DIY CABINET COOLER INCUBATOR How we did it and TEST RUN Ready Set GO!

[Sally Sunshine]

Thank you for the welcome.
Mainly I just want a upgrade. .my current incubator is a farm inovater with fan and turner. And they work but I think there made up of cheap components. The temp guage has never worked so I use seperate ones. The fan makes noise so I oil it with a q tip dabbed with vegatble oil.which helps alot.
And it's not that old. Instead of buying a new one.. makes more since buying better components and build a nicer one.
My brother has over 100 chickens and borrows my incubator. My mother in law too.. I hatch my own here. Just gave away all my older layers. Going to start off new in spring with the chicks I hatched last month.
I guess I just want a better one.. having 3 racks would be nice. My brother when he wants some more chicks. He can just bring me eggs and I can set his on his own rack.

veg oil may gum it up over time

be careful!
Sounds like an awesome family!
So everyone has all kinds of chickens! thats fantastic!

Sally I got half way through the thread all i can say is

and ask a couple of questions

Why did you use all thread for the cross bars? and not rod.

Why the 45 degree angle for the turning of the trays?

For what its worth you could do some acme screw thread to affix your turing bar run it up through the top of the bater and never have to open the door to turn eggs. ust a crank on the top. It would hold your trays in position while you mess with them.....

acme screw thread and drive nut Yeah it doesnt look like a nut but it is and this is only an example for visualization the one below would be very expensive.




they even come in just a screw and nut very simple to use. too.

eventually you can attach a motor with couple of a limit switches that changes the polarity.

deb

no reason on the bars, deb, hubs came home with them for me, but the zip tips grip them very well, keep this in mind


we were going to do this with the flat stock but I made him cut the idea down, and I couldnt afford and auto turner and if you keep reading, I am too short for the area to reach up to use it to turn pulling it up and down from the top. He said about under the cabinet and cutting through the cabinet but I store stuff and that's just dumb to take up that space and open up below. I still wouldnt change anything for myself, as I am home ALL the time, I have no issues, even if I am gone all day , I see no issues with hatching out so no changes with this one for us. If I were to add turning, I would do something like you say at some point, but I dont use it much anymore but someday I dream to add a turner and make a hatcher!

 

[perchie.girl]

Just fyi the turner can be operated from the side any where.... again with a crank....

Not trying to change your mind or anything... I have to work from a seated position... besides I have had some experience with them.

that and chain drives.

deb

 

[Rod-T]

...

veg oil may gum it up over time be careful!  
Sounds like an awesome family!
So everyone has all kinds of chickens! thats fantastic!/quote

Any better oil to use?

 

[Rod-T]

I thought about wd40 but worry about that in incubator

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: are you saying you have to do this even during incubation? then I am not sure what to tell you, you are planning on replacing it or giving it an overhaul too? Maybe that will fix it?
I use this when I need any small motors around the house lubed. In the bator I use it before I clean the bator and run the fan and then clean the bator before use.

 

[Rod-T]

I did it before I put eggs in. It generally last the 21 days. Towards end it will start to make some noise. I thought if I used wd40 if a drop or 2 was to drop down while eggs was in there it might not be good idea.. maybe that's just my inexperienced opinion. Maybe it wouldn't matter.. I think my best bet to replace the fan . But if I build one I'll by new fans then for new incubator.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

I did it before I put eggs in. It generally last the 21 days. Towards end it will start to make some noise. I thought if I used wd40 if a drop or 2 was to drop down while eggs was in there it might not be good idea.. maybe that's just my inexperienced opinion. Maybe it wouldn't matter.. I think my best bet to replace the fan . But if I build one I'll by new fans then for new incubator.

there are many cheap options for fans too

 

[R2elk]

I did it before I put eggs in. It generally last the 21 days. Towards end it will start to make some noise. I thought if I used wd40 if a drop or 2 was to drop down while eggs was in there it might not be good idea.. maybe that's just my inexperienced opinion. Maybe it wouldn't matter.. I think my best bet to replace the fan . But if I build one I'll by new fans then for new incubator.

WD40 is a solvent and not a lubricant. It does help loosen things up initially but will actually gum them up worse as it dries out. The three in one oil is a lubricant as are the silicone sprays.

 

[Rod-T]

WD40 is a solvent and not a lubricant.  It does help loosen things up initially but will actually gum them up worse as it dries out.  The three in one oil is a lubricant as are the silicone sprays.

I think I'll try that 3n1 oil next time thank you

 

[Latestarter]

Really, any machine oil. it's very "light" weight and will not gum up like veg oil. 3 in 1 has been around a long, long time and will work just fine A bitty drop'll do ya!