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Solar Kiln build

Started by Kbeitz, June 11, 2017, 05:40:30 PM

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Kbeitz

Quote from: btulloh on August 03, 2017, 07:59:38 AM
That's quite the controller Kb. 

What are you going to run for your first load?  Green or air dried?

Air dried white pine slabs. I want to get to building my projects.
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

btulloh

Gotcha.  After all, that's the whole point of the kiln.
HM126

Kbeitz

Loading it up.... First load.



 



 

Elcheapo meter say 14%...



 

Closing the doors...



 

It's 108f with the doors open and the fans running. I will check the temp later.



 
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

fishfighter

You used car cooling fans?

Kbeitz

Quote from: fishfighter on August 03, 2017, 01:36:00 PM
You used car cooling fans?

No ... They was 120vac industrial fans from E-bay.



 
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Delawhere Jack

Very unorthodox fan placement...

Kbeitz

Quote from: Delawhere Jack on August 03, 2017, 09:26:24 PM
Very unorthodox fan placement...

It's my own idea and it seems to be working great.
Hot air rises so the top fan pulls new air in pushing all the hot
air down onto the wood. The two lower side fans takes out
the old air. And then I have one fan blowing threw the wood.
Thinking out side of the box I am...
Yesterday the unit was holding 111F with all the fans going
and it was a partly cloudy day.
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

fishfighter

It is good to always think "outside the box". ;D Can you shut off a fan one at a time to help adjust air flow? By any chance do you know what the rated temp for those fans along with the CFM's?

Kbeitz

Quote from: fishfighter on August 04, 2017, 07:06:49 AM
It is good to always think "outside the box". ;D Can you shut off a fan one at a time to help adjust air flow? By any chance do you know what the rated temp for those fans along with the CFM's?

Each fan has it't own switch. 7 fans in all.

CFM's 200
Operating Temperature : ~10 to +80 Deg.C.

Has superior features such as low noise, high temperature endurance and super long life
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Kbeitz

In 5 week I lost 5%. Does this sound about right?
Looks like it's working.



 
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Delawhere Jack

Did you mean to say Aug 1st to Aug 9th? Did you measure the MC just prior to loading the kiln?

14% would be right in the ball park for air dried in this region. 5% drop in MC in pine in 8 days sounds about right.

Delawhere Jack

Being the do it yourself inventive sort of guy you are  smiley_thumbsup, you might find this article interesting. Using a multi-meter to measure MC in wood. Most of those inexpensive meters are not very accurate. If you happen to come across a precision multi-meter (capable of reading .001 volts), you could get some very accurate measurements without laying out a lot of coin.

http://woodgears.ca/lumber/moisture_meter.html

Kbeitz

Quote from: Delawhere Jack on August 11, 2017, 08:39:04 PM
Did you mean to say Aug 1st to Aug 9th? Did you measure the MC just prior to loading the kiln?

14% would be right in the ball park for air dried in this region. 5% drop in MC in pine in 8 days sounds about right.

Opps... Hey your right. I had to go back a few post to see when I put the load in.
I loaded it up on Aug the 3rd.
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Kbeitz

Quote from: Delawhere Jack on August 11, 2017, 08:47:45 PM
Being the do it yourself inventive sort of guy you are  smiley_thumbsup, you might find this article interesting. Using a multi-meter to measure MC in wood. Most of those inexpensive meters are not very accurate. If you happen to come across a precision multi-meter (capable of reading .001 volts), you could get some very accurate measurements without laying out a lot of coin.

http://woodgears.ca/lumber/moisture_meter.html

Sounded like a great idea... Until I went to E-bay and seen that a 10 mOhm meter cost $520.00
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Kbeitz

We had a rainy day so I shut down the fans all day. My MC jumped back up a few points.
Is this normal ?
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Ianab

If the core of the wood is still wet, then moisture will still be migrating from the core to the surface. So if the fans and "heat" are off, that moisture won't be evaporating, and so the MC of the surface would increase slightly.
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

YellowHammer

As Ianab said, the case and core have probably not equalized, so there is migration of the core moisture to the case. 
The best, least expensive, most accurate moisture meter is using the oven dry method.  It utilizes a cheap food scale and a microwave or conventional oven.   
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

Kbeitz

Thanks for all the help...
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Kbeitz

I picked up this Air Switch at the Flea market today. I'm going to use it to turn on/off my fans when the temp drops.



Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

GeneWengert-WoodDoc

The air switch I know about uses air pressure from a push button to turn on an electrical switch.  You can do this with wet hands.  It was popular before gfi. This looks different...can you explain?  Please.
Gene - Author of articles in Sawmill & Woodlot and books: Drying Hardwood Lumber; VA Tech Solar Kiln; Sawing Edging & Trimming Hardwood Lumber. And more

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