Noob question about a online tutorial

[Charlie8311]

I am considering making this project. I want to make this to use with a crock pot to melt wax for sculpting. This will allow me to control the temp of the wax more precisely.

But my interpretation is that the dimmer works on both outlets.. when I sculpt I also need to use a heated kind of pen tool made out of a soldering iron that needs a variable control too.. it would be cool if I could control both outlets separately.

Would it be easy to modify this design to use a bigger "gang box" and have 2 dimmers and two separate plugs?

The Crock-O-Stat

 

[Mikebits]

Would it be easy to modify this design

That is hard to say since we have not seen the design that which you speak of. Would it not be possible to run your iron from a seperate AC circuit with an extension cord? That seems to be easiest solution.

 

[Charlie8311]

Sorry about that! Multi-tasking and ADD don't go well together. I posted the link in the original post.

Hey Mike, I am in San Diego too.

 

[audioguru]

My soldering iron has temperature control. Its tip stays at the same temperature when it is doing nothing and when it is heating something big. When it heats something big it turns on to max until the temperature is correct.

The dimmer will reduce the temperature of your sculpt tool when it is doing nothing. But then the tool cools when it is cutting something cool. No temperature control.

 

[Charlie8311]

Yeah.. I don't know how well this works. I am just following the instructions of other sculptors.

The thing too is that we need to modify these soldering irons to make them more suited to sculpting, so people buy cheap soldering irons that don't have many features I am guessing.


Which soldering iron did you get? I will Google it.

 

[Mikebits]

For wax sculpting you do not need anything fancy. I would think one of those irons sold as wood burners would be fine (Check Michaels in Mission Valley) as they also come with handy shapes for doing different burn work.

Where in SD are ya. I am near Seaworld...

 

[Leftyretro]

I am considering making this project. I want to make this to use with a crock pot to melt wax for sculpting. This will allow me to control the temp of the wax more precisely.

But my interpretation is that the dimmer works on both outlets.. when I sculpt I also need to use a heated kind of pen tool made out of a soldering iron that needs a variable control too.. it would be cool if I could control both outlets separately.

Would it be easy to modify this design to use a bigger "gang box" and have 2 dimmers and two separate plugs?

The Crock-O-Stat

Hi Charlie;

There is a couple of ways you can proceed. You can of course build two of them each with a short input cord and plug them into an extension cord that has two outlets.

You can also build the unit as shown, but by cutting a shorting strap on most any dual outlet socket you can wire it such that the upper outlet is adjustable and the lower one outputs normal full voltage. Be sure to label which outlet socket is adjustable and which is not if you do this.

And if you go to a specialty electrical supply house they can sell you a quad size box big enough to build two of these controls into it.


The issued raised by Audioguru about temperature control is germain to the subject. There are different kinds of control schemes. One is manual (or open loop) control where you have a knob where you can raise of lower the input power but the actual product temperature can still vary by load or ambient temeperture changes. Automatic (or closed loop) control is where one has a temperature sensor actually measuring the product temperature and adjusting the input power automatically to maintain a constant temperature regradless of what forces try and upset the heat balance. The design you have based on a light dimmer is an example of manual control.

Only you and your application can determine if manual temperature control will be close enough or not. Percise control implies automatic mode, which costs more then manual control. Manual controls means you have to keep an eye on the product to make sure it stays within specification, perhaps by keeping a candy temperature gauge placed in the pot?

Lefty

 

[Mikebits]

Seems I misread your original post as I thought you wanted you solder pen on seperate control. Lefties plan sounds like a good one.

 

[Charlie8311]

For wax sculpting you do not need anything fancy. I would think one of those irons sold as wood burners would be fine (Check Michaels in Mission Valley) as they also come with handy shapes for doing different burn work.

This is the area I live.. East of the Valley.. in the Grossmont college area.

Yeah.. wood burners. That's right. That's exactly what they use. So you sculpt?

Some guys use dental wax pens.. for sculpting teeth I gues.. They cost like 500 bucks. And the different tips are a fortune too.

 

[Mikebits]

This is the area I live.. East of the Valley.. in the Grossmont college area.

Yeah.. wood burners. That's right. That's exactly what they use. So you sculpt?

Some guys use dental wax pens.. for sculpting teeth I gues.. They cost like 500 bucks. And the different tips are a fortune too.

Heck, out there in the zone you don't need a burner, just stick it outside
Been a hot week huh?

