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The Maria Telkes cooker is finished and I've given it a trial run
This is a design I got here
It took me six attempts at the wooden main cooker box part, because I don't have great tools, and I am a beginning woodworker.
The large foil fins are for focussing sunlight into the box over the range of time and sun-tracking for however long it takes to cook what you are cooking.
As a test I attempted to melt cheese onto toast. The cheese got warm, and vapour condensed into a fog inside of the glass, but it did not melt. Either February is too cold here to use it outside, or the box needs better insulation (there were gaps in the caulking), or or something else. I did make the box smaller to fit the panes of glass I had avaiable, because I just couldn't get the hang of the glass-cutter, but maybe the smaller box just won't get as hot. The box according to the plans was truly enormous. With the fins I'd say the box is still a bit too large and bulky to be practical and I'm interested in seeing how small I can make it.
Stay tuned!
This is a design I got here
It took me six attempts at the wooden main cooker box part, because I don't have great tools, and I am a beginning woodworker.
The large foil fins are for focussing sunlight into the box over the range of time and sun-tracking for however long it takes to cook what you are cooking.
As a test I attempted to melt cheese onto toast. The cheese got warm, and vapour condensed into a fog inside of the glass, but it did not melt. Either February is too cold here to use it outside, or the box needs better insulation (there were gaps in the caulking), or or something else. I did make the box smaller to fit the panes of glass I had avaiable, because I just couldn't get the hang of the glass-cutter, but maybe the smaller box just won't get as hot. The box according to the plans was truly enormous. With the fins I'd say the box is still a bit too large and bulky to be practical and I'm interested in seeing how small I can make it.
Stay tuned!
