Jim Adney wrote in
:

On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 07:47:37 GMT "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:

Jim, have you seen the small powder coat oven at Harbor Freight? The
temperature range is too high, but it looks like a small environmental
chamber. For the $399 price it wouldn't be hard to change or modify the
controller to use for circuit boards, if needed.

I think Mike is considering commercial uses,not home/hobby applications.
For that(commercial apps) it probably would be a good idea.
I'd want something larger,that I could put a whole instrument in after a
wash.


You don't have to get fancy if you just need to do a single part (or a
few parts.) I've done wonders with a steel wastebasket and a small
light bulb. You adjust the temp by trying different size bulbs, and
you close off the wastebasket opening with alum foil, just to limit
air circulation, which would reduce the temp. Make sure the bulb is
placed so that it can't come in direct contact with the parts you're
drying out.

It doesn't have to be hot, just warm enough to make the vapor pressure
of the air low (ie, reduce the relative humidity.) 125-150F is plenty
warm.

Actually,you do NOT want it any hotter than about 150degF, plastic parts
like cam drums begin to be affected.

And the muffin fans providing a slight negative pressure helps draw out the
moisture,increasing evaporation.

(BTW,I've also used the lightbulb/enclosure trick for curing epoxy.)


--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net