Drying chambers for lumber: design and manufacture. Do-it-yourself drying chamber for lumber How to make a drying chamber for wood with your own hands

Any woodworking enterprise cannot do without such a procedure as wood drying. And to prevent defects from appearing in the process, a special drying chamber for lumber should be used. Such a dryer will also be useful for those who produce wood products at home; in such cases, you can make it yourself.

Drying value for wood

Wood for making various products must be dried beforehand to make it suitable for subsequent use. So, if your furniture is made from wood that is too wet, it will quickly dry out and become unusable. And if the wood is too dry, then, for example, the door will quickly swell and will not close.

Drying wood is also useful for the following reasons:

the material is protected from fungal attack;
a change in size and shape is prevented;
mechanical and physical properties material.

Drying is a long process, the wood is heated by hot air or superheated steam. After drying, the wood can be stored and transported longer, it will not be subject to deformation.

Drying chamber for lumber

Kiln drying is a key way to dry wood. Dryers are used to dry deciduous and conifers before different types quality. The most common and economical drying method is as follows. A free and bound moisture by means of supply to wet wood heat using hot air. Next, excess evaporated moisture is removed using humidified and partially cooled air.

Drying chamber- this is a completely ready-made installation, equipped with everything necessary equipment for work. According to their design, such chambers can be prefabricated metal or assembled from building materials. The latter are manufactured directly in workshops or separately standing buildings based on industrial materials.

The camera can be made entirely based on monolithic reinforced concrete, the walls can be made of solid red bricks, and the ceiling can be made of reinforced concrete.

If several chambers are used in production, they can be combined into one block, in which there is a corridor with heat supply distribution and a system automatic control. Depending on the volume of loaded wood, air circulation can be horizontal-transverse or vertical-transverse.

Lumber can be loaded into the chamber on trolleys along a rail track or as packages using a forklift. Heat is transferred to wood in the following ways:

through the air;
through combustion products;
using superheated steam;
radiant heat;
solid;
through current;
through an electromagnetic field.

The equipment for this device can be basic or additional. The main ones include the following:

fan system;
heat supply system;
humidification and supply and exhaust ventilation.

Additional equipment includes:

blocks (door, psychrometric and insulated);
fan drive electric motor;
stacking trolleys.

The drying control process can be automated, which helps maintain the temperature and humidity inside the chamber at a certain level. The temperature is regulated by supplying coolant to the heaters or by turning the electric heater on or off.

Humidity can be adjusted using a remote moisture meter, with which you can check the condition of the material remotely at several points at once. If there are no external sources of heat supply, then autonomous heating means running on electricity, coal, gas, lumber or diesel fuel can be used.

Classification of structures

In convection-type chambers, energy penetrates the wood through the air cycle, and heat transfer occurs through convection. Such structures can be tunnel or chamber.

Tunnel dryers are deep and push stacks of stacks from one end (wet) to the dry end. They are filled at one end and emptied at the other. The stacks are pushed one at a time every 4-12 hours. These dryers are used for large sawmills and help with transport drying.

Chamber dryers are shorter; during the drying process, the same parameters are maintained throughout the chamber. If the blowing depth is more than 2 meters, then in order to equalize the drying conditions, the method of reversing the ventilation direction is used. The chamber is filled and emptied on one side if there is only one door. Lumber can be dried in them any up to different humidity levels. These are the designs that are most often used in our country.

The condensation type of dryer is different in that the moisture that appears in the air begins to condense on special coolers, and then the liquid is removed. The efficiency here is high, but the cycle is long, since devices with high temperatures do not work and large heat losses are observed. These types of equipment are more suitable for processing small volumes of materials or drying dense wood - ash, beech or oak. But condensation chambers also have a number of advantages:

no need for a boiler room;
The cost of the camera and the cost of operation are low.

Drying chambers also differ in the method of circulation and the nature of the drying agent, the principle of operation and the type of enclosure.

For example, circulation can be natural or forced. Designs of the first type are outdated and inefficient, it is almost impossible to control the modes, and the uniformity of drying of the material leaves much to be desired. At modern requirements It is better not to use such dryers.

Depending on the nature of the drying agent, the chambers are:

air;
gas;
high temperature.

