iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Pre-build solar kiln questions(Photos of kiln building progress)

Started by caveman, December 25, 2013, 09:29:11 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

strunk57

Quote from: Handy Andy on January 07, 2014, 09:12:27 AM
Does polycarbonate last a long time?  See they have double wall polycarbonate for sale in the Farmtek catalog.  or FarmTek.com  No I don't have any connection to farmtek.  Just find some of the things in it interesting, and not available locally.

I build commercial greenhouses for a living, All polycarbonate we use are GTD for 10years.
99 timberking b-20. John deere 450c loader. 79 Chevy c-60 95 GMC 2500, Craftsman tablesaw, Dewalt 735 13" planer, stihl ms-290 Stihl 029, Husqvarna 394xp, dewalt router & table, various sanders/hand tools.

strunk57

And for you initial question, we simply use aluminum tape.
99 timberking b-20. John deere 450c loader. 79 Chevy c-60 95 GMC 2500, Craftsman tablesaw, Dewalt 735 13" planer, stihl ms-290 Stihl 029, Husqvarna 394xp, dewalt router & table, various sanders/hand tools.

caveman

Today we were able to get a little more done on the kiln project. We ended up at Lowe's buying polycarbonate sheets, screws and a few other miscellaneous items (I keep hearing folks say that there is no inflation-I disagree).  We were able to stand up the small wall, build the tall wall, and install the beam for the 17' opening.  Tomorrow we will start building the other three walls.  The actual kiln will be about 20' long and the remainder under roof will be used to store stuff for the mill such as stickers.       
 
Caveman

samandothers

Thanks for documenting so well!  Really looks nice, great progress.

caveman

JMoore and I got a bit more done on the kiln project this weekend and today.  We made the three end walls (remember we are using part as storage), made the rafters, installed the rafters and walls and began making the roof purlins. 

The real time consuming part of this project has been using substandard lumber.  Most of the lumber that we are using for this build was sawn from really poor trees and it has been stacked in our saw mill shed for a year or more taking up valuable space.  It is refreshing to find a use for it and get it out of the way.  Most of our good dimensional lumber has been used or sold. Also, we used the few pines we had stored in my pond to saw siding out of for the kiln.  I sure wish I had a few good pines ready to saw.  We have quite a variety of species used in the construction so far--longleaf pine, slash pine, water oak, camphor and some recycled pressure treated pine.  We nearly resorted to purchasing some framing lumber today. The goal for today was to get a roof on it--we did not get that far.  Hopefully Jmoore will post some pictures from his phone to my gallery to provide a visual update to the progress.
Caveman

  

  

  

 
Caveman

Planman1954

Slow and steady wins the race. It'll be done before you know it. Thanks for the good photos.
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

caveman

Thank you to all who have given advice on how to complete this project.  The weather guy needs to be fired-he missed the forecast again today, it rained.  I had my middle daughter with the leaf blower forcing water out from under the plywood floor which has roofing felt underneath.  I hope that JMoore and I will be able to get the polycarbonate on Thursday after work.  Thankfully the days are getting a bit longer.  John found plenty of foam board in a Craig's List ad to insulate the whole kiln project twice for about half of retail but when he called on it last night it was gone.  We will keep looking since it will still be a little while before we are to that stage.
Caveman   
Caveman

caveman

 

  Since I posted photos of our kiln project, we have installed the polycarbonate roofing and metal over the shed portion of the trailer.  Also, we began installing the siding (3/4" random width longleaf pine).

  It was time for another cup of coffee after siding the sunny side.

  A little sticker stain won't hurt anything on this project.  This is from the tongue end of the kiln.

  We held the walls in 3/4" from the floor to allow room for the furring strips.  We decided to go a different route on the front which allowed us to saw some really hard ash and some nails.

  The pull string on my little Echo broke when trying to start it.  I trimmed what I could with my Milwaukee circular saw but it was unable to get to everything.

  Safety 3rd!
This past week was full of 16-18 hour days at the county fair.  The state fair begins Wednesday and will be going on for two weeks so I doubt I will be able to work on the kiln project much for a while.  It will give it a few days to dry out as this has been about the rainiest January that I can remember.  JMoore and my dad did find some Styrofoam that we can use for insulation when we get to that stage.  We also have to locate and harvest a few more pine trees to finish this project.  Thank you for reading and we are still open to advice from those of you who have already been down this path.
Caveman
Caveman

caveman

It was raining here tonight and I went into the kiln building to check for leaks.  Unfortunately, I found three.  There was water dripping off of the purlins.  I suppose  that we did not tighten a few screws tight enough to seal the rubber washers.  With the oak that we used for some of the purlins and rafters, we should probably find and fix the leaks before proceeding on this project or it will rot before our eyes.  Maybe this weekend we will get an opportunity to locate and fell enough trees to finish this project.
Caveman
Caveman

Planman1954

Looks great. Gonna be drying lumber before you know it. Have you found a dehumidifier yet?
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

caveman

Thank you for the encouraging words.  We have had the dehumidifiers for months.  A young lady who works with me does a lot of garage sale shopping with her mother in law.  She picked up two of them for $15, one was like brand new but both work.  We gave her a $20 for her trouble. 

