oven build help,with pics

[grommit]

hello Baz and all,
as previous mentioned here are a couple of photo's of the donor 'Oven' a foster upright freezer.
the dimensions are height 129cm width 56cm and depth 71cm.
it is empty of and looks easy to place insulation.please can anyone give me help, hopefully advise as if it was your own oven and you were building it yourself, done as much searching on the net as i can, so its now to get expert ideas as i just have not got a clue on all the parts i need (size elements thermostat etc) i am in the uk and need 240v single phase.
Baz has sent a wiring diagram which is ideal, but can anyone send links on what the different parts i need such as fans seals etc.
wait til i get onto the 2nd oven i have planned its the largest chest freezer i have seen, easy 2M length ways...
any help will be appreciated, and if anyone can explain things in 'lamens terms' as i have not got a clue as said about electrics.
cheers and sorry for going on and on.
thanks,
grommit
UK
[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[chromo]

HI Grommit,

I left a post for your other freezer, same thing here.

Also I should have mentioned that if the insulation of the freezer is good when done, then it will heat up ok with more or less elements normally, just takes more or less time really.
I would start this one also with a working junk electric stove as I said for your other freezer/oven post.

You found a couple great looking freezers, I hope you can find a couple good stoves for donors also.

[grommit]

hello chromo,
i have posted my comments on the other post, but i think this project will be my first.
as an in-experienced builder, my assumption is that maybe i need to place insulation and sheet metal straight in, with the help of the insulation the freezer already has?
i am now on the hunt for donar ovens. what wattage element do you suggest as there is limited space and placing it in the bottom.
i am thinking metal fan placed half way? a exhaust system of some sort, controls on the outside.the final bits of jobs can be fabricated at a later date such as hanging rails etc. i have looked on the net for suppliers of elements fans thermostats etc, but you are right if i get a working salvaged oven that would be ideal.
talk to you soon as i am going to the work shop and having a look at the project.
take care,
Brian

[chromo]

"my assumption is that maybe i need to place insulation and sheet metal straight in, with the help of the insulation the freezer already has?"

Depends on how your freezers made. If the insulation that is in it will withstand the heat of baking I would insulate the outside more, not the inside. If you add more to the inside you are making the oven smaller of course. You can add all you want on the outside anytime.
Is the inner liner metal? If plastic of course it has to come out anyway.

Also it looks like this one has some nice sturdy rails inside already to support shelfs. If it had the wire type shelves and you have them they might be perfect for parts. Sit parts on the shelves or hang parts on hooks under the shelves.

If the shelves are those plastic coated wire types, you can remove the plastic coating several ways, then you could powder coat them with High Temp powder and maybe be perfect. If chromed wire type they should be fine I think as is.

I can't tell enough about the freezer from here with just pictures so I have to guess at what it is or how it's made.
My guess and what I would do with this one first, use it as is after checking to see if it's solid foam or fiberglass insulation used in it.
I wish I had one like this if it's made like I think it might be.

If all else seems ok, metal liner, fiberglass, etc.. I would first put the oven elements in and get it HOT in an open area where any fumes would not be a problem, get it well over normal bake temps and see if it fumes or any problems. Once I knew that for sure then I would use as is if no problems.
Once you heat it up and hold the temps for about 20-30 minutes or so you'll get an idea how much heat you may lose from the case as is also then you'll have a better idea how much more insulation you might need.

I think I will go test some fiberglass now quick and post something about it an a few minutes.

[chromo]

I just baked some fiberglass insulation in my outside electric oven.
Stripped some off normal house batting type, tossed it on a cookie sheet in the oven.
I baked it at 500-550F for awhile and it seemed fine, cranked it up to almost 600F and baked a longer time and the yellow color baked out, turned mostly grayish white, but the fiberglass itself seemed fine still.

I could not tell about any smells/fumes though. Being the stove is kept outside and was hauled in from a scrap yard where it had sat for awhile etc.. it stinks a bit in normal use anyway.

As far as bake time, subtract about 15 minutes from the time between these posts and that's about how long I baked it total. I lost track of the time, I was also sand blasting during that time, and also burned up my shop vac
SMOKED IT, bearing noise then WHOOF smoke everywhere. Junk thing was less than 6 weeks old and barely used at all!

[grommit]

Hello chromo, just got back from the garages and i stripped the top part of the upright freezer where the condensor and top fan was, i salvaged a complete metal fan so hopefully that'll come in handy. do you suggest half way down to fit this fan.
there was a main fan pointing down through a series of holes but it was plastic.
it is very hard to see inside the sheet metal for what kind of insulation it is.i may have to cut a section out with my air saw to find out.great advice about insulating the outside and keeping the dimensions inside.
the rack work for inside is not a problem as there are about 8-10 of the same working freezers in the works kitchen, so i can easilly borrow the shelves which are complete metal.
the only thing from the inside that wasn't metal as you can imagine is the door seal which came off quickly.
i am in the garage tomorrow so i will find out about the insulation, i have a feeling it is solid foam instead of fibre glass.
if it is solid foam then i assume i will have to insulate and cover the inside, or its air saw the bottom,sides etc out take out the foam and insert the replacement insulation, so by that time in theory i will be left with just a frame with the outsides.
if it is foam and i have to take it out do you suggest take it out from the outside.

don't believe your shop vac went down, i bet you felt like launching it across the workshop, or will you take it back to the shop and throw it at them.

i had a look at the other freezer which i wll post in the other thread.
cheers pal,
catchya tomorrow.
cheers,
brian

[chromo]

You don't really want the fan in the oven as is. I dought the motor could take the heat like that. And you don't want a hard wind in there either hitting the parts, might blow off the powder.
Normally I would think a duct down a back corner, maybe just a an L shaped metal sheet screwed to the corner. That would probably cause problems for your shelves though. In this case I might use a furnace type duct pipe of maybe 3" Dia, run it down the outside and use an elbow (90) at top and bottom, insulate it well. You want the fan motor out of the heat so on the outside, the fan blade would be in the pipe. Might be able to get that blade off and make a shaft extender for it, or find a slow motor with a long shaft for it.

