Workshop Wednesday: Diy Wood Kiln - Old dishwasher to a kiln for drying woodturning turning blanks

Workshop Wednesday: Diy Wood Kiln Converting an old dishwasher into a kiln for turning blanks
I’ve watched a ton of videos on making a kiln for drying turning blanks, and roughed out bowls in particular. Most people I’ve seen use an old upright freezer, but I came across one that used an old dishwasher.
kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKfWXoKumrp6etE
I found that free dishwashers were much easier to locate than freezers, and I didn’t have to worry about whether there was any refrigerant left in a freezer that I would have to figure out how to dispose of properly. The size should be plenty big enough for me, at least for a good while.
I removed the top and bottom racks, took all the guts out, and gave the interior a thorough cleaning. I didn’t have to drill any ventilation holes, as there is a hole in the top of the plastic tub where the water supply for the upper spray arm entered, and there are ventilation slots in the front door. I wrapped the tub in foil-covered foam insulation and cut a few slits over the hole in the top of the tub. I drilled a hole through the side to accept the humidity probe and cut some slits in the insulation there as well.
I used a regular metal pan light to hold the incandescent bulb that would be the heat source, and that just happened to fit almost perfectly in the hole left in the bottom where I took the sprayer arm assembly out.
My friend Jason of Foster Branch Wood Turning made his DIY wood kiln from a commercial beverage cooler and used an Inkbird IHC-200 Humidity Controller.
Foster-branch-wood-turning-102883918259047/
www.ink-bird.com/products-humidity-controller-ihc200.html
This setup worked really well for him so I ordered the same controller and am hoping for similar results. I roughed out 6 very wet butternut bowl blanks and started at target value of 70% humidity. I will drop that by 10% approximately every week until I get down to around 10% moisture content and then finish turn them.
I know another turner used a temperature controller on his freezer kiln build, and there’s a link to his first video in that kiln build series. @SpragueWoodturning
I’ll keep you guys posted!
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[@woodman3416]

Lisa, thank you for sending me the link to this video. You’ve given me some ideas. I really enjoy your videos.

[@LisaRamlow]

Most excellent!

[@rossthomas7425]

Very Nice idea.

[@LisaRamlow]

Thank you Ross!

[@sambullard510]

Lisa thank you

[@LisaRamlow]

This is really working out nicely-I couldn’t be happier with the results 😁

[@oldmanwoodcraft]

This a great idea thanks for sharing .

[@LisaRamlow]

Thanks for watching!

[@ThomsSimpleLife]

Like a man once told me Lisa, "you can give out but you can't give up." Way to stay with it. Nice job.

[@LisaRamlow]

Thanks so much!

[@kevinbooth2063]

Lisa, thank you for the link to your dishwasher kiln. I wanted a freezer kiln like Jim’s but I have been having trouble finding one plus making room in my shop. Thanks this gives more light on what we can do.

[@LisaRamlow]

Glad you’ve got some options Kevin! It works really nicely but if I were gonna do tons of big bowls I’d make another one. I’ve got those big maple bowls in there and I had to bend some of the wire things to make them fit 😂

[@kevinbooth2063]

@@LisaRamlow yes I can understand. Those were large bowls and will take up lots of room. Most of my bowls are like yours smaller in size. I have been working on 14” crouch’s for wedding present’s. I add their invitation to the inside so it has the appearance of a heart.

[@g.leebihm2588]

I have hated my dishwasher ever since the day my Ex-wife got me to put in in the kitchen, I wish she would have taken it when we got divorced. ☹️ I don’t think it’s been used in the last 15 years. Thanks to this video, I may now have a use for it.😂

[@LisaRamlow]

Hi there! I just got back from a week at my dad’s and the kiln is working great - the bowls are feeing much, much lighter with no cracks so I dropped the target to 50% and will see where we are in another week or so 😊

[@cydrych]

Thanks for the video. Now I have to start driving the neighborhood looking for an appliance on trash day. 😂👍🏻✌🏻

[@LisaRamlow]

Yep. Lots of possibilities and generally don’t require much money. You could even forgo the humidity controller and just turn the light on or off whenever you think it’s right. My first “load” of bowls was done that way and it worked fine.