Drying modes

Depending on the quality requirements, lumber is dried in a special apparatus in different modes, which differ from each other in temperature. If it is a mini chamber, then during the process the temperature slowly rises and the relative humidity of the agent decreases.

One mode or another is selected taking into account the following factors:

There are high-temperature and low-temperature process modes. In low-temperature ones, moist air is used as an agent, the initial temperature is less than 100 degrees. There are three categories of these types of modes:

soft - drying is carried out without defects, the mechanical and physical properties of the wood are preserved, including its color and strength;
normal - drying is also carried out without defects, strength is preserved almost completely, color may vary slightly;
forced - the strength to static bending, tension and compression is maintained, but the strength to chipping and splitting may decrease with darkening.

In high temperature conditions There is a two-stage change in the agent's performance; it is possible to move to the second stage from the first only when the wood reaches a transitional moisture content of 20 percent.

Such modes are assigned depending on the type and thickness of the tree, and are assigned for drying materials used in production load-bearing structures buildings and those products where it is possible to use dark wood with reduced strength.

Before starting work in one mode or another, the lumber must be heated with steam supplied through humidifying pipes with the fans running and closed. exhaust ducts and heating devices.

Be sure to calculate the lumber chamber. The temperature of the drying agent at the beginning of heating should be 5 degrees higher than the first stage of the mode, but not higher than 100 degrees. The level of environmental saturation for a material with an initial humidity of 25% is 0.98−1, and if the humidity is below this indicator, then 0.9−0.92, respectively.

Duration initial period depends on the type of wood. For conifers it is up to 1.5 hours for each centimeter of thickness. For soft hardwood it will be 25 percent more, and for hardwoods it will be half more compared to softwoods.

After preheating, it is necessary to bring the performance of the drying agent to the first stage of the operating mode. Then the drying starts directly in compliance with the selected mode. Humidity and temperature can be adjusted using valves on steam lines or dampers in supply and exhaust ducts.

When an infrared dryer operates, residual stresses appear in materials, which can be removed through intermediate and final moisture and heat treatment in an environment high humidity and temperature. It is necessary to process those lumber that is dried to operational specifications and then requires mechanical processing.

Intermediate moisture-heat treatment must be performed during the transition from the second stage to the third, or from 1 to 2 when using high temperature. Coniferous species with a thickness of 60 mm or deciduous species with a thickness of 30 mm or more are subjected to this treatment. The ambient temperature should be 8 degrees higher than the second stage, but not more than 100 degrees, provided the saturation is 0.95−0.97.

When the final average moisture content of the material is reached, the final moisture-heat treatment can be performed. It is carried out at a temperature 8 degrees higher than the previous stage, but not higher than 100 degrees. Further, the tree needs to be kept in the chamber for another 2-3 hours at the parameters of the last stage of the mode and only then stop the work.

Making a drying chamber

If you are making wood products at home, then you will need to dry the material yourself. You can also make a dryer yourself, but you must comply with all work standards. To make it you will need:

camera;
heating device;
fan;
insulation.

One wall and ceiling of the chamber must be made of concrete, and the remaining walls will be made of wood and will need to be insulated. There will be several layers:

Styrofoam;
boards wrapped in foil.

Now you need to install the heating element, it can be in the form of batteries. Water can be supplied to them from the stove in heated form at a temperature of 60 to 95 degrees. It is best to provide continuous process circulation of water through water pumps in the heating element. You will also need to install a fan in the chamber, with the help of which warm air will be distributed throughout the room.

It is imperative to provide a method for loading wood into the chamber. For example, it could be a rail cart. To regulate temperature and humidity in work area You need to install wet and dry thermometers. And also inside the dryer you need to install shelves to expand the work space.

During processing, sudden changes in temperature should not be allowed, otherwise the wood may crack or warp.

The construction of the chamber must be carried out in compliance with fire safety requirements, so be sure to install fire extinguishers.

And instead of heating element can be used electric stove from two burners. The walls of the chamber can be insulated with wood shavings, and instead of foil, you can use penofol, which can well reflect heat from the surface of the walls. Drying in such a chamber is carried out for 1-2 weeks.

Thus there is a large number of various modifications of drying chambers for wood. One or another option should be chosen depending on the material itself and the expected results. And if we are talking about the manufacture of various wooden products at home, it’s easy to make a camera with your own hands.

