Overkill for mdf oven?

Talk Composites - The Forum for Advanced Composites

Back

Overkill for mdf oven?

Author	Message
ECV3	ECV3 posted 10 Years Ago HOT Topic Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 30, Visits: 106	I am about to build an mdf oven, the size will be L1220mm, W610mm, H635mm. I was going to use a 2KW fan heater as i'm aiming for Max Dwell temps of 80 to 85c, but after reading one of Morepower's posts ( Hi Morepower hope you dont mind) and seeing his AMAZING work i understand that a 3KW needs to be on full most of the time to make 85C (not shore how big his oven is) so it looks like my 2kw's out of the window. Can anyone give me advise on will this do or is it OVERKILL for a mdf oven of my size?? 5kw single phase External size H300 W520 D200 Attachments $_3 (1).JPG (882 views, 37.00 KB) $_3 (2).JPG (878 views, 65.00 KB)
	Reply Like 6
Reply
morepower	morepower posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 242, Visits: 1.2K	Fasta (18/03/2015) I think your MDF may continually draw heat out since it is a solid type material panel. I have 3kw oven that is a 2" foam core with thin sheet steel skins. It's 4m long x 1.1m wide x 1.1m high. It will heat up to 100C in about 45 minutes with small light moulds inside. For me in Australia 3kw has to run on 3 phase power. If it were 2kw then normal household single phase is ok. Here most households don't have 3 phase whereas industrial workshops usually do. 2Kw will work for me and it is a large area to warm up. But I dont ramp up that fast. The fastest I ramp up is 1 degree every 90 seconds. Not because that is as fast as it will go but because that is all I need it to go up by. MDF does warm up a little to about 36 degrees C (the door of my simple box) but the kingspan I have clad the outside with keeps most if the heat inside. The next oven will be more permanent as this was a proof of concept oven that works perfectly and is cheap. I can build a more solid one using an interlocking bench for a small workshop oven in my layup room. A bigger one using 90 degree steel frame, plywood, kingspan and some more ply for the inner skin it is trying to keep the metal which has a path to the colder outside to a minimum. A full MDF or ply inner skin which overlaps is the best option especially if you add rubber seals to the door frame so there is no real gaps.
	Reply Like 6