Buck's first kiln

[buck]

I had an old cabinet that I thought would be good to use as first kiln just to get me started.
Insulated it with two layers of bubble wrap that I had laying around and wrapped that with thick aluminium foil.
Taped it up with duct tape but I wonder if that'll hold in a hot and humid environment, should have used aluminium duct tape instead but I'll see how it holds up.
Using a hot water tank thermostat, crock pot and computer fan.

Still need to put a cabinet door in, a shelf and wire the fan which I'll probably get done tomorrow night.

 

[ArizonaDave]

Can't wait to hear how it works for you!

 

[DGBAMA]

Should work fine. And you can always wrap a blanket around the outside for more insulation. Getting the door to seal air tight may be a challenge.

 

[Bex]

The duct tape will work fine, if it is securely taped down. I used duct tape as well, and the heat seemed to 'seal' it to whatever it was attached to. When I decided to change my set up, and remove the duct tape, it was practically impossible to get it off.

 

[Michibacy]

I've made a few grow rooms in the past, one way to make a seal is create a buffering zone, meaning a blockage where air has to go around obstacles. If you take a close look at a modern door and seal, you will see something to the same effect, achieved via pieces of trim, a replaceable foam seal and general design. I did mine with plastic instead of foil but it would work the same. One of the best things (because it appears this structure will have positive pressure inside) is to get cheapo adhesive magnets from wallmart or the local hardware store and apply one magnet on each side of the door and wall, every 12 inches or so. On my grow rooms I had 2 fans going which called for a magnet every 6 inches.

Below is a ROUGH design of how to make a good seal, it's a bird's eye view (this design is a rough drawing of the one on my fireplace door)

 

[buck]

I'm planning to put my leaves in large Ziplok bags which will retain a lot of the moisture so I am not that concerned with air tightness.
I will place trim inside and some foam door seal, good idea to use magnets.

Thanks

 

[Jitterbugdude]

If you are putting your tobacco in bags you can replace the crockpot with a 100 watt lightbulb. Your tobacco will retain its moisture inside the bag. Just open them up once a day for a few seconds to off gas

 

[Smokin Harley]

I had an old cabinet that I thought would be good to use as first kiln just to get me started.
Insulated it with two layers of bubble wrap that I had laying around and wrapped that with thick aluminium foil.
Taped it up with duct tape but I wonder if that'll hold in a hot and humid environment, should have used aluminium duct tape instead but I'll see how it holds up.
Using a hot water tank thermostat, crock pot and computer fan.

Still need to put a cabinet door in, a shelf and wire the fan which I'll probably get done tomorrow night.

View attachment 13512 View attachment 13513 View attachment 13514

ok , if the duct tape doesnt hold up I have an idea for you to try ...go to any decent home improvement center and look for the tape used for covering the edges of housewrap(tyvek),its some pretty sticky stuff and moisture shouldnt affect it at all. next idea would be the tape used to patch mufflers, aluminum tape with extra sticky adhesive. I KNOW that stuff holds up to outdoor weather , it'd be kind of pricey but should hold up well in your chamber. Just watch the edges as it can cut you before you know it.

 

[Ben Brand]

I use a small fridge to kiln my tobacco. 1st lot I did without bags and the tobacco near the lightbulb did dry out a lot. 2nd lot I've put in thick good quality rubbish bags and the drying out was much less. I invested in a bigger (old) fridge so hopefully I can do more leaves at a time, still would use bags. Helps to protect the leaves from condensation droplets as well.

 

[buck]

I'm glad that using bags works fine I've got 3Gallon and 10Gallon ziploc bags.. 10G are way to big for the leaf I have, the 3G a bit small but I'll split the leaf up. I would use containers but can't find any air tight ones at local walmart or CT or other stores for some reason no one has any. I still haven't put a door on not sure when I'll have the time.

I have some of that aluminum duct tape and will try that if I have issues with the duct tape.