Freshly cut wood is not used in production and construction, as it contains a large amount of moisture. This type of wood is called wet. To improve its mechanical and physical indicators, a drying chamber is used for lumber. In the process, biological resistance increases, the strength index increases, and other qualities of wood improve.

Wood moisture concept

The percentage ratio of the weight of the liquid contained to the weight of completely dry wood of a certain volume is called absolute humidity. The percentage of the mass of water removed (determined by two weighings) to the original weight of the wood is called relative humidity.

The degree of suitability for use is determined taking into account the indicator relative humidity. The value indicates the readiness of the material for gluing and drying; with a value above 30%, there is a danger of developing a fungal infection.

Depending on the indicator, wood is divided into categories:

wet - with a relative humidity of more than 23%;
semi-dry – within the range from 18 to 23%;
dry – with a humidity value from 6 to 18%.

Drying wood in natural conditions

With this method of removing moisture, a drying chamber for lumber is not used; the liquid evaporates under the influence of atmospheric air. Dry the material under a canopy located in a draft. Sun rays the external heating is uneven and inner layer wood, which leads to deformations and cracks.

If the site does not have a drying chamber for lumber, it is well suited for drying attic space, ventilated barn, equipped shed. The material is stored in a stack, the first layer must be placed on stands with a height of at least 50 cm from any durable material. Rows of lumber are laid with dried slats, all subsequent boards and logs are placed above the previous blanks to create vertical air wells.

Logs sawn lengthwise and ready-made boards put inside up to reduce the size of the deformation. For the same purpose, a stack of wood is pressed from above with a heavy load. Due to the formation of cracking at the ends of the workpiece when drying the material, select the length of the workpiece to be 20-25 cm longer than the intended part.

The ends of the lumber are carefully treated with paint on oil based, drying oil or hot bitumen to prevent cracks. Before stacking, the log trunks are cleared of bark to reduce the likelihood of wood beetles breeding. Removing moisture from wood naturally is considered an economical method.

Solar wood dryer

The second method, the cost of which quickly pays off, is drying chambers for lumber. The manufacturing drawings are quite simple; you just need to understand the operating principle of such a device. The chamber is an assembled plywood or metal container, the roof of which is made of transparent materials.

The size of the glazed roof surface is calculated depending on the total horizontal area of all lumber laid for drying. The area of the transparent coating should be one tenth of the total surface of the boards. The roof of the building is made pitched, the amount of slope depends on geographical location terrain. In cold northern regions, where the sun does not rise high above the horizon, the roof slope is made steep. The southern sun warms up the gently sloping surfaces well.

How to make a drying chamber for lumber?

The frame of the building is made of metal or timber treated with an antiseptic under pressure. The lining of the walls and floor of the chamber is made of moisture-resistant materials, the fences are insulated mineral wool or hard foam boards. The internal surfaces of the walls are treated with water-repellent compounds, aluminum powder is applied to them, and then painted black.

As part of superchargers fresh air There should be no blades made of plastic, fusible materials. If the drying chamber for lumber is not used constantly, then the room is used for drying herbs, vegetables, berries or a seasonal greenhouse. After packing everyone wooden blanks For drying, there should be a distance of about 30-40 cm between the stack and the wall on all sides.

Drying wood in artificially created conditions

When removing moisture in a natural way Relative humidity readings of about 18% are obtained. To improve the value, lumber is dried in drying chambers, where temperature and speed are regulated forced submission air and its humidity.

Basic equipment for dryers

Whatever type of forced wood drying chamber is used, standard groups of equipment are allocated for all.

Transportation equipment is designed for loading and unloading logs or boards into the drying room. Includes cars and mechanical devices for storing workpieces in a stack or package, lifting and lowering lumber.

The thermal equipment of the chamber serves to raise the temperature of the internal air in the chamber and consists of many systems that determine the interconnected work of producing and transferring heat. These include heat exchange tanks, heaters, pipes for the passage of steam or hot water, condensate removal devices, shut-off valves and control devices.

The fuel is gas and liquid fuel. For small volumes of work, a drying chamber for wood-burning lumber is equipped. Serves as a coolant saturated steam, water, gas obtained from combustion of the furnace, organic fillers of the system having a high boiling point. Electric heaters are widely used, where current energy is converted into a thermal component.

