The Easybake Mark 1 parts oven.

[Guest]

Well I painted the calipers with 4 coats of VHT caliper paint. As everyone has recommended, to get a good finish, you need to bake the paint. As the wife's new ( and very expensive) oven was out of the question ( I like my head on my shoulders) I had to go, as usual, to paln B ( for bake).

Being in the computer support business, I have lots of old computer cases sitting around awaiting a trip to the dump so I got to thinking how I could "bodge" up something.

I took a case, pulled the guts and cut upsome side pieces and screwed them on to make an open all metal box. I had some aluminum foil in a 6" wide tape roll so I laid that down for a reflector. The heat source is a radiant heater. I present to you the Mark1 Easybake Parts oven:



That heater can get very hot so I think I'll be able to generate 200 to 300 deg.F which should be enough to cure the paint. I can make the oven deeper by adding another one or 2 cases of the same dimensions and I figure I could get a couple of small heating elements and build them in for a full self contained unit. If I were making one for powder coating I would insultate the outer skin and add a door.

Easier to get a small oven I know but as you know by now, I like farting around and using whats at hand.

Cheers all,
Spyug

PS That left side has another metal skin on the outside in case you wonder about the vent holes.

[alke46]

Well I painted the calipers with 4 coats of VHT caliper paint. As everyone has recommended, to get a good finish, you need to bake the paint. As the wife's new ( and very expensive) oven was out of the question ( I like my head on my shoulders) I had to go, as usual, to paln B ( for bake).

Being in the computer support business, I have lots of old computer cases sitting around awaiting a trip to the dump so I got to thinking how I could "bodge" up something.

I took a case, pulled the guts and cut upsome side pieces and screwed them on to make an open all metal box. I had some aluminum foil in a 6" wide tape roll so I laid that down for a reflector. The heat source is a radiant heater. I present to you the Mark1 Easybake Parts oven:



That heater can get very hot so I think I'll be able to generate 200 to 300 deg.F which should be enough to cure the paint. I can make the oven deeper by adding another one or 2 cases of the same dimensions and I figure I could get a couple of small heating elements and build them in for a full self contained unit. If I were making one for powder coating I would insultate the outer skin and add a door.

Easier to get a small oven I know but as you know by now, I like farting around and using whats at hand.

Cheers all,
Spyug

PS That left side has another metal skin on the outside in case you wonder about the vent holes.

Gotta love what a guy can come up with in his mind. Only wish I had half that capacity of thought.
BTW, the calipers turned out nice

[tkent02]

Great idea, you got me thinking a little. I bet you could gut a toaster oven and put the heating elements in an insulated box like this, use the control circuits and things from the oven.

I need to get something bigger for my powder coating.

[Big T]

Tkent


For something bigger, I recommend:

1. Check your local used restaurant suply house. If they don't have an oven, or an insulated box, see if there's a wall panel from a walk in freezer. Cut it up to proper size
2. Get a heating element and control from a kitchen oven
3. Assemble with as small fan to circulate the air and a thermometer to check the temp

You can make a box the size of a fridge (or larger) to cook smaller stuff

[azr]

Do you think you could come up with a cake or brownies in there?

[spyug]

Thanks guys.

I've had the oven going full tilt for a couple of hours and was able to get the heat up to about 350F which should be plenty. I actually changed my heating element to a halogen work lamp as the heater would turn itself off from getting too hot ( the heat reflection I guess). So far so good.

You could definitely fab up something using stuff from a toaster or other small oven. We replaced our toaster a few months back and I thought at the time I should hold on to the old one but the missus made me dump it. I was thinking of making a run to the Goodwill, Sally Anne and Value Village, recycle stores to see what I can find as that would be the cats ass to have everything built in.

My mind has been running around quite a bit this morning as I would like to get into powdercoating and I'd need to make something big enough to take a wheel. Likely what I would have to do is build a wooden box and line it with insulation and a steel inner surface with a couple of oven size heating elements. I was thinking I could pick up a cheap used stove and gut it for the parts I need.

