This has been a gratifying addition to the estate. When the garden works, sometimes it REALLY works. Of course neighbors get some overflow, but their gardens tend to be working too. Nothing would go to waste if we did not harvest, of course, but all kinds of dried stuff is nice to have: tomatoes, herbs, banana slices, mango slices, kale leaves - those are our top uses.

This is a simple design inspired by inheriting two suitable glass panes. It is a simple box with 1x6 plank sides (to make total “depth” of 11 inches (28cm). The “bottom” is a thin sheet of galvanized steel. Interior is painted flat black and it gets quite warm in there - I should measure some time.

  • Ceedling@compuverse.uk
    2·
    1 year ago

    Very nice! Can you give us a build breakdown, material list, or helpful pointers? This definitely looks like something I would want to build.

    • CadeJohnson@slrpnk.netOP
      3·
      1 year ago

      I built it to fit some glass that was about the right size, so not really a design others would emulate precisely. But a standard sheet of galvanized sheet metal is about three feet by six feet, so four 10-foot boards will nicely make the “box”. I used 1x2 for the corner bracings (just glued and screwed), window frames, and dryer trays. I had made an earlier version with a sheet of translucent corrugated roofing for the lid, and that heated up quite well, too. The legs were just some scrap - I think the angle of the box should be around 45 to achieve some natural convection and good mid-day sun collection area. But it could vary with one’s latitude I suppose - in a more northern clime (I’m at 20N), a more vertical “cabinet” might work - the dryer trays would be shallower, but convection would be better. I am not sure the vent stack makes any difference.

  • Fedop@slrpnk.net
    1·
    1 year ago

    Just be be clear, is that a vent on top? I’m surprised I’ve never thought of this, it’s basically a little greenhouse. I can only imagine all the sun dried tomato!

    • CadeJohnson@slrpnk.netOP
      2·
      1 year ago

      yes, a vent stack; it helps air flow. There are three two-inch (5cm) holes at the bottom end to admit air. An earlier iteration of this design had screens over the holes to keep critters out, but it turned out to not be an issue so we have not screened the holes on this unit.

      We saw a design for a solar dryer popular with Peace Corps volunteers - a heat-collector box with a small dryer compartment on top and three little trays in a stack. But I thought, why not put the dryer trays right inside the heat collector? I just checked the temperature and with partly-cloudy skies, it is 50C in the box.

  • Wigglet@beehaw.org
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’ve been wanting to make one of these! Is there any fire risk? I’m worried about accidentally burning down our garden 🥲

  • CadeJohnson@slrpnk.netOP
    0·
    1 year ago

    maybe there is a way to rotate images, but I have not yet discovered it; sorry about that. It looked OK as an original. Once you preview, it is not possible to edit? I am noob.

    • poVoq@slrpnk.net
      0·
      1 year ago

      It’s probably related to the exif data on rotation of your phone. I guess that is stripped when uploading with other exif data for privacy reasons (to not expose GPS coordinates etc.) and then the real orientation shows up.

      • CadeJohnson@slrpnk.netOP
        0·
        1 year ago

        I guess, but cannot tell for sure; I did not rotate the pic from the time I took it until I posted. One can “preview” a post, but once you click preview you cannot back up to make edits (at least with my configuration - Firefox on Ubuntu Linux) - browser back button does not work. A mystery!

        • poVoq@slrpnk.net
          0·
          1 year ago

          Yeah, this looks like an issue with the image upload service used by Lemmy. If I find the time I will look into the configuration of it in more detail, maybe there is a way to preserve the orientation better. But by default this seems to be the same for all Lemmy instances, so at least I didn’t mis-configure anything.

          The browser back button thing is a bit annoying as Firefox recognizes that you already entered something and asks if you really want to leave the page or not, but this usual popup somehow doesn’t show up when pressing the back-button (it does when trying to reload the page). I am not exactly sure if this is a Firefox or a Lemmy bug, but it is a bit annoying.