looking around the yard, I found a trashed a.c. window unit, which you can see here after I removed the top outer casing-
I wanted something made of metal to transfer heat quickly and not catch on fire too easily- so this should do the trick-
and lookee here- this fluorescent light fixture looks like a good size for flat work-
hmmm.... let's make this the box- the guts are out and the contact retaining strips have been kludged into the light grill retaining slots- oooh! -rain mist on the lens makes pretty snowflakes.
here's the flattened a. c. cover sitting beside the light fixture
wow, the a.c. cover width fits neatly in the light fixture, we can always trim the length later on if that overhang ends up radiating away too much heat or something.
and I've closed it using my kludged hinges along one side (maybe simple hand spring clamps would be better, but it just fit so neatly into the vent slots, locking it, that it would be a shame not to use them. gonna have to slap some aluminum foil over those slits.
here's the tools I used:
next: building the solar array-
I'll need some wood to hold the reflector panels aimed and in place:
Hmmm.... if I paint the box flat black on the outside, won't it get that much hotter on the inside?
Just happen to have some of this (feels half-full, should be enough) lying around:
and here's some roof flashing just kind of lying around. I could bend it in some way to focus some sunlight onto a smaller area- why am I thinking of cutting circles and then cutting pie-holes out (and then shutting them up)?
Who TF knows if this will work, but Mom says I can't use her toaster oven (it's too small anyway)
it started raining as I was taking these photos, so we'll have to postpone the focusing tests, in the meantime, I can figure out what to do with the rest of the air conditioner- can I recycle the freon (and please refrain from telling me ways to inhale it)?
perhaps it will engage in a symbiotic relationship with the wild grapes and become something greater than the sum of it's parts...
