iDRY Vacuum Kilns

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Building your own Kiln

Started by themagicman, February 26, 2006, 03:09:21 PM

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themagicman

Has anyone made their own kiln. I am planning on building a house and want to use all my own lumber. but shrinkage is a potential problem. Would like to build myself a small kiln to dry my lumber.

CHARLIE

Contact CHET, one of our administrators and resident Yooper.  He did exactly what you want to do and his kiln not only looks nice but works real good too.  In fact, I reckon if you did a search on the forum, you'd find a thread that shows pictures of it.  Seems like he posted pictures of it a couple or three years ago.
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

Ianab

Hi Magicman and welcome to the forum  :)

2 options I would suggest.

A small Dehumidifier kiln, (see the link to Nyle on the right) built into an old reefer container or truck body. That will give you a small but professional quality kiln .

or Build a solar kiln, have a search thru the forum and you will find pictures of various designs. Cheaper to build and run, and will still give good results, not as fast as a convertional or D/H kiln, but if you only need to dry a couple of loads it might be a better option.

Cheers

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

serg

I have made to one guy the vacuum drying kiln on 4.5 М3 loadings. He has constructed the house, made to himself products of a wood. After construction and furnish by an oak of a house, this guy has left a vacuum dryer in garage, dries an oak thickness of 60 mm, makes ladders and furniture. Photos of an interior of a house. Sergey






Fla._Deadheader


Can't say much about the kiln photos, but, that's some house.  :o :o

  Thanks for posting the photos, Sergey
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

serg

Fla, Russian the cinema from America much look!
In America beautiful life. Moscow and other cities conduct active construction of private(individual) houses.
This house of the financial director of bank. It likes to do furniture itself. We have with it good relations.
Sergey.

Tom

Bankers can make good friends, Serg.   :D

serg

Yes, I with you agree! :D :D
Sergey.

Rockn H

Sergi, can you give us some more information about the kiln in the pictures?  Looks like some really nice wood work in the pictures also.

serg

Photos the vacuum drying kiln. Compact, mobile, simple in operation.
I have placed the equipment in a working compartment, very conveniently.
The director « Vacuum plus » Sveta, Russia, the director "Latizols" Eugeny, Latvia.
Products of 100 % from an oak, an ash, a maple.
Sergey







karl

Magic-
I use a nyle 200 DH kiln in a 20' insulated box.
box -$500.
Kiln, new used (never hooked up)$2000.
Somewhere in drying/processing is a thread w/ pics of it.....
I believe Nyle has plans for a kiln.......Great folks to talk with, make you feel like your their best customer.....

I WOULD like to build one that I could load from the side with a forklift instead of screwing around with the kiln cart.

Serg-
Nice pics, looks like a great system

karl
"I ask for wisdom and strength, Not to be superior to my brothers, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy, myself"  - from Ojibwa Prayer.

Norwiscutter

Themagicman, Welcom to the Forum By the way. 8)

there are alot of good threads on this that are available if you use the search option.

There is more usefull information on here than a guy could ever use, as well as people willing to help you out. Although people here will tell you up and down how dumb they are at times, this is the smartest group of people on a given subject matter that you are likely to find anywhere.
Take Serg for example, who I am sure is on the leading edge of technology in his area, but is willing to help us out in jury rigging old propane tanks into vacuum kilns.  You just cant beat this group of guys.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.

Treasures


This is the Solor Kiln I built 2 years ago at a cost of around $500.00. I used various sources to come up with this design. It will hold 1000 BF and it works great. I get 3-4 loads per spring-fall and 1 load threw the winter. I have only dried hardwoods so far,so I'm not sure about softwoods. This spring I'll be doing 2 charges of 4/4 popular so I'll know better about softwoods then. From reading the posts in this forum I should have no problems with popular. The poly is double walled green house covering 6mm,This i did get for free. I removed a damaged greenhouse for a homeowner,and received the poly in trade. If I can help in any way just ask. Tim
Small Alaskan Mill, 310 Stihl, Solar kiln,and small 1 man cabinet shop.

beenthere

Quote from: Treasures on March 04, 2006, 12:15:05 PM..... I have only dried hardwoods so far,so I'm not sure about softwoods. This spring I'll be doing 2 charges of 4/4 popular so I'll know better about softwoods then......

