I need to cobble together small "hot box" for transfer paper

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

I've searched and searched. I am only doing 12x12 at this point  so it doesn't need to be huge.

I tried a heating pad but it doesn't have enough heat (wattage) and I'm really struggling with paper stability.

The 2nd pass might be off 15 or 20 thousandths or more....but that's just a guess. I haven't really measured.  I'm trying to do my 1st trip down the tunnel at the same temp and dwell as the first gelling pass.

Anybody have a good one they care to share the design details for?

Thanks!
Stan

[mooseman]

Stan, you know i am a moosegoldberg......so here goes
see if the pics below give you any ideas
mooseman

[TCT]

Woah! Are we making cocaine here!?

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Nope, Alex. No cocaine use in my eclectic collection of hobbies!

My mind....although similarly twisted....went directly to Barbequeing in the Dark! I have a Weber Smokey Mountain at my shop. The back opens up to the alley and I often can be found with a couple of Chuckies, some Ribeyes, or a pair of Butts in pone of the various stages of YUM! I smoke Ribeyes first in Apple chips for about an a quarter @ 200, then sear them at the end in butter on the hottest skillet I can muster. "Reverse sear" is the term.

See, I even hijack my own threads. 

Moosey, I was more thinking a styrofoam insulated plastic bin from Office Depot with a silicone pad heater in the bottom. But Thanks!

I can NOT find the perfect heating element. I don't want a huge thing. My workspace is starting to look like one of those Hoarders on A&E.

140 Watts of heating pad from Walgreen's is just not enough. I really googled hard, but no joy.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Moroso-23996-External-Self-Adhesive-Heating-Pad-5-x-7-Inch-400-Watt,32140.html This shows a 400 watter for under the oilpan Minnesotan in January kind of thinking. That's too many shekels for an experiment, plus it's pretty tiny. Mike's idea would provide more even heating, by far.

I wondered also, if a dimmer switch and Nichrome wire might work. Or maybe just some Nichrome wire and a lot of math. The math is a bit of problem for me. I used to build heated motorcycle jackets and gloves, but I didn't do much of the math myself. I shamessly stole most of it from the interwebs, and modified it for my needs. (They did work, very well indeed! The gloves were bullet proof. The jackets were fragile. I tried some pants too, but they were too hot and you could see red skin on my legs after a long ride in the low single digits.)



Somebody, somewhere.... has done this already.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Nope. A dimmer switch and Nichrome wire is not safe.  http://jacobs-online.biz/power_supply_design.htm

But I don't really want to do that much work anyhow, unless there isn't another way.

[BorisB]

I've searched and searched. I am only doing 12x12 at this point  so it doesn't need to be huge.

I tried a heating pad but it doesn't have enough heat (wattage) and I'm really struggling with paper stability.

The 2nd pass might be off 15 or 20 thousandths or more....but that's just a guess. I haven't really measured.  I'm trying to do my 1st trip down the tunnel at the same temp and dwell as the first gelling pass.

Anybody have a good one they care to share the design details for?

Thanks!
Stan

We only styrene boxes like this:

http://www.jbpackaging.co.uk/thermo-boxes.html

Keeps paper warm, and moisture out.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Thanks Boris!

It looks like there might be a possibility there.

What do you use for your heating element?

[Frog]

I believe that this method is more of a storage in a controlled environment rather than a conditioning chamber like you desire.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Well...then maybe a similar box with just a Walgreen's style heating pad will do. I have one of those to test, but it sure doesn't get very warm.

And I googled a box like Boris showed in his link, and nothing similar showed up on this side of pond in a brief search. Those looked slick, for sure.

I have some Really Useful Boxes from Office Depot that aren't insulated, but sure could be.

Pass to pass, I am just amazed at how much dimensional movement I'm getting from the papers I've experimented with. The transfer specialty houses surely must work in a controlled enviornment. 

But I know this can be done in a tee shirt printshop. Several of our TSB memebers do it regularly. Mimosatexas for sure and  LarryK just to name 2 of many.

[Frog]

When I did transfers, I always ran the paper through the dryer first to "pre-shrink" , but that could get crazy on big runs.

Perhaps, all you need, would be similar to the plywood ink warming boxes I used to see that merely used an incandescent light bulb as a heat source.

If I had to do what you are discussing, I'd probably simply store my paper in my screen-drying cabinet.

[Gilligan]

Just spit balling but what about a heat rock for a reptile?

[BorisB]

probably i misunderstood. To keep paper warm, styrene box is enough. To condition it, you need dryer. Same as used later on for printing/ gelling

[Frog]

probably i misunderstood. To keep paper warm, styrene box is enough. To condition it, you need dryer. Same as used later on for printing/ gelling

So, Boris, you run it through the dryer like I did?

[Gilligan]

Bathroom heater/vent could work I'm sure.

[larryk]

Stan.... from what I understand you are not doing massive amounts of transfers so what I might suggest to you is to pre-shrink only the amount of paper needed for the job by running your paper through your dryer TWICE before printing and then print till the job is completed. No need to store it and take a chance on it changing sizes when the humidity levels change...... as long as you print within a reasonable amount of time you should be good to go. And if you must have a hotbox just use one of those small ceramic heaters that has a thermostat. Good Luck.