I have heard of guys converting old fridges and small freezers to baking ovens and that would be ideal but space is in short supply in the man room and the boss would likely go ape****. I need to keep it low key.

Cheers,
Spyug

I guess We are thinking along the same lines BigT and yes Azr I do believe I could whip up some brownioes or short bread. MMMMMMMMMMMMMM Pie !

[posplayr]

Nice work; I started doing this one time using a short double wide filing cabinet. I got it for free on Craig's list but never got around to getting a heater.

Make sure you don't burn the garage down.

[ukilme]

Cool idea.

[Detroit Diesel Man]

Nice work..gotta love ingenuity!


John

[Macguyver]

Thanks guys.

I actually changed my heating element to a halogen work lamp as the heater would turn itself off from getting too hot ( the heat reflection I guess). So far so good.

You sir, are a genius!
I have been thinking of building something like that for a while, but I really wasn't comfortable using a heating element that glows red hot around freshly coated parts.

I had been looking into buying a shortwave IR heater through work, but the one that would work for me is still over $500.
Halogen work lamp! Genius!

I know I have one or two of those around here somewhere, they're the little yellow buggers that run at 2 degrees below nuclear fusion right? They are the ones that always manage to burn me, no matter how careful I am taking them down. Although I almost always get stuck taking them down in the dark for some odd reason or another.

[spyug]

Yup, those are the buggers. I guess you could put a couple to boost the temps but I found just the one seemed to do the job.

The IR bulbs should work as well I'm sure but like most of us, I have a bunch of the Halogens in the shop and the man room and they do pump out the heat so why the hell not. Actually, I used halogens before to cure some painting that I did in the man room when the temps were really low ( 4 or 5 seasons back) so I know it works.

As you mention, the lights should be safer than bare elements but just keep an eye on them anyway.....you just never know.

Cheers,
spyug

[Skateguy50]

Nice, Im helping my friend build a heating box of different sorts need to keep 5 gallon glass jugs of special liquid around 60 degrees in his basement for a week.

Plan is to build a wooden box the right size and line it with solid foam isulation and metalic tape. The heating element will be a simple 100 watt bulb, or two if needed, and to keep it in range it will be hard wired through an old mercury thermostat for a furnace. Just need to keep them far enough a part to keep the heat uniform and possibly wire a small fan to kick in and circulate the heat as well.

I built one before for concrete testing, basically tests the freeze thaw cycles by submerging at test cylinder of concrete in a tub of very salty water and keeping the temperature uniform over a period of time, then breaking them to see the loss of strength. It worked for that it should work for the good ole mountain dew.

[spyug]

Old fridges are good for that too.

In my beer making days, we had a fridge big enough to hold two carboys ( 5 gal). Great for speeding up fermentation with a couple of 100 watters.

Somewhere I ran across some info about guys using the same box idea as you fitted with heating elements from a stove in which they heated lexan sheet in preparation for blowing a bubble. Once the lexan was heated sufficently to start sagging they started pulling a vacuum with an attached vacuum pump resulting in a half bubble shape. I think when cool it was used as a canopy for an ultralight plane or it might have been part of the body shape for a human powered aircraft or speed record bicycle. I forget which but it was interesting.

The EB mark 1 is handy and I've since been able to get it way hotter by using my paint stripping heat gun for the heat source. That could be a bit of overkill as it might actually cook the paint, however.

Post a pic of your heat box so you can inspire others.

Cheers,
Spyug

[Skateguy50]

Great call, I got a fridge that isnt so good at keeping cold anymore so why not modify it to get hot. Might even be able to wire up the heating element already in it for auto defrost as the source, but that insulated a couple bulbs will do fine.

Saves me a few bucks on taking the fridge to the be recycled if I can just recycle it on my own. Also a lot more steath this way, maybe can even use the freezer section with some copper coils as the condenser during stage 1.

All good ideas, will try this out soon. (my GS isnt meant to be pretty so not worried about my calipers )

[Suzuki_Don]

I bought an electric oven/stove on EBAY for $20. I would have had a hard time fitting a crankcase half in a computer case. And it doubles as keeping my sausage rolls warm when I'm working in the garage.