cheap heat alternative

[metsrule008]

Or a cheap heat blanket, with accessories [ie. PID controller]. Does anything cheaper than a probably-used MEI silicone blanket for $200?

[twizzstyle]

Sometimes heat blankets pop up on ebay, although often they're a useless size for ski building. But sometimes there will be big ones.

You can get a solid state relay and PID controller both on ebay, for around $50 for both.

[Greg]

I had pretty good success with an electric blanket I bought at Sears. with a little modification, it got the heat up to around 105 F which was pretty good.

[doughboyshredder]

I had pretty good success with an electric blanket I bought at Sears. with a little modification, it got the heat up to around 105 F which was pretty good.

completely pointless and a waste of money. 105 F does NOTHING.

[twizzstyle]

completely pointless and a waste of money. 105 F does NOTHING.

I wouldn't say its pointless, if you've got a very cold shop 105 deg F is certianly better than say 50 deg F. If you're using a resin designed for a heated cure though, you need to be able to get temps closer to 170-200 deg F. If its an ambient temp cure (usually designed around ~70 deg temps) then 105 is ok.

[Greg]

It wasn't at all pointless to heat to 105. The thing is that with room temp curing epoxy, the curing time decreases by half by increasing the temp by 10 degrees over 70. If it normally would take 24 hours at room temp, then 80 would take 12 hours, 90 takes 6 hours, 100 takes 3 hours, 105 took technically about 2.5 hours once it was up to temp.


Which was one heck of a lot better than 48 hours in my 60 degree shop. I still ran the press 8 to 12 hours because it took about 1 hour to get everything up to temp, and I usually started the press in the evening, and ran it overnight.

[doughboyshredder]

o.k., well, I guess not pointless, 105 is definitely better than 60.

[Skookum]

Like many others I did not want to spend a ton of money on heating my press (hopefully some day I will) so I elected to used a propane salamander heater to get the job done. I was able to get my cat-track up to 180 degrees F, check out the video. Feel free to PM with questions.



I almost forgot the best part, 30 bucks got it done!

[MontuckyMadman]

thast pretty sweet man. How long did that take to cook?

[Richuk]

Like it! Btw, do I have to keep skis in the press post cure? Tipical newbie question

[Skookum]

I baked my skis for 4 hours prob way to long but I wanted to be conservative. After the four hours of cooking time I pulled them out and let them sit for 24 hours before trimming. It was my first pair but whent without a hitch they have 15ish days on them and are rockin!