Circulation equipment is designed for organized movement air masses in the drying chamber. The elements of the system are fans, injectors and joint installations of these elements. To increase the efficiency of wood drying, automation of lumber drying chambers is used.

Drying chamber fence

To isolate wood from action environment install a chamber fence, which consists of a floor, ceiling, walls and intermediate partitions. Requirements for partitions:

should not allow steam to pass through;
fences must have low thermal conductivity;
must have a long service life.

Fences are made separately from various building materials or can be prefabricated with a set of standard metal elements.

The first type of cameras has a longer operating life, but has a longer commissioning time, which is not always justified. Prefabricated metal frames They are installed quickly, they are equipped with control and thermal devices, but the steel is subject to the destructive effects of wet and thermal conditions.

Working principle of vacuum drying

After stacking the wood, close the chamber door hermetically and begin the drying process. By using automatic devices Some of the air is removed from the chamber until a pressure of 8-10 bar is created inside. Thanks to this scientific approach moisture released from the wood moves faster from the center to the outer fences of the chamber, thereby ensuring uniform and high-quality drying. This is how vacuum drying chambers for lumber work.

Making a drying chamber yourself

Private developers dry wood in their yard; for this purpose, they install a drying chamber for lumber with their own hands. Its installation will require a large room, a heat source and a device for distributing air between drying packages of wooden blanks.

You can, of course, purchase used lumber drying chambers, but the degree of wear cannot always be determined correctly; it is much more profitable to arrange a room for drying wood yourself. This is an opportunity to get excellent results at a low cost of money.

Construction stages

You will need material for the frame, usually this metal racks from a corner or channel, used wooden beam after thorough treatment with an antiseptic. Used as wall covering metal sheets, panels moisture resistant plywood, profiled rolled products. Thermal insulation is carried out using mineral moisture-resistant wool and polystyrene foam.

Before construction begins, the location of one dryer or several is determined, which serves as a plan for the device concrete foundation. The foundation is made for the stability of the structure and uniform distribution of the load on the ground. If a ready-made railway container is taken for the camera, then four are made columnar foundation under the corners of the car.

The metal frame is assembled using welding or bolted connections. When installing, check verticality and horizontality building level, trying to strictly observe the geometric dimensions. After securing the frame in the installation position, they begin to cover the outer walls, simultaneously inserting doors and ventilation windows.

The thermal insulation layer of the floor, walls and ceiling must be at least 12-15 cm, the base is insulated from moisture roll material. After this, the chamber is checked for leaks. To lay the first layer, stationary supports made of metal or wood are installed. Install a heat source, usually a powerful fan heater, position it so that the direction of the hot air is parallel to the lying boards.

Drying wood is a necessary condition to obtain quality raw materials. Building a house or making fillings for openings from damp lumber is fraught with distortions and damage to integrity. In order to carry out work with wood without problems, you need to take the removal seriously excess moisture from the material.

Drying is a mandatory stage in preparing wood before processing. To prevent logs from becoming deformed, dry them in 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 to make 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 in low-temperature conditions 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 of wood on an industrial scale is carried out 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 a common control system and communications connections. 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. In room square shape it is easier to ensure optimal movement 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 fire safety measures. 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.

Design homemade camera for drying lumber in the video:

Drying chambers for lumber are indispensable equipment in the production of wood-based blanks. Before sending the wood for processing, it must be dried. Otherwise, the risk of deformation and quality deterioration increases significantly. finished products. Drying is carried out in special chambers under certain conditions. At the same time, many assemble drying chambers with their own hands for use at home.

Not everyone knows exactly why to dry wood before processing. Therefore, we will tell you some of the nuances of this process.

For many centuries, wood has been the main material in the production of furniture.
The furniture was made from wood that was cut down several years ago.
If raw, undried wood is used, the boards quickly dry out and become covered with cracks.
When drying, wood shrinks, which is why structures built from initially raw material can become askew over time and lose strength and geometry.
Damp wood is a great place for mold to grow.
At the same time, excessively dry building material is also bad, since such material actively absorbs moisture and increases in volume due to swelling. Therefore, the opposite effect of drying occurs on furniture and other structures.

