my latest building projects,goat milking stand and solar dehydrator.

[hippiehillbilly]

well spring has almost sprung here.one more cold spell to go.(there callin for snow tomorrow night here)..

dilligaf has been going crazy building raised beds and getting ready for the rest of this years planting,but this thread aint about her..http://www.hipforums.com/forums/images/newsmilies/biggrinjester.gif

ive been bein productive as well dont you worry..
last weekend i built this milking stand for dilligaf.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/milkstandnramp.jpg

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/milkstandnootie.jpg



something we were in need of as with the smaller goats she was having to lay down to milk them lol. not anymore.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/newmilkstand.jpg

heres a link to the plans i winged it by if anyone is interested..

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1980-01-01/A-Goat-Milking-Stand.aspx




including taring the feet and water sealing it it took about 6 hours to do.

[hippiehillbilly]

now this weekend i built a solar food dehydrator.something else we have been in need of.

this is i suppose you would call it a convection solar dehydrator/bread rising contraption as you can put water below the tray and use it as a place to let your bread rise.


http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/alldone.jpg
the bottom chamber has black plastic on bottom as you can see.
http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/airchuteattachment.jpg
]

there are holes drilled at the bottom and the top of the chamber to allow airflow,as the chamber heats up hot air is forced into the dehydration chamber where it circulates through and gos out the vent in the top.

the tray is lined with screen and is about 6 inches above the bottom of the dehydrating chamber,the chamber bottom is black plastic as well.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/menmyshadowtopviewdehydrator.jpg

i have LOTS more of the same size trays so i can build frames out of 2x4's and just stack them as high as needed then cover with the top.


this project took about 4 hours,i got the plans from this site,

http://www.i4at.org/surv/soldehyd.htm

the plans were for cardboard but i wanted something more permanent so i used wood.

the other plan i considered was this one,

http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/plans/6244.pdf
i just feel that the one i made will be more efficient.

so thats what ive been into..http://www.hipforums.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif
anyone else like building things? do you have any projects you would like to share? please feel free an show us what youve created.
we would love to see..

[hippiehillbilly]

anyone have any good sites for permanent solar ovens? none of this cardboard crap..

i think that is going to be my next project.

im leaning towards something similar to this,

http://www.solarcooking.org/plans/Presentacio-forn-solar-cob-en.pdf

but id like to see other options in this style. any help would be appreciated..

[hippiehillbilly]

well work is,, pretty much non existent at moment so i decided if im not working i may as well do something constructive towards our sustainability while i can still afford power for power tools lol,,..

so i decided on a plan,, well i came up with one in my head drawing on all ive learned from websites and got the solar oven approximately 80% complete its is a closed box type made of wood large enough for a standard oven rack to fit in. im going to put it on a old industrial pulley wheel assembly i have,so that we can easily rotate it to track the sun.

the reflective shields im using seem to work well. i rough fit them and with no top on it the temp quickly went over 115 with a digital thermometer so i yanked it off. i didnt wanna fuck it up..lol

i think im going to be quite pleased with this project when its complete.. :)

will post pics of my progress later on or tomorrow..

[hippiehillbilly]

well as promised if anyone is interested..

heres a pic of our trial run with the dehydrator,bananas,carrots and mushrooms.we wanted to see how it did with a variety of moisture contents and the bottom line is it works GREAT!!

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/firstrunofdehydrator.jpg

heres a pic of the solar oven im working on,as you can see the things HUGE,, i plan on lining as much as possible with insulation before the final placement of the reflectors.when i get them in place where i want them the inside space will be aprox. 32x24. that is ample room for 3 or 4 pots so there is no need for 1 pot meals.
http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/solaroven1.jpg

when i am done its going to be sitting on the pulley you see so as i said we can easily rotate it with the sun.
the frame you see is the frame im going to hinge and use for the top. we have greenhouse plastic im going to use instead of glass.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/solaroven51.jpg

when im done all total besides a coat of paint on the outside i shouldnt have more than 10 bucks in this project as i used all salvaged materials that i had around here.

i put our stove thermometer out in it and it hit 200 F no problem.. i see no reason why it shouldnt be able to heat up to 300,325 at least when im done with it..

well thats all for now, will post pictures of the finished project when i get it done..

thanks for lookin..

have a great day!! :)

[HoneySuckleBlue]

Your projects are awesome HHB, if things keep going the way they are in construction we will be in here following your lead...

