Introduction: An Easy Modular Woodsteamer

About: student industrial engineer, industrial design at Howest industrial design centre in kortrijk Belgium please look at my portfolio @ http://www.timothydemaegdt.portfoliobox.me/
This instructables will show you how i build my modular woodsteamer, it is still a bit of a work in progress but you can use the thing if you want. The system is useable but i want to make it easier to set up and remove.

Things you will need:
1-old watercooker
1- 90° PVC pipe elbow diameter 110mm (choose one that almost fits the top of your watercooker
1-PVC pipe lengt is your own choice
1- old towel
some wood to support the pipe

if you want to steam bigger things like a board, you can use a styrofoam box where you cut a hole in and jam a piece of PVC tube in.

Tool you need:
a hacksaw (or use a angle grinder or dremel)
a Angle grinder with a cutting blade (optional)
a dremel with a cutting wheel (optional)
pliers
some screwdrivers
some soap
tape or glue ( don't use hotmelt because it WILL melt when the steamer is used)

some things i still need to do or work out myself:
the end of the PVC tube keeps deforming from the heat
i need to build a support for the tube
the cuts in the elbow need to be refined a bit and sealed off.

Step 1: The Watercooker Bit

WARNING don't do this if you don't know anything about electricity. I had an old watercooker that didn't turn on so i screwed open the thing and found out the switch was broken. since i didn't really need a switch (i just pull the plug) i just rewired the heating element to a powercord, making sure no wires touch the heating element i taped everything shut ( i broke some connections while opening it)

The problem is, that it is possible the heating element overheats and melts, to prevent this there always needs to be water in the cooker when its turned on.

If you want to sacrifice a working cooker, then you don't need to do this step, but you may want to tape the button in place, if the cooker has an auto off function.

Step 2: The Elbowy Bit

This part is the part where the tools come out, you need to cut some spaces out for the handle and the nose of the watercooker to sit in, i did this with a dremel and just eyeballed it. You have to make sure the uncut sides touch the side of the watercooker.

You need to seal the remaining holes, you can do this with some tape (but use stong tape because of the heat) or try to find some other solution, i think i will make a fabric seal for around the cooker.

you can test the seal by just pouring some water in the cooker, putting the elbow on an turning it on, if steam escapes somewhere, then there still is a hole there. A little steam isn't a problem but if more steam stays in the tube its better.


Step 3: The Modular End

The system is fully modular, you can connect any container by jamming a 110mm PVC pipe into it.

i just us a simple pipe that i close of with a wet cloth. the biggest problem is that the end of the tube deforms because of the heat.

now just pour water into it and start it up, i just leave my watercooker running and refill it when needed.

When i do some changes to the thing i will edit this instructables.