Endless Tinkering (with solar cookers)

by Brad
(Las Vegas)

I have a cocotte that is 8 1/2" wide (see picture), and I really like its size. When I'm solar cooking a single meal, it's perfect. Last year, when I first started playing around with the ASSC, I downloaded a PDF.
All Season Solar Cooker Schematic

There were a lot of instructions of how to measure it out, and although the level of detail is excellent, I do a lot of exact measurement, protocol and procedural adherence at work, so I'm "winging it" when it comes to my hobbies.

Note: I used to build remote controlled airplanes from scratch and that's a hobby where small inaccuracies or details matter a great deal. It was a lot of fun, until you crash one and have to start all over again. Mistakes are very expensive in both time and materials. Solar cooking is neither.

So I took that PDF and although it says it is "Not-To-Scale", it's pretty darn close. Since I have a plotter available to me, I choose ANSI D size and print it out. The result was the picture where it is laid out. Kind of looks like a Stanley Cup that went through the dryer, doesn't it?

The box section, instead of being 11 1/2 inches squared, winds up 8 1/2 inches squared. Using this paper plot as my template, I traced it out onto a piece of cardboard, then cut (outline) and scored (bends). Aluminum foil tape goes on, and this one winds up being my single serving ASSC cooker. I like it. Don't love it though.

Since I am an endless tinkerer, and having done the reflector math for solar panel cookers, I decided this morning to make my top and bottom sections wider (that's right, football game starts late today).

I simply cut off the top and bottom portion of the layout, place under the cut pieces a section of foamboard, trace the shape, but add three or four inches to the lengths. Cut, score, tape onto the same central section (box area), and voila. The final picture of a side-by-side standard ASSC, and my smaller boxed area version.


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Hey Brad,
I like your endless tinkering...it helps the rest of us to see the endless possibilities with regards to making quick, easy, simple solar cookers for all kinds of uses.

Thanks,

Nathan
Admin.