What Solar Cookers? How To Make a Solar CooKit

[Lazvegas00]

Explain less about why, and do more HOW TO

[strive4impact]

@Lazvegas00 Will definitely do so in the next video. Thank-you very much for your feedback. It does help me improve.

[sparkles8921]

who knows wha the materials are?

please explain

[strive4impact]

@sparkles8921 These are aluminum sheets which came from a printing press. At the printing press, they get inked and then are used to stamp ink onto paper or other materials. They were mis-printed, so I got them for free.

[jigmesam]

I used to use these plates when I was a plate setter for a big printing factory. Evil things.

[itsok4me]

Can you get sick from some of the materials used to make the cooker? I've seen some people spray with black paint to make it hotter. With the heat doesn't the fumes get into your food?

[strive4impact]

@itsok4me I think you could get sick from the fumes if you didn't use a lid on your pot. But to be safe, you could just buy a black pot or even a cast-iron pot which (although heavy) will hold the heat as well.

[stoneofrefuge]

i wonder about where to get iridium or the material you are describing here. I know its thin as paper. I am curious where to purchase the stuff to make a home made solar cooking kit.

[strive4impact]

The material I'm using here is just polished aluminum. But I know some people have had good success with broken mirror pieces glued inside of the funnel.

[Jeff5894]

I am doing a solar cooker for my science class. I must say you helped me out a hole lot.  :) Thanks man!

[strive4impact]

Happy to help! Would you do me a favor? Would you go to the forum on GreenJoyment, sign up, and submit some pictures of your solar cooker? It would be awesome to see what your cooker looks like!

[Jeff5894]

Sure. Just gimme a bit cuz its at school at the moment xD. I'll have it back in like 3 or 4 days.

[strive4impact]

Perfect. Thanks much. I'm looking forward to seeing it!

[coldzach]

you played flute

[strive4impact]

Ummm... in Elementary School I played Clarinet...?

[Joisushi]

I think you should be a bit more patient with the video and making the solar cooker. It was a difficult to understand because it seemed like you were rushing and you kept saying things like 'oh I shouldn't do this....or I should do this.....etc' and it make everything a bit confusing.

Either way, thanks for the video. I need to make a solar cooker for my AP Environmental Science class and I think this video help me a bit. Thanks. =]

[strive4impact]

Hey! THanks for the feedback... I'm learning to be more patient with myself. :) Have you seen the other solar cooker videos I put on here? My favorite was the solar funnel cooker...

[XxVizzinixX]

your video made me laugh and was also very interesting. you helped me decide how not to go about things should i ever try this project. if i could make one suggestion it would be to use reflective foil tape instead of duct tape. it could be put on both sides and wouldn't effect heating too much.

[strive4impact]

@XxVizzinixX Reflective foil tape would really help any solar cooker. Thank-you for that suggestion!

[cousin229]

Your videos are very interesting, you do a good job! Please can you add subtitles? I am deaf ...

[strive4impact]

Wow... never had that request before. I can add a transcript... adding subtitles to the videos takes hours - I've done it in the past... but I'll be happy to post a transcript next to the video.

[cousin229]

Thank you for answering my text comment, I do not want you to spend too much time, only if you can write a paper with ingredients needed or simple instructions to follow, will be great!

Thank you again!

[strive4impact]

Hey! I don't know if I ever got back to you, but I had the video transcribed and posted it on GreenJoyment [dot] com. Go to the solar cooking section, click on solar cookit, and go to the very bottom of the page where it says Continue reading "How to Make a Solar Cookit (From Aluminum Sheets)" » Click that link and you can read a transcript of everything I said when making the video for the cookit. Hope that helps!

Jonathan

[keynada1995]

your son is cute the one on bike in you

[strive4impact]

That's funny... he's not my son. Just my neighbor.

:)

[chris42999]

u look like a nice guy but your video is half baked. think things through. oh.... and paint your garage cealing

[strive4impact]

Thanks for watching the video and for your suggestions. I do need to do a better job of thinking a whole project through before starting... but I'm also good at just taking action on things and learning by screwing up. (Just FYI, Painting the garage ceiling is about second to last on my list of priorities, so I'll put it in the back of my mind as a recommendation.) Thanks for watching and commenting!

[RHEAD100]

You did not say the metal is Aluminum. But I am guessing it is, because of the way you cut it (retired sheet metal worker here). I may be wrong. BUT; I think some tooth past and a very fast turning buffing wheel would improve the shinny part of the metal. Could bring it really close to true mirrow. At least 90%. Then a very thin coat of clear acrylic spray.

The faster the buffer the higher the shine.

[strive4impact]

Yep. It's aluminum. That's a GREAT suggestion. I'll try it and see what results we get. Thanks for the suggestion and for watching.

[GUSRULZ445]

could you just cut the metal into a circle then cut from the middle out then fold one of the cut edges over the over and make a concave mirror and put food in a stand in the middle and put the mirror on a stand angling the sun.

[strive4impact]

Hey Gus! You absolutely could do that, and it works bery well... just make sure that it's inside of an oven bag. What you've described would be a solar funnel cooker... if you visit the URL in the video, you'll see we made a solar funnel cooker out of cardboard and aluminum, which you could do using sheet metal or mylarized aluminum as well.

[gaiatechnician]

Here is a hint. Shine a laser level on your material. It should bounce the dot off as a dot. But sometimes it does not! I have found some alu sheet that disperses the light in strange patterns! So it will NOT work good for solar cooking because the light does not bounce off at the angle it should bounce at. Brian

[prepaidlegalplan]

This is a GREAT suggestion! I think the material works in this case, as it worked for the Eagle cooker, but maybe I did the angles incorrectly.

[dkw12002]

It was a long time ago, but I think I paid a quarter for each at the local newspaper office.

If I had more of these, I would drill a few holes along the sides, bend it into a U-shape or partial parabolic cooker, secure it in that position with wire through the holes, put a base on it and a separate stand for holding the cooking pot above it int he focal point.

[dkw12002]

Yes, I put a new roof on an old smoke house with these. They still had the newspaper print on them which is a bit of preserved history cause the roof is still doing well since 1968. Watch you don't cut your fingers!

[strive4impact]

That's a very cool use of them. Did you get them for free? Now to figure out how to take them and use them on the roof, and reflect that sunlight onto a focused point (like a stone surface or something) that can heat up without getting too hot, and be an outdoor grill!

:)