The boards we have nailed on now have gaps of about 3/16" to 1/4".  We will need to saw the rest of the boards we need to finish the kiln and a bunch of battens.  We should be able to work on it some this weekend.

Almost every day since January 25, has been spent at a fair or getting ready for a fair.  Our state fair will end next Monday.  I hope I will be through with it on Saturday morning. I should probably try to fix the leaks this afternoon since I am home and it is day time (rare lately) but I am tired.
Caveman
Caveman

Planman1954

I can relate on the tired part...had a stomach bug lately...BAD! Good job on the dehumidifier finds. That's what I posted on my build thread. People sell them once they're done with them, and you CAN find them cheap.
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

caveman

Planman, I hope you are over your maladies and up to snuff.  JMoore and I got an opportunity to tighten every screw on the roof to try to slow down the water getting in.  We then ran a hose on the roof for a while and declared it fixed.  Saturday afternoon while working on another part of the kiln it began to rain and we had one leak.  After careful inspection by JMoore, he discovered a hole we drilled in the polycarbonate but did not fill with a screw-it has one in it now.

Monday, Presidents' Day, JMoore and I cut down a decent longleaf and a 26" slash pine.  We came home and began turning the logs into siding for the inside of the kiln (9/16" x 10" or so), 1"x3" battens for the outside and also for framing the panel and doors.  We still have a few good logs to saw, at least one will be used for siding for the panel.

  This is a picture of my folks inspecting our work after they got home from church.  We have nailed on the battens, built two doors and hung the doors, and sided the kiln above the opening.

  This is the panel.  It is framed out of the same boards that we used for battens, a plastic vapor barrier was installed and the plywood was nailed on.   

  JMoore and I carried the panel out of the shop and lifted it into position to see if it would fit between the doors.  It is already heavy and the board siding and insulation still has to go on.  When we begin using the kiln, we will install and remove the panel with the tractor's forks.

  This is what it currently looks like with the panel sitting in place and the doors shut.  I hope that when we carefully move this behemoth that it does not cause any leaks in the polycarbonate roof.  Thanks for reading.
Caveman
Caveman

Planman1954

Thanks. I'm feeling better! I think you'll find the access doors on the ends will work well for checking your lumber mc as it is drying. I used 3 sections in the center so that I can lift them out myself. Using the tractor forks will be handy also though. Looks like you're ready for some upper black metal and then some insulation!
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

caveman

This afternoon I had aspirations of sawing some more logs into the boards we need to finish the kiln but we had a bit of a frog strangler.  After the rain let up I went out to the kiln project to check for leaks.  We had three a few weeks ago, last week we had one (it is amazing how much water one drilled hole in a roof without a screw and washer will let in), today there were none. 

There was about half an hour of daylight left so I unloaded the three logs on my trailer, filled the gas tank and the water bottle on the mill.  Tomorrow we will try to saw out the rest of what we need.
Caveman
Caveman

caveman

 

 



  This is the removable panel on the front of the kiln.  We only installed one layer of foam insulation in this panel and the doors. 

  On all of the walls, we--mostly John--installed two pieces of foam between the studs.  I cut them close to the right size and he used a hammer and a block of wood to encourage them to conform to the space available.

  We made quite a mess.  Hopefully we will finish the wall insulation tomorrow afternoon and enlist the kids to help us clean up. We have a lot of foam left so at some point we will insulate the area between the floor joists. 
I also realized that I have accumulated enough scrap metal to justify hauling it off.
Caveman 
Caveman

caveman

As Andy stated in his post about his kiln, JMoore and I took a few more bites out of the elephant this afternoon.  We were able to get the boards and battens on the doors and the removable panel.  We still need to panel the inside, insulate under the floor, build the plenums for the fans, wire it, paint and install the metal collectors.  The pictures are of the side we will load the kiln from.   

