Re: Building Food Dryers--Avril

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Thanks so much for going to the trouble of describing the process in

detail!! It goes in my files, and when we're done fixing and selling

our house, I'll work on that! Unless I can find a cheap on on

Ebay. )

Avril

In , " Gaiacita "

<gaiacita@...> wrote:

>

> Food dryers are VERY simple to build. Basically it is a box. Mine

is big,

> 2 foot by 2 foot trays. So first you decide how big you want your

trays to

> be. We'll say 2 x 2.

>

> I bought 1 by 2 inch pieces of wood, and 1 inch slats. Here I can

find them

> in Home Depot, but any lumber yard should have them. I just put

the 1x2s

> into a box shape--meaning not mitered edges, just plain edges nailed

> together to make a 2 foot square. Then you get window screening

(preferable

> not aluminum screening) and staple it tightly to the back of the

frame, then

> staple the 1 inch slats over the staples all around the frame

itself for

> extra support for the screening.

>

> Now what I want to do is replace the screens as they have really

stretched

> out from use, though the screen itself is still perfect. But I

imagine that

> when I pull out the staples it will tear the screen. Anyway, now

what I

> would do is once I stapled the screen back on, I would also staple

on about

> 3 slats running across the screen to give support so the new

screens don't

> sag. So I would make the box frame, staple the screen on, then

staple 3

> straps divided across the frame (either direction) then I'd have to

cut the

> slats to staple to the rest of the screen edges to fit between the

slats

> running across, so that I will still have a smooth surface to slide

the

> trays on.

>

> Don't know if that's clear, but you'll see what I mean if you go to

build

> one. If I stapled slats all around the frame, and then stapled the

3 cross

> slats on top of those framing straps, I'd have a double thickness

of straps

> and 3 bumps that would make sliding the trays in and out of the box

hard to

> do.

>

> So--now you have your frames. My box holds 6 big frames. Yours

can hold as

> many as you want. This is where it takes a bit of figuring, but

you measure

> the thickness of all the frames stacked up (we'll call it 6

inches), then

> you want about an inch between each frame so that's another 5

inches, plus

> you want about 2 inches underneath the bottom frame and 2 inches

above the

> top frame, so that is 4 more inches, making 15 inches all together.

>

> Then you need to figure a one inch board slide rail (2 per frame,

screwed

> into 2 sides of the box) for the frames to slide on, so that's

another 6

> inches, making 21 inches total.

>

> So your outside box must be at least 21 inches tall and 24 inches

24 inches

> deep. I made mine basically 24 inches square. I put mine on legs

to raise

> it up to working height, so the space it took to screw legs up

inside the

> box took up some of the extra 3 inches.

>

> Now you have your basic box. You cut a front piece 24 by 24 and

hinge it

> onto the front of the box, add a small handle of some type and I

added cheap

> cabinet door closing hooks inside, one on each side, between 2 of

the frames

> (under the slide bars) to keep the door shut.

>

> For the top of the box you cut another 24 by 24 square piece of

board that

> just fits INSIDE the box--so it is actually just shy of being 24 by

24. At

> the top of the box you add 2 more slide bars so the top can just

sit level

> with the top of the box, and slide back and forth.

>

> This is because heat rises, so when you run the dryer you want to

slide the

> top forward about 4 to 6 inches to let the moist heat out. Then

when you

> are not drying something you push the top back so the whole box is

sealed up

> front, back, sides and top. The bottom of the box is open, which

is where

> the heating element is.

>

> For my heating element, I purchased a small unit that was made to

fit this

> box. My directions for building this particular size box came from

a book

> called Just Dry It (I think, it was back in the 70's, I still have

the book

> someplace here though). The guy that wrote the book that had the

actual

> plans in it also sold the heating elements to fit his plan. This

element is

> actually very small, has a thermostat to set the temp (just 1

through 10,

> not actual degrees) and the element was placed in the middle of a

wire grid

> that fits inside this box.

>

> I don't know if you can still buy this book, or that heating

element, but

> even his book said the heating element was not necessary--that you

can rig

> up a 60 watt bulb underneath the trays and turn it on. Because

heat rises

> it's a natural convection. The book also said you could get a

small fan,

> like one of those little computer fans they have now, but it's not

necessary

> I like my set up because there's no noise at all, whereas with a

fan I'd

> be hearing the fan run. Although a fan would make things dry

faster.

>

> So, if you have scrap wood, it can be practically free to build.

If you

> have to buy plywood and some lumber it's just basically the cost of

the wood

> You can get fancy and look around for a heating element or just

use a

> light bulb. You can add a fan or not.

>

> Mine doesn't work as fast at drying things as commercial units, but

then it

> hardly cost me anything at all to build.

>

> I'm sure if you Google there are probably better plans than I am

able to

> describe on the web for free, and maybe places where you can buy

small small

> heating elements that have good temp controls.

>

> Oh--to use the trays I just put a layer of plastic wrap on each

tray, if the

> stuff is juicy. Just be sure to leave an inch or so of one side of

the tray

> screen uncovered, and zig zag the open screen from one tray to the

other, to

> allow for air flow. Like my first tray will have the open space at

the

> front of the tray, the next tray it will be at the back of the

tray, and the

> third tray it will be at the front again, so that the air can flow

and criss

> cross the food, taking the moisture of the food out through the

open top of

> the box.

>

> Now you can buy silicon sheets to put on the trays, but they didn't

have

> that when I built mine.

>

> Samala,

>

>

[Guest guest]

I've been looking for a dehydrator for some time. Thanks for the

instructions. I found this link to an outdoor dryer also:

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/hooker41.html

Looks interesting.

>

> Aaahhh, good ol' ebay. :-))

>

> Samala,

>

>

> -------Original Message-------

>

> Thanks so much for going to the trouble of describing the process in

> detail!! It goes in my files, and when we're done fixing and selling

> our house, I'll work on that! Unless I can find a cheap on on

> Ebay. )

>