As for removing foam if you have it, I am not sure the best way, but what I would do/try myself.
Cut the outside panels and leave about 1" or so at all edges, you would basically have a outer frame work left, like an angle iron frame, but only sheet metal. Then you need to clean out the foam in those corners also. Some of these it may be that the foam is the only thing holding them together and if so then as you clean a corner out add some support to hold the liner in place.

Years ago I had animals, hogs, goats, etc.. and something was killing them, I had to dispose of dead ones sometimes. I used a chest freezer for an incinerator to burn them. It was a foam type, after I burned it out I had inner outer shells and the inner just lifted out, nothing but the foam held it together. Don't burn it out though, it ruins everything of course!
That was the first foam type I ran across, and if I knew it was the foam I would not have burned it, but I expected fiberglass inside and that would have been fine.
Later I found and killed the dog that was killing my livestock, was last time I had to use that freezer!

Well on the shop vac, I took it back and got a refund. Bought a larger hopefully better one.
The one that fried was only a few weeks old, maybe 4-5 weeks when I looked at the receipt. Not used much.
I don't know why it fried really, but the cloth filter was really caked with dust. Maybe it was was overloading the motor as if clogged? I was getting a decent suction from it until it smoked so who knows? Hopefully this new one will last longer.

[grommit]

hello chromo,
after my research yesterday everything you said is what i expect i would have to do, strip everything from the out sides take out the foam all that would be left is the frame, strengthening it would be a must.
the door i sstarted stripping from the inside as i had the plastic seals to take off.

you are right about the chest freezer, i shoud concentrate on the other one for an oven and turn the chest into a blast cabinet. too much foam and plastic.
time to do some more work
catchyou soon
brian

[chromo]

I had the opossite problem with my last chest freezer, I wanted the foam type and it was fiberglass. Sometimes we just can't win it seems.
I was making a blast cabinet out of mine, the foam would have been better than the fiber glass for that. Any media that gets past a seal embeds and builds up in the glass matt where as the foam is normally a good tight seal as you are probably finding out as you try to remove some.

I think there are some good threads on the site already about making a blast cabinet like this.
Make sure you have nice large arms holes! I had 4" PVC handy and used it for mine, way to small. It works but I am cramped so later I will change to 6" pipe.
Get the armholes far enough apart also, I made mine a little to close but can fix that when I make larger holes.
You need a hole for a shop vac hose or such to suck out dust, also a hole to let in air is good on the opposite side, put a baffle over these holes so media and dust is not blown right out the inlet and media not sucked out the outlet. If you don't make an inlet hole for air you'll draw a vacum, like running with a clogged hose.
I just used and checked my new shopvac and it has some good media in it already, I was using a small cheap HF cabinet I bought to be portable, it has no baffle on the outlet so I will add one.
On my chest blaster I put a plastic bottle on the vac hose, had slots cut in the sides and bottom of the bottle for good air flow, put tubesock over the bottle as a filter. That seemed to work well to prevent sucking up media but let out the finer dust ok.
I was going to build a stand for mine, use it as a chest and top load it but I haven't done that yet, for now it's sitting on blocks and I sit in a short chair to use it for now.
If you make the freezer a top load then a hole in the bottom to let out media will be handy, put a pipe and ball valve into the hole so you can open it and let media run out into a bucket or such and prefferably with a lid so dust doesn't fly everywhere while dumping. That's what I will do with mine when done.
If upright you may have a problem with media pouring out when you open the door. Add some sheet metal to the box and seal well for a foot or so tall, that should stop most media from pouring out, but you'll still get some most likely unless you can seal the top of the shet tight agains the door somehow, felt weather stripping may work well for this, stuff like used around windows and doors.

Well it has been a wasted day for me here today. I went out and blasted my left handed monkey wrench and some other parts, set up the PC stuff, and before I could prep the parts to coat them it came a nasty storm! Just barely got everything put away before the rain hit!
It's nice to work outdoors sometimes, but not days like today

[grommit]

Hello Chromo,
thanks for ya reply, the blast cabinet is the way ahead for the chest freezer, i have already started on it, your advice is ideal as i had made a hard wood one a few months ago, very large which is now my painting booth with homemade filter and fan.
i have my welder at work on doing a blast cabinet from scratch, so i will go to see him tomorrow and before he starts welding we can finalise the details, not content with that one i still will make the chest freezer into one, not sheer greed but its bike frame size.
my friend has stripped his ZX1000 and i have his small parts already he wants PC'd in pealescent white...so if i haven't got the oven up and running in a month i will give them to a man i know to PC them for him.
to be honest i would of loved to use them as my first testers but if it's not bolted down around work it will get PC'd, i have 5 people so far wanting their Alloy wheels refurbed and PC'd in different colours so that will get me practiced.

believe it or not this wheel has been a night mare, i have posted this on the PC forum, but i got so sick of the guy changing his mind and adiment he wanted Matt black, which i have tried to saurce in Aerosol cans.
the nearly finished wheel is actually Hammerite nearly dried at least it has rust proofing and afford protection un-orthodox i know but trial and error.


i am hoping to get a donar oven b4 this weekend so i can get started at least.
that idea with the bottle and a tube sock is brilliant for the vac, defo going to employ that.
i will have to try and do some form of work today..on the other hand i can always sneak off to the work shop.
take care,
brian