Perfecting the bean can & soldering iron

[Richierich]

My Oak turned up yesterday, around half a bin liner full of Oak planings from a chap who was making some furniture, one downside, he dropped the bag before he secured it, so upon sweeping up the wood he has got bits of all sorts in it (mostly concrete, plaster) although they are big enough bits to see.

I have been experimenting with the soldering iron in the bean can, but it is taking over 20 minutes before any real smoke is seen coming out of the top, but upon pouring out the wood there is a real hot part around the iron, do I need to get a small bit going first, or do I need some holes in the can?

I think I will get that dimmer switch too, something funny happened yesterday whilst testing and the house tripped out, not sure if it was me and the soldering iron, or just a coincidence.

[georgebaker]

Hi
tried the dimmer switch with soldering irons before for other jobs it works well

You could wash the concrete out of the shavings

George

[saucisson]

How big are the shavings? if they are too large they may not pack in around the iron, and are also less likely to drop down on the iron as the ones below burn out. drilling additional air holes runs the risk of you setting the shavings alight rather than just smouldering them.

Dave

[wheels]

Hi Dave
I have been using the soldering iron method with just the tip and probably 3mm of the 'shaft' in the tin. Your method works great!
I have been using the 'standard' barbeque wood chips (approx 25mm x 6mm pieces). It takes about 15 mins or so to get going then produces steady smoke with a shake about every 3 hours or so.

Hope this helps

Phil

[saucisson]

Thanks Phil, it's all food for thought.

I couldn't find my new soldering iron to smoke a side of salmon today so had to go back to basics, with surprising results...

More to follow tomorrow


Dave

[Ptarmigan]

I have been experimenting with the soldering iron in the bean can, but it is taking over 20 minutes before any real smoke is seen coming out of the top

In my simple experiments I found that a volume of shavings above the iron and the smouldering bits inhibited the production of smoke.
I wondered : either because they were absorbing the smoke being produced below, or they were preventing shavings falling down upon the iron allowing a void to form round the iron tip.

I found that 'dibbling' ( a technical term !) a conical hole down to the iron with a twig allowed the escape of smoke and allowed shavings to fall down in, not too many dibblings needed per 3hr.
A vibrator may be needed
Also, I had air gaps underneath, where the iron entered the beer can

> or just a coincidence

Its the positronwevils, they hate electronics, but dont usually come out before dark

[Richierich]

Thanks for the replies, the oak I have is very fine shavings, almost dust at times. I had more success (more smoke at least) with the standard barbecue chips, might be worth mixing the two, although I am sick of experimenting, I just wanna get some food in the thing now.

[saucisson]

Rich, I can nip up the road for a visit if you want some help to get you started,

Dave

[Richierich]

Rich, I can nip up the road for a visit if you want some help to get you started,

Dave

Thanks for the offer Dave, I think I need to just take the leap and crack on, I have a small piece of bacon in the fridge, might be a good starting point.

I mean, how hard can it be.

[Richierich]

The bloody soldering iron keeps throwing a wobbler and tripping the main RCD on the consumer unit, solved it by plugging the soldering iron into a circuit breaker, so I don't have to reset clocks etc round the house when it goes. Could it be getting too hot? Will the dimmer solve this? Or do I need a better soldering iron?

It has been on for around 1/2 hour and went twice in about 3 minutes after around 20 minutes of use.

[jenny_haddow]

I'm going to give the tin and soldering iron method a go with my Bradley. We have modified some old microwave casings to create a cold smoking chamber which works seamlessly with the Bradley bisquettes. However, I'm intrigued to try Dave's method, I think I have good conditions for it here, so I will report back.

Regarding the 200 year old wood shavings that I posted a thread about, I shan't be smoking with them, but I am going to try and create some bisquettes that work with the Bradley, I'll use them for the prototypes, not for food. I found a recipe on line a while back on how to do it, but didn't bookmark it, so I have to do a trawl to find it.

Hope the soldering iron is behaving Richie, my problem here, out in the sticks, is frequent, short power cuts. Darned annoying.

Cheers

Jen

[Richierich]

I think I have spotted a pattern, it seems to trip every half an hour or so, I have to leave it about 10 minutes once it goes, reset the circuit breaker and its fine.

I am amazed how much smoke is coming off it now, its getting better, only problem is the sun has just come out and the temperature is rising.

[saucisson]

It may be the iron, I can leave mine on for days at a time with no circuit breaker problems, although when my old one burnt out it did trip the house, My new one was from Maplin and seems fine for long term use too.

Dave

[Ptarmigan]

The bloody soldering iron keeps throwing a wobbler and tripping the main RCD on the consumer unit, solved it by plugging the soldering iron into a circuit breaker, so I don't have to reset clocks etc round the house when it goes. Could it be getting too hot?

Probably !
when metal (heating elments) get hot they can expand and touch things that it ought not to !
this may improve when/if moisture is driven out ( not a prob in your case I think)

>Will the dimmer solve this?
Possibly, also several cycles of drying out may improve the situation

>Or do I need a better soldering iron?

Probably !

If it were me I would disconnect the earth wire to the iron
But that is just what I would do and as a qualified electrical/electronics engineer I could not advise anyone else to do this.

To my mind, providing a substantial path between a consumer and an earth/pme/star point is folly compared to wearing rubber wellies

So be thankfull for your trips.

[Richierich]

No complaints about the trips, its better than the soldering iron going terminal. Just means I have to baby sit the whole process.

Dave - What sort of soldering iron do you have?