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DIY lumber drying chamber drawings. DIY wood drying chamber

The drying process is the initial point in the entire preparation of the semi-finished product (wood) before processing.

Drying chamber for lumber and wood – great solution task, you can do it yourself. In order to avoid deformation of the logs, drying is carried out in specialized conditions, which are carried out exclusively in a drying apparatus.

Why is drying necessary?

For a long time, when making any wood crafts, they used timber that had been cut down several years earlier. Products made from damp or under-dried boards will warp or develop numerous cracks.

When the tree dries out, it shrinks, the raw wood material will “deform” over time, and huge wide cracks will form in the log house. Under-dried semi-finished products are likely to develop fungus. But it is not advisable to overdry the tree, because it will begin to absorb water, which will lead to swelling.

What are the modes of drying chambers?

There is a whole list of drying modes for wood materials. In built with my own hands In machines, the mode from lowest to highest changes gradually, removing all excess water from the semi-finished product. The drying process is carried out based on the following material characteristics:

wood species;
overall dimensions of the semi-finished product;
final and initial humidity levels;
specifics of the unit;
quality indicators of lumber.

The drying process can be characterized by high temperature or low temperature. The second case is notable in that primary drying is performed at a mode that does not reach 100ºC.

Low temperature conditions may be as follows:

soft - after drying is completed, semi-finished products have their original properties without changing strength or color;
moderate - the color changes slightly, the strength characteristics are slightly reduced;
accelerated - during subsequent processing (breaking, sawing, cutting), increased fragility is possible, the color fades.

Change temperature regime Low-temperature processing is carried out in three stages.

High temperature processing is carried out in two stages. The second stage begins when the moisture level of the semi-finished product decreases to 15%. Such process used when further construction of secondary structures is necessary.

Main types of drying chambers

Drying of semi-finished wood products in industrial volumes is carried out in specialized drying apparatuses. Moisture is removed from the wood by heated air, which subsequently escapes into the atmosphere. The device ensures a full drying cycle for lumber. The machine body can be:

solid/prefabricated metal;
made using building materials.

The latter are mounted directly in carpentry workshops in the form of a structure, or as free-standing ones. The walls are made using reinforcement and concrete mortar. As an alternative, you can use brick. Large factories make a system of cameras, combining them into entire modules with centralized control and communications. Air moves inside the dryer in a horizontal plane or vertically transversely.

Heat sources in the dryer:

radiant source from specialized units;
hot shelves;
electric current that passes through raw semi-finished products;
high frequency electromagnetic field.

The cameras are equipped with basic and auxiliary equipment. Basic systems:

supply and exhaust equipment;
heat sources;
humidifiers.

Based on the principle of operation, drying machines are divided into:

convective equipment;
condensation equipment.

In convection machines, semi-finished products are “battered” with hot air waves, the heat is directed by the convection method. The time for completing a full cycle varies from 5 to 13 hours. Similar units are installed in large-scale sawmills.

Chamber-type dryers are more compact; a constant temperature and environment as a whole are maintained throughout the entire volume. This type of dryer will allow you to dry any type of wood material to the required condition, which is why many entrepreneurs who need to dry lumber choose chamber drying machines.

Based on the technology of the drying process, the moisture that is released from the wood settles on the cooling elements, is directed into containers and then drained. The efficiency of such a unit is quite impressive, but it is time-consuming and leads to large heat losses. The pricing policy of machines and the profitability of condensation drying are lower than convective drying.

Drawing

Drying chamber for lumber: step-by-step instructions

To build a drying apparatus with your own hands, you do not need to use technical documentation. You just need to provide:

the area where the camera will be installed;
insulation materials;
source and communications for creating high temperature;
blowing

The area of a car built personally is usually no more than 10 square meters. Room square section more suitable for ensuring the movement of warm air currents. It is preferable that at least one of the walls of the equipment be concrete, the others can be made of wood. The inside of the chamber must be insulated. Excellent insulation material - wood shavings. If you don’t have foil on hand, you can replace it with penofol.

A separate extension for the dryer can be constructed from aluminum sheets; such a design will serve very well. long time. The base is made on the basis of profiles, it is covered with sheets of metal, which is then insulated. The thickness of the insulation must be at least 150 mm. The floor is covered with roofing felt material, a thick layer of shavings is poured on top, which will be excellent for heat conservation.

