Solar dehydrator and possibility of off-gassing

I am making a solar dehydrator from empty beer cans that are joined together and painted black to form tubes which make the solar panel....the air goes through them into a box/cupboard that has flymesh shelves. I like reusing stuff, and I was given a white cupboard that is the perfect size and would be easily modified for the solar/cans panel to slot into. I think it is melamine...(you know the cheap type furniture you can get and eat Swedish meatballs) BUT....it will get pretty hot in the cupboard (Aussie summer), and I'm concerned that the melamine will off-gas...and leach into the drying food. Any body know anything about this...what else could I use to make the walls of the cupboard?....thinking plywood would have the same issues??

I think your concerns about the use of particle board and melamine are well justified. Personally I wouldn't use it in a dehydrator.

I'm sure there are better options. How big is your dehydrator?

The cupboard part would be about 400mm X 300mm X 800 mm....I can adjust it depending on the number of rows of cans...

although off-gassing might be an issue, it can't go on forever, eh? If I accidentally leave something in the dryer, a week later it is totally dessicated. I think after you build it, leave it in the sun a while to "season". After that, when you put stuff in there, everything will be outgassing in harmony and "ingassing" won't be a thing anymore. But I have actually also eaten food directly off of melamine with no apparent effects (other than possibly a chronic lack of good judgment).

Cade Johnson wrote:although off-gassing might be an issue, it can't go on forever, eh?

Unfortunately, I think it can. The cabinet is likely made of particle board, with a coating of melamine or paint as the finish. Particle board is a chemical soup of glue and sawdust that off-gasses formaldehyde. Personally I would not put food in that cabinet and then add heat.

I wouldn't risk it.

The permies forum has plans and posts where folks have made some great solar dehydrators.

Besides the concerns about glues in particle boards and melamine, my concern is with all those aluminum cans.  That seems like off-gassing waiting to happen.

It seems like a novel idea though the simple solar ovens work well.

Below in similar threads is `An endless supply of free pallets ...`those might make a great solar dehydrator.

Most plastics aren’t heat resistant. I’d rather use metal, wood, ceramic/brick, even cardboard.