3
358156hp
Guest
This whole project started over a month ago when the thermostat in my Lyman Mag-20 went out. I have always been content with it's performance, and would have been happy simply replacing the thermostat, and continuing on my Luddite way. 'Twas not meant to be though, when I called Lyman for a thermostat, they of course refused to sell me one. Factory installation only you know. Send it in, and we'll replace it for you, $50.00 for parts, plus labor. Plus shipping. Both ways. Service is running about 30 days right now. No thanks.
Enter, the 21st Century! PIDs are the way we control temperatures now. The parts are as little as $45.00, and you'll get superior heat control. I was skeptical, but I went ahead and ordered parts from Amazon. Somehow I missed the part where practically everything ships from China, please allow2-4 weeks for delivery. Oh, add a week because it's Chinese New Year, and everybody takes a week off. Tradition you know. I guess if they don't have an Independence Day, they need to have something.
And then the parts arrive, and I can get started. I was lead to believe it was really simple to build a PID, and it is. I made it harder than necessary by caving in to my OCD (actually CDO if you keep everything in its proper order) and color coding almost every wire in the doggone thing. Tom (oldatheart) laughed when he saw it. I didn't care, it was right. Now for a few details.
The outer box was from an old computer power supply. The one I used was broken, but I still kept it. Gotta be practical you know. Here's one now!
It was kind of puny field dressed...
The gutpile. I tossed it all, I was planning on using the wires for my circuits, but it was 18 gauge, and I wanted heavier wire than that OCD (err..CDO) again!
And new innards, direct from China.
Add a few feet of wire, and connectors from the Hardware store, and you're ready to start assembling!
More to follow, I'll bet I'm running out of space with all these pics. Stay tuned!
Enter, the 21st Century! PIDs are the way we control temperatures now. The parts are as little as $45.00, and you'll get superior heat control. I was skeptical, but I went ahead and ordered parts from Amazon. Somehow I missed the part where practically everything ships from China, please allow2-4 weeks for delivery. Oh, add a week because it's Chinese New Year, and everybody takes a week off. Tradition you know. I guess if they don't have an Independence Day, they need to have something.
And then the parts arrive, and I can get started. I was lead to believe it was really simple to build a PID, and it is. I made it harder than necessary by caving in to my OCD (actually CDO if you keep everything in its proper order) and color coding almost every wire in the doggone thing. Tom (oldatheart) laughed when he saw it. I didn't care, it was right. Now for a few details.
The outer box was from an old computer power supply. The one I used was broken, but I still kept it. Gotta be practical you know. Here's one now!
It was kind of puny field dressed...
The gutpile. I tossed it all, I was planning on using the wires for my circuits, but it was 18 gauge, and I wanted heavier wire than that OCD (err..CDO) again!
And new innards, direct from China.
Add a few feet of wire, and connectors from the Hardware store, and you're ready to start assembling!
More to follow, I'll bet I'm running out of space with all these pics. Stay tuned!