Mesh Eyelet for solar dryer

thingiverse

I made this eyelet to convert a plastic box into a solar dryer but it could be used to vent an animal cage or whatever. I made it to suit a 35mm hole saw. Thanks to the ‘Fine mesh screen’ parametrized openscad file posted by Wauter August 02, 2012 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:27805 Printed in PETG for good UV resistance. Take care not too much apply pressure to the centre of the mesh when clipping to 2 parts together because the mesh can tear. The tabs on the inner can also snap with too much pressure. Once successfully clipped together they are quite strong. My first attempt to make the dryer I used too many vents and the heat build-up was low. This one has just 9 vents, a row of 3 along the middle of the bottom and 3 spaced along the top of each end. I have based the design somewhat on a dryer I have had for many years which has a corflute cover. It gets 4-5 degrees C hotter than the new one I think because of the insulation provided by the corflute. I plan to buy a second lid and double it up with some sealing around the edge and see what increase in temperature it might generate. The box is a SAMLA Box from Ikea, 79x57x18 cm /55 l. I use a bunch of cooking cooling racks to provide ventilation around whatever drying. Great for drying filament and silica cheaply.