The heat source can be supplied as a heating pipe system. The liquid temperature in the pipes should be 60...90ºС. For an oversized chamber, having a two-burner stove would be quite acceptable. If the source is located directly in the room, it must be lined with bricks. Brick is able to perfectly collect heat and direct it to a machine for drying lumber.

Continuous circulation of liquid is important, which is ensured by a compressor or an entire station. The room must be equipped with wet and dry thermometers.

For more convenient loading of semi-finished products into the chamber cavity, you can use a rail cart.

Video: DIY lumber drying chamber.

If you have a large volume of unprepared wood that needs to be dried soon, you need to get a special dryer to carry out the initial processing of the material. This is a mandatory procedure during construction and finishing works, since if the material is damp, then problems will arise with its installation, and in the future other defects in the construction will appear. You will learn how to make a board dryer with your own hands from this article.

A little theory

Before you start making such a structure, you need to find out why you need to dry the wood. From the name it is clear that the design is designed to get rid of excess moisture from wood, however, you need to dwell on some theoretical points.

Wood moisture content

Wood moisture is divided into two groups:

Free, that is, located in cell cavities and intercellular space. The content of this moisture group is determined by the conditions in which a particular tree grew, as well as by how the cut pieces were stored. During drying, such moisture evaporates quite quickly.
Bound or structural moisture is the name given to the liquid that is included in the cell walls tree. The amount of structural moisture depends on the type of wood - this means that the length of drying can vary: trees, depending on the type, can get rid of bound liquid for several months or several years.

Important! Typically, wood is saturated with moisture by no more than 30%. Rocks with a high moisture content are called “gray” and are usually not used in construction.

Why is drying necessary?

Before you make a wood drying chamber with your own hands, you need to decide what it is needed for. Let's do a little analysis and answer this question:

When moisture is removed naturally, the configuration of the wood fibers changes, which is why the dimensions of the board are reduced.
At the same time, the board loses excess moisture unevenly, which is why deformation occurs on completely different planes and at different speeds.
Due to uneven “drying” inside the workpiece, so-called stress lines are formed, giving rise to cracks.

Important! Usually the board cracks along the grain, starting from the end. This happens because in these places the connections between the longitudinal fibers are somewhat weaker.

Another problem is transverse deformation boards - the part takes on a completely unusual shape, arching like an arc or a “propeller”. This is due to the fact that the fibers dry unevenly and at different times, therefore their length decreases, also differing from each other.

Important! From the above facts it is clear that wood with a high moisture content may become unusable during poor drying. You can avoid this problem by preparing the raw materials and drying them on a homemade wood dryer.

Three drying modes

When you use drying chambers, you significantly save the time required to prepare the material for work. Moreover, you can control the drying modes by controlling operational properties wood At this point in time, there are three modes of wood dehydration:

Soft. A feature of this mode is the gradual increase in temperature in the chamber - due to this property, not only the pristine quality of the wood is preserved, but also its natural color. This drying method takes the longest.
Standard. In this mode, the wood retains its original strength, while the shade of the material changes slightly.
Forced. This mode is used if you need to dehydrate raw materials as quickly as possible, however, the quality of the lumber is significantly reduced. It is also worth noting that after applying this regime, the wood may darken and acquire a characteristic odor.

We make a drying chamber

So, we figured out what this structure is for. Now you can start making a wood dryer with your own hands.

Selection of premises

The first step is to wisely choose the room where the lumber will be dried. To do this, you need to follow these tips:

The area of the room should be based on the dimensions of the boards that require processing.
The ceiling height should be 2-2.5 meters.
The width of the room is selected by the user, however, it is worth considering that you need to leave room for a person to pass through.
The windows in the room must be covered with bricks.
The doors must be such that raw materials can be loaded into them without any problems.
There should be a window or a small vent for ventilation.

Important! If you choose a large room, it is better to make a partition for thermal insulation.