[shameless_heifer]

anyone have any good sites for permanent solar ovens? none of this cardboard crap..

i think that is going to be my next project.

im leaning towards something similar to this,

http://www.solarcooking.org/plans/Presentacio-forn-solar-cob-en.pdf

but id like to see other options in this style. any help would be appreciated..
HHB, I have a book called Special Delux Edition "Stocking Up' By the editor of Organic Gardening and Farming. By Carol Hupping Stoner (heh heh) Put out by Rodale Press.. it has excatly what your looking for and more more more.. it's an OLD book, 1977. Dilli would love this book if you can find it.. it has everything you need to survive.. I hope you can find it.. it says it is in the Libray of Congress. This is the only book you'll need to survive without power, ie; utilities. If you cant find it perhaps I will let you borrow mine. It has tons of stuff to build, HHB you'll have solor everywhere and so much more.. but the dehydrator is metal and tublar, a drum dryer it says it's called, holds, looks to be three trays. It has smokehouse instruction too, just a lot of imformation and instruction on how to keep you food stuff.

Bright Blessings
sh

[hippiehillbilly]

thanks for the suggestion,ive always been a fan of rodale press,before roberts death.i have years and year of old mother earth news,and organic gardening going back to the 60's.

both the solar oven and dehydrator are now complete and they both work great..

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/ovenanddehydrator.jpg
heres the finished solar oven,it has been as high as 300 F today and its partly cloudy at best so i would say its has met my expectations.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/tyedyeoven.jpg

as i said earlier in the thread i mounted it on the old pulley so it can be rotated to maximize the suns energy all day long.
http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/alldone1.jpg

oh and books, what i recommend to people is back to basics by readers digest,i call it the beginner homesteaders bible..

[hippiehillbilly]

oh and in between all this we acquired some rabbits that we are going to breed for food so i had to make them a place.so saturday we butchered about half our chickens,

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/chicken1.jpg

then i partitioned off the chicken coop and built the females hutch and started on the males. the male will be the top hutch..

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/tippietoes.jpg


next project will be a smoker of some sort. i have a old refrigerator and a old freezer so im probably going to use a design that incorporates one or the other but i am always up for ideas..
anyone know of any online resources please feel free to post a link..

thanks for lookin,,

have a great day!!

[floydianslip6]

This all looks great. I think I might give that solar dehydrator a go. I've been wanting to dry food but not in one of those weird machines. How long did it take to dry the bananas, carrots, and shrooms?

That looks like a cool milking stand. The only one I've seen other than that is one that they also used to keep the legs off the ground for medicine administering. It was like a modified engine lift with straps and shit. Yours looks much better for all involved.

[hippiehillbilly]

on a good day,, i mean i nice sunny day, the dehydrator pretty much has dried everything we have put in it in 1 day.

we havent gotten into high moisture content veggies such as tomatoes yet though..


as far as the stand,what your describing sounds more like a hoof trimming table.
im sure that the milking stand i built would work for that as well..
if you noticed it has the stanchion/head lock on it to hold a animal in place if they dont want to stay still..

glad ya got inspired by my projects. feel free to post pics of yours if you build something..

have a great day..:)

[hippiehillbilly]

well the weathers been wonderful and ive been staying busy with projects.i got the rabbit hutches done,helped dilligaf put in a really sweet granite raised bed(the kind of chunks that line graves).
my latest project is a brick/cast iron grill and oven..

this one has been going very slow as i am basically designing it as i go.
i had a old home comfort stove that had deteriorated to where the only real usable things were the fire box lining,the cast iron top and the oven door so everything has had to be designed around what i salvaged..

im really happy with its progress thus far and im becoming increasingly confident that when its finished it will work wiz bang..

ive got lots of pictures as usual but dilligaf hasnt shrunk them yet.. i will post pics as soon as i am able..

im trying to talk dilligaf into starting a show and tell thread on her gardens but she rarely sits down after the sun comes up.
so maybe one mornin durin her coffee time or a rainy day she will start one.. shes put so much effort into them this year.. :)

thanks for lookin an
have a great evening yall.. :)

[hippiehillbilly]

heres some pics of the grill and stove project,.

please keep in mind that almost all materials are salvaged and i am working with what i have to work with.
that is the reason i decided to build it up against the retaining wall.im going to be very close on the number of bricks i have around here.

so far my total investment has been 3 bags of mortar mix and 4, 4 foot pieces of 3/8 inch rebar, a grand total of 19 bucks.

so i started out getting me a good level and square spot up against the wall and poured me a lil foundation..
http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/grillovenbase.jpg
http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/Copy_of_grillovenbase.jpg

then i went to laying brick. the smoke will exit from the grill into the oven chamber before continuing on to the chimney..

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/brickovengrill.jpg

when i got to where the grill will be placed i put a piece of rebar about every 8 inches under the cook top for extra support. as you can see everything was then leveled up and put in place.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/stoveovencooktop.jpg

[hippiehillbilly]

heres the grill top in its final place. it needs a good cleaning,the seam in the middle sealed then re seasoned with cookingoil and heat and she will be as good as new..

