5-gallon 'safety' cans will wipe out a $50 bill.
Alternative suggestion: 20 liter stainless or aluminum stock pot from Dollar stores (~$7-10; el cheapo's). Next an old used kitchen sink drain. Trace outline of sink drain on lid and cut out. Attach just like you would in the bottom of a kitchen sink, only upside down so the bottom is pointing up in the air. Use a chrome or brass nut instead of plastic, and attach a old used metal tail-piece. Put this assembly on a burner and it will shoot you a bunch of steam into your steam box for a long time. Put a copper column and condensing coil on the same setup and have yourself a moonshine still ha ha. You can cut a plywood lid for any old pot/fryer kettle if you don't want to cut up a good lid. Friction fit a 1-2" pipe in it. Lot's of cheap possibilities.
If you use PVC, you'd better support it with 2x4 or something. Better still, use furnace pipe with a Tee and insulate (that gray plastic coated stuff or an old quilt) it well. You can find this stuff free if you look for a house or store being torn down.
You can make a steam box out of wood (1x6x?" or so) too. Just cut a hole in the bottom of the wooden box and put the tailpiece (or any pipe) into a hole in the box (bottom or end). Make sure any type steam box you make is vented with some 1/4" holes! Otherwise = splosion!
A teapot does good on thin pieces.
Remember: the presence of 'foggy' steam alone is NOT enough (not hot enough); you need that stuff really rolling out the vents, because the steam is only a means of transporting heat. The wood must be bathed in 212° steam to work (1 hr. per inch of wood thickness), because the 'fog' alone can be cool enough to touch - and that ain't gonna work. Hope all this doesn't constitute theft of a thread.
Topic: New Steamer! (Read 409 times)
