First i want to say. Do Not Try This At Home. Attempting can result in death. Now with that said here is one of my
DIY projects, my acrylic bender. Im going to use it to make some parts for my, soon to come
sump, and an internal overflow box that cost about 200 online im estimating to cost me 60 plus im able to customize it to my specs. I also have some projects down the road to get some more use out of this baby. Il post all my projects on this thead after im finished. Anyways this cost me only around 15$ because I had a lot of the materials but this is what I used.
1) 8ft piece of Pressure treated 1x4 ---------- had it
2) piece of plywood 1/2 x 2ft x 4ft -------- had it
3) package of 2 copper wire clamp things ------about 2$
4) dimmer switch -------------------------- had it but these run around 17$
5) old toaster oven------------------------- had it
6) extension cord 25ft -------------------------- 5$ home depot
7) yellow wire nuts --------------------had it
8) 1/4" bolt, nuts, washers, and lock washers --------- about 6$ home depot
9) 1 pieces of home 3 wire 5ft -------------- had it
10) brazing rod ------------ had it
11) wire staples - had it
12) screws------- had it
Tools used
1) hammer
2) Drill
3) Map gas torch --- had it but home depot sell them for about 30 i think verrrrry useful tool
4) tape measure
5 Wire pliers
I first tried some nichrome wire for the heating element. I ordered 25ft of gage off ebay for 7 bucks. This is it. It ended up going up like a fuse.
Here are the copper wire clamps used and how i attached them to the bolt
I took the extension cord cut it in the middle and wire nutted the black wire (ext crd) to one of the dimmer wires and the white wire (ext crd) to the wire clamps at the end. I Brazed 4 toaster oven elements together in a line and supported them with wire staples. Then clamped one end of the "4 piece element" to the white (ext crd) clamp and the other i ran through a tiny piece of angle iron with a hole in it. I had to do this bc when the elements heated up they would bend because there was no room for expansion. With the angle iron bracket the "4 piece element" is able to expand and contract in a straight line through the hole.
finally this how I attached the black wire that ran through the dimmer to the other side. With another clamp.
Put the final touches on her and tested. Worked like a charm, i forgot to take pictures so i will post those shortly.Once again this set up is very dangerous do not try at home.
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