/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>452701
>Is that styrofoam under the mirror ? Wont that melt ?

No. There's no concentration of sunlight there. In fact the mirror is reflecting the sunlight away from it. I wouldn't use foam for that anyway. It isn't very durable for such outdoor uses as that.

>insulation

For a solar box oven, only use cardboard, not wood, unless you need a box frame. Bubble foil uses plastic, you can just use cardboard for insulation too. Cardboard will shrink after the first couple uses so expect to add a couple extra layers in after that. Fiberglass insulation will work well too.

>plexiglass

Use real glass. Two layers is best with 1/8" air gap between them. The inside glass needs to be tempered glass so it won't shatter. Plexiglass will melt as will foiled bubble wrap if they are in contact with the cooking heat.

>50 CM of mirror-space

Use foil glued to cardboard or mirrored metal, but not glass mirrors for solar box cookers. Use 4 reflector panels, 1 on each side of the box.

>cooking

Check these out,

http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Solar_Cookers_World_Network_%28Home%29

http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Solar_cooker_plans

Here's an old pic of one of mine. A prototype camping solar box cooker. The towel is an additional the insulator. The main insulator was 1 inch of cardboard. It also used 2 pieces of normal plate glass (higher temp cookers need tempered glass on the inside). Cooking time at that low a temp (250F/121C max) was about 2.5 hours.

>>320550
This was its first test cooking. I used it too death while out on job sites and camping. Looks like it was topping out as 225F. It uses a single pane of regular plate glass. If it were to get hotter, it would most likely crack. Had I used 2 pieces of glass then I would have needed a piece of thermal glass on the inner side because it would have been far hotter.

This one didn't cost me anything except for tape and foil. It also feels, " feel cheap, flimsy, and disposable". Which is why it was just a concept test.

The collapsible cooker cooking terrible pizza for a terrible but tasty American dinner.

Here're pics of the collapsible solar cooker cooking pizza.

In case it has not escaped anyone, I normally use junk foods to test the cookers. The real cooking begins when I've worked the bugs out.