/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>615816
Not too much to tell really. The box itself just needs to be insulated really well. You have to use 2 panes of glass with 1/8" - 1/4" air space between them and the inner glass must be thermally treated glass so buy it precut to the exact dimensions needed or size your box to match whatever you have on hand. The panels to reflect light need to be trapezoid shaped and you use 4 of them, one on each side of the box.

When empty, the temps should reach around 400F-450F, but when you put food in them all that heat gets absorbed by the food. So, the temps you get will to be much lower. Like 300F-350F. Which is good because you don't want it combusting into a ball of fire.

>old pics

>>441619
Solar box cooker the reflector the style of Heaven's Flame or the All Season Solar Cooker and very well insulated will be best for heat gathering and retention. One of my old cooker, pictured here, has double glass and high R-value insulation. At its peak it could reach 450F, with nothing inside in about 15 minutes.

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

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

I've made several types of solar cookers. From super cheap and small to one with lots of R-value.

I've made solar funnels, ovens, parabolics, and panel cookers. I've made around 100 meals thus far, have cooked in 2 feet of snow at 2 degrees Fahrenheit outside temp.

Plans and tons of info,

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

My recommendations,

-Build as light as possible.
-Box cookers are best for just about everything and every type of cooking.
-More R-value insulation = hotter ambient ait temps for box cookers
-For affixing aluminum foil to wood or cardboard use a mixture of 1 part water and 1 part wood/Elmer's glue. Spread it with your hand, towel off hand, and roll foil over the glue, wait till it dries, and cut off extra.
-Foil works better than glass mirrors because there's no glass for light to go through
-2 glazings (glass, plastic, etc) are best for the window for a box cooker

continued...

pic is my main cooker

Here's my large solar cooker with the bread riser. Note that in these pics the large cooker has handles and wheels. For scale, the tops of the reflectors happens to be 4 feet wide and the bread rising box is an office paper box that normally holds two stacks of paper.