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NEW DIY INCUBATOR!!! Hoping I can get it warm enough

P

Porky

PORK CHOP!!!!
I just finsihed it today and got my dimmer switch set up. I worked from 9 am till about 9 even. Its been a long day and heres what I came up with. Corian incubator on a dimmer. I am using a heat rope on a dimmer for the heat source although I may need something else, I'll have to see what happens.
For those of you that aren't familiar with it, corian is a sold surface material used to make anything from tiles, to shower, to counter tops. My parents are in the process of taking it over from my grandpa who has owned it for a bit over 20 years. Corian is a sold surface material that is non pores and 100% acrylic. It can be heated up to around 200(not sure on exacts) before it puts off any sort of fumes or melts. I am hoping it will work and if it fails, I will replace the door with plexiglass and add some vents, a great cage. It weighs about 20-30 lbs empty so its not exactually light weight. I used all scrap material, there are 3 different colors although 2 are VERY similar
The dimmer is a slightly modified version of http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19168&highlight=rheostat.
Any comments or concerns are accepted. Please don't critisize, I am trying and I don't feel like being ramped on today.
incubateclosed.jpg

incubateopen.jpg

incubateheatsource.jpg

dimmer.jpg

The temps are staying at 85 degrees now
 
Well, I'm sorry you're having a rough day.

That's actually a pretty ingenious looking gadget. If it works out well for in the test runs, perhaps you would be willing to share the final design on the forum? (My motivation is totally selfish here as I want to breed corns myself in a couple of years, but I'm always willing to rip-off ... um, borrow ... someone else's ideas.) :)
 
Kitty said:
Well, I'm sorry you're having a rough day.

That's actually a pretty ingenious looking gadget. If it works out well for in the test runs, perhaps you would be willing to share the final design on the forum? (My motivation is totally selfish here as I want to breed corns myself in a couple of years, but I'm always willing to rip-off ... um, borrow ... someone else's ideas.) :)
Click to expand...
Well anyone who has access to the proper glue, saws, and such tools would be able to do it. I am still working on a way to keep the rubbermaids off the heat tape and up in the air. Worried that wood may rot and mold if kept warm and a little bit of humidity
 
I would be worried that the heat cable would create un-even heat distribution. I made my first incubator this year and used a heat mat that covered the entire floor of the incubator. I soon found out one end of the incubator was hotter than the other. As a result i have an egg starting to dent at day 47 (presumably hatching) while all the others are looking normal. In my case it worked to my advantage as i was also incubating leopard gecko eggs that could be incubated at higher temps. One way you could counter the un-even heat is to place a small fan (like a computer fan) inside to blow the heat around. To keep the rubbermaids off the bottom i used metal cooling racks from the grocery store. They look like oven racks but smaller. i used wood dowels to mount them on. It has worked great. As a side note you mentioned plexy glass. I used a small pane of plexy glass and noticed that this added to heat escaping the incubator (the rest of my incubator was Styrofoam) I would research to see if glass insulates better than plexy glass- i think it does.

And finally i don't think a rheostat is going to be enough. You want a thermostat. Trust me. You will be checking and tweaking that thing all the time. Buy a cheap thermostat and let it work for you. You will still check all the time but you will have the assurance that the eggs will be o.k. IMO
 
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