Construction of a dryer

Usually a garage or a barn is chosen as a room for a dryer, but sometimes it’s not even possible to use them. For this reason, it is important to know how to make a wood dryer with your own hands, using the drawings:

Lay the foundation for the entire structure. Since the mass of the structure will be low, the foundation does not have to be deep.
After the concrete has dried, you need to assemble a frame from a galvanized steel profile (you can replace it with an aluminum frame). Connect the frame parts using bolts and special brackets.

Important! An aluminum frame differs in its high price from a steel one, however, it has many advantages. For example, it is much more stable and is not afraid of corrosion.

Sheathe the walls and roof with steel sheets, fixed to the frame using special self-tapping screws. In order for the effect to be as effective as possible, you need to perform double sheathing, laying between two sheets a layer of mineral wool insulation with a thickness of approximately 150 mm.
Lay down waterproofing membrane on the floor, then cover it with sawdust.
Install doors. They should close as tightly as possible.
Build ventilation ducts or vents so that air can circulate freely.
When the work is completed, check the tightness of the room. If necessary, correct any errors made.
Equip infrared dryer for wood with your own hands. This point should be given due attention.

Equipment

Construction equipment instructions may vary. This is due to the fact that the camera equipment and material budget are different for each user.

Let's consider general scheme room equipment:

Make a support on which the stack of boards will be placed in the future. To do this you need to secure it to the floor. wooden structures, which allow you to raise the material approximately 20 cm above the ground. This is necessary for the circulation of air flow from below.
Can be used as supports wall shelving. To do this, you need to fix metal brackets on the load-bearing surfaces, which are designed for stacking stacks along the walls of the chamber.
Install the heating device. Its role can be played by a stove, heat fan, fireplace, heat gun and other structures - the choice depends on your desires and preferences. First of all, you need to pay attention to the power of the device - it is calculated from the volume of loaded lumber.
Install drying fans for boards yourself. The devices will provide movement of thermal air. Of course, you can get by with a regular hood, but then the drying time of the raw materials increases several times, which means energy costs will increase.
Arrange fans and air heaters so that the heated air passes across the air flow. This will reduce the aerodynamic system drag, which will make the dryer work more efficiently.

Important! Since you will need a lot of electricity, it is recommended to install a separate power cable for the structure. In addition, all the materials you use must be connected to the distribution panel via an RCD with the required power parameters. This is necessary in order to protect yourself from a possible fire.

If possible, you can install automatic system, which controls the temperature and ventilation of the dryer. This system provides high-quality drying of wood, so its high cost is justified.

Using the design

You just need to stack the boards, placing bars approximately 20 mm thick between the rows, then load the stack into the room.

After this, you can change the temperature, gradually raising it.

Important! There are a huge variety of schemes, following which you can perform competent drying, but inexperienced users are better off using the low temperature mode first. This is due to the fact that its use is accompanied by a minimum number of defective boards.

Consider the classic process of drying wood:

The temperature must be raised to 50 degrees, with a rate of increase of 6 degrees per hour.
This temperature must be maintained for 5 hours.
During drying, the moisture content in the wood must be reduced from 30 to 7-8%; to do this, it is necessary to maintain a temperature of 60 degrees for about two days. At the same time, both the supply and exhaust ventilation need to be kept at half power.
To condition the room, you need to keep the boards at a temperature of 60 degrees using actively working ventilation.

From this article you learned that making a wood dryer with your own hands is not so difficult, but for this you need to spend quite a lot of material resources and time. It is worth noting that all these costs are justified by their results, because in the end you get much more dried boards than if you bought ready-made lumber from the manufacturer.

High-quality dried lumber has always been the key to quality, durability and reliability of any structure in which wood occupies a significant share. But it is difficult to obtain it under natural conditions without it spoiling. Drying time under normal atmospheric conditions can range from 6 to 12 months, depending on temperature and humidity environment. During natural heat treatment, the material is subject to unwanted deformation, warping and cracking.

To improve the quality of drying lumber, many equipment options have been invented; people often try to make a vacuum drying chamber for wood with their own hands - because this technology is considered one of the most effective. But the problem is that it is quite difficult to make such a unit yourself. Still, there are craftsmen who make them from old tank bodies or thickened sheet steel. These are mainly mini cameras with a loading volume of 5-10 cubic meters.

What is vacuum drying of wood with your own hands?