[@trevorgreig8031]

Just an idea to share: I have ceramic heat elements for reptiles that screw into bulb fixtures. They are way more robust and are designed for high humidity enclosures. They can be found on Amazon or any big box pet supply store. May be a terrible idea and too hot or something but an idea.

[@LisaRamlow]

Hi Trevor, thanks for stopping by! I’m not sure I’ve seen those, I’ll have to check it out. My 125w heat lamp bulb was defective from the store so I went back to the 60w incandescent and with the metal shield in the bottom, that has worked so far. Definitely not a terrible idea, as with the humidity controller I think it would be just fine 😃

[@lakeshorewoodturner5136]

I watched Jim and definitely a great idea. Never thought about a dishwasher but yeah it is insulated and seals nice. Great job Lisa.

[@LisaRamlow]

Thank you! If you don’t need the space of a big freezer, the dishwasher is actually pretty cool cuz the racks are meant to hold dishes so have the little uprights that make loading easier and has good air flow.

[@davidhenry7585]

I’ve been thinking about how to build a small kiln for bowls. We just moved a couple of old refrigerators out of the way in my shop. I’ll have to rig them up outside! Very doable, thanks for the ideas!

[@LisaRamlow]

This really does work out nicely. I’ve still only done the one load but my friend Jason uses an old pop cooler or bakery cooler with the humidity controller and has processed a ton of bowls through his so the setup works well and doesn’t require much fussing around since you don’t have to use fans or worry about the temperature much. I think he uses a 125w heat lamp in his and I’ve been using a 60w incandescent bulb. Let me know how it works out!

[@TobyRobb]

What a great idea. Solder reflow ovens are quite similar in that they have a temperature profile much like this moisture profile you are following , fascinating! albeit a much shorter period. I have a reptile heating bulb at 100 watts for my 3D printer enclosure, its solid state and doesn't break like those filament heating bulbs, super cheap as well! Awesome repurposing of an otherwise thrown away enclosure!!

[@LisaRamlow]

Thanks Toby! I haven’t had a bulb blow since I put that little heat shield in but I may be better off using a bulb meant for reptile enclosures just because it’s expected to be in that type environment

[@pfiltz]

You can't beat Free ! I made a kiln out of a mid-sized refrigerator... ;)

[@LisaRamlow]

Yep, my original plan was to get an upright freezer but I was having a hard time finding one, and I also wasn’t sure what to do about the refrigerant if there was any left. Ultimately, for now, this should suit me nicely - I won’t be batching out 20 bowl blanks at a time so maybe smaller I’d better. Plus it gives me someplace to put the microwave 😂

[@pfiltz]

@@LisaRamlow Yeah, I haven't used mine much due to I only get to turn on the weekends, until I get my own shop up and running. I have a PC fan for my exhaust in the top, and a a 100 watt light bulb in the bottom with a small 4" fan on the floor as well to circulate air. It's worked pretty good the times I've used it.

[@billy19461]

Great idea!

[@LisaRamlow]

It is a great idea but I can’t take credit for it, only for implementing it on my shop. I think it’s gonna work out great-I’ll post updates as I go along with this load.

[@michaelthomas3616]

Cool I watched Jim also seems like they work really good.

[@LisaRamlow]

Hi Michael! Jim definitely needs a bigger kiln than I do, at least at this point in time.

[@bnaivar]

Love your new intro. :)

[@LisaRamlow]

Thank you Bill! One of my fellow Bear Track girls did the animation 😊

[@mpart_woodlathe-stuff]

Good demo of your setup Lisa, thanks🙏 Give me the confidence of I Can Do That 👍 Stay safe. -Mike😷 p.s. How about doing something next week I'll never ever need or want - I just realized how behind (😕) I'm feeling

[@LisaRamlow]

Hi Mike! I’m also feeling overwhelmed! Lots of irons in the fire here. And I’ve discovered that doing my own channel leaves little time for me to watch everyone else!