Drying is carried out in drying chambers. In this case, steam or hot air is supplied to the surface of the lumber. This process takes long time and is quite expensive for the manufacturer. Largely because of this, furniture made on the basis natural wood, much more expensive than MDF, chipboard, etc.

The use of drying chambers makes it possible to obtain the following properties of lumber:

Increased strength;
Protection against the possibility of shape changes;
Preservation of primary dimensions during use;
Increased service life, etc.

The purpose of drying chambers is to improve the quality characteristics of lumber. Therefore, drying is an essential stage of wood processing.

Process Features

Can be used for drying lumber various modes. In self-assembled chambers, the temperature increases in stages, which allows excess moisture to be gradually removed from the material.

The mode and features of the drying process in the chambers are determined taking into account the analysis of the following parameters:

The type of wood being dried;
Dimensions of materials;
Initial humidity indicator;
Humidity indicator to be achieved;
Design and technological features of drying chambers used for processing;
Quality category of processed lumber.

Types of drying

There are two types of drying wood inside the chamber with your own hands:

Low temperature;
High temperature.

The high temperature treatment process is carried out in two stages. The transition to the second stage occurs when the moisture content of the workpiece is reduced to 20 percent. This technology is relevant when using wood as materials for the construction of secondary structures.

Low temperature conditions are divided into three categories.

Soft drying. Here the lumber retains its characteristics and properties. Therefore, no changes in color or strength parameters of the product are observed.
Normal drying. Color may vary, but only slightly. The strength parameters are slightly reduced.
Forced drying. When chopping or cleaving raw materials dried in a forced mode, it can become brittle. The color also changes, the wood becomes dark.

Heat sources

Drying chambers can be used different sources heat, the task of which is to achieve the desired level of moisture in the lumber.

The following heat sources are distinguished:

Heated up fell;
Radiant emitters;
Heated racks;
Electricity;
High frequency electromagnetic field.

The structural chamber necessarily includes three components:

Ventilation and exhaust system;
Heat saving unit;
Humidification system.

Dryers

Dryers differ in the way air moves inside the chamber. Based on this parameter, the following varieties are distinguished:

Systems with natural air movement;
Drying systems that use the forced air exchange principle.

Build it yourself simpler system where natural air exchange is used. At the same time, its efficiency indicators are significantly inferior to forced air circulation. For this reason, natural-type cameras are becoming increasingly rare.

Dryers are distinguished according to the principle of their operation. This is one of the main characteristics that you should pay attention to when choosing drying equipment or designing a drying chamber for building it yourself.

Convection chambers. Inside them, lumber is blown by hot air flows. Heat transfer is carried out by convection method. Such dryers are divided into chamber and tunnel. The tunnel chamber involves loading wood from one end and unloading it from the other. Gradually, moving through the dryer, the material acquires the necessary characteristics and humidity parameters. The drying cycle in tunnel chambers is 4-12 hours, used in large sawmills. Chamber type dryers are compact; inside they maintain a uniform microclimate throughout the entire volume of the chamber. Similar designs allow you to achieve required characteristics lumber various types. This has led to the fact that the vast majority of industries that work with wood use chamber equipment.
Condensation chambers. Here, the moisture that is released from the lumber settles on the cooler, after which it accumulates inside a special container and is discharged outside. Such drying devices have a higher coefficient useful action. At the same time, the process of preparing wood takes quite a lot of time and impressive heat losses. Condensation technology works best when preparing small batches of wood, which is characterized by increased hardness. The cost of the equipment itself and the cost of operating condensation chambers makes it preferable compared to convective units.

The choice of equipment for drying wood is a rather serious issue that requires detailed study. technical characteristics the chambers themselves and the features of the process of preparing lumber for further processing. Therefore, if you have any questions, we recommend that you consult with specialists.

Sometimes making a dryer yourself is preferable to buying factory equipment. But if you decide to assemble the device yourself, strictly adhere to the manufacturing technology. Violation of the recommendations can lead to unpleasant consequences for the wood and the funds invested in the manufacture of equipment.

Friends!
Those who deal with wood, process it and use it in any way are forced to deal with the problem of drying it. Drying wood is always relevant and pays off, because “wet” wood is much cheaper, and dry, ready-made wood is very expensive. It is necessary to remove excess moisture from the wood so that the process of uneven evaporation of water and juices does not occur, which is associated with the heterogeneity of the wood structure along the longitudinal and transverse fibers. But damp wood is unsuitable for serious processing, much less for construction, otherwise it will deform, crack, warp, and “lead.” How can you make a wood dryer with your own hands?

