Solar Dehydrator Plans - Hot Aussie1 model download

This is an offer for one plan set: Hot Aussie1 model for $20.

Solar Dehydrator Plans - Hot Aussie1 model
Authored by Davin Hoyt

(view of this product)

Format: PDF file
Pages: 4 total
Print size: 48"x36"
Price: 20 USD

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A list of my drawings here.

Has anyone built the dehydrator above and used it? I would appreciate hearing about how it performs. Thanks.

Hi Annie;  That appears to be the similar design dryer I built and posted 4-5 years ago.

Mine worked amazingly well. Search my old posts and you will find it.

thomas rubino wrote:Hi Annie;  That appears to be the similar design dryer I built and posted 4-5 years ago.

Mine worked amazingly well. Search my old posts and you will find it.

Thank you, Thomas, your dehydrator looks great! Did you build it from a detailed design? I am curious about the layers. It looks like you have something wavy on the very bottom, I am assuming to let air in? Can you, perhaps, give more details about each layer, from the bottom up? The way I am seeing it is that there is the wavy bottom layer (what is the material of that?) sitting on a 2x2 frame?, then comes the trays layer (is that sitting directly on the wavy layer?) and then comes the top layer, which, from what I gather from your description, is a metal sheet painted black topped with a wavy greenhouse plastic piece? Any kind of information you could give on it would be very much appreciated. Or, if you sell detailed plans for it, even better! Thank you, Thomas!

Oops, I just remembered how I landed on this page and my original question which was if the dehydrator shown above worked well. You answered that, Thomas, and now that I know that the type of dehydrator shown works, I can just buy the specs from Davin Hoyt. Thank you again, Thomas, I very much appreciate your input!

So I purchased the above plans for the aussie solar dehydrator last night and they are, unfortunately, not what I was hoping for. Firstly, it states on the first page of the plans that the dehydrator is for hot climates. I do not live in a hot climate. I really wish that this had been mentioned as part of the listing post about the dehydrator since for that reason alone I would not have purchased the plans. The other problem I have with the plans is that it is more laid out for an engineer rather than someone who simply wants to build the thing. It has computer generated top views, side views, bottom views, etc., with pictures showing all the pieces laid out near each part of the dehydrator, too, but that makes the whole thing look very confusing. All I was looking for was a parts list and step-by-step instructions of how to put them together. That's all. Neither the parts list nor the instructions of how to put the whole thing together is a part of these plans. I have neither the time nor the interest to try to decipher the whole thing. If this was a physical book, I would send it back for a refund. Now I am trying to figure out how to get a refund for something that's downloaded. I already sent a purple moosage to Davin Hoyt, but I don't know how often he checks his messages. If anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate hearing about them. Thanks.

@DavinHoyt: Why do you have a sheet of corrugated metal *between* the fruit and the sunlight? What's the benefit of not having the fruit in the sun?
Edit: Nevermind, I see other websites saying direct sunlight somehow reduces the nutrients in the food.

Hi Jamin;   The corrugated metal is below the product.  This allows air to flow past , up and out.  The sun never shines on the drying product.

Permies alerts me via email when I receive purple moosages. When Annie sent her complaint, I notified Permies staff immediately. Then, the next day, we exchanged purple moosages.

In my defense: When I list a set of drawings, I place a small horizontal blurry image of the actual PDF large document drawings that make up the set. This is done to convey the simplicity/complexity/extent of the plan set. In each set, I will add notes for best practices, and in this particular set I state that the design is best for hot climates (however, the initial specimen was built at Wheaton Labs, and does fine there over the course of a full sun summer day). This model is the most simple of all my dehydrator drawings and I do not (as of now) offer a materials and measurements listing sheet, instead, I show the position of each material within the construction and dimension them as well. I tell you (through graphical information and the use of leaders and dimension lines) where to place materials to make the science work for you. I do not tell you how many screws to use, optional sourcing of materials, and how much to expect the project to cost. If someone was to alter the construction, the entire material list of dimensions could become obsolete (because I am not selling you a package of cut material - all pieces in a box). Furthermore, (on costs and the extent of direction herein), if you were to print these drawings at full size, it would cost 5 USD per page for black and white (triple that for color copies).

With all this said: I have posted a 20 USD bounty for material and cut lists for each of my dehydrator drawings. Also, I have been thinking of ways that I may rearrange the plans for easier printing - at home printing. I imagine this could be 30 letter size pages, instead of a few large documents. Furthermore, if you are reading this and know of a way that I may protect my PDFs from pirating, I would appreciate any information you have.