[@mpart_woodlathe-stuff]

@@LisaRamlow overwhelmed? Ain't that the truth !! Maybe you could get some breathing space by merging Work.Wed. in with the main content so you're only doing 1 vid per week. At the cost of YT growth I suppose. Or do like me😁 ... randomly do vids on no obvious sched which, again, messes with growth. In however it goes ... Please have fun and enjoy -Mike

[@tonysmith3143]

I’m trying to come with something to. Thanks for sharing.

[@LisaRamlow]

Thanks Tony! I’ll post updates as I go along.

[@MrGmontjoy]

Just replaced my dishwasher today, my dead one is sitting in my garage getting ready for surgery!

[@LisaRamlow]

Niiiice! This is working out better than I could’ve hoped 😁

[@MrGmontjoy]

@@LisaRamlow awesome!

[@bluelineturnings5055]

Like the idea I've been using a food dehydrator it works great but limited on size may have to see about something like this

[@LisaRamlow]

I’m thinking you can make a kiln out of just about anything. I figure even at 125w bulb I’m doing ok. We have a food dehydrator and did a few batches of things to rake backpacking and it took a long time, running like 1500w or something-would’ve been cheaper to buy the stuff already dehydrated by the time we got done!

[@emgiwoodworks]

Branstrup (check him out) was using an old fridge but yes, it can also be done with a dishwasher, why not? Thnx for sharing Lisa!

[@LisaRamlow]

Hi Leo! I sub to Kim as well - haven’t seen his fridge kiln but I’ve also not gotten through all his videos. I love creating content for my channel but I gotta tell you I have barely any time to WATCH videos anymore! Hope you’re doing well 😊

[@scottparat]

Great video Lisa, I watched this one and the follow up. One of our members at the FB group Wood Turning Basics left a screenshot and link ....so here I am :) Great tip on that humidity/temp control ....definitely going to check it out. I try to keep my comments here and elsewhere positive and helpful. I only have that purpose in mind when thinking about a couple of things. First of all.... if it works, it works and I would be happy with the results. But I have used those lamps in many different applications. On the job, over desks, over worktables and in the chicken coop. They are great lamps but I had a handful burn up on me. I wonder if a smoke detector would be helpful ....just a thought. Your heat/vapor shield is almost on top of the light, it will cause that area to get awful hot ..possibly to the point of causing a fire. I suspect the bulb is blowing out because of moisture . I use an infrared bulb that is 250 watts in a well pit, the old heat lamps used to get wet and break, I found these amzn.to/3xg6FuJ work all winter Also, just an idea but you might want to consider making a cylinder from some sheet metal and placing it over the bulb (where you just installed the flat sheet of metal) or whole lamp so that the cylinder is past the bottom rack of bowls and so it could vent and disperse the heat to a larger area past the bowls .....the heat will swirl back down just as fast as it goes up in that tiny space. Thanks again .... good stuff :)

[@LisaRamlow]

Hi Scott! Thanks for the input. I’ve not had any trouble with the 60w incandescent since I put the shield over it. My friend who used this same setup uses a 125w or 150w heat lamp and that’s what I initially bought but it was DOA and I just never went back down that road. I have contemplated getting a heat lamp meant for reptile enclosures but the recent reviews are complaining the bulbs are blowing after a few weeks so I haven’t gone that route either. The pan light is the same kind we used in our chicken coop and is rated for at least 150w so I’m thinking a 60w should be well within its safety range. I don’t know how hot it gets on the dishwasher with the heated dry cycle on but I would think pretty warm. The heat shield is zip tied to the bottom of the bottom rack so there is airspace of at least a few inches between the bulb & the flashing-I was really only trying to keep it from dripping directly on the bulb. Having said all that, I’m expecting to have to tweak things a bit here and there so we’ll see how it goes. So far I’m really happy with how it’s performing. I just added a temperature probe in there yesterday to see how hot it gets when the bulb is on so that will give me some input as well. And there is a smoke detector right above the dishwasher, because there’s also a microwave and a toaster oven above the kiln. Smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors are in place 😁

[@mgdesigns37069]

Really cool ideas. I need to start drying urn blanks, also. Can you post or send me photos of the roll around tool rack you have? Thanks.

