Designing a new incubator... Any input and advice will be greatly appreciated!

[BoereMeisie]

I LOVE your sketches, and I'm following your thread with great interest! Your design looks very much like what I'm hoping to build soon to replace my coolerbator. Do you think you'll get it built in time for the hatch-a-long? Set time is getting close!

Thanks

I'm hoping to have it done by Monday or at the very latest before noon on Tuesday. I want it to run at least 24 hours before set date... Hubby and I did some work this evening:

I had the 2" panel all marked out before hubby got home from work... It's a bit crooked in one corner, but I can work with that...


This piece of panel is for the box itself... The idea is to just cut a 2" gap in one side, and take the polystyrene out of the gap, so a box can be folded without having to put 4 separate pieces back together again




The gaps I mentioned... This can now be folded over to form the outer box... That black on the polystyrene is not mold, it's burn marks from the grinder... I nearly had a heart attack when I saw it, saying to my husband: "Oh this is no good! It's full of mold!" in a very dramatic tone

That's how far we got for today... I need to go buy some fasteners before I can go ahead

 

[BoereMeisie]

So we dug this old fan out of storage... Too big?? Pardon the dust, it's been there a while...

 

[Jessshan8]

So we dug this old fan out of storage... Too big?? Pardon the dust, it's been there a while...

It's about the same size as a GQF cabinet incubator so I think it should be fine. Best I can say is wire it up and do a test run to see how much air it puts out. Another thing I would recommend is putting a toggle switch to turn it off before you open the bator so as not to cool off the bator too much when you candle your eggs or any other reason you might have to open it up.

 

[Aphrael]

Thanks

I'm hoping to have it done by Monday or at the very latest before noon on Tuesday. I want it to run at least 24 hours before set date... Hubby and I did some work this evening:

I had the 2" panel all marked out before hubby got home from work... It's a bit crooked in one corner, but I can work with that...


This piece of panel is for the box itself... The idea is to just cut a 2" gap in one side, and take the polystyrene out of the gap, so a box can be folded without having to put 4 separate pieces back together again




The gaps I mentioned... This can now be folded over to form the outer box... That black on the polystyrene is not mold, it's burn marks from the grinder... I nearly had a heart attack when I saw it, saying to my husband: "Oh this is no good! It's full of mold!" in a very dramatic tone

That's how far we got for today... I need to go buy some fasteners before I can go ahead

Hey, that's a really neat idea cutting the slices out so you can just fold it instead of trying to anchor separate pieces together.

It's about the same size as a GQF cabinet incubator so I think it should be fine. Best I can say is wire it up and do a test run to see how much air it puts out. Another thing I would recommend is putting a toggle switch to turn it off before you open the bator so as not to cool off the bator too much when you candle your eggs or any other reason you might have to open it up.

Oh, that's a great idea. I never even thought about the fan sucking in too much "outside" air while it is open and cooling it down more in there.

 

[BoereMeisie]

It's about the same size as a GQF cabinet incubator so I think it should be fine. Best I can say is wire it up and do a test run to see how much air it puts out. Another thing I would recommend is putting a toggle switch to turn it off before you open the bator so as not to cool off the bator too much when you candle your eggs or any other reason you might have to open it up.

Hey, that's a great idea! Thank you so much

I'm loving all the input I'm getting... I'm not sure how much DH is going to love all these ideas though, since he's the one who has to figure all this electrical stuff out... He loves it though, he'll just never admit it

 

[BoereMeisie]

Okay, so here's the sketch I made showing placement of everything from the side... Lightbulbs two thirds up behind the divider, and then fan placed slightly above it, centered in the divider. 3" gap in the top and bottom of the divider (chicken wire to cover gap to ensure chicks don't go in there once hatched) I'm thinking it's better to move humidity well to back to make space for a hatching tray as well as keep the drowning hazard away from hatched chicks... The blue dots represent air vents, and the arrows (including those fishy looking ones at the top there) indicate what I think the airflow should then look like. Am I right? Everything looking okay or is there something I should move? Serious building and placement of all these things start on Saturday... I did not indicate placement of the thermostat sensor wire, as I'll be playing around with that during the test run. I want this incubator to be finished on Sunday night so I can switch it on and make sure it runs properly for set date on Wednesday, 11th December (NYD Hatch-a-long)

 

[Aphrael]

It looks like it is gonna be nice. I think the water dish will work better behind the divider anyway. The direct heat from the bulbs might heat it more making it easier to raise humidity. That's what I'd expect anyway. Myself, I would add another fan below the lights blowing up over them. I think it might equalize the temps better. Again just a guess on my part. I have read that a fan blowing over the bulbs will extend their life though.

 

[Jessshan8]

Okay, so here's the sketch I made showing placement of everything from the side... Lightbulbs two thirds up behind the divider, and then fan placed slightly above it, centered in the divider. 3" gap in the top and bottom of the divider (chicken wire to cover gap to ensure chicks don't go in there once hatched) I'm thinking it's better to move humidity well to back to make space for a hatching tray as well as keep the drowning hazard away from hatched chicks... The blue dots represent air vents, and the arrows (including those fishy looking ones at the top there) indicate what I think the airflow should then look like. Am I right? Everything looking okay or is there something I should move? Serious building and placement of all these things start on Saturday... I did not indicate placement of the thermostat sensor wire, as I'll be playing around with that during the test run. I want this incubator to be finished on Sunday night so I can switch it on and make sure it runs properly for set date on Wednesday, 11th December (NYD Hatch-a-long)

Looks real good. I'm wishing you the best of luck! cannot wait to see the finished results.

 

[aart]

Isn't that a lot of air blowing right onto the eggs?

 

[Aphrael]

Isn't that a lot of air blowing right onto the eggs?

It wouldn't be blowing on the eggs. I was meaning putting a fan behind the divider, situated so that it blows upward right over the bulbs and toward the fan blowing out to the main chamber. It's just a thought.