Heat Source for Holster Heat-Drying Box.

[Darren8306]

Block heaters from cars come in a few testable formats. I have one which is a plug, the heater, and a magnet to mount it to the offending oilpan. It was cheap and I keep it around for emergencies. There are more modern versions which come as a pad, and are made to be mounted under the battery, or onto the engine at a suitable location.

They may also be a bit cheaper than something marketed to pet fanciers.

[bruce johnson]

Here's something I stumbled across a while back....I fiddle-farted around with drying boxes with bulbs, a cooler with a light bulb, and the open-door low-heat in the kitchen oven when I was making a bunch of sheaths and molded stuff. They all worked and all required some level of baby-sitting. Fast forwarding to the full time tool restoration period of my shop life. I was having trouble with my rattle cans not spraying as well in the cold temps and then the paint being slow to cure. Several on-line tips - set the cans in a bucket of warm water an hour before, incubator, old smoker, etc. It worked. One restorer suggested the Dr DryBooth paint drying cabinet from MicroMark. Intended for hobby model painters for drying but he was using it to heat cans and preheat tools to accept treatments and then keep warm for penetration and drying.  I started with the XL size for drying splitter frames and set my cans to one side. I eventually got the other size vertical one on a special. I had a guy come by and saw them. He wondered how they would work for drying sheaths and holsters and bought one. His feedback a couple years ago to me was that is was really nice. Basically stack them in there, turn it on, and no babysitting. Controlled heat with airflow, no scorching risk, no babysitting and likely safer than his EasyBake oven set up in a flammable wooden box.  

[wizard of tragacanth]

 Bruce, that's a great product recommendation. I just looked it up and it's on sale with 25% off but there is additional shipping cost.

"Temperatures inside the cabinet can be set from approximately 135 degrees - great for finishing die-cast, other metals and wood - to approximately 100 to 105 degrees - ideal for plastic, resin and more."

People have mentioned using heat up to 140° for holsters but I think that's too high. 110° is perfect. 

https://micromark.com/products/dr-dry-booth

Nick

Edited Wednesday at 04:21 PM by wizard of tragacanth

[Yellowhousejake]

They still sell incandescent bulbs for rough service and utility service. Some hardware stores will have them, if not Jeff Bezos will take your money.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=incandescent+light+bulbs+100+watt

I do not like using Amazon, raised in a self employed family, I try to keep my money local. But, if the stores will not carry what I want I go to who does. When we find them, we stock up.

DAve

 

[Latigo Smith]

Thank you all for the advice.

 

Dwight, that's an excellent idea, I might have to seriously consider a festive heat box. Particularly if whatever heat setup I use doesn't quite put out enough heat, lining the box with Christmas lights would bump it up nicely, and I still have some big bulb Christmas lights in storage somewhere. Thank you for the suggestion, I don't believe I'd have ever thought that one up. 

 

Billy, the reason I figured that a heat bulb would put out a more concentrated heat pattern is on account of it appears that the sides of the lizard bulbs don't emit any light or heat, it's only the front of the bulb that emits all the heat. Your suggestion of using a piece of sheet metal to deflect and distribute the heat is an excellent one, I do believe I'll do just that if I go with a heat lamp. Thank you. 

[Latigo Smith]

18 hours ago, bruce johnson said:

Here's something I stumbled across a while back....I fiddle-farted around with drying boxes with bulbs, a cooler with a light bulb, and the open-door low-heat in the kitchen oven when I was making a bunch of sheaths and molded stuff. They all worked and all required some level of baby-sitting. Fast forwarding to the full time tool restoration period of my shop life. I was having trouble with my rattle cans not spraying as well in the cold temps and then the paint being slow to cure. Several on-line tips - set the cans in a bucket of warm water an hour before, incubator, old smoker, etc. It worked. One restorer suggested the Dr DryBooth paint drying cabinet from MicroMark. Intended for hobby model painters for drying but he was using it to heat cans and preheat tools to accept treatments and then keep warm for penetration and drying.  I started with the XL size for drying splitter frames and set my cans to one side. I eventually got the other size vertical one on a special. I had a guy come by and saw them. He wondered how they would work for drying sheaths and holsters and bought one. His feedback a couple years ago to me was that is was really nice. Basically stack them in there, turn it on, and no babysitting. Controlled heat with airflow, no scorching risk, no babysitting and likely safer than his EasyBake oven set up in a flammable wooden box.  

Boy, oh boy, Mr. Johnson, that sure looks like one spiffy heat drying setup. I may have to look into buying one of those at some point. I checked this morning, and given that they're on sale, they're sold out. If someone is going to spend $150 or more on a heat dryer, this seems like the most purpose designed option, and seems a much better setup than the similarly expensive food dehydrator I've seen some guys suggest. 

 

 

One other thing I meant to ask about, which Mr. Johnson's DryBooth reminded me of, is whether or not you guys find that a fan is beneficial in a home-built heat drying cabinet? I was planning on simply drilling holes in the base and the top of the cabinet to allow for a natural chimney effect, but I also considered drilling a hole in the cabinet to inset a 4" desktop fan for some forced airflow. What say all of you? 

Edited yesterday at 10:27 AM by Latigo Smith

[bruce johnson]

5 hours ago, Latigo Smith said:

Boy, oh boy, Mr. Johnson, that sure looks like one spiffy heat drying setup. I may have to look into buying one of those at some point. I checked this morning, and given that they're on sale, they're sold out. If someone is going to spend $150 or more on a heat dryer, this seems like the most purpose designed option, and seems a much better setup than the similarly expensive food dehydrator I've seen some guys suggest. 

 

 

One other thing I meant to ask about, which Mr. Johnson's DryBooth reminded me of, is whether or not you guys find that a fan is beneficial in a home-built heat drying cabinet? I was planning on simply drilling holes in the base and the top of the cabinet to allow for a natural chimney effect, but I also considered drilling a hole in the cabinet to inset a 4" desktop fan for some forced airflow. What say all of you? 

Ventilation can be as simple or tricky as you want it to be. Drill a few holes and it will ventilate some. Too many and you lose your heat. Install a fan - too little exit volume and you fan will struggle. Too much and there goes the heat again.  On my bulb heated box I had a twisting exit vent like on a Weber grill. The thermometer ran through a cork and the bulb was in the box. I adjusted the heat level by allowing more or less air to escape. Shop temperature, humidity level, how much I had in there - it was never the same ride twice. 

[cashmanleather]

I picked up quite a few older incandescent bulbs from thrift shop, resale shop, and charity shops.  People just want them gone.

[bladegrinder]

I use a convection toaster oven that’s been modified, I took it apart and lined it with kaowool refractory. Then I bypassed the temperature dial and wired in a PID controller. This oven will now hold set temperature to within 2-3 degrees. The convection fan runs continuously. I use this for tempering knife blades but I also use it for holsters. After wet forming my holsters I’ll put it in there on top of a piece of cardboard so it doesn’t get rack marks and run it at 160 degrees, flipping the holster every half hour or so till I’m happy with it. Usually around two hours.