heat strips or oven ??

[Pat B.]

Are good reliable heat strips available at a reasonable cost..

Seems like it might be a better way to go rather than an oven taking up a lot of room...

Or do most of you find an oven more desirable ?

[monterey]

Bingham has those strips, but the price put me right out of the market.  We are of course all of differing means so the price may not bother you.  Storing the oven is a pain!

Here in Colorado we are in the warm sunny season.  My last bow glued with smooth on was cured in my car at around 145 deg.

[JamesV]

I have seen post about heat strips not lasting very well for their cost. My current heat bow is over 6 yrs old and but for the cost of a few light bulbs it has been problem free. Takes up a lot of space is the only drawback.

James

[Robertfishes]

I remember recently seeing a post about using stainless steel strips and a battery charger? for a heat strip system. As a hobby builder I'm staying with my oven, I have 16-20 100 watt bulbs packed away for future use. I put castor wheels under my oven, I store it under my glue up bench..yes, it takes up a lot of room.  

[bamboo]

I mounted the box up on the wall and built a narrow glueing bench under it
 

[BigJim]

Binghams quit offering the heat strips. too many issues i guess.

I went away from them and only use them for cooking my overlays.

I have a big oven but a substantial shop too so it's not a big deal for me. The top of my oven doubles as a work bench too.
I can cook up to six bows and a dz risers at a time in mine. Certainly wouldn't have to be that big for most.

BigJim

[Pat B.]

Jim, once again my hat is off to you for all your contributions..

I'd venture a guess that your over is not heated with light bulbs !!

[beachbowhunter]

Figures Jim would have a walk-in oven!!

[goobersan]

I think Roy-bert has an oven like Bamboo. definitely the way I'm going. My current oven is on wheels. My 2 pennies would be an oven

[2treks]

I love my heat strips.
I get them cheaper than binghams,
Not as cheap as an oven tho.

[BigJim]

When I first started with heat strips, my controllers were less then desirable. They worked great but heated so fast that I would more than occasionally get small air bubbles under the glass. This happened occasionally anyway, but I could tell it was becoming more frequent.

I changed everything that could be the culprit and then finally went back to the oven as a last resort...they went away...all but the occasional. I have never gone back to a strip.

i would say that my controllers heated the strips too quickly. I know that this could be corrected especially with my new heat controller...I use this with the heat strips to cure the overlays and tip overlays now.

My oven is "about" 80"s long x 24" wide by about 30"s deep with 3"s of spray foam insulation throughout. I mounted two 220 baseboard heaters at the bottom and two computer fans. I then mounted a steel plate above them with 6"gaps covered by expanded metal at each end of the steel plate. The heaters heat up both the plate and the air and the fans circulate the air around the plate and box.

With the insulation, it only takes about 10 minutes for the box to come to temp and will only cycle about every 20 minutes or so.

If I cut it on at 5:pm it will generally still be above 90 deg in the morning inside an air conditioned shop.

Works for me and probably only have $300 bucks in it...spray foam guy is my bud and has 5 of my bows .
the second base board heater is overkill.

BigJIm

[2treks]

What controller do you use with that set up Jim?

[BigJim]

I was using a barn heater controller. They were very fragile and didn't last long.

I still use the strips but for overlays. A friend built an awesome controller for me and no more fried bow risers. I can do four bows at a time.

bigjim