I've been using a cardboard box food drier for years, but I decided to finally make something a bit more permanent. For reference, this: http://ift.tt/2aWs9l6 is more or less what I was using previously. I'd dry 5-6 lbs of beef at a time and make jerky and pemmican with it. I never set it up to dry fruits or vegetables.
Here's the new one: http://ift.tt/2bnGfgQ
I used mostly salvaged materials. The wood framing is from a pallet I tore apart at work. The plastic sides are from a discontinued product at my work (they used to be engraved keychains). The base is just a piece of scrap MDF. The whole thing is just glued together with wood glue, and the screen is attached with hot glue cause I was lazy.
I found these cookie cooling racks at walmart for like $2 each, and the halogen lightbulb are the only things I really bought.
The halogen light bulb is a 75 watt (labelled as 100 watt incandescent equivalent), but it doesn't quite put out the amount of heat I expected it to - it keeps the inside of the dehydrator around 80F (75F ambient temp). I thought for sure halogen would put out more heat, but I guess I was wrong! I swapped in the 150 watt incandescent I was using in the cardboard box and it's perfect - around 110F, with excellent airflow.
I've only done apples in it so far, no meat or other fruits. Sorry, didn't think to take a pic of the fruit, but it dries well.
Submitted August 16, 2016 at 06:23PM by asiag0 http://ift.tt/2aWt1Gh
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