Poplar (not popular) is a hardwood, not a softwood. However it is 'softer' than some of the higher density softwoods.  Or are you referring to 'popple' which could be aspen or the like?   :)  That name causes lots of confusion as to what wood one is talking about. You are not alone there.  :)

Neat looking solar kiln.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Treasures

Sorry about the miss spelling, It is Tulip Poplar. I am aware that this is a hardwood. At the time I wrote this I was thinking of the charge of Ponderosa Pine that will be going in the kiln this year as well. I had written this post right after talking with a neighbor about removing a few trees for her. :-\
Small Alaskan Mill, 310 Stihl, Solar kiln,and small 1 man cabinet shop.

Tom

Hey treasures!

Who are all those good looking people in your avatar?

Treasures

Tom, I'm really not sure about the people in my following your talking about. I have not posted a single personal photo of myself, family or friends. I might not understand what it is you are asking. :-\
Small Alaskan Mill, 310 Stihl, Solar kiln,and small 1 man cabinet shop.

TexasTimbers

Well then that leaves me totally confused. 
That ain't hard to do though.

Are those aliens in the avatar?  ???

The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

GregS

Kevjay,  Thank you my wife and I got a chuckle this morning  :D.

TexasTimbers

Okay Treasures you haven't made a post since this thread. I hope you didn't take us wrong.  ??? We was just horsin around a wee bit.
By reading your post you might not know what an avatar is. I didn't for a long time. You say you didn't post a single photo - the avatar is that little photo on the left side of all your posts.
I was playing along with my alien quip. No offense intended. And Tom, well he's sort of a Tom Jones type you know, always has an eye out for good looking babes. ;) :D
You still with us?  ???
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

OneWithWood

Hopefully Treasures is still around.

I did not reply at the time of this thread because I was still in process on my kiln.  For a step-by-step picture tour of how I built my kiln chamber inside my barn see this thread - the kiln structure is on page  8 and the story is slightly out of order but you can get the idea.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=1400.0

Don, if you read this I would appreciate your feedback.  I used the suggested methodology that came with my Woodmizer 4000 (Nyles 200 with Honeywell controller).  I hope my interpretation was close  :)
And let me add that the attitude and help from the Nyles people as I constantly asked for guidance and clarification was tremenous and much appreciated!
One With Wood
LT40HDG25, Woodmizer DH4000 Kiln

limbrat

hey new guy here first post first day
i have a situation like the orginal poster. My house burnt about 8 weeks ago. The following week while me and the wife were at work someone was good enough to empty my shop for me. So after getting a new dolmar i started gathering material for a new house, you would me suprised (then again you might not be) at the number of people that rather that i take there dying tree for them. insead of them paying an expert and the referals, im going to have all my wood before long. My barber refered me to a sawyer with a gas powered wood mizer porta mill. He is a older gentleman twice retired from the navy and the oil field, he has coached us in what to do. He doesnt make much waste and after working with him for 4 weeks i think i can safely say that he is a geinuly decent man i like him a lot. On the other hand after going to the local mill and rercovering from the sticker shock for kiln services! i dont wont a morgage yet.
So i looked around on the net and i hit the pawn shops.
I took my uninsulated 20x30 shop covered the walls and ceiling with a 6 mil. vapor barrier (plastic sheeting). We then started moving the wood in. I keep a blower running in there all the time for air circulation. when we get it full or my cut list is full i will seal the doors put a 5000 btu window ac unit in the middle of the shop on a bench and plumb the drain outside. It is my under standing that more heat comes out the back than cool air comes out the front. And i know that the best way to dry your carpet after cleaning is to turn the ac on.  So with the summer heat in central lousiana and the ac. pulling the water vapor from the air I hope to have the shrink out of my wood by fall then i can start building when it starts to cool out side.
If you can advise me on a better way, I am certanly open for sugestions. 
Thank You in advance  limbrat.
ben

BBTom

I have done it.  You can find the whole description and pictures on my web site Click here Then follow link to Kiln.
2001 LT40HDD42RA with lubemizer, debarker, laser, accuset. Retired, but building a new shop and home in Missouri.

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