DIY Incubator For a begineer Help Please.

[Tony-Woking]

Morning Forum,

i am writing in for some help please in a diy incubator project i am starting, i have been weighing up buying an incubator or making one and i cant really afford to splash out £200.00 for an incubator, so i've decided to make one as i am pretty good with my hands. I have been looking at loads of designs on this forum and i am sure i can manage building one.
All i really want is for someone to look at the list of components i have found and see if i am barking up the right tree???
Any adice would be brilliant, as for the cabinet i will be using plywood and 1 inch foam on the inside.

kind regards

tony

Temperature sensor

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160591018...FX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1432.l2649#ht_2151wt_956

Hygrometer

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270899888...AX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_2544wt_956

Fan

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120MM-12V...ve_Cooling&hash=item4cfdd503e3#ht_2872wt_1089

Lamp Holder

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Ele...cessories/Batten Holder T2/d190/sd2633/p46677

Lamp

60 watt

 

[Yiannisk]

your choice of parts is very good Imo the thermostat is very reliable i use it in my aquariums you may have to calibrate it for more accuracy read the instructions that come with it as to how to do it you must have a reliable thermometer to compare but as far as the fan i would choose a 220 V instead of 12 V you can save on the 12 V power supply and the extra cables and wires that make a mess on DIY incubators

 

[MI chickens]

your choice of parts is very good Imo the thermostat is very reliable i use it in my aquariums you may have to calibrate it for more accuracy read the instructions that come with it as to how to do it you must have a reliable thermometer to compare but as far as the fan i would choose a 220 V instead of 12 V you can save on the 12 V power supply and the extra cables and wires that make a mess on DIY incubators

Though if you do hard wire a 220v fan in, you should wire it on a switch so you have the option to shut it off, something that might be desirable at lock-down.

I have a old used 12v computer fan in my incubator, it works good as far as moving air around, but because of its age its a bit noisy.

 

[Yiannisk]

It is a matter of choise i never switch off the fan but it is not blowing directly on the eggs

 

[Arielle]

You didn't say how large a unit you are building.

I use a pc fan in my LG and it is barely adequate. In my homemade cooler incubator I use a more powerful fan as it needs to circulate a much larger volume of air well enough to keep the temps even thru out the entire egg holding area.

You will need to experiment on the wattage of the light bulb. You may want to use two bulbs; one on all the time and another to cycle on and off. A 60 watt may work, or be too small.

Allow for flexibility. I had everything all set and then loaded it with all the eggs, and it did not perform as expected. The temps changed.

 

[quintinp]

Well, Tony-Woking you are going in the right direction. First of all, do you want to be able to put automatic Little Giant, or Hovabator egg turners in it. I have a Cabinet incubator that holds 2 egg turners. That's plenty of eggs for me at the moment. If I plan to incubate more, I will probably go with a GQF Cabinet incubator.

My incubator uses 2 lamp holders, as you will also want in your cabinet incubator. 2 lights will be off a lot longer than one light.

I like the thermostat. I recommend using an 8 inch metal desk fan from your local super center they should have them for about 10-15 dollars.

My cabinet incubator cost me a little over $120.00.

 

[Tony-Woking]

Morning Everyone

ok so items above order and are on there way 20 or so days, i have also purchased a small motor to turn the trays. I am probably biting off more than i can chew but i am going to give it a go.
I have also purchased 2 120mmx120mm 240v fans. Do you think the trays below are ok i am building the cabinet incubator for the 2 trays only. hope i am getting the items right cant wait to start building it now.

Motor



Trays

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Plastic-k...Pet_Supplies_Poultry&hash=item27a43879a5#shId

 

[quintinp]

Morning Everyone

ok so items above order and are on there way 20 or so days, i have also purchased a small motor to turn the trays. I am probably biting off more than i can chew but i am going to give it a go.
I have also purchased 2 120mmx120mm 240v fans. Do you think the trays below are ok i am building the cabinet incubator for the 2 trays only. hope i am getting the items right cant wait to start building it now.

Motor



Trays

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Plastic-k...Pet_Supplies_Poultry&hash=item27a43879a5#shId

I don't know if that motor could handle that amount of weight?

I was just looking at them the other day, and they seem to be pretty small as well.

 

[fried green eggs]

I had a light bulb burn out in my incubator which was no problem because I have 2 - 40 Watt bulbs in my incubator and they are easy to get to to replace. The good one held temps steady so no egg was lost. imo - You might want to think about installing two light bulb holders and doing lower wattage on both bulbs.