Vacuum drying of wood with your own hands is quite possible if you have a shell from a rocket, tank, or any other similar type of product from which you can make a shell for the equipment.

Main design elements:

frame
vacuum pump
heating elements (heaters, plates, steam generator, microwave emitters, etc.)
lumber loading trolley
automation

You will need a pump to pump out air and create a vacuum. You can heat lumber using any known method, which can be the contact method, air-gas or water steam.

A do-it-yourself vacuum chamber is quite technically complicated, because it will be quite difficult to find many parts for its manufacture. And ordering them specifically is tantamount to ordering the camera itself. Therefore, before you start constructing vacuum drying chambers for wood with your own hands, you should consider whether it is advisable or whether it would be better to order it from a specialized company.

Do-it-yourself thermal chamber for wood - production of thermal wood

Thermal vacuum chamber technology has been around since the last century. The thermal dryer has much in common with a vacuum chamber for drying lumber.

To make a vacuum chamber for thermowood, you need to take into account the technical features:

Wood processing occurs at high temperatures
The chamber body must withstand high pressure

These 2 points are important to consider for the safety of personnel.

An important task is the choice of agent: oil or steam. Also technical modes. If the conditions are incorrect, thermal drying takes place only on the surface of the wood, and the lumber may not acquire the desired properties:

full color change
fire resistance
increased resistance to rotting

Making a homemade chamber for thermowood, like thermowood itself, at home is a difficult task. It is unlikely that you will be able to find competent specialists ready to share their experience on forums, videos, or somewhere on the Internet. If you have any questions, you can contact the manufacturers.

Vacuum dryers for wood: do it yourself or from professionals?

Our company has been producing high-quality and highly efficient vacuum-type drying chambers for several years, so we are ready to offer a truly reliable and practical option.

But if you need a vacuum dryer for small-sized wood for heat treatment small parts and you want to make it yourself, then you need a drawing. Drawings on this topic are quite a rare occurrence; of those that are encountered, it is unlikely that a camera capable of working in production conditions will be produced.

If you are still going to purchase ready-made equipment, then the most effective option are chambers with contact technology for heating lumber along the entire length, the percentage of defects is less than 1, and the drying time is up to 6-8% humidity pine boards 30mm thick will only take about 60 hours.

DIY wood dryer

The room chosen for arranging a homemade dryer must be heated by a stove or a specially installed fireplace. It is good if a heater is pre-installed in the room. If you don't have one, be sure to leave room for it.

This is the project for making a home dryer suggested by a member of our forum.

Nikolay Valen member of FORUMHOUSE

Available capital garage with water heating, a potbelly stove using wood and exhaust is installed as a boiler. There is a pipe with a diameter of 800 mm and a length of 2.2 meters (a former ventilation duct with industrial enterprise). The idea is as follows: install sealed covers on both ends of the pipe, leave fittings with a diameter of 150-200 mm for the supply and removal of hot air. The air is heated by a radiator (this can be a car heater). Air supply - table fan. 0.3-0.5 cubic meters of lumber are loaded into the pipe, the stove is heated (the coolant temperature reaches 90 degrees, I think that the supplied air can actually be heated to 50-60 degrees).

If you have chosen a room that is too large, then the space you plan to use for a homemade dryer should be made insulated and sealed. For these purposes they are made wooden partitions, you can use insulation, brick and other materials that allow you to create your own microclimate in the dryer. Do not forget that you must leave a window in the chamber for ventilation and front door. After all, we shouldn’t end up with a hut without windows and doors.

Fans installed in the drying chamber will help create forced air flow and make the drying process more efficient.

mfcn FORUMHOUSE member,
Moscow.

It is advisable to place fans on the floor to the side of the stack so that the blowing is parallel to the spacers. Remember that when drying wood, you need to evaporate about several hundred liters of water from each cubic meter of wood.

To place lumber in the dryer, special shelves or flooring should be installed. These products can be made of metal so that the structure can withstand relatively large loads. Wood should be dried to levels corresponding to 8–12% humidity. Its measurements are carried out using a special moisture meter.

