Solar oven overkill.

**jamesneuen** · 02-10-2015, 05:20 AM

So, as I am laid up at the moment I have decided to throw about as much brainpower as I can (not much some days) at solar ovens. I want the who, what, when, where, and how!!!! Please forgive me for numbering things when I post. It simply gives me a better way to organize thoughts in my mind and if I write them down as things are a bit cloudy with pain still.

1. Being where I am in Florida right now we have no shortage of sun, even on "cloudy" days. I really want to learn to harness it in more than a few ways but with being realistic along the way. I also plan on a few other solar projects soon and will youtube if possible for anyone interested.

2. Having access to a military pile of metal scrap that is free game gives me a lot of material to work with so I am going to try and get someone to teach me to be better at torch welding aluminum so I can make an "indefinitely lasting" one. I am choosing torch welding because it is the machine I have at hand and the wife would kill me for buying something too expensive after we just paid off all our debt. (sorry for TMI)

3. Material suggestions are always welcome and I will be going cheap with prototypes but once I decide on a design I want one that is as low maintenance and long lasting as possible for materials. So, no oxidation or fragility for reflectors, fire-proof insulation for the box, no rusting parts, ease of use, portability. (yes yes, I know I want everything and I doubt I will get it)

4. Also read mention of a fresnel lens one possibly being built but couldn't find any more info on that. Seems like that would be more of a cooker and less an oven? possibly with a collector to direct the light through the lens then bounce it off a mirror onto the bottom of large piece of cast iron?

5. Designs!!!! I have done the searching in post posts on here and seen the pre-built ones and honestly they seem flimsy. I have seen one website that has something along the lines of what I would consider formidable but they seem to think their design is beyond the understanding of us "simpletons" and say that it is beyond the capability of a HOME BUILDER though it looks like a ten year old could put it together in about 10 minutes while only losing 2 fingers. http://www.omick.net/solar_ovens/solar_ovens.htm

6. I would especially like to hear from ANYONE who has used one of these in below freezing temps on a regular basis. Below -0 would be especially helpful to see if it would be a viable solution in my future retirement site. And also if the reflectivity of the snow has a positive or negative effect on it? I know snow blindness is the same as welders blindness from UV rays but to be honest I don't know if it is UV rays that cook food!

7. I truly have been reading and trying to wrap my head around it but I just need a basic design with so I can possibly get the wife interested as she would be doing all the "heavy lifting" figuratively and literally while I am injured. I know that everyone has their own ideas of how large the dimensions should be so I will scale up or down as I see fit for the final one.

I apologize for the long read and blame the pain meds on any typo's but I do believe in being thorough and if you can't tell by the time of night I am posting this, 0100 or 1:00 AM for you civilian types, it has and is going to be a long night for me.

Keep up the chess though!!!

**jamesneuen** · 02-10-2015, 08:56 AM

Rather rude of me to continue with my own post but as you can see, sleep is not coming tonight.

Where I say green hinges is where the next picture will hinge downward.

And the last is just the rack which has an offset from center to accommodate the change in elevation as the sun moves......

I went a little crazy with the arts and crafts tonight. Since I also mentioned it I drew up this as well!!!!

Completely crude and probably uneducated but lets hear the critiques!!! bring on the peanut gallery!!!!

**ak474u** · 02-10-2015, 01:08 PM

I've never built one so as far as design goes, I dunno. But, if you're gonna torch aluminum, you may want to consider alumaloy rods and just use a regular propane torch. You can weld coke cans together with that stuff.

**realist** · 02-10-2015, 01:50 PM

If you are like me you need to get well soon or your wife will kill you. Mine can't stand it when I have too much time on my hands and am bored.

A Fresnel lens would be interesting. I saw one made out of an old TV screen. I would think this would be good for sub zero ops but it heats real fast so I would be using something like this for boiling water and not cooking something like a roast. You need to understand that solar ovens are real complicated, this way they can sell you one. Some of the ones I have seen are nothing more than cardboard lined with Mylar. So now you have me thinking about making one now, I'm blaming you if my wife gets mad. Unlike you we have quite a few cloudy days here on the Left Coast. I hadn't done much investigation of this and I like the larger ones you sent in the attachment.

Hey be careful with the lifting stuff put on the wife, it only goes so long, then they go on strike and then they wont help you even when you really need it........

**Domeguy** · 02-10-2015, 03:47 PM

Strangely odd, and oddly strange, as I too was awake most of the night researching on youtube and ebay solar ovens. Ya shoulda called. Reading the old posts got me started thinking...which can lead to bad things in the future.

**Domeguy** · 02-10-2015, 03:57 PM

Most of what I say looked as Realist said, cardboard and Mylar. Really hard to put together stuff, looks too technical, so let's just buy it for $300. I don't think so.

**Sniper-T** · 02-10-2015, 04:23 PM

Justaprepper had a good post a while back, I saw someone had bumped it. Wasn't there a pdf somewhere around about how to make one??

Unfortunately, this is one of the projects still on the list to do; and not yet done.

Thanks for the bump, may have to revisit this sooner than later.

eta: found it!

http://www.shtfready.com/threads/83-...ght=solar+oven

**ladyhk13** · 02-13-2015, 12:48 AM

I have a Sun Oven. BWRR bought it for me but haven't used it yet. Supposed to be most excellent though. Maybe look at their website and there might be a breakdown of how it's made and you could recreate it?