2 new DIY projects

**mountain_man_mike** · 11-11-2015, 16:13

I finally got to spend some time on a couple of projects I've been wanting to complete and here they are.

I finished a DIY food dehydrator made from an old newspaper vending machine, a heat lamp, some computer fans, reflectix and some aluminum tape. It wasn't as hard as it might seem. I have about $10 invested in it and am glad to have found new life for some old items. Essentially I started by cutting some holes in the panels of the vending machine to accommodate the heat lamp, fans, switches and ventilation. I then wired the controls (including a dimmer switch for the heat lamp), lined it with reflectix using the aluminum tape, changed out the plastic display window with a metal one, plugged it in and calibrated the heat setting.

The next project was making an extension for my underquilt. I would rate it at about 70%, somewhere between a 2/3 and 3/4 underquilt. It's great for backpacking trips, but for car camping or colder trips I wanted a full length UQ. Rather than make another complete UQ, I made an extension of about 20" and stitched in a 48" #3 zipper so I could zip it in and zip it off. The part with the zipper pull is stitched to the extension so it's out of harms way when the extension is not used. This might be a nice offering to the cottage industry here to make available to customers by adding value to their purchase, but that's for them to determine. It gives me great flexibility with my gear and I'm really happy about it.

The photos are close up and don't reflect fully that the extension zips to the end of the existing UQ and is roughly 48" wide by about 20" long, with a tensioner at the end of course.

**CountryRoads** · 11-11-2015, 19:37

Cool. Good idea for the quilt. It looks well done. And the dehydrator is pretty neat too.

**mountain_man_mike** · 11-12-2015, 13:22

Thanks CR. A lot of the adult in our troop who have made the UQ as part of their son't Hammock Camping merit badge have complained about cold feet so I thought this would be a good solution to their issues and the dehydrator was something to use in colder months. From May through September I can usually count on many 100+ degree days and an overhead fan to dry food.

**Canahang** · 11-12-2015, 18:10

Have you tried the extension yet? That's a neat idea. I feel like cool air might get in at the zipper connection. Maybe a small ~3" tube of down that's attached right above the zipper on the extension side so that it folds down over the zip connection on the inside?

**mountain_man_mike** · 11-16-2015, 14:41

I have tried it and it worked quite well. The photos don't show it very well but the zipper is offset from the end of both the UQ and the extension so there is a bit of overlap where they meet. It seemed like a good alternative to making another entire UQ, or buying one if it was a purchased item.

**Eidson** · 11-16-2015, 14:48

I'm really digging the underquilt extension idea. If you get a chance sometime, I'd love to see a complete view of the quilt in use with this attached. Nothing like a good action picture to show how it really works

That dehydrator is quite impressive as well.

**mountain_man_mike** · 11-16-2015, 18:10

Thanks, I should be able to snap a few shots in the next couple of weeks. The dehydrator was a fun project, more useful for folks in colder climates but this time of year it comes in handy.