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Food Dehydrators & Paint Dryers


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much like you are thinking except I used a sheet of thin acrylic and formed a clear circular "wall" bonded together with proweld.

I got mine from a yard sale and it has the adjustable temperature,really handy

Great idea! Thanks. BTW, how high did you make it, how tall? Would 10" be too much, or would 6" be too little?

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I bought one for 5 bucks at a thrift shop..and tried modifying it with a dimmer switch to control the heat. I'm no electrician so it was a pain in the ass and a little dangerous. Especially when I plugged it in the first time and and purdy blue spark shot straight up from the outlet and tripped the circuit breaker! I went out and spent 40 bucks on a Nesco American Harvest, has it's own temp control. Works like a charm. Even warms up my build room during the winter!

Wow, you are brave to try that. Makes perfect sense-- too bad it didn't work. It should have worked. But with your Amer Harvest, how did you solve the problem of the trays having plastic in the centers? Did you cut it out? If so, how did you d0 it? Or did you build your own cylinder out of something? If so, what material did you use, and how did you bond it together?

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I have one from I believe American Harvest with different temperature settings, I just set it for 105 and that's good enough, leave it in there for at least 24 hours and have never had a problem no matter what paints I have used. Just make sure that if you put your painted bodies on any type of holder that you take the holder off, like that you don't have to worry about any warpage issues............ ;)

Great post. How did you deal with the plastic grid in the center of the trays? I have an Amer Har, too. Just now setting it up. I don't understand your point about the holder. My pea brain is reading it like, if you put your body on a holder (stand), don't use stand. What kind of stand do you use in the dehydrator? I'm unclear what you were trying to say. Please clarify.

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Wow, this is a really old resurrected thread! When I paint my bodies, I like to use a stretched hanger to hold it. Just make sure to place your bodies in the dehydrator without any stress, any amountof heat can warp them. Let the body airdry for at least 12 hours and then just place it in the dehydrator.

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most lacquers dry pretty quickly anyway so you really donteven need a dehydrater it is useful but not necessary. I use mine for warming up paint cans more than drying paint on the model and if you are using the enamel paints heat doesn't always help if it gets too hot it kinda turns into a soft gooey mess that never wants to dry . in short dont use a toaster oven.

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Simply cut out the centers and leave the outside ring. As far as wiring a dimmer....IF YOURS HAS A FAN IT WON'T WORK

Mine was a convection type, thermometer in the top (2 for 9.995 at Sams Club) I dim it down for 105 and marked the setting,

Works like a charm.....for resin I dial it down to 95

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  • 2 weeks later...

I purchased the $16.00 Harbor Freight food dehydrator, and it works great! I didn't modify or change anything. I simply put my freshly painted car body and pieces on the top shelf, put the lid on, opened the triangle vents, and the next day the body was ready to detail. No warped or melted pieces. Will this work with every model? Who knows. But I like it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wow, you are brave to try that. Makes perfect sense-- too bad it didn't work. It should have worked. But with your Amer Harvest, how did you solve the problem of the trays having plastic in the centers? Did you cut it out? If so, how did you d0 it? Or did you build your own cylinder out of something? If so, what material did you use, and how did you bond it together?

all i did was cut out the tray and left the outter part alone

it does work from what i've read on SA's forum..a guy posted pics and even laid out instructions for me..but..i'm no electrician hehe

IMG_1072.jpg

as a matter of fact...this is MikeMC's setup! :)

Edited by Evil Appetite
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Yep.....it does NOT have a fan....thats why the dimmer works well

I checked mine for the heck of it, and it doesn't have a fan either.there's an element at the bottom. It looks like yours, except with a smokey tint to the plastic..it's an old Ronco i think. Better I bough the Nesco than burning down my house though

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  • 2 weeks later...

I checked mine for the heck of it, and it doesn't have a fan either.there's an element at the bottom. It looks like yours, except with a smokey tint to the plastic..it's an old Ronco i think. Better I bough the Nesco than burning down my house though

You can buy a rheostat switch pre wired. that said this was electronics 100....simple circuit...hard not to get it correct ;):P

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  • 8 months later...

I finished my drying box and got it calibrated today. I used 1/2" plywood. It's about 14" wide x 12" deep and 20" tall. I bought 2 receptacles and wired them in with the dimmer switch to be able to vary the amount of heat I'm putting into the box. I lined the box with some quilted material that is aluminized on one side. Had it left over from the Cobra I built a few years back. With the lining, I found I really only needed a single 60W incandescent bulb to generate enough heat to maintain 105 degrees. Here's a few pics.

post-9974-0-27631800-1341961107_thumb.jp

post-9974-0-91917300-1341961120_thumb.jp

post-9974-0-80655200-1341961125_thumb.jp

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