It is necessary to dry the wood, observing certain rules. Otherwise, the material will be hopelessly damaged and cannot be used in construction. To do this, the wood must be stacked. And between each new layer, spacers made of boards of the same thickness should be placed. Wood of any species, stacked in neat stacks, will never suffer from fungal infections and will retain its integrity and excellent consumer qualities.

Lao Czy member FORUMHOUSE

The spacers need to be made higher for better air ventilation between the boards. They will dry out better. You can place your cut 25*30 or 25*40 cubes on edge. The reason for limiting the height of the stack is to prevent the boards from being driven by a “helicopter blade”, secure the topmost layers of boards in the stack with self-tapping screws. I have been storing my boards using this method for the 3rd year at my dacha in the Moscow region. They are in excellent condition!

Gaps should also be left between boards located in the same row. This will ensure unhindered air movement inside the stack and improve drying quality.

Wood drying chamber project

Wood can be dried quickly and efficiently in well-equipped and free-standing drying chambers. Construction of such a chamber on the scale of a dacha or suburban area is not always advisable. After all, this type of construction will be very expensive, and its construction will take a lot of time.

The construction of such a premises can well be called the implementation of a full-scale construction project. You cannot avoid labor-intensive operations associated with pouring the foundation, erecting walls and installing complex equipment.

How to make drying for wood can be understood from the diagram.

DIY chamber drying

Such a mini-wood dryer requires the placement of not only basic equipment (heating and ventilation), but also additional systems automatic control.

Operating modes of the drying chamber

A chamber dryer does not require high heat during normal operation. A full cycle Work associated with drying one batch of wood can be divided into several stages.

The first stage lasts from 15 to 20 hours. During this period, the air in the chamber warms up to 45С. The ventilation does not turn on, and condensation forms on the walls of the room.

The second stage lasts about 48 hours. It involves connecting ventilation and heating the air in the chamber dryer to 50°C.

The third stage lasts until the required final moisture level is reached in the internal structure of the wood (8...12%). At this time, the air temperature rises to 55 C, the exhaust dampers open completely, and the fans operate at full power.

Once the humidity reaches the required levels, the heat supply should be stopped. The fans should remain on for another 24 hours. As a result of this heat treatment, you will receive dry wood, completely ready for use during carpentry or construction work.

You can get acquainted with the practical developments of our forum members regarding the correct construction of a stack in the “” section. Those who want to learn more about the technology of drying lumber can visit the “” section. For those who want to see a master class on wood aging technology, we recommend watching the corresponding video.

Drying is a mandatory stage in preparing wood before processing. To prevent logs from becoming deformed, they are dried under certain conditions, which are created in drying chambers. For your home workshop, you can make a wood dryer with your own hands.

The importance of drying

Since ancient times, wood that was cut down several years ago was used in the manufacture of wood products. Furniture made from damp or improperly dried boards will warp or dry out and will crack. When drying, the material shrinks, raw wooden beams will begin to move over time, and cracks the width of a palm will appear in the walls of the log house. Mold grows in damp wood. But overdried boards are also bad - the material begins to absorb moisture and swells.

Drying is carried out with hot air or steam, the process is long and expensive, but it gives the wood additional strength, prevents changes in shape and size, and the lumber is stored longer.

Drying modes

There are several modes of drying lumber. In self-made chambers, the temperature increases in stages, removing moisture from the raw material. Drying technology is selected taking into account:

wood species;
dimensions of lumber;
final and starting humidity;
dryer features;
raw material quality categories.

The drying process can be high temperature or low temperature. In the second case, primary processing is carried out at a temperature not reaching 100 degrees.

Low temperature regimes are divided into categories:

soft - during the drying process, lumber retains all its properties, strength and color do not change;
normal - color changes slightly, strength decreases slightly;
forced - when chipped and split, brittleness is possible, the color darkens.

The change in ambient temperature at low temperature occurs in three stages. The transition to the next stage is possible when the wood reaches the specified moisture content.

High-temperature treatment is carried out in two stages. The second stage occurs when the moisture content of the raw material decreases to 20%. This technology is used when preparing wood for the construction of secondary structures, allowing for color changes and a decrease in strength.

Types of drying chambers

Drying wood in industrial scale produced in special chambers. Moisture is removed from the lumber by heated air and carried outside. The device carries out a full wood drying cycle. The room can be:

prefabricated metal;
constructed from building materials.

