How to make an Awesme Incubator Under 20 Bucks!

[kellyn]

How to Make an Awesome Incubator under 20 Bucks!

Everyone has seen those iddy bitty cheap 2 dollar coolers at walmart and dollar general right? Well I bought 3 of them today as well as 2 porcelain lamp holders. I already had one extra from a previous "failure" so that makes 3 of each. My parents and little brother roooooled their eyes anddd SIIIIGHHHHED in exhasperation. (The owner of www.stormthecastle.com made one in its simplest form and had success)

This is my hobby(an addiction) and one I like doing. I've been LAAAAZY this summer, and bored as heck in this atrocious Florida heat. But now I'm back and with my 3 little coolers I'm determined to make 3 awesome incubators UNDER 20 DOLLARS! Yaay! I have a lot of junk laying around, since I rarely throw things away that can be used one way or another in an incubator. Now don't get me wrong, I have 3 lovely incubators but 2 of them cost me an arm and a foot one way or another. I've started the first one tonight ~July 22, 2012~.

By the way, this was made by a rather mathematically, scientifically, and common-sensically lacking teenager(me). But optimism and knowing how to read directions is KEY! reading word from word is SO much easier than glaring at pictures. Trust me, the info doesn't magically jump into your brain. I approve this project for those 12 and up and brave enought to attempt.

KEEP ALL INSTRUCTIONS! I lost one of mine(for incubator #2's water heater termostat!) So we will have to see how may zaps it takes to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop~lol! (Translation: see if It get shocked or not trying to guess where my HOT wire is or I may blow something up). Suprisingly as much of a twit as I am, I've never been shocked by incubator related things. But this may change yet. I've been burned on a # of occasions though. Have the scars to prove it.

For Cooler # 01 ~ Dimmer-Light-4"Fan

Things you need:

(1) porcelain lampholder - $2 w/out chain or xtra plug.
(1) small steyrafoam cooler with lid - $2.50 at most - walmart was 2.29 but I got the Dollar General ones first.
(1) small desk fan - church sale - $1 - used the chord too, but difficult to tell what's the HOT wire.
(2) 25 or 40 W bulb - regular lamp size, be careful - $1.97 - one's an extra. They last a LONG time, but are easily broken(nailed one of mine with a paint brush a few days ago. T-T)
(1) dimmer - $7~8 for a cheap one.
(8) wire caps - do u like getting zapped? I don't. you get 3 with your dimmer and you can scrape some more up somewhere.

Tools

(1) - or + screw driver - already had. - you can use a butter knife if you don't have one, or a drill.
(1) SHARP box cutter - to cut steyrafoam it has to be *giggles* RAAAZOR sharp. A perfection or artists' knife works too. - dunno cost, maybe $3? Took one of my dads(I've had it over a year, but he don't care)
(1) extra chord - you can find one in somewhere - $0 cost - it's for extra cutting wire.
(1) pair of sciscors for cutting wire. $1, but I'm sure everyone has a pair.
(1) roll of aluminum tape. For a window*optional*.


~ Okay, well the actual "Ingredients" were about 15 bucks, give or take a dollar. LG clunkers cost about 40+ bucks at TSC. The only good thing about them is the windows and the heating element. Which reminds me... you also need 2 pieces of similar plastic or glass. If you want a window to see chicks hatching. I'm putting one in mine. I'm going to test and fully approve these and write my hatch rates of fertile chicken eggs.

I have yet to actually make mine, since it's 3:30 in the morning anddd I need sleeeeep... so within the week I will have pictures step-by-step of this FIRST incubator. If not more. I will also edit this posting, ince it's sooo dang long.

 

[quintinp]

C'mon Kellyn. Don't be lazy. I am wanting to see your incubator.

Since you're being slow about posting, I will post pictures of my latest cooler incubator.

It isn't mine, I built it for a friend.

 

[quintinp]

Here is my latest incubator build. I built it about 4-5 days ago. It took me about 3 hours from start to finish.

Here it is.

By the way. This isn't my incubator, this is an incubator I built for a friend.





The lid is secured with caulk.



There is a hole in the side of the incubator, lined up directly with the water heater thermostat, and a flat heat screw driver can be stuck threw the hole to adjust the thermostat. I like this feature, because if you have little ones, they can't fiddle with the thermostat.



You can see that the thermostat is about 2 inches away from the light bulb. It needs to be within 2 inches from the bulb to get a good temperature in the incubator. (By the way: You don't need 2 lights in this type of incubator, I only did this because if one bulb goes out, I can have the other as back-up. I recommend 2 bulbs, but it's certainly not needed.)











I cut down the turner to fit in the cooler, this cooler-bator can incubate 27 eggs in the turner.










The thermostat in this incubator has been modified, if you wanna know an easy way to modify these thermostats, here is a link to a video that shows how to modify this type of thermostat. (This is a Water Heater thermostat that I am using in this incubator.)