 

[Charlie8311]

Seems I misread your original post as I thought you wanted you solder pen on seperate control. Lefties plan sounds like a good one.

Maybe I should make a little Sketchup model to show what I envisioned. What I mainly wanted was just a slightly larger box, then have one control for the top outlet and one control for the bottom.. so 2 round knobs.

Then I could have the crock pot on one plug and the pen on the other.

 

[Mikebits]

So you sculpt?

The only thing I ever sculpted was some mashed potato shaped like a Plateau

 

[Mikebits]

Maybe something like this.
Buy "Ace" Decora Style Dual Rotary Fan Control & Dimmer at BuyHardwareSupplies.com

 

[Charlie8311]

Hi Charlie;

Hi Left. Thanks for the great response. I am fascinated by all this electronics stuff. I have wanted to learn about it on my own but have no idea where to begin. And info is great.

There is a couple of ways you can proceed. You can of course build two of them each with a short input cord and plug them into an extension cord that has two outlets.

You can also build the unit as shown, but by cutting a shorting strap on most any dual outlet socket you can wire it such that the upper outlet is adjustable and the lower one outputs normal full voltage. Be sure to label which outlet socket is adjustable and which is not if you do this.

And if you go to a specialty electrical supply house they can sell you a quad size box big enough to build two of these controls into it.

Ok cool! So I have lots of easy options. Perfect. It seems like 2 controls would be ideal. If I want to use it like a normal plug I can just turn it to max, right?

The issued raised by Audioguru about temperature control is germain to the subject. There are different kinds of control schemes. One is manual (or open loop) control where you have a knob where you can raise of lower the input power but the actual product temperature can still vary by load or ambient temeperture changes. Automatic (or closed loop) control is where one has a temperature sensor actually measuring the product temperature and adjusting the input power automatically to maintain a constant temperature regradless of what forces try and upset the heat balance. The design you have based on a light dimmer is an example of manual control.

I think I read about those when researching the Segway. A control loop? I just need something to read read the temp.

Only you and your application can determine if manual temperature control will be close enough or not. Percise control implies automatic mode, which costs more then manual control. Manual controls means you have to keep an eye on the product to make sure it stays within specification, perhaps by keeping a candy temperature gauge placed in the pot?

It's an interesting idea.. If I could work it out it would be a neat feature. But with sculpting there is so much expense it might be best to keep it as simple as possible.

 

[Charlie8311]

Heck, out there in the zone you don't need a burner, just stick it outside
Been a hot week huh?

Hot summer.. Crikey.. will fall get here already.. sheez..

 

[Charlie8311]

Maybe something like this.
Buy "Ace" Decora Style Dual Rotary Fan Control & Dimmer at BuyHardwareSupplies.com

Ok.. this is going to get really crazy now.. this was what I was really thinking of doing but I was going to bring up part 2 later. But probably best to mention it now because it might bring up different issues.

This is what I really wanted to do..

I wanted to run this off one plug and then run the crock pot off the other plug or a wax pen. And have a dimmer for each.

http://www.myheap.com/book/chapter-02/heatgun/heatgun/HotAirSetupLarge.jpg

 

[Mikebits]

This is easily done, the question is how you want to add dimmer controls. Adding controls to an existing outlet would be the most pain because you would have to add the dimmer into the wall. I would suggest you make a dimmer control extension cord. So you would have something like.

From outlet
AC>---------Dimmer-------<AC out

This is easily built. I can draw up something for you if you like.

 

[Charlie8311]

Thanks Mike! That would be great.

The thing is.. I was thinking of making that actuator out of some material that isn't flammable. Something other than wood. But I need something that can easily be worked because I don't have any power tools. heh I might just have to make it out of wood though.. if I make it out of some existing metal box I would probably electrocute myself working on it.

Oh.. would you guys happen to know where I can get that momentary switch thing? The big red button.

 

[Mikebits]

Who said anything about wood? No need. It can be done with boxes like so.

**broken link removed**

Not sure why it says error on the link, still work...

Well the above is not exactly what I had in mind but close.

If I recall, there is a Home Depot near Johnson Ave. Your one stop store for such a project. I will make you up a drawing, but not tonight. Okiday?

 

[Mikebits]

Here is a basic electrical drawing of what you could make.

Disclaimer: Use of this drawing is for educational purposes. Any other use is at users own risk as use of this circuit exposes user of such circuit to high potentially lethal voltages.

Also note: Ground wire not shown.