  

 
Caveman

Andy White

Caveman,
That elephant looks mighty tasty! The B&B siding looks like it belongs there. When complete, are you going to move it around, or set it up stationary? Good looking job, and if you can, show pictures of the fan plenum and baffle. Stay safe,   Andy
Learning by day, aching by night, but loving every minute of it!! Running HM126 Woodland Mill, Stihl MS290, Homemade Log Arch, JD 5103/FEL and complete woodshop of American Delta tools.

caveman

Andy, we plan to move it to a sunny area, which we may have to create at my place due to all of the live oaks, and orient it to collect the most energy from the sun that it can.  I want to be able to move it but do not intend to move it much once we find a good place for it.  We have not started on the plenum.  I have some regular garage sale shoppers looking for some metal bladed fans.  We will build the plenum to fit the fans.  I suppose the next step will be to panel the inside with the 5/8" boards we cut for that purpose a few weeks ago.  Also, I need to locate some long bolts to mount a 4"x4" to the removable panel to give me somewhere to grab it with the tractor forks.
Caveman
Caveman

caveman

 

  

  

  

   We have not posted anything on the kiln build in nearly three months.  JMoore has been busy with his son's tee ball team.  I have been really busy with work (ag teaching) and dealing with damaged knee cartilage.  Today, we (mostly John) made a little progress.

John suggested putting the chicken house insulation on top of the floor instead of beneath and between the joists.  We did this and decked it with another layer of 5/8" plywood we salvaged months ago.  The plenum was framed with 1" x 3" pine and sheeted with some more salvaged plywood.  A few months ago, I painted some used metal roofing black.  This morning we installed that also. 

We located some fans.  We need to replace the power cords on them and wire the kiln.  The fans each have four 24" blades, and 1/2 hp, 1725 rpm motors.  They may be overkill but the price was right.

There is a large panel between the two doors.  It is heavier than two of us can routinely lift without making some of our internal parts external.  Last week, I cobbled up a skid steer quick connect mount that we will through bolt to the panel.  If I can driver a tractor well enough we should be able to remove and install the panel using the tractor's hydraulics.  We will need to ensure the ground and the kiln are on the same grade for this to work.  If any of you see anything that we should do differently don't hesitate to say so. 
Caveman
Caveman

caveman

Wow, I got a warning that it has been over 120 days since I posted anything on the kiln.  Today, John and I finally got around to moving the beast.  In order to make room for it, we had to take down nine live oaks, a few water oaks and a pine tree.  We only had to replace one section of my neighbor's chain link top rail (the darn things were all leaning the wrong way). Also, we had to cut several low hanging limbs between my shop and the kiln spot with a pole saw.

John aired up the tires in preparation for our 400' journey.  They were only flat on the bottom. 


We hooked the kiln's hitch to the draw bar and John coached me in the backing process (I could not see around the kiln) in order to avoid smashing sheds, trucks, and other obstacles. 


After positioning the kiln in the sunny spot we created with the collector facing south, we began the leveling process using old air plane screw jacks, a floor jack and the tractor's forks.  We had some fine tuning to do on the doors to ensure they opened and closed smoothly.  Finally, we mounted the skid steer quick connect frame that I melted together a few months back.



Sometime before too long, we need to run about 380' of wire to power the fans, dehumidifiers, lights and a few outlets and lights in the mill shed.

There are no vents in this kiln.  When it is empty, would we be wise to leave a door ajar?  My inclination is to keep it closed up.


Thanks for looking,
Caveman


Caveman

YellowHammer

Quote from: caveman on November 24, 2014, 07:10:27 PM
There are no vents in this kiln.  When it is empty, would we be wise to leave a door ajar?  My inclination is to keep it closed up.
With an empty solar kiln, the temperatures will skyrocket, especially since you are in Florida. I live in Alabama and when I had an empty solar kiln, I ended up melting the plastic roof panels from the excess heat.  An open door may swing uncontrollably in the wind and may damage hinge hardware.  I'd advise putting in vents, (I use 4 simple rectangular foundation sliding vents, placed high and low) but its hard for me to give advice to a guy who's built a work of art like yours. 8)
YH
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

caveman

Thanks, YellowHammer.   It gets hot and does not take long.  Melting the panels would be an enthusiasm smasher-the panels were the costliest part of this project to date.  I was inside some today while John was outside and we were checking tolerances on the doors and panel.  In just a few minutes I felt like a poor puppy left to guard the family sedan in a Walmart parking lot during the summertime. We should be able to come up with some sort of vent.  The amount of experience and talented folks who frequent this forum never ceases to impress me. It is nice not having to reinvent the wheel.
Kyle 
Caveman

Dakota

If you left the door ajar, I'd make sure a child couldn't get in there and close the door.

Dakota
Dave Rinker

GeneWengert-WoodDoc

A solar kiln without lumber can indeed exceed 200 F. 

So when the moisture is evaporated from the lumber, and into the air, how will this moisture in the air be removed from the kiln?
Gene - Author of articles in Sawmill & Woodlot and books: Drying Hardwood Lumber; VA Tech Solar Kiln; Sawing Edging & Trimming Hardwood Lumber. And more

Thank You Sponsors!