How to make a wood dryer with your own hands at home or in the country

If space permits, then it roughly looks like this:

First, we free up space in the kitchen near the stove or electric stove, fireplace, etc. You need to carefully calculate and measure how everything will function and look.
Partitions are installed from old doors and window frames, and other available materials; for tightness, everything needs to be adjusted and sealed. The size can be, for example, 2x2 or 3x3, depending on capabilities and needs.
Of course you have to leave it entrance doors and vents, and during drying keep them tightly closed so that there are no unnecessary drafts or simply excess air movement. Otherwise, this may lead to a less predictable drying process, loss of control over the process and loss of quality of the output wood.
The fenced-off area must be covered with insulation, all cracks must be sealed, plugged, caulked, etc. That is, to seal the space of the future dryer as much as possible to enclose the space and improve the quality of drying.
Because near a stove or heating electrical appliance heat, then, if necessary, it is better to cover it with bricks, which will accumulate heat and release it into closed room. If the air does not circulate actively enough, a fan should be installed.
If you plan to dry a lot of wood or already finished products from it, you need to build strong metal shelves. It is better to secure it with anchors so that it can be loaded with serious weight.
To prevent the workpieces from bending, you need to fasten the edges of the material with pins. If the length of the wood is large, then several pairs of pins (3-4) are used. Of course, it is better to use wood of the same species, thickness, size and weight, otherwise drying will be very uneven. It is imperative that the material for drying should be laid out with thin strips, bars, spacers for better ventilation. You need to carefully monitor the uniformity of temperature and air flow, then drying will proceed more smoothly and the quality of the output material will be higher. Moreover, building several dryers is not very good big size more profitable than one larger one.

Do-it-yourself wood dryer, as a separate structure

First, a frame is constructed from aluminum profile, it will not rust, is lightweight and durable.
Then it needs to be sheathed too aluminum sheets, and attach 10-15 cm thick thermal insulation on top. This insulation must be fire-resistant, strong and flexible. Roofing felt should be laid on the floor and sawdust should be poured on top.
Next, you need to ensure the tightness of the building and seal everything possible ways outlet of heated air. The tightness of the structure is great value for high-quality drying.
The boards intended for drying should be laid out in narrow (1-1.5 m) stacks and spacers made of bars should be placed between the rows and boards. And the height of the stack can correspond to the height of the room.
Drying can be done using, for example, fan heaters, which should be installed across the air flow. Or choose another drying tool that suits your individual needs and capabilities.

A simple effective way of tubeless infrared drying of wood from 1 board

If you don’t want to build a dryer yourself or you don’t have the opportunity to do this, then you can use a ready-made solution.

There is a relatively recently used method of drying wood using infrared radiation. The process itself is as follows: the wood is heated with infrared rays using a tubeless cassette dryer. What is the design of such a dryer? It consists of several thermoactive cassettes 1.5 mm thick. The cassettes are stacked in a stack of wood prepared for drying, alternating with spacer bars. That is, the coolant is already among the lumber intended for drying. Therefore, there is no need for a separate heat source, ventilation, maintaining precise parameters, or complex electronics and automation. The drying is controlled by a thermostat, which sets the required temperature according to separate layers stacks. For more optimal performance drying design, the stack is covered with a material with a reflective layer so that the condensate drains outside the stack. It is important that the process can proceed as follows: outdoors(preferably under a canopy, to avoid possible precipitation), and indoors.

The advantages of this type of drying are

ease of maintenance,
equipment mobility,
high rates (8% humidity can be achieved).
high quality of the final material (no warping or internal stress),
speed (from 3 to 7 days),
variability, i.e. You can dry individual boards, or even just one, or entire large stacks.

You can watch a video about this technology here:

Drying wood from scrap materials. FlexiHIT.

Drying lumber in a tubeless cassette dryer

So, if you have a constant need for dry wood, then you can build a dryer, it’s not that difficult. Or buy a ready-made one and enjoy the finished dry lumber, which can be used to make various useful and interesting products.