HT oven DIY build

I

IanF

Well-Known Member
Hey guys

I have decided to make my own HT oven and whilst I feel I have most of the design sorted I am looking for some opinion on door setups please. There seem to be three main types - side hinged, drop down (bottom hinged) or guillotine style. Hinged versions would probably easier but there may be good reason to go with the lift up style guillotine door like having it up and out of the way as well as directing heat away from you? With a side or bottom hinge it seems reasonably straight forward to have a part of the door protruding a little into the chamber of the kiln (kind of like a plug)to help seal the heat in but that would (I think) be a lot harder on the guillotine style.

I am sure each version would work fine for my hobby use - just wondering if there are some strong opinions on this aspect of the HT oven design?

Thanks
Ian
 
I’m curious what others say on this. I have plans to try and get one built a little down the road, as well. I had thought of doing the side swinging door, as I’ve heard from some that the draw bridge type can radiate a fair bit of heat when you’re reaching in to put stuff in/take it out.

I really like the idea of the guillotine type that I’ve seen on some of the Paragon ovens. Having it swing a short distance away and up out of the way would be ideal to me. Part of my problem is limited bench space, so having an oven that doesn’t need an even wider area to operate (but taller is fine) would be helpful, too.

Jeremy
 
If I was building it, it'd be a side swing. Mostly because it's the simplest in my head and designing properly operating doors that don't fall down on my hand doesn't sound like fun to me.
 
Falling down on head when opened is a very real consideration. BUT - I like the idea of a door opening upward and out a tad. Closing would allow weight of door to close tightly helping to seal during heating. A side swinging door as I have on EvenHeat oven is certainly simpler.
 
I just finished an oven build, and I debated this very question for a while myself. I ruled out the paragon style swing forward and down doors, because I didn't want all the door heat right where my hands were going, and it would just throw that much more back at my face as well. I also thought about the more traditional guillotine style with counter weights, but that just seemed like it'd be more complicated than necessary, and more to maintain and keep clean.
Cress makes some benchtop models with a "parallel" hinge, that keeps the door vertical while it opens up and out. It uses counter balance too. It was probably the next best option that I considered, but I still felt like it was over complicated, especially when you consider that I'm only opening the door a couple of times per "heat treat session".
Ultimately, I went with just a simple side swing door with a gate latch.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jaqiAd]
 
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