Has anyone here ever made their own solar oven? I’ve cooked with a small portable one while camping but Id love to build my own backyard model I could make a few meals with at a time.
Most of the DIY solar oven projects Ive see out there are made out of cardboard and materials unlikely to last long. Id really like mine to last and be durable. You can buy nice ones I know, but Id really like to construct my own if possible.
Just looking for tips, thoughts, or resources you folks might have seen. Any suggestions on building it, using it, etc. are welcome!
“a few meals at a time”.
How is your python? I can make the code behind my calcs here available, so you could rerun it for your location, planned mass of food, and cooking temperature: https://bakefoldprint.wordpress.com/2023/05/23/solar-powered-ceramic-firing/
My Python skills are non existant sadly. I appreciate the offer though. Pretty cool idea, solar powered ceramic firing. My father is big into ceramics and I learned a bit over the years, so a pretty fun read.
I’ve built them from layers of foraged cardboard, aluminum foil for the reflector, and scavenged glass for the cover. A bit of black paint inside, possibly a black painted brick or several to hold heat in their thermal mass. They can work pretty well, if one has the time to keep it oriented towards the Sun. There are single and double axis heliostat designs that can keep it on the Sun, but that’s getting fancy. Depends on what you want, I suppose.
