That’s a good point, i’ll have to look into that. I know cooking food in plastic is bad, and having food in there with plastic is bad, but i don’t know if having just plastic in there is bad for food that’s in there later when there’s no plastic around. Of course there is the risk of ruining the oven if it melts too much and gets all over. But then again the oven is already on its way out anyway, maybe i can help it along and get a nicer one… hehehe)
1 Like
i spent most of the holiday weekend getting a good start on my vac table setup so i can make boxes specifically for my decks.
I made a form for the boxes using part a blank deck i pressed. i drilled a million holes.
then i made a table for the whole thing complete with an oven box. I’m going to get a toaster oven and tear it down for the heating element and controls, then line the box with foil and put the element there.
hoping to finish it up this week and start tasting it out. I would have been on this a lot sooner except i stopped to have an affair with fiberglass.
if i can get this done and working i’ll have Scarlet deck and box combos for sale on my site along with @psychotiller 's boxes that fit regular concave decks a bit more snugly.
4 Likes
Nice. Are you going to use a shop vac?
yup. That shelf to the right of the oven box is where it will live pretty much all the time when i’m not cleaning something up with it.
Sunbeam makes this awesome DIY vac form oven heating element kit! But for some reason they mislabelled it as a space heater. Anyway it’s on sale right now at Walmart.
Even has a control panel!
5 Likes
How did this Sunbeam oven work out??
I’ve still got some adjustments to make on the form, but its very close to putting out boxes. I’ve just been very busy with other things lately, and i was sick for about a week so i haven’t been able to get this to 100% quite yet. My last attempt was close but no cigar. Using a section of my deck as the vac table surface has presented a number of challenges but i think i’ve got it almost nailed down.
hopefully i can get the process worked out soon so i can sell some DIY box and deck bundles!
1 Like
i forgot to point out that the Sunbeam space heater core is doing its job nicely. It probably takes longer than an oven would, but it does do a decent job of cooking that plastic and making it slumpy. It takes a lot of experimentation and finagling though to get it to work.
1 Like
@psychotiller That “lexan” looks more like Lucite to me, but I know the names are typically interchangeable when buying sheets. When I worked at an injection molding plastic factory years ago the only time I saw bubbles in the Lucite was when the injection pressure was low or if they were cleaning the nozzle and left a ooze pile on the floor. I bet that plastic is going to need HOURS of really low heat (under 200*F), and you’ll need to heat the mold along with it. Instead of using a vacuum make a hand pump so you can pull the air slowly and not cause too much cooling?
Alternately, get some super thin stuff and make two pieces, then paint on layers of resin in between. I really like the idea of clear enclosures. Vacuuformed polycarbonate would be perfect.
1 Like
It was just a test. Abs is my favorite enclosure. It’s a perfect cross between flexibility and durability. Easy as hell to repair too!
I have 1/8" thick 12" by 12" sheets of abs. What temperature and duration do you recommend?
My oven never gets above 300 degrees. You need to let the abs get hot enough to sag, but not too hot or it will start to get bubbles.
So 250 to 300 degrees, and just keep watching it 'til it starts to sag? How long does that usually take, 10 or 15 minutes?
Yep! Haha. It’s always a little different. You can reach in and touch the abs to make sure it’s soft all the way to the frame (not just the middle). Once it starts to sag you should work fast or it will get too hot, or will cool off and not form.
1 Like
my wife and i are finally replacing our kitchen oven and i get the old one. Its wide enough for a 24" sheet if i make some metal frames.
my sunbeam rig didn’t pan out.
2 Likes
That’ll work out nice!
1 Like
yeah i kind of can’t wait. Its basically the only thing holding me back now. I just couldn’t justify getting a junker from craigslist to mess with when i knew one that will work would become available soon, just didn’t know when. Our current oven has a bad element on the range and the element is worth more than the whole thing, and its old, and the drawer underneath is total bullshit, bugs in the LCD display, the whole thing is awful and ready for the garage. so it was an easy sell. We’re waiting for the memorial day sales coming up in a month or so and its on.
1 Like
Do yourself a favor. Buy a $30 110v smoker element. It’ll come with a cord/maybe even a temp gauge. You just pop the bottom element out of your oven, then run the cord of new one out and through the back of your oven. The smoker element gets to the perfect temp and won’t require 220 hook up.
1 Like