# DIY curing/drying cabinet



## rbforrest (Mar 20, 2010)

Hey all,



I received a bunch of favorable responses to my DIY washout booth stand so I thought I'd share this cabinet my brother built for me. I haven't attached the dehumidifier to it yet - mostly because I haven't decided whether to attach it via bathroom fan or just put it in the cabinet. However, it's complete other than that. We've got about $125 in materials but it can be done for under $100 if you use lesser quality hinges and closures.
It will hold 15 screens on each side horizontally but since I don't need to cure near that many I am stacking some vertically. They stack 13 wide in the same area that will stack 7 vertically.
The 1x3's on the front are there to keep the plywood doors from warping but I intend to mount 3/4" PVC vertically with 1/2" pieces at 45 degree angle so I can store squeegees there.
All joints are glued and/or sealed with wood putty to keep light out. Plus we used weather stripping on the doors for the same effect.
Enjoy!


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## TshirtLover929 (Jan 20, 2010)

RB,
Looks great thanks for sharing the pictures.
How long did it take to build?


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## rbforrest (Mar 20, 2010)

TshirtLover929 said:


> RB,
> Looks great thanks for sharing the pictures.
> How long did it take to build?


I'm not sure exactly because we completed it over a few days and quite a few drinks.  I'd say it would take a solid day.


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## filmoslim (Dec 24, 2010)

NICE!! whats the dmentions, it looks pretty big


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## kristobans (Jan 8, 2014)

Hi,
love your screen drying cabinet. Definitely one of the best one on internet. 
Could you share measurements? I'm really bad with this part, so it would really help to build my drying cabinet. 




rbforrest said:


> Hey all,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## jimcr (Feb 3, 2009)

with some dryer venting and some hose you could put the dehumidifier under the cabinet, that way you won't have to waste space because even small one will take up almost 1/2 of your cabinet.


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## MimosaTexas (Oct 31, 2010)

here's a thread showing what I built. Some similarities:

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/screen-printing-equipment/t222551.html


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## jimcr (Feb 3, 2009)

MimosaTexas said:


> here's a thread showing what I built. Some similarities:
> 
> http://www.t-shirtforums.com/screen-printing-equipment/t222551.html


I don't want to sounds bad but you need to have the whole unit (dehumidifier ) in the cabinet. one side draws the air to be rid of moisture. It does no good to have it draw air from outside and blow in , works similar to an ac not just like one. Air in one side dry air out the other. measure inside your cabinet don't use the gauge on the unit it measuring whats going through.
Easy way to put it is don't take outside air dry it out and force it into a wet space , will not get the results your looking for.


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## MimosaTexas (Oct 31, 2010)

I tested every configuration before settling on the one you see in the final build (closed vs open, orienting fans and the dehumidifer differently, etc). The one you see dried screens the fastest. It will fully dry 27 23x31 freshly coated screens in under an hour.

The fans blow air in, the dehumidifier vents out the back of the cabinet. The system is semi-closed due to the wall the unit is up against, but the idea is to always have air flowing in and out of the unit and the dehumidifier remains on the entire time. It is not set for a specific humidity. The screens come out bone dry. One or two freshly coated screens are bone dry in less than 15 minutes if the rest of the unit is empty or full of already dried screens.


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## jimcr (Feb 3, 2009)

MimosaTexas said:


> I tested every configuration before settling on the one you see in the final build (closed vs open, orienting fans and the dehumidifer differently, etc). The one you see dried screens the fastest. It will fully dry 27 23x31 freshly coated screens in under an hour.
> 
> The fans blow air in, the dehumidifier vents out the back of the cabinet. The system is semi-closed due to the wall the unit is up against, but the idea is to always have air flowing in and out of the unit and the dehumidifier remains on the entire time. It is not set for a specific humidity. The screens come out bone dry. One or two freshly coated screens are bone dry in less than 15 minutes if the rest of the unit is empty or full of already dried screens.


I am happy that they dry so quick for you thats great, it just seems counter productive to bring in outside air and remove the humidify from it.


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## MimosaTexas (Oct 31, 2010)

i honestly thought it would work better as a fully closed system, but it simply didn't. Conceptually it doesn't really make sense, but it's the reality.


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## sben763 (May 17, 2009)

MimosaTexas said:


> i honestly thought it would work better as a fully closed system, but it simply didn't. Conceptually it doesn't really make sense, but it's the reality.


A completely closed system wont work. It should work better with it turned around so that it blows the dehumidifier but if you have that bath fan on it wont as when its on you would be blowing in with both. If the bath fan was turned around and the humidifier was blowing in I can guarantee it would be dry just as fast but at a lower humidity and you get some of the mechanical heat added also. 

you are getting fast dry time because of air flow. 

I have a old national dryer with a heater and a intake. my old dehumidifier had a duct that ran from the it to the intake on dry box. I have to build a intake for the new dehumidifier but I just point the exhaust of dehumidifier at the intake filter.


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## MimosaTexas (Oct 31, 2010)

turning the dehumidifier and fans around did not work nearly as well as it simply blew dry air in, but did not remove moisture from the air within the unit, and the airflow was not properly directed across the screens in both sections of the unit. It took about twice as long when testing.

The unit actually gets to around 102 degrees inside after an hour (when ambient air temp outside the unit is around 80 degrees), and there is usually around 2 inches of water in the dehumidifier after that time as well when the unit is fully stocked with freshly coated screens. It is definitely sucking moisture out of the air which has been picked up by the air moving across the screens.


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## sben763 (May 17, 2009)

what's your humidity out side the box. As you suck air out of the box there has to be makeup air. That make up air has to come from out side the box. if its as humid where ever your at as here at times then it wouldn't work as well so your shop must have low humidity. I have a 16x20 garage and I can at times fill up the container daily like last week when the snow was melting and rain on and off. 

My box was made by a equipment manufacture and has a side with regulated baffles across the screens. Now my screens are dry and can be exposed in 10-15 min for most jobs. I use a hydrometer to dry screens and the ones dry in that time will have a 40-45% reading and works but if I am doing a simulated or CMYK I dry them to 30% and it takes about an hour depending on the humidity in the shop. Since my shop is so small I leave the dehumidifier on 35% all the time.

I built a storage cabinet and made it so I can dry the screens in 5-10% in 5-10min and 30 min to dry 30% with just a few computer fans and just running the dehumidifier in the shop. I'll try to take pics this weekend. I have posted the cabinet before but not since I added fans.


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