[@LisaRamlow]

Hi Mark! I put a little blurb about the tool rack in the beginning of this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHiuh5-KapiEfLc

[@Chris-gk1vr]

LR do you rinse your bowls before putting them in the dishwasher? 😊

[@LisaRamlow]

😂 well I do coat them in AnchorSeal before they go in

[@STMwoodturning]

Excellent idea! What do you think will be your average turn around time on drying the bowls and how many can you get in there? Stuart

[@LisaRamlow]

Hi Stuart - I think maybe 3-4 weeks, but I’ve not done it with the humidity controller so I’m. OT sure. I’m pretty sure I could get as many bowls as I could possibly batch out myself over a couple of days. I think I could fit 20 in there without issue, but my bowls do tend to be a bit smaller than what some of the other guys do so not sure. Considering I’m not doing production runs I think this size (being smaller than a freezer) will be about right for how many I need to do at a time. Thanks for watching 😊

[@STMwoodturning]

@@LisaRamlow thanks for the feedback. I guess the other nice thing about using a dishwasher is the added table space on top.

[@Haunold]

I happen to be building such a device myself, hence my question: Why do you use Anchorseal before you put the objects in the dishwasher? Would it work the same way without Anchorseal? Do you coat your turned objects completely with Anchorseal or just ingrain? Thanks!

[@LisaRamlow]

Hi Gerhard! The AnchorSeal on the end grain helps slow the drying process whether it’s naturally air drying or going in a kiln. They seal the ends on slab wood before drying it as well - just helps even out the moisture loss and helps to prevent it from checking or cracking. I think it really depends on the wood - you might be fine not coating the ends, but I lost a bunch of blanks early on using a sealer of thinned down wood glue. I decided that while AnchorSeal is a bit pricey, it does go a long way and it’s worth it - a lot of hours wasted when all the pieces I’d cut cracked and split. So far I’m just doing the end grain and it’s working really well. And this kiln with the humidity controller is doing better than I’d hoped for m, with a very minimal investment in building the kiln itself and in the operation - whatever little bit of juice the controller pulls plus a 60w light bulb on and off for a few weeks. I don’t use a fan or anything and so far so good 😊

[@louisjcharlett8509]

Lisa, let us know how it works. Did you install a 'fan' to move air through the kiln?

[@LisaRamlow]

No fan, just the light. I did one “load” just leaving the 60w bulb on all the time and didn’t have any cracks but I think this will be a better option. I do have a little airflow from the openings around the pan light and the hole on the top and vent in the door. I can add a fan later if it seems necessary, but Jason’s cooler kiln is totally enclosed with no fan and a 125w heat lamp and he’s having great success.

[@snturner10]

Hmmmm. I am using a refrigerator for my dryer. I was wondering why the light bulbs keep burning out so fast. My setup is a little different than yours so I am not sure how I can protect the bulbs.

[@LisaRamlow]

Hi Scott. Honestly I’m a bit perplexed myself as I did one “load” by just leaving the 60w bulb in the pan light exposed and left it on for several weeks. It made it through that fine but when I tried to do another load I blew two 60w and a 40w so I dunno. Hoping the shield will keep moisture from hitting the bulb and socket directly. We’ll see how it goes!

[@danbrown9224]

Hi Lisa Watched your video on your dishwasher kiln. Can you let me know how it’s going? I’d like to build one myself, and any suggestions you may have would be helpful. Thanks

[@LisaRamlow]

Hi Dan! I’m super happy with the kiln. The humidity controller works really well and I wouldn’t change anything about the build - the only “downside” is that it’s smaller than the upright freezer kilns, but it’s plenty big enough for me most of the time. 👍

[@danbrown9224]

That’s great to hear, I just ordered the ink for 308 with heating and cooling it should arrive within the next day or so I’m gonna put it all together and I’ll let you know how it goes thanks Lisa