Heat box

[joekeith]

If you were gonna make a heat, or hot box, how long would you make it?  and how many light bulb fixtures would you put in it?  Will have a exhaust fan in it.  Thanks for the help on a couple of questions everybody probably knows but me.....

[DVSHUNTER]

keith, mine is six foot long and I wish I had made it longer. I have three bulbs in mine on a dimmer switch to control temp. I have had it over 150 in mine. The fan is a nice touch.

[Roy from Pa]

Ditto above.

[bjansen]

I think the next one I build will have an inside measurement of 80" long, 34" tall and 12" wide.  My current one has an inside measurement of roughtly 10% less on all and it always seems like I am running out of room one way or the other with some of my newer glass forms.  

If it is insulated 3 bulbs will probably do.  I have the 3 bulbs on the bottom of mine, then supports for my forms to sit on.  I like that because I know the bulbs will never get too close to the form when I close the lid.

[JamesV]

In my hotbox I use 6- 100 watt bulbs on a dimmer with an exaust fan. With the fan running my heat range is 0-160 degrees. with the fan off my range is 0-220. 100 watt bulbs cost a lot less than 150-200 bulbs and they are smaller.........James

[Robertfishes]

I built mine using the specs from Binghams, I think its 84inches long?  I put a 2x4 frame under it and installed castor wheels so I can store it under glue up table when not in use. I use four 100 watt bulbs, a 150-180 degree thermostat and I have a good 15 amp timer so I dont cook too long. I get 165 degrees from the 100 watt bulbs.

[limbcracker]

Mine is 8' long, 34" tall, 24 deep, I built it with my glue up bench on top to save room, and a front opening, bottom hinged door that drops onto the floor for easy loading. Its lined with aluminum sheeting and I use 3 120 watt bulbs, it runs around 160F. I mounted a cheap metal towel bar in front of the light bulbs so I don't bump and break them when putting a form in.

[BlackDog]

What's the exhaust fan for, just circulating the air??

[D.A. Davis]

Make sure and make it long enough for the longest bow you're planning on building, and make sure and add room for the fire hose plugs, if you're going to use the fire hose method.  I learned that the hard way.

[Dick in Seattle]

Amen on long enough!   I built mine to be stood on end for storage, which limited it to 76".  It's worked great, but I have wished it were longer.

(Buildalong at:   http://dickwightman.com/archeryactivity/dicksarcheryactivities.html

After building a few bows, I started laminating riser blocks and found I could have made it wider, too.   If I built a new oven, I'd make it at least 84" long, 18" wide and 30" tall.  Remember, with a light bulb heated form, there has to be room for both the depth of the bulbs and the height of a clamped form, or double form in the case of air pressure hose use.

I was about to go ahead and build a new one larger overall, but decided to go for heat strips instead.  If I find I don't care for them, I'll go ahead with the new oven.

[joekeith]

Actually I got the box as part of a "deal gone bad", don't want to get into it.  

It is 6' long X 2' X 2', has 2 light receptacles, and a fan, to remove the moisture I guess.  It is not lined with any insulation, but I will be doing that.  It's made out of luan, real flimsy, but light weight.  I put a thermomoter in it and left it on over night and it won't even get up to 90* in there with 100 watt bulbs.  Would 3 light bulbs be enough, or should I go with 4?  What temp should I want to reach in the box?

I got some staves with this "deal", most of them look pretty bad to me.  And most all of them are over the 6' length of the box. I guess I'll have to put a "room addition" onto the box.

Any thing else I should change while I'm "remodeling"?