Modifying these thermostats helps to give a better temperature. It works by drilling holes into the thermostat. After you've drilled the holes, air can get to the thermostat sensor that is located in the thermostat, much faster. The thermostat sensor can then cut off/turn on the heating to get a more stable temperature.

Hope this can help any new incubator builders!

 

[WaterFowl209]

Good idea and not a bad looking incubator, I just made my first one about 2 weeks ago and seen the video for making the water heater thermostat more sensitive on YouTube and it sure does help.

 

[kellyn]

*yawn* it's not that I'm necesarilly being Laaa-Zyyyy, but more so that I figured i'd get the first incubator right, right away. But being as this thing is SOOO small, I have to turn the dimmer(with it's tiny 25w bulb) down to almost nothing. So when my AC turn on and off, it flickers the power. Also I've had bad weather lately and when the power goes out, it is staying out. I am also going on a hunt for my WH thermostat. I have a sneaking suspicion that it'll wrk quite well(also the fact that I lost the darned thing, it's somewhat confirmed) in the confined space. If so, i'll go and get another one. I'm almost done with my second cooler-bator. The WH thermostat will go in #2, or maybe in #1, when I find it. And the desk fan didn't work, I knocked the power out twice with it. Switched it with an 11 year old metal GQF steyrafoam hovabator fan(WD-40 is amazing stuff!). It's all in the same plug and outlet etc, but it's rigged to not turn the fan off or dim the fan. Of course that works, since I had my dad do that part(I was at the time seeing if a Mango would kill me)

And don't worry Quintinp... you'll probably be the first to see it. It's not all that *spectacular* but it's not the worst either. I drew a pink rooster(heyy, I get bored easily) on #2.

Good-night.. I'll post pictures to my Albums link whenever I have reception and/or get #1 to work. *yawn*

 

[kellyn]

Ok-kaaaay... I've got #2 working nice'n-dandy, but I'll have to wait a few days before I can upload pictures. #2 has a WH thermostat with Quintinp's modifications. The stupid dimmer is NOT going to work unless I can get a hold of a cooler heat source. I'm probably going to stick a GQF thermostat into it, or maybe scour the globe for something else.

Btw, I'm going to put duck eggs into one of them, and chicken in another.

 

[quintinp]

Ok-kaaaay... I've got #2 working nice'n-dandy, but I'll have to wait a few days before I can upload pictures. #2 has a WH thermostat with Quintinp's modifications. The stupid dimmer is NOT going to work unless I can get a hold of a cooler heat source. I'm probably going to stick a GQF thermostat into it, or maybe scour the globe for something else.
Btw, I'm going to put duck eggs into one of them, and chicken in another.

Can't wait to see them!

 

[kellyn]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/album/view/id/6153227/user_id/111976

Take a look at this to see what I uploaded earlier. I'm going to fix any kinks I have in it, switch and swap a few things, etc. I have one that works great, but I fel I could be MUCH better.

 

[kellyn]

Here is my latest incubator build. I built it about 4-5 days ago. It took me about 3 hours from start to finish.

Here it is.

By the way. This isn't my incubator, this is an incubator I built for a friend.





The lid is secured with caulk.



There is a hole in the side of the incubator, lined up directly with the water heater thermostat, and a flat heat screw driver can be stuck threw the hole to adjust the thermostat. I like this feature, because if you have little ones, they can't fiddle with the thermostat.



You can see that the thermostat is about 2 inches away from the light bulb. It needs to be within 2 inches from the bulb to get a good temperature in the incubator. (By the way: You don't need 2 lights in this type of incubator, I only did this because if one bulb goes out, I can have the other as back-up. I recommend 2 bulbs, but it's certainly not needed.)











I cut down the turner to fit in the cooler, this cooler-bator can incubate 27 eggs in the turner.










The thermostat in this incubator has been modified, if you wanna know an easy way to modify these thermostats, here is a link to a video that shows how to modify this type of thermostat. (This is a Water Heater thermostat that I am using in this incubator.)

 

Modifying these thermostats helps to give a better temperature. It works by drilling holes into the thermostat. After you've drilled the holes, air can get to the thermostat sensor that is located in the thermostat, much faster. The thermostat sensor can then cut off/turn on the heating to get a more stable temperature.

Hope this can help any new incubator builders!

Hey quintinp, I wanna know how do you cut you window in, and what do you use to seal the window? And what did u use to cut it?

 

[galanie]

It needs a bit more ventilation. Also the secret to getting constant temps isn't drilling holes in the WH thermostat, it's the placement of it. Take a look at the last link in my signature.

I've made and tinkered with exactly this same type of incubator and mine works great. But not until after I got the back (metal part) of the thermostat the right distance from the light and drilled some ventilation holes in the sides that I can regulate by putting corks in them if I need to. Also the fan is mounted so that there's a bit of space between the back of the fan and the side of the cooler. It does blow right over the light bulbs like yours does. Overall, great job!