Bake Box

[jsharpphoto]

I don't have room in my garage (nor do I have a spare 220V outlet) for an oven for baking parts. I'm not really interested being able to powdercoat at home, but heat curing painted parts would be very handy. I live in Texas, so ambient heat is "plentiful". I'm thinking of building a box, either lined with insulation foam, styrofoam, or maybe those first aid foil blankets, and a lid made of clear plex. Essentially, replicate the back of my car, tweaked for optimum heat retention.

Has anyone done something similar?

 

[SONICJK]

Build an insulated box, paint the inside black and put a clear lid on it.
You can make a baffle to cover your part and paint it black too and you'll be in business.
Should very easily hit 150 in the Texas sun, probably hotter.
This is how we build solar kilns for lumber drying so its a proven concept.

You can also look up solar ovens. There's some really cool designs, I built one with a Parabolic reflector and a black heat box that reached ridiculous temps a while back.

 

[jsharpphoto]

is the baffle to protect the part from direct sunlight?

 

[SONICJK]

The baffle is to get more heat.
Basically the light comes into the box and hits the black which reflects very little of it (unlike white) so the heat from the sun stays in the box. The more black surface area the sun hits the hotter it will get.
When you put a white part (for instance) in the box you're coving that much of your black surface area, decreasing the temp in the box, so if you cover it with a black baffle, you're back to where you started and you will have a predictable high temp.

 

[jsharpphoto]

do i need to be concerned about insulating the walls of the box? or is black painted plywood walls enough?

 

[SONICJK]

For what you're doing, plywood would probably be plenty.
But 1 sheet of insulation for 10 bucks would probably really increase your temp, and keep it warm for a while after the sun goes past its peak.

 

[sprocket2cog]

in winter when i need to cure paint quicker i put the part in a cardboard box with a hole in the side and use a heat gun or hair dryer to pump hot air in. simple but it works. (just another idea)

 

[jsharpphoto]

in winter when i need to cure paint quicker i put the part in a cardboard box with a hole in the side and use a heat gun or hair dryer to pump hot air in. simple but it works. (just another idea)

running a heat gun or hair dryer for more than 5 minutes trips the breaker, unfortunately.

 

[JRK5892]

pretty cool idea

 

[sprocket2cog]

pretty cool idea

Hope its not too "cool" or it wont cure the paint..
(sorry couldn't help it, ill just show myself out now.)

 

[SONICJK]

Hope its not too "cool" or it wont cure the paint..
(sorry couldn't help it, ill just show myself out now.)

Please do.