The latter are installed directly in carpentry shops or as free-standing buildings. The walls are made from reinforced concrete or brick. At large enterprises, several cameras are installed, combined into a module with common system control and communications. Air circulates in the dryer horizontally or vertically-transversely. Wood can be transported to industrial dryers on rails on carts or laid out using forklifts.

Heat sources in the dryer:

hot steam;
radiant heat from special devices;
heated shelves;
electric current that passes well through wet logs;
high frequency electromagnetic field.

The camera is equipped with a main and additional equipment. The main consists of systems:

supply and exhaust ventilation;
heat supply;
hydration.

Additional equipment includes insulation of walls and doors, trolleys for laying material, psychometric equipment, and electric drive.

Industrial dryers are controlled automatically, small homemade dryers are controlled manually. Humidity adjustable supply and exhaust ventilation and humidifiers. To measure the humidity in a room, a moisture meter is installed that collects data simultaneously in several places.

The following energy sources can be used to heat air: electricity, wood processing waste, liquid and solid fuel.

Types of dryers

According to the method of air movement, chambers are divided into:

with natural;
with forced air exchange.

Chambers with natural air exchange are low-performing and the process in them cannot be controlled. Therefore, they are used less and less.

According to the principle of action, the following are distinguished:

convective;
condensation dryers.

In convection chambers, the wood is blown with streams of hot air, and heat is transferred by convection. They can be deep tunnel or chamber. Logs are loaded into tunnel chambers from one end and unloaded from the other, moving through the chamber, the material is gradually dried. The cycle duration ranges from 4 to 12 hours. Such cameras are installed in large sawmills. Chamber dryers are more compact; a single microclimate is maintained throughout the entire volume. Allows you to prepare any type of wood to the required condition. Therefore, most industrial dryers are chamber type.

Using condensation drying technology, moisture released from the material is deposited on coolers, accumulates in containers and is drained outside. The efficiency of such a device is very high, but the process is long and accompanied by high heat losses. The technology is good for preparing hard lumber in small batches. The price of equipment and the cost of condensation drying are lower than convective drying.

Setting up a homemade dryer

In order to make a dryer with your own hands, you can do without drawings. It is necessary to provide:

camera room;
insulation;
heat source;
fan.

The area of a dryer built by yourself usually does not exceed 9 square meters. meters. It is easier to achieve optimal movement in a square-shaped room warm air. It is advisable that one wall of the chamber be made of concrete slabs, others are made of wood. All walls are insulated from the inside in two layers: polystyrene foam and foil board. An excellent and free insulation material is wood shavings. And the foil can be replaced with penofol, which perfectly reflects heat.

You can build a separate drying room with your own hands from aluminum; such a structure will last a long time. The frame is made from a profile, it is sheathed sheet metal, which is insulated from the outside. The thickness of the insulation is at least 15 cm. The floor is covered with roofing felt, and a thick layer of shavings is poured on top as thermal insulation.

Care must be taken to thoroughly seal the front door!

The heat emitter can be made in the form of pipes or heating radiators. The water temperature should be 65-95 degrees. It is heated by an electric boiler, wood stove, gas boiler. For a small chamber, even a two-burner electric stove is sufficient. If the stove is located directly in the room, you need to line it with bricks. The brick will accumulate heat and gradually radiate it into the dryer. It’s easy to equip a convection chamber with your own hands by installing a fan heater as a heat source.

When setting up a dryer for your home woodworking workshop with your own hands, it is important to follow the precautions fire safety. There should always be a fire extinguisher near the building.

Constant circulation is important warm water, which is provided by the pump. To ensure that heat is evenly distributed throughout the room, a fan is installed. Workroom Equipped with a wet and dry thermometer.

To make it easier to load the board into the chamber, you can use a trolley on rails. And to increase usable area Shelves are lined up on the walls.

The step-by-step instructions are as follows:

We are building the foundation.
We are building the frame.
We cover the frame with sheets of metal.
Installation of thermal insulation.
Cover the floor with film and sawdust.
Installation of supports from bars.
Installation of heaters and fans.

The design of a homemade chamber for drying lumber in the video: