Large capacity Solar baker out of an old dresser drawer

[ChefTessBakeresse]

Bigger Bolder Solar Oven is Done...

It's listed a little backwards here, but you can see the finished product and scroll down to see what it started as.

Bigger Bolder Sun Oven...big enough for 12 loaves started a little while ago. If you didn't peek at that entry, we've basically made a cooker out of an old dresser drawers and some common household items. We have finished the baker for the most part. Looking close to 350 degrees after 1 hour in sunlight.

For the windows we used glass picture frames (14 by 18 inches) so far they have been the biggest expense at eighteen dollars each. For the reflective panels...plexi-glass mirrors (1$ each at our local dollar store). We purchased an oven thermometer (at the dollar store too) to track the temperature and for the gasket/seal around the edges of the glass, we nailed some heavy laundry rope (about 3 dollars). The only other thing I would recommend is getting the metal hinges. Those doors get warm and it's nice to not have to take them all the way off each time it needs to be lifted.

Finished. The mirror panels are leaning against a lawn chair for now until I can figure out a metal chain system. They are clamped together with the metal clips pictured about.I'll let you know how that goes.


Bread is baking as I type. I'm excited to see how it goes.

I have exact measurements if anyone wants to attempt to make one. It has been rather amazing.





Bigger Bolder Sun Oven...big enough for 12 loaves

Here is the original post:

I thought I would share the newest solar cooking adventure we've embarked on. It's been really crazy. We've converted a used oak clothing dresser into a solar baker with the capacity of baking 12 loaves of standard bread at a time. It started out like this...
I liked the idea of having wheels, but this one had really been used a lot to move around. So we took them off.

Using the wood from the dresser drawers, we went about breaking them apart and using the high quality wood for the sides of the cooker.
The advantage of using the dresser was that it already had the sections divided and supported by the wood slates. It was just a matter of adding the insulation and building the inner walls of the cooker. Oh...and putting a bottom on the thing.
Insulating we went with rolled fabric, the same height and width of the panel sections.
Sliding the fabric into the sections, we then covered them with another layer of wood.
This is what it looked like when it was all sealed up. Tight seams if any at all. Insulation encapsulated inside the walls to hold the heat in the baker.
Painted black with high temperature oven paint 5$ a can,(safe up to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit), available at any hardware store.
New wheels...2$ each.
Nice handle for easy lifting. 2.50$
Fully painted and drying, it is now awaiting the oven gaskets, glass cover and metal reflective panels. So far we've only spent about 20$.
I'm getting really excited. Can you tell? When we get it finished and bake some bread, y'all will be the first to know. In the meantime, we are having fun.

That's all I have to say about that.

[Angela]

That is very cool. You are so crafty! Let us know how the bread turns out. Do you have 12 loaves in it?

[ilovemykidsmore]

Yes, I'd love to know your dimensions.

[ChefTessBakeresse]

I'm seriously a little embarrassed by my rude drawing as I know there may be some engineers out there who see this and giggle. Here they are: