The poor incandescent light bulb — the very symbol of having a bright idea — is endangered. It’s being phased out all around the world: Brazil and Venezuela (since 2005), European Union (2009), and soon in the United States (2014). Granted, efficient CFL and LED lights produce more light with far less energy, but they’re just not as much fun.
The light bulb in the EZ-Make Oven creates enough heat to shrink plastic, harden polymer clay, or as in this DIY project, make wiggly creations by “cooking” plastisol. Have your own “aha!” moment and build this light bulb-powered craft oven, while you can!
The oven design is super simple: a light bulb in a can. Holes in the bottom serve as cool air intakes and for mounting the insulated feet and bulb socket. A grid of holes in the lid allows the hot air to rise up around the molds. An inverted loaf pan serves as a cover to hold in the heat.
The oven reaches about 300°F with a 75W spotlight. That’s just enough to fuse polymer clay and cure plastisol.
NOTE: Unlike thermoplastics that can be melted and remolded, molding with thermoset materials is like making a hard-boiled egg: once cooked, its form is permanently set. What starts out as a syrupy liquid cures into a soft, pliant plastic. Baby boomers might remember the Thingmaker toy from the 1960s. Use this new DIY version to create your own custom mold shapes out of easy-to-form sheet aluminum.
WARNING: The sides of the oven can get hot, so be careful and always use the cool wire handle to lift or move the oven.
I wonder what Jack Black would say about outlawing the awesome incandescent bulb. it would probably have to be censored. I’m reminded of some things he has said in the past that seem fitting.
What Jack Black should say is, “INCANDESCENT BULBS AREN’T BEING OUTLAWED!!”
They’re just being redesigned to be more efficient: 100w-equivalent bulbs are now 72w, 75w-equivalents are now 54w; and 60w-equivalent bulbs are now 43w.
But they cannot be banned, because there are uses for which any other type of bulb cannot be used. Ever try to put a compact-fluorescent or an LED in an oven?? Won’t work, to say the least.
If anything, fluorescent bulbs will get totally banned first (starting in California), because of their mercury content.
So, please: stop with the FUD. Thank you.
I’m following this story and I got here from the recent article on making trinkets which uses the EZ Make Oven. This “article” shows the intro and the tools and parts list, but not the instructions. Does that mean the article will be emailed to me since it’s from a previous issue?
Hi Rick, we have step-by-step instructions that usually display with this page, but it looks like a bug in our system got rid of them. I’ll look into it and try to get them back up as soon as I can!
Thanks. Looks like it worked!
I think one could find used thingmaker molds on ebay and around for a low price. Can this oven unit be made to house or utilize the old 3 1/2″ x 4″ standard size aluminum molds? Of is there not enough heat to be had from a 75 watt incadescent bulb to heat the mold thoroughly?