Home Built Incubator revisited!

[marcuscarr]

After completing my styrofoam incubator and reviewing comments about the design here, I decided to rebuild.

I wanted something more durable than styrofoam, as the kids will be hovering over it a lot. I was afraid they would lean on the styrofoam and break the cooler.

To tilt the eggs, I will be tilting the entire cooler. I can lift either end of the cooler 4 inches and still have the water level below the wire "floor"

The electronics can be very quickly taken out and the lid put back on. In case of failure, repair, etc.

I wanted the electronics to be somewhat self contained.

Here are the pics...

Please let me know what additions or changes you might make.

Thanks,
marcus

 

[arlee453]

I'm impressed! I am curious about the tilting thing though - I suppose tilting the entire cooler is the same as turning the eggs??

I'm very curious as we are thinking of incubating eggs in the spring...

Susan

 

[speckledhen]

You can certainly tilt the entire cooler as long as you aren't sloshing your water out when you do it. And yes, it's the same thing as turning the eggs, Susan.
Are there air holes somewhere? I probably just can't see them in the pics or are you still working on it? I think a cooler makes a good bator as long as you can get all the essentials in there.

 

[marcuscarr]

Speckledhen,

I can vent the top easily enough through the 6" hole I drilled in the lid for a viewport.

I haven't drilled any holes lower in the cooler because I am not sure how many or how big to drill them.

The bottom 3 inches of the cooler will be dedicated to water, so I can't drill that low.

The bottoms of the eggs will sit approx. 4 inches off the bottom of the cooler.

I could sure use some advice on hole size and location.

Thanks,
Marcus

 

[marcuscarr]

Originally, i thought eggs had to be rolled. When I found you could just tilt them back and forth, I tried to come up with some clever egg tilter. Three of my designs worked well, but each had it's own flaws.

Then I realized that I wasn't dealing with a 300lb professional incubator. I was dealing with a 20lb cooler. My plan is to get a 12" 4x4 and place it under one side or the other for tilting. Of course I will tilt very slowly =]

Marcus

 

[BirdBrain]

You might put sponges in the bottom to hold the water so you don't have it sloshing from side to side and chancing to soak the egg carton. Or you could do a tray attached to the side (that held sponges and had a tube connected to the outside) like Cynthia did and add water as needed. Your set up looks great. I like how you have a sheet of metal to protect the side of the cooler/bator from the heat of the light.

 

[marcuscarr]

It took me awhile to figure out what to use for the shield. I have a lot of scrap steel, but it was all overkill for this project. My shield is actually a trowel with the handle removed. The type of trowel used for spreading adhesive when putting in tile.

I like the sponge idea. I think I will pick up a few of those large car wash sponges and put them under the floor.

I found that it took all night to get the temp from 65 to 95, so I think the 40w bulb is not going to work. I switched it to a smaller 60w bulb this morning and will monitor it. I should have my indoor/outdoor thermometer soon, which will be much better.

The light just clicked on and I checked the thermometer. It is turning on at 99.5...i will update with the turn off temp when it clicks off.


Thank you for your comments.

Marcus