Royce Meritt
01-03-2012, 9:42 AM
I made my first attempt at steam bending a few days ago but had a minor "issue".
First of all, my set-up:
I built a steam box of 3/4" plywood. Placed a metal gas can on an electric hot plate. Attached a piece of 3/4" ID vinyl tubing to the gas can and ran that to my steam box.
Now the "issue"...
Once the water started boiling it seemed to produce a good amount of steam but from time to time seemed like the steam stopped going into the steam box. The vinyl tubing became VERY warm and seemed to get a lot of condensation on the inside of the tubing. I think I was losing too much heat through the vinyl tubing and the steam was condensing back into a liquid before it reached the steam box.
Does that seem like a reasonable explaination or is there some other problem with my set up? Would insulating my vinyl tubing or using a different type of tubing help? ANy other thoughts?
Thanks.
First of all, my set-up:
I built a steam box of 3/4" plywood. Placed a metal gas can on an electric hot plate. Attached a piece of 3/4" ID vinyl tubing to the gas can and ran that to my steam box.
Now the "issue"...
Once the water started boiling it seemed to produce a good amount of steam but from time to time seemed like the steam stopped going into the steam box. The vinyl tubing became VERY warm and seemed to get a lot of condensation on the inside of the tubing. I think I was losing too much heat through the vinyl tubing and the steam was condensing back into a liquid before it reached the steam box.
Does that seem like a reasonable explaination or is there some other problem with my set up? Would insulating my vinyl tubing or using a different type of tubing help? ANy other thoughts?
Thanks.