Things You'll Need
- Quarter inch welded mesh, 24 inches x 36 inches
- Tin snips
- Polystyrene cooler with lid, 16 inches by 24 inches by 15 inches
- Roll of duct tape
- Cake pan, 9 inches by 13 inches by 1 1/2 inches
- Heating cable
- Pencil
- 3/16 inch bolts with washers and nuts
- Micro-switch assembly
- Pliers
- Acrylic glass, 10 inches by 14 inches by 1/2 inch
- Razor blade, box cutter or knife
- Ruler
- Brooding or incubating thermometer
Instructions
Trim the welded mesh with tin snips until it is 6 inches bigger in length and width than your cooler. On each corner, cut out a 3-inch square.
Bend the edges of the mesh downward with the pliers to form 3-inch legs on all sides. The mesh platform should sit at the bottom of the cooler with a gap underneath to accommodate a water pan.
Cover the sharp edges of the mesh with duct tape.
Place the cake pan on the bottom of the cooler. Turn the mesh platform upside down and push it down over the top of the pan, which will hold water. Small gaps around the edges of the platform will facilitate removal of the platform when necessary. If it all fits properly, remove the water pan and mesh platform and set aside.
Protect the polystyrene foam from melting by lining the inside of the cooler with duct tape. This creates a barrier separating it from the heat cable.
Coil the heating cable around the inside of the cooler. Start from the bottom, securing it with duct tape at regular intervals. Make sure each coil has at least two inches of space as the cable winds up the inside of the cooler and that it stops at least two inches from the top.
Poke three small holes in one of the shorter end walls of the cooler with a pencil for the micro-switch assembly, which you will bolt to the cooler. It should be five inches from the top of the cooler.
Push the bolts through the holes in the micro-switch assembly and then through the pencil holes in the cooler. The assembly goes inside the cooler. The outlet box should be on the upper side of the micro-switch assembly. Put a washer and nut on each bolt from the outside and tighten with pliers until the assembly is snug against the wall.
Thread the micro-switch assembly's temperature control bolt into the micro-switch assembly and tighten with the self-locking wing nut. Screw the heat wafer onto the temperature control bolt and insert the plug of the heating cable into the micro-switch assembly electrical outlet. Insert the pilot light in the remaining convenience outlet.
Center the acrylic glass sheet on top of the cooler lid. With your razor or knife, trace around the edges of the acrylic to a depth of one-quarter inch. Remove the glass and use the ruler to draw a pencil line three-quarters of an inch inside the first cut. This is a smaller rectangle than the cut you traced around the glass. Cut all the way through the underside of the lid, following the penciled line, and discard the smaller rectangle.
Draw a line one-quarter inch in depth from the top of the lid on the edge of the hole you cut out of the lid. Cut horizontally along this line until the razor meets the cut made around the acrylic glass and you can lift out the strip of polystyrene. This creates a lip for the acrylic glass to rest on so it serves as a window for the incubator.
Insert the acrylic glass into the recessed area of the lid until it rests on the lip and secure with tape.
Punch eight holes, no bigger than a quarter inch apiece, evenly on both long sides of the cooler. The holes provide ventilation.
Fill the water pan with one-half inch of water and place at the bottom of the cooler.
Place the mesh platform over the water pan, legs down.
Put the thermometer on the mesh platform. Test the incubator before placing eggs on the platform.