Simple, cheap way to heat small prepreg oven?

Talk Composites - The Forum for Advanced Composites

Back

Home
»
Advanced Composites Forum
»
Pre-Pregs
»
Simple, cheap way to heat small prepreg oven?

Simple, cheap way to heat small prepreg oven?

Simple, cheap way to heat small prepreg oven?

Author	Message
quinn	q quinn posted 6 Years Ago HOT Topic Details
q Group: Forum Members Posts: 155, Visits: 992	I'll be building a pretty small oven, about 1 meter long, .5 meter square. Not gonna be used heavily. Probably use 120c cure prepreg. What's gonna be the simplest, cheapest way to heat this? It will be on a pid controller.
	Reply Like 3
Steve Broad	Steve Broad posted 6 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 408, Visits: 4.1K	+x quinn - 12/3/2018 4:51:05 PM I'll be building a pretty small oven, about 1 meter long, .5 meter square. Not gonna be used heavily. Probably use 120c cure prepreg. What's gonna be the simplest, cheapest way to heat this? It will be on a pid controller. Well, mine is heated with 150w light bulbs :-). There are four circuits with 3 bulbs on each (total 1.8kw) . One circuit is controlled by my PID. I have scattered temp sensors around the oven so I can check that it is heating evenly and added a large fan. Oven is 1.8m x 1.8m by 1.0m. I have had it up to 130 deg C for post curing with heat to spare. Using the 4 circuits I can regulate the temp ramp to 3 deg C a minute reasonably well. At 120+ it heats up a lot slower, but that is handy as post cure ramp is a lot slower anyway :-) If it is well insulated, it is surprising how little heat you actually need to reach these temps.
	Reply Like 3
quinn	q quinn posted 6 Years Ago HOT Post Details
q Group: Forum Members Posts: 155, Visits: 992	+x Steve Broad - 12/3/2018 7:56:28 PM +x quinn - 12/3/2018 4:51:05 PM I'll be building a pretty small oven, about 1 meter long, .5 meter square. Not gonna be used heavily. Probably use 120c cure prepreg. What's gonna be the simplest, cheapest way to heat this? It will be on a pid controller. Well, mine is heated with 150w light bulbs :-). There are four circuits with 3 bulbs on each (total 1.8kw) . One circuit is controlled by my PID. I have scattered temp sensors around the oven so I can check that it is heating evenly and added a large fan. Oven is 1.8m x 1.8m by 1.0m. I have had it up to 130 deg C for post curing with heat to spare. Using the 4 circuits I can regulate the temp ramp to 3 deg C a minute reasonably well. At 120+ it heats up a lot slower, but that is handy as post cure ramp is a lot slower anyway :-) If it is well insulated, it is surprising how little heat you actually need to reach these temps. That does seem pretty cheap and easy. What kind of fan are you using? Does it have to be a certain kind to hold up to 120c?
	Reply Like 3
Hanaldo	Hanaldo posted 6 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 2.5K, Visits: 28K	Oven elements and fans are dirt cheap, easy to wire, and will last virtually forever. I believe I paid about AU$10 for the element and AU$15 for the fan and motor, and my oven costs less than 2c per cycle - the element is virtually never on. That said, theres nothing wrong with light bulbs either.
	Reply Like 3
Steve Broad	Steve Broad posted 6 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 408, Visits: 4.1K	+x quinn - 12/3/2018 9:23:00 PM +x Steve Broad - 12/3/2018 7:56:28 PM +x quinn - 12/3/2018 4:51:05 PM I'll be building a pretty small oven, about 1 meter long, .5 meter square. Not gonna be used heavily. Probably use 120c cure prepreg. What's gonna be the simplest, cheapest way to heat this? It will be on a pid controller. Well, mine is heated with 150w light bulbs :-). There are four circuits with 3 bulbs on each (total 1.8kw) . One circuit is controlled by my PID. I have scattered temp sensors around the oven so I can check that it is heating evenly and added a large fan. Oven is 1.8m x 1.8m by 1.0m. I have had it up to 130 deg C for post curing with heat to spare. Using the 4 circuits I can regulate the temp ramp to 3 deg C a minute reasonably well. At 120+ it heats up a lot slower, but that is handy as post cure ramp is a lot slower anyway :-) If it is well insulated, it is surprising how little heat you actually need to reach these temps. That does seem pretty cheap and easy. What kind of fan are you using? Does it have to be a certain kind to hold up to 120c? Yeah, one with no plastic exposed to heat :-). I have used a steel desk fan (as it was free :-) ) that is still working, but fans designed for the job are available. The use of bulbs allowed me to spread the heat evenly around the perimeter of the oven without having to rely solely on fans. I decided against using an oven element due to its intense localised heat and the problem of distributing this around a large oven (1.8m x1.8m x1.0m). However, if you can overcome this then an oven element is a simpler installation than bulbs but make sure you add a shield as they are bloody hot compared to bulbs! Re-reading your post, your oven is 1.0m x 0.5m x 0.5m? If so, then an oven element may be the best option as bulbs will take up more room, reducing the available floor area unless a support grid is installed above them. There isn't one right way to build an oven. If your oven can achieve the required max temps, temp ramps and an even temp then it will work. Another option is Infra Red lamps. Edited 6 Years Ago by Steve Broad
	Reply Like 3

GO

Merge into selected topic...

Merge into merge target...

Merge into a specific topic ID...

Similar Topics

Post Quoted Reply

Reading This Topic

Login
Remember Me Reset Password Resend Validation Email Login	Facebook Google

Explore

Messages

Mentions

Search