 

[buck]

If you are putting your tobacco in bags you can replace the crockpot with a 100 watt lightbulb. Your tobacco will retain its moisture inside the bag. Just open them up once a day for a few seconds to off gas

Home depot no longer stocks any 100watt incandescent bulbs only 60w and 40W, until they run out of stock then its no more incandescent bulbs. I'll try and find another store that have 100w ones and stock up if all else fails I can use the crock pot which I planned to anyway.

 

[Grumpa]

Home depot no longer stocks any 100watt incandescent bulbs only 60w and 40W, until they run out of stock then its no more incandescent bulbs. I'll try and find another store that have 100w ones and stock up if all else fails I can use the crock pot which I planned to anyway.

Look for heat lamp bulbs. They should still be available up to about 250 watts. That is probably too much so you may have to put a dimmer in line.

 

[buck]

Arrg , so finally put the door on and firmly tried to shut it but this caused the hinge screws the come right off taking along with a small chunk of wood (MDF). This was an old cabinet with laminated MDF which may have weakened due to it being kept out in humid conditions.
I can't re-screw in the same place and would need large hinges, anyway I decided to lay the cabinet flat on its back and place the door on it with some weights to keep it tight against the weather stripping. Put a blanket over it for extra heat retention.

I set the thermostat to the minimum 40 Celsius as a test run, set the crock pot to max and put in my thermometer.
A few hours later I took out the thermometer and its display was garbled but once the temp came down I was able to make out 50 Celsius. I guess the temp surpassed the max temperature range for thermometer. No damage done, it returned to normal once it hit 48. Looks like the thermostat didn't switch off so I left the crock pot on for a few more hours. I have a fan in there also hooked up to the thermostat but it kept running, pretty sure the temp was over 50, maybe a bad thermostat.

Next step replacing the thermostat and try again.

 

[Bex]

I started off with an oven thermostat - the dial was in 5C increments, and really fiddly. While it was doable, I found I had to constantly look at the chamber to make sure that I was close to the temp I wanted. I got an STC1000 thermostat off of ebay for next to nothing. Kind of similar to the digital Ranco that people talk about on the forum. Frankly, this is the one purchase that I made for my kiln that I would never replace. It takes all the work out of estimating where your temp should be...this is the one thing I'd recommend. The thermostat has a probe that hangs in your chamber - the display and all electronics are outside, so no garbling, etc.

 

[buck]

Those are pretty inexpensive less than $30 shipped .. I'll consider getting one. This unit only measures temperature, are there units that also measure humidity and temperature. ?

 

[Bex]

There are digital humidity controllers like this:
ww.ebay.com/itm/110V-Digital-Air-Humidity-Control-Controller-WH8040-Range-1-99-RH-HM-40-Type-/281131004772?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4174b6b364
But you need to have them hooked up to some kind of steamer, for them to turn it on and off. I just use a hygrometer, which only tells me what the RH is, but doesn't regulate it in any way.
It is similar to the STC-1000 that I got:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/110V-10A-Mi...936?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item461c6cc468

 

[buck]

Just bought the STC-1000 on ebay .. thanks for the info.

 

[ArizonaDave]

Home depot no longer stocks any 100watt incandescent bulbs only 60w and 40W, until they run out of stock then its no more incandescent bulbs. I'll try and find another store that have 100w ones and stock up if all else fails I can use the crock pot which I planned to anyway.

I found 100 watt at the dollar store here. What was that commercial a long time ago? The little toy oven that girls used to bake brownies in? LOL, I bet the 100 watt will work!

 

[Bex]

Just bought the STC-1000 on ebay .. thanks for the info.

This will become one of your most favorite possessions. There are a couple of videos on you tube that shows what this thing can do - it has two systems, one for heating, one for cooling. It's tiny (only about 4 inches across, if that), but it totally and completely took all the stress and guesswork out of trying to maintain and set the temperature.

 

[buck]

I found 100 watt at the dollar store here. What was that commercial a long time ago? The little toy oven that girls used to bake brownies in? LOL, I bet the 100 watt will work!

Ya my sister had such an oven. I can't find 100w bulb anymore so heat bulb with dimmer or stick with crock pot.