Portable lighter bow oven?

[Sant-Ravenhill]

Shredd I will definitely put plastic under the electric blanket. The last thing I need is a warped form. It should be pretty straight forward to get the heat above 90 degrees that way.  Thank you.

[beachbowhunter]

You can build a hot box with foil backed foam board held together with duct tape and ceramic light sockets and 100w bulbs for the heat source.

This works great. The insulation foam board is plenty stiff and you can move the dang thing around.

[Shredd]

Shredd I will definitely put plastic under the electric blanket. The last thing I need is a warped form. It should be pretty straight forward to get the heat above 90 degrees that way.  Thank you.

   it can't hurt...   if you are on the fence about the blanket vs the hot box,  i want you to do something... 

   i want you to take two sheets of plywood, some wire, four bulb sockets, male electrical plug, hinges, insulation, ect ect... and put them in one corner of the room...  now take an electric blanket and put it in the other corner of the room...  now go cut your riser, grind your lams and get ready for glue up...  when your ready for glue up, look in that corner of the room and then the other corner of the room...  which do you choose??   

[Longcruise]

And let me know when you have decided.   I'll come by and get all that plywood,  etc. Out of there for you.   

[Flem]

Does he get to fashion the materials into a useable box first? Also if he were to replace the inefficient light bulb heat source with one of these as small as 300w(housing removed);

His box would be up to 150deg in about 3 minutes.

[Bow Bender]

Hey Flem,  is that an electric baseboard heater that you have taken the shroud off of?

[mmattockx]

You guys that are advocating for a solid box of some sort are forgetting OP's requirements that it be light and easily portable because he doesn't have much space to work with and is in a temporary living space. The boxes could be the best bow oven on the planet, but they don't fit his requirements for the moment.

Flem, I like that baseboard heater idea a lot for a more permanent installation. Does the thermostat control manage the internal box temps ok or do you need to do something else with it?


Mark

[Flem]

Yeah its an electric baseboard element. I had the same dilemma as the OP, space and weight. My shop is congested, everything is on wheels. Even on wheels, the hot box takes up way too much real estate.
That pic was a screen shot, mine is 18" 300w. Any more wattage would be overkill for 6 cu ft of space. You can use the thermocouple that they come with, but its a pain to get it in the perfect position corresponding to desired temp. I use mine for other stuff also, so I put a PID controller together. I use this box regularly at 200deg. The fan along with the diffuser over the element, eliminate hot spots and keep the heat circulating.

[Forwardhandle]

Nice set up Flem I still have my PID kit I have yet to put together , if your using the heat blanket system with out additional shop lights or heating elements it takes a good while to come to temp but it’s a good thing as it slowly warms your form ,so no warping at least I never have had it ,I also have some IR heating elements that I want to try with the PID controller & blanket !

[Pat B]

I put casters on one end of my hot box so I can stand it on end and roll it into a corner.