Food Living Outside Play Technology Workshop

Chillanator
by longwinters on October 28, 2013

Table of Contents

Chillanator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intro: Chillanator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 1: Order The Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 2: Build A Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Step 3: Some Time Savers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Step 4: Make A Logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Step 5: The Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Step 6: Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

http://www.instructables.com/id/Chillanator/
 Author:longwinters
Happily married, self employed, full wood shop, some metal work as well as electronics, antique collector.

Intro: Chillanator
Introducing the Chillanator, it uses a Peltier chip I purchased from deal extreme.

The total cost of this project was about 10.00 dollars US.

The Peltier chip was 7.00

The fan was one dollar and the LEDs just a few
Bucks.

Step 1: Order The Stuff

Unless you want to pay out the nose I suggest you shop around, I have seen people say they have spent as much as 30.00 bucks for one.

I chose to make my own heat sink from scrap copper and brass.

If you are astute you may have noticed the Peltier mounted to 1/2 inch copper, this is not required or important, a friend offered a chunk and go thought I'd give it a try.

I plan to make a new instructable using two chips and will discuss heat removal then.
The fan was from electronic gold mine it's a 12 v squirrel cage design, I think this is far more efficient than a muffin fan because it blows air at a higher rate of flow

http://www.instructables.com/id/Chillanator/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Chillanator/
Step 2: Build A Box
I chose some left over Ash plywood, it seemed the easiest to lay out the base plate first, 1/2 inch birch ply was my choice, I suggest what you have in the scrap bin is
probably the best choice.
To make the leg cut outs I screwed the two sides to a scrap of ply wood and drilled a hole using the center seam as a guide

http://www.instructables.com/id/Chillanator/
Step 3: Some Time Savers
When I was building the box I set some spare prices of wood under the floor plate this helped me determine the correct vent height as well as the best place to locate the
switch, and on light.
Since I discovered an old switch that required more than a round hole I hung the box over a clamped piece of ply wood this prevents tearout and allows you to put
pressure on the bit with out breaking the box.
I recommend building your box a little larger than you think is required because stuff almost never fit to perfection

http://www.instructables.com/id/Chillanator/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Chillanator/
Step 4: Make A Logo
I just bought an engraver so I thought a cool logo would be nice, I got the idea from Edge lit acrylic sign from this site.
Sorry I can't post a link I'm working on an I Pad.
Just do a search here and the process is explained quite well, to cut costs I ripped a salvaged overhead fan blade made of clear plastic, if you decide to have a trophy
shop cut your design don't polish the edges until it's been lettered, smooth edges slip out of the engraver.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Chillanator/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Chillanator/
Step 5: The Power Supply
Peltier chips are power hogs, I am using a 12 volt 8 amp video monitor transformer and it's warm after an hour, not hot but warm, I was going to list the power
requirements but when I went to measure the current through the Peltier chip it pegged my swing meter.
Judging by the temperature of the transformer it's safe to assume it's pulling near capacity of it.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Chillanator/
Step 6: Final Thoughts
This is a fun project, when you first connect voltage to a Peltier it seem like the potential is great, but getting the heat away and figuring out how to use it effectively is
more of a challenge than you would think.
I strongly suggest buying several chips at one time, this reduces the fear of "breaking" your only one, plus after you experiment with your first one you'll want to use your
new found knowledge to make a better project.
I used JB Weld to secure the chip to the heat sinks, some brass powder was mixed in to help conductivity.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Chillanator/
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http://www.instructables.com/id/Chillanator/