I went with propane. I think I started down the Ron Reil burner rabbit hole and ended up with something that cost about $10 to make. I calculated it puts out about 230K Btu, it will take my oven from ambient to 400F in about 11 minutes if I want it to.
With enough Btu's, insulation becomes a non-issue. I also use the same burner in my forge.
Well, I started down the rabbit hole today. I'm making an extension for the green cabinet I posted above. I'm raising it a foot so it's 7' tall and I'll have a clear 78" or so inside. I'll skin the base/extension with sheet metal from the removed shelves.
The next hurdle is to do some calculating. I'll be limited to about 4500W unless I re-wire my only 240v outlet. Currently - pun intended - it's only a 20A circuit. It only runs a table saw. I suppose I can stab a bigger breaker in there and run some new 10/3.
jgrewe... I'll look in to those Reil burners.
Upon reflection, not sure how to do the Reil burner. How do you use it for powdercoating? I'm not doubting you at all since I have zero experience with this, but if you believe the intarwebs, propane is no good for powdercoating because of the (minimal) soot and water production.
Care to talk more about it?
I'll dig out the set up and get some pictures.
One thing I would recommend about your plan is to put the cabinet sideways. There will be a large range in temperature from top to bottom and it will affect the cure time and finish. If you have a way to stir the air a little, height won't be a problem. I'd keep it simple and work on how to hang stuff laying horizontally.
I think the biggest issue with running gas is it is so much more complicated to make a commercial oven you can safely sell. I usually look both ways down the street for an OSHA inspector before I roll the oven out to the middle of the shop and light it up.
I'm curious to know if the velocity of the flame and gas coming from the burner would be enough to disturb the powder.
jgrewe said:I'll dig out the set up and get some pictures.
One thing I would recommend about your plan is to put the cabinet sideways. There will be a large range in temperature from top to bottom and it will affect the cure time and finish. If you have a way to stir the air a little, height won't be a problem. I'd keep it simple and work on how to hang stuff laying horizontally.
I think the biggest issue with running gas is it is so much more complicated to make a commercial oven you can safely sell. I usually look both ways down the street for an OSHA inspector before I roll the oven out to the middle of the shop and light it up.
I suppose I could lay it on its side, but for this project at least, it needs to be vertical. I'm doing extruded aluminum that is 6' long. I supposed I could hook it on both ends and put it in sideways, but then I would need a friend to help load it without disturbing the powder.
A small fan was on the list. Not enough to disturb the powder, just enough to get heat moving.
I'm going to start a build thread.
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