Aloha gang
Not sure if this is the right place for this but I’m curios what kind of ovens people are using for diamonds. My ole dinosaur of a BVV oven went on the fritz. Need something ASAP but I don’t see any point in spending the money on a vac oven. I never pull a vac for diamonds except at the end and I can do that in my other ovens I use for shatter. Could AIs forced air ovens work? They seem like they are meant for higher temps. I’ve also searched for low temp lab ovens and found some promising options. Thomas Sci has a 2.8 Cu/ft oven for $1400. Not too shabby. Let me now what you guys think. I’ll post the link below.
I’ve suggested using gen one PCR machines as diamond incubators eg the MJR PTC100.
also seems like any of the BVV silicone mat heated “vac chambers” would suffice as well.
you’re not pulling a vac.
So what do you actually need?
- to keep dust etc out
- temp control (neglect tek skips this).
- not adding a source of ignition
do 1st gen PCR machines meet those specs?
probably not. I still think they’re worth exploring.
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What do those pcr machines do? They look like a fun toy lol…we just need the oven to keep the jars warm. Our warehouse space gets pretty cold at night these days. We got em on a heat mat for the time being actually. It works but the top of the sauce is clearly a good bit colder And we can’t really fit everything on the mat. Definitely couldn’t fit them all in the vac pot. We have a whole heap of jars full saucey diamonds and I don’t want the process slowing down too much. That oven looked like we could fit a bunch of jars in there for a pretty reasonable price. What are most people using those forced air ovens for anyway?
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Or get a slide warmer
I think we just need to figure out how to “pot” our electronics, don’t know if I said that right… That way they will be safe to use w vapors… I’m really looking into just doing this to a clone pad on a temp controller…
What u think about doing something like this?
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As long as it regulates its heat evenly. Say, it’s needing to be keeping its 85° setpoint and it’s running 108 to get there and then drops down to 73 and bounces to 94, all while you’re trying to keep a nominal pressure and temp. I would find something more evenly regulated. Is it the power supply that went bad on the oven?
Take two or three of those heat pads and line your oven with them to create an ambient temp. That’d work
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My thoughts was 3degree +/- controller for cooling that’s from the grow room? It would stay more accurate… Probably yet another thing I would have to open up and coat w epoxy
No oven at moment… Never had just vac chambers and heating pads w the grow room temp controller if I wanted to be more accurate,lol under statement I know…
normally?
how is that relevant?
are they the right tool for the job?
No. but at <$100 they might make for great R&D rigs.
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Are you saying the forced air ovens are known for overshooting or not being very accurate?.. Im guessing its the thermostat that went wrong. It’s an old generation bvv oven and no one at bvv has ever been very helpful with this oven because of its age. The thermostat will say it’s at the proper temp, 80-85, but it’ll really be around 115-120 or more. Any troubleshooting options you know of? It’s an old oven and doesn’t even hold a vac anymore. Hence the use of it for diamonds.
It sounds like heat pads and vac chambers might be the best bang for the buck now that I’m thinking about it. But I feel like an oven would def keep temp more evenly spread throughout the oven.
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Oh, no. I was saying that the heat pads would be irregular. They jump around trying to regulate. What happens when you turn the temp waaay down. Will it regulate to around 90° or below? Maybe? But maybe just a heat pad on the bottom of your oven could regulate it to maintain the inner area the temp you need
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Oh I see what your saying. That might actually work better than my current setup. At least all the heat released would be trapped within the oven. Might just do that til I feel like buying another oven. Still think that will be the best way to get even heating. Heat pads def could work and the price makes it worth running for smaller applications. But I think moving forward I’ll need something bigger and more accurate.
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Correct heating pads jump…I use them…but used with grow temp controller u can regulate a pretty good +8/-8 degrees…I check it all the time with several different things… Says it’s +3-3 but is more like 8-10…80-90f fine for me!
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Removed because the site is no longer in business.
There used to be something called the HeatVac XL Chamber and it was basically a large vacuum chamber that had a built in heating element with a pid controller that was removable.
That item is no longer around from the manufacturer though some people are selling their old ones on eBay and Facebook Market.
I still have mine and I still cherish it.
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Super old thread, but I’m exploring my options on building or buying several ovens just for diamonds. Right now I’m using a cooler with a pitcher of water in it, and a fish tank heater in the water. Then I stacked a dozen pint jars on each side of the pitcher.
Wondering what other people have used on the cheap end to diy an oven