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Finally got to start my solar kiln

Started by Coffee_Creek, July 16, 2018, 06:53:46 AM

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Coffee_Creek

 

 
br> Been very busy the last year getting construction on our new house started and moving back home but, finally got to start my solar kiln. Wish me luck.......

PA_Walnut

Nice work! However, I've got mini-hoe envy!  :D
I had the opportunity to rent one for a project and wonder where it's been all of my life!! Excellent little machine!
I own my own small piece of the world on an 8 acre plot on the side of a mountain with walnut, hickory, ash and spruce.
LT40HD Wide 35HP Diesel
Peterson Dedicated Wide Slabber
Kubota M62 Tractor/Backhoe
WoodMizer KD250 Kiln
Northland 800 Kiln

firefighter ontheside

Looking good.  Hopefully that'll be me soon.
Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

Coffee_Creek

 

 lThanks guy's.
the mini-hoe is a fun machine.
Made a little more progress yesterday......

btulloh

Looking good.  Love that mini-ex.  That looks like a nice one.

HM126

Coffee_Creek

I'm really enjoying it, I purchased it about two months ago, loving the cab with AC.....

Coffee_Creek

 A little more progress building the end walls....

 

l

btulloh

Easy to love cabs with AC.  All of my stuff is open air.  One of these days . . .

Kiln is coming along nicely.  Looks like a good open location.  I'm enjoying your hard work.  Built mine last summer about this same time.  One thing I learned was that fall, winter, spring are better than summer for building solar kilns.  The work went along pretty well until it was closed in, then I had to start working early or late.  We build when we can, I s'pose.  I'm glad to have the kiln, and building in the heat is a distant memory.  Good luck with the rest of your build.  
HM126

Crusarius

you keeping track of cost? I want to build one but now on a very strict budget. be very interested in knowing actual cost.

Coffee_Creek

Sorry but I can't help much on cost, I used a deck that was on my old house that I demolished for the base of the floor and skinned it with 1/2" treated plywood, all other framing I was rough cut lumber that I had sawed from the SYP that I harvested from my property. The paint, fans and dehumidifiers I've had for long enough to not have a clue what I paid for them, sorry I can't be of any help........

Coffee_Creek

 
Made a little more progress today, finished framing the end walls and had my little helper (future daughter-N-law) start painting everything that can be painted prior to installing, ain't she cute a bug in a rug?.......
She is one hard working young lady, a friend of mine is a General Contractor building houses, he hired her for a few days, put her on one of his jobs and told all the other workers, all men, just do what she does, 


btulloh

It's good to have good help.  Really coming along nicely.
HM126

Coffee_Creek

 

 

 

 and a little more today, had a short day because of heat.......


D6c

Pretty much exactly what I have in mind to build other than I'm considering building one on skids...or maybe a wagon undercarriage.  What's your floor size and height?
Looks like you'll have nice wide access doors.

GeneWengert-WoodDoc

The Va Tech kiln holds 1500 bf which with oak will weigh as much as 9000 pounds.  Then add sticker weight and kiln weight.  You might want to move it when it is empty.
Gene - Author of articles in Sawmill & Woodlot and books: Drying Hardwood Lumber; VA Tech Solar Kiln; Sawing Edging & Trimming Hardwood Lumber. And more

YellowHammer

I put mind on skids so I can get my forks under it and move it around, which I've done three times without dropping it once.   :D
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

Coffee_Creek

I made some progress the last two days on the North wall over the door opening.
I'm kind of stumped on the best way to build the plenum for the fans, does any one have pic's of how they built theirs?



 

 l

Coffee_Creek

Quote from: D6c on July 20, 2018, 09:28:18 AM
Pretty much exactly what I have in mind to build other than I'm considering building one on skids...or maybe a wagon undercarriage.  What's your floor size and height?
Looks like you'll have nice wide access doors.
Floor is app an 8'X18'
South wall is 3'
North wall 10' (I think)

btulloh

I just dropped some verticals down from the rafters and used 3 or 4 sections of 1/2" CDX.  Cleats on the wall on the ends.  Nothing fancy.

Starting to build the solar kiln in Drying and Processing

(That should be the link to some pictures.  It's reply#127 (pg 7) in the thread if this doesn't go directly to it.)

It's not in the pictures, but I filled in the gaps in the rafters with pieces of rigid cellulose insulation board screwed to the fan board.  Once again, not fancy, but effective.  I would have installed blocking at that point if I had though it out in advance.


Add:  I was stumped on the best way to build the plenum also.  So I just did it this way.  No regrets, other than the loss of style points.  
HM126

Coffee_Creek

Thank you for the info, in the pic's it looks like you're pushing the air down the slpoed front and out the lower vents, is that correct?

btulloh

It took me a while to catch on to what's really going on.  The fans are actually pressurizing the collector area and that pressure is released through the stack.  The top vents supply makeup air for the humid air that is being exhausted through the bottom vents.  At the early stages, the vents are open more than towards the end of the drying cycle.  It seems counterintuitive, but i started to catch on when I ran the first load.
HM126

Coffee_Creek

Thank you guy's for all your help, I really appreciate it......

YellowHammer

The fans in the top of the kiln push air to the front, down the angled plastic roof, over the warm collector, down the front of the lumber stack, through the stack to the back of the kiln, against the doors, then back up the inside of the doors to the top and then through the fans again.  Its a circular flow, and the vertical fan deck is high up to seal the roof and sides, and I use a full width plastic tarp attached to the bottom of the fan deck and drop it onto the top of the wood stack.  When things are operating correctly, you can see the tarp billow slightly like a sail.  Opening the top and bottom vents regulate how much air is removed per circular pass of the air.  I use two $20 Wal Mart square shaped box fans in the band deck.  I have to replace the fans every 3 years of so, but they work fine and are dirt cheap.  I use a couple pieces of corrugated roofing tin spray painted black as collectors and just lay them on top of the wood stack after I load it.
  
So I load the wood, lay the roofing tin on top of the stack, unroll the tarp and drop the bottom of it on the wood stack like a shower curtain.  Shut the door, crack the vents and move on.
      
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

PA_Walnut

Yellow, do you put your 9/4 walnut in there green, or give it a while on sticks first?
What's the timeline?
Thx
I own my own small piece of the world on an 8 acre plot on the side of a mountain with walnut, hickory, ash and spruce.
LT40HD Wide 35HP Diesel
Peterson Dedicated Wide Slabber
Kubota M62 Tractor/Backhoe
WoodMizer KD250 Kiln
Northland 800 Kiln

YellowHammer

The cycle time depends on how much "solar" I get, Maybe a few months if green, maybe 6 weeks if I put it in after a some air drying.  It all depends.  Normally, to speed things up, I'll put the thick walnut into the solar kiln after it has had some air drying time, just so it doesn't monopolize things.

Thing about a solar kiln, it works on its own time schedule like an easy bake oven, but its significantly faster, and a pretty much set it and forget kind of thing.

Through the years, I've optimized its placement for drying thicker slabs by putting in a place that gets shade from a big tree until about mid morning, but gets full sun when during the winter when the shade trees leads are dropped.  I've had to move it a couple times, I built skids under it so I could use a forklift, and I've got its placement dialed in now.  I'm seriously thinking of building a couple more, they are very useful, elegantly simple, and even though I have two other DH kilns, I use this for most of my high dollar, slower drying wood.

Remember, I don't use it for any wood that is prone to sticker stain, as its the wrong tool for the job.


   

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

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