Thread: Greenwood Timber Spindle Drying Kiln

Today I finished another component required for my greenwood projects. The construction of a Timber Drying Kiln. The carcass was made from table tops scavenged from my neighbourhood hard rubbish. The inside of the kiln is lined with the reflective insulation used for houses, and is secured to the carcass using spray adhesive. The shelfs were made from found aluminium tubing and the rods are bought 1/4" stainless steel - the shelves are spaced 125mm apart.

The novel solution in this project was the fitting of the lights. The ceramic light sockets get hot and I did not want them touching the wood, so I routed out a space into which I attached a some found 100 x 100 mm aluminium tubing. Two holes were drilled to accept the ceramic light fittings and then the electrics was run inside the aluminium tube. This means that all electric elements sit outside the box and nothing that gets directly hot contacts anything directly flammable. The lights are two 275 watt ultraviolet heat lamps. 25mm holes were drilled into the top for the evaporation of moisture and for drying leg tenons.

To close the doors I simple cut up an old leather belt - secured it to the door with screws and then imbedded a large bolt into the side of the carcass. The belt has a suitable sized hole in the one end that slides over the head of the large bolt.

Cost for the stainless steel rod $15, insulation $5, light sockets $20, bulbs $25 & screws/bolts $8. The rest was all scavenged.

The only thing still missing at this point is a thermostat to keep the temperature at about 50 centigrade. I searched eBay but most thermostats are for reptiles and max out at 38 centigrade. Is that enough heat to dry for spindles/rails? The one that go above 38 centigrade are more complex boxes that require wiring rather then simply plug and play.



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