plywood incubator.

[CaliPheasantGuy]

Alrighty. my first post. but any whosers. I'm buildin an incubator that can hold two standard styrofoam incubator turners. and i am going to use the heating element from a little giant incubator, and possibly the thermostat it uses. the dimensions ill probably be 16x16x15. as of now i have the fan for the foam incubator installed but will that be enough? Im using this to hatch some RN pheasants. i used the foam incubator last year and it just was enough chicks at the end. Well, anyways, any comments or suggestions? Will be much appreciated.

-Bam 

[TENNESSERED]

Your doing what I am thinking about doing.  I just sold my big Dickey's cab. incubator and am going to build myself a smaller cab. unit out of the parts from my old little giant incubator.  I am going to use 2 standard 12 v.d.c computer cooling fans in my unit to circulate the air flow.  What I was wondering is if the 40 watt element will be enough to heat a small 2 tray cab. incubator?

[CaliPheasantGuy]

Well, that's what im comptemplating also. what do you wire the fans to? and this link has a picture of a cab bator with what looks like the little giant heating element. http://www.renegaderidgefarm.com/INCUBATOR_KITS.php

[TENNESSERED]

 Hi CaliPheasantGuy,
   In the past, I have used these type of fans to turn my still-air box incubators into fan-forced.  I just mounted them to the top and connected them to a simple 12 v.d.c. plug in power supplyl.  You know the kind that powers portable dvd players or radios and they worked just fine.  For the incubator I'm planning on building I might just go ahead and wire it directly so that one switch and power cord will control everything.  I still wonder if the small heating unit out of the little giant will keep a constant temp in  the incubator.  I might just go ahead and install a small light socket as well so I up the wattage to about 80 watts total

[backcountry]

i have plans for a incubator like your wanting to build send me a pm with your email  and i can send u the file

[CharlieHorse]

 

How about some pictures?

[backcountry]

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-Tray-Hatching-Egg-Incubator-Hatcher-D-I-Y-Plans_W0QQitemZ280347282320QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4146000b90
that is the link to the plan i bought i never built it  decided it was 2 small for my needs

[CaliPheasantGuy]

Tennessee Red, i was thinking about the same thing. just wiring it to a dimmer or something. i was only planning on doing that if the element wasnt enough. and Backcountry, do you know if those incubator plans call for the hovabator or little giant heating element?

[CaliPheasantGuy]

oh and i just found this thread, i would definitely use this to increase my egg count furthermore. http://www.thatquailplace.com/smf/index.php?topic=2491.0

[TENNESSERED]

Calipheasantguy I wouldn't even consider using the hovabator heating element because it is only a 25 watt element.  I have one of them.  It barely keeps the hovabator at incubation temps at room temp.  I'm sure it would not even come close to heating a small cab. unit  The little giant uses a 40 watt element It might do it if the box was well made, but I think I will use a small 25 watt bulb just to make sure.  You could wire them directly up to the electronic thermostat so a dimmer would not be necessarry.

[Little Bear Game Farm]

I would try to use heat elements instead of using bulbs.  The elec thermo works by constantly sending impulses to the heat element.  Light bulbs would flicker about 200 times in a minute and could burn out when you least want them to.

[TENNESSERED]

The problem is trying to find a small enough wattage heat element.  That's one of the reasons I sold my Dickeys inclubator because it had a 600 watt element and used a  lot of electricity.  I would like to find about a 75 watt element.  If anyone knows where I can get one I would love the info thanks

[CharlieHorse]

Here's what I would use.....it's 250 watts :

https://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=115

Most all other controls can be found on this page :

https://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_listItems.asp?idCategory=49&orderBy=sku

To the left of the gqf.com page, you'll also find wiring diagrams.

cutlersupply.com also carries these parts, but they have recently revamped their website and doesn't have pictures for all of their products.

[cv]

How about some pictures?

[Little Bear Game Farm]

Here's what I would use.....it's 250 watts :

https://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=115

Most all other controls can be found on this page :

https://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_listItems.asp?idCategory=49&orderBy=sku

To the left of the gqf.com page, you'll also find wiring diagrams.

cutlersupply.com also carries these parts, but they have recently revamped their website and doesn't have pictures for all of their products.

 

Thats what I used when I built my incubator.  Worked good after i figured out how much you have to stretch it.  First element not enough, it heated up, flexed, grounded, and burnt up.