At 12:53 24/12/96 +0000, you wrote:
>Last year I helped my mother in law make a cabinet which she uses for
>warming honey and for melting wax (she is a very keen wax exhibitor).
 
I know your In-laws very well Joe and I must say that this a splendid piece
of beekeeping DIY.   You listed the foil but didn't mention that it was used
to line the inside of the new "lid".  I thought that the original lid, apart
from losing heat when lifted, also suffered melt-down of the inner plastic
at melting wax temperatures.   I'll have to check with Bob but wasn't the
timber of the lid an off-cut of some specially constructed insulation board?
By the way, my primitive 'fridge warming-cabinet is controlled by a hot
water-tank thermostat which is very steady.  I use two 40 watt lamps:  it
heats up quicker but also one lamp can just cope if the other burns out
while the door is shut!
 
Regards,
 
Glyn Davies, Ashburton. Devon. UK  
 
>
>We used -
>
>1 old freezer
>1 bulb socket
>1 bulb 60w
>1 small lighting dimmer switch
>1 battery powered LED thermometer with probe
>Foil
>
>Apart from the freezer the other components cost about £20.  The only
>disadvantage that we found with the cabinet was that it lost heat
>very quickly when the lid was opened which is probably OK for warming
>honey,  but for smallish amounts of wax this was a problem.  My father in
>law solved this problem by replacing the lid of the freezer (chest
>type) with a piece of timber in which he placed a lens of the sort
>fitted to doors to enable someone inside a house to view somebody on
>the other side.  This enabled my mother in law to see whether her wax
>had melted without lifting the lid of the freezer.
>
>A cardboard slip could be added to the dimmer to give some idea of
>the temperature at different settings.
>
>Seasonal Greetings
>
>Joe Hemmens
>
>
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