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/cooktopnovenheatchamber.jpg


as you can see from these pictures i lined the fire box of the oven with the cast iron tiles from the cook box of the old stove.this will help to even out and hold heat in the chamber.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/lookingdownfromabove.jpg

if youll notice in the pictures the smoke will go under the oven chamber and up and out through the back to the chimney.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/anotherangle.jpg

the theory is for a low heat in the stove the exiting smoke from the cook top side should provide enough heat and for higher temps one can shovel coals into the ovens fire box directly.

[hippiehillbilly]

the last picture is where the oven bottom is going to set. i was able to save that and the cooking grate from the old stove as well..

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/howthebottomofovenwillbe.jpg

from here i have to build my door frame and begin building the oven chamber.

i know shes a bit ugly to look at at the moment,and i dont imagine shes gonna be all that pretty when shes done but i am confident she will work as designed.

will probably have more pics up next weekend..
thanks for lookin and have a great day.. :)

[hippiehillbilly]

giggle snicker..

im FIRED UP..http://www.hipforums.com/forums/images/newsmilies/hurray.gif

i didnt get much done this week on the project,works been going pretty well for a change..
i did get the frame for the oven door built,the brick ties made and attached to the frame and the hinges put on the door.
the hinges were a BITCH to put on,that old oven door is one solid mother fucker..

anyway.. as soon as i eat breakfast i am going to get busy,with a little luck i should have the oven complete by tomorrow afternoon..
hehehehehehehehe,, im really excited about this project.. http://www.hipforums.com/forums/images/smilies/cool.gif stay tuned for more pics!!!!

[hippiehillbilly]

i am done for the weekend. im not much of a mason and i use my fingers far more than i should,thus they are hamburger..lol

i feel it was a very productive day though.

first thing i did was to plumb and square the frame for the door and brace it in place.
then i went to laying brick.tying every course to the frame with some brick ties i made out of a old tin gutter.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/makinovenboxanddoorframe.jpg
i just continued up till i reached the top of the frame.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/slavinaway.jpg


i was very pleased at how close it all matched up.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/oven.jpg

[hippiehillbilly]

if you look close you can see where i off set the back brick line at the bottom coarse and set a piece of brick on either side out enough to support the grate. also you can see where i laid rebar across the front opening .

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/topfrontview.jpg

from the back you can see where i bent the brick tied around the rebar.
the chimney will have to be offset at this point so i can incorporate the last cook top from the old stove into the top of the oven.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/viewfromabove.jpg


as you can see the piece of cooktop is much narrower than the top of the oven so i am having to cantilever the bricks to compensate for the difference. the bricks in the oven are just for support of the cantilever till it dries then they will be removed.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/startofthetop.jpg

[hippiehillbilly]

almost forgot ,,the hinges on the door.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/ovendoorframe.jpg

its all takin shape,i should finish it by the end of next weekend.
we are really anxious and excited to try it out.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/howitwilllooksorta.jpg

and thats how i left it,,till my fingers heal..

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/endoftoday.jpg

once again.. thanks for lookin all.. :)

[hippiehillbilly]

O.K.

i think most of the pictures are now back in the thread..
and here is the final installment of the grill/oven pics.

thursday i made the doors for the fireboxes out of 2x10. i flashed one side to protect the wood somewhat from the heat and put handles on them.
http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/Copy_2_of_doors1.jpg


i got home early friday and finished the top,i laid flashing over the cantilevered bricks,reinforced it with rebar,laid a slab of mortar and set the warming plate in place,then i just ran another couple course's of brick for the chimney .
http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/finishingchimney.jpg

that was it, i set the door in place and she was complete except for the seasoning of the cast iron on the grill top and the warming plate.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/doneexceptcleanup.jpg

[hippiehillbilly]

well when seasoning the top of the grill we quickly figured out the flashing on the fire box doors wasnt going to be sufficient,so we as we always do have improvised. we just keep a bucket of water nearby and dunk them periodically to keep them from catching on fire.

for those of you unfamiliar with seasoning of cast iron its a simple but somewhat smelly process.all you do is heat the cast iron up extremely hot and apply coats of vegtable oil to it sparingly and let it soak in.
http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/wehavesmoke.jpg
when no more rust is evident and she is uniformly blackened and smooth she is ready to be cooked on.

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/firstmeal.jpg

it took several hours to season the old top properly and by the time we were done we had the oven heated up 400 F. without having to move any coals into the oven firebox..

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/400degrees.jpg

so its another project complete.

my next project is going to be to finish the root cellar,i will post pics of that project as it progresses as well
hope you enjoyed,yall have a great day..

[peaceful-lady]

interesting thread..
and thank you for the tip on how to season cast iron.