the stove this morning, frustrating working with the tape measure, a cloth one or something different would have been much better. I used my drill, first drilling with a 3/32 bit, then a 3/16 bit, holes came out pretty clean, not like a bullet had gone thru, making the hole. Just a few, very small burrs, which were easily cut off with a utility knife. The holes weren't exact, disappointed in their final placement, but it doesn't seem to have to be exact. I tried the stove just now while eating lunch, I had to use a stainless steel pot with carbon center from my kitchen, my bping titanium pot is too uneven on the bottom to make a seal on the stove. Anyway, using room temperature water at 4000', in my kitchen, the water came to a boil at around five minutes, and boiled the water for another two minutes. I didn't start my stop watch until after the water was boiling, I was on the puter, playing, so my start time wasn't exact, off by a few seconds. I was happy with the results, using some of my vintage denatured alcohol that I bought in the early '70's. Only the second alky stove I have tried, I made an Atlanta stove about four years ago.