# Fridge to Incubator Conversion



## Snake_Whisperer (Oct 5, 2011)

Spent this past weekend on this project, all up, took me about 18 hours to do. Picked up a daggy old, non-functioning fridge from Salvos for 10 bucks. That plus a lot of grinding, sanding, gluing, modding, and painting equals 1 fully functional incubator. Made almost entirely from scraps I had in the racks in the shop, apart from the thermostat, I would have spent less than $120.

Key features are:

Double glazed viewing window.
80 watt heat cable woven into a gal. wire shelf above the floor.
Timber accents, including custom door pull.
Ceiling mounted, low profile LED puck lights, controlled by remote control.
Floor mounted, blue LED lit, 3 fan air circulation system (a laptop cooling unit placed on the floor  )
Door mounted ATC-210 dimming thermostat.
4+1 shelves, each a perfect fit for 2 Systema 7L incubation tubs.
Still waiting on the fan unit to arrive by post, and a new arbor for my tablesaw (arghh!) so I can finish trimming that ugly *** channel above the top shelf. Other than that, I've run it already and it hits temp without a problem with ambient at 20 degrees so I'm stoked.

Cheers,
Aaron


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## abnrmal91 (Oct 5, 2011)

Looks great, good work. So what eggs are going to fill it.


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## dangles (Oct 5, 2011)

looks great, the cooling fan is that just a laptop cooling setup?


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## FAY (Oct 5, 2011)

Great job.
With what do you cut the hole in the door with?


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## tankslapt (Oct 5, 2011)

I wish I was as good as you.


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## Wild~Touch (Oct 5, 2011)

Show off


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## Snake_Whisperer (Oct 5, 2011)

Yep, off the shelf laptop cooler. USB powered with a USB to AC adaptor outside the unit.

After disassembling the door, cut out the window with a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade in it. Needed earmuffs for that procedure!


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## zeke (Oct 5, 2011)

Wow u can seriously turn anything into something awsome


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## jinjajoe (Oct 5, 2011)

Nice Azza !!!!!


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## maddog-1979 (Oct 5, 2011)

could be a new addition to your product range Aaron 

most readily available incubators are only good for a couple of clutches , and there's alot people who like the proffesional look but are not that handy.


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## Snake_Whisperer (Oct 5, 2011)

*WxHxD 57cm x 120cm x 52cm*



Bredlislave said:


> Show off



Lol, just doin' my thang Sandee! 

I've been batting around the idea of doing specialised wine cooler conversions, I suppose if enough people express an interest I'd give it a red hot go. If I could turn a banged up rusty ants nest like that and make it useable, somethinglike this would be a snap! I'm sure I could do a unit like this, WxHxD 57cm x 120cm x 52cm, ready to go with heat and dimming thermo for around $1000.


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## Red-Ink (Oct 5, 2011)

Fantastic work mate...


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## porkosta (Oct 5, 2011)

Top effort, very nice.


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## Fuscus (Oct 5, 2011)

Very, very impressive Aaron - above your normal high standards.
You may have been able to save yourself some work by buying a non-working fridge from the tip, they have hundreds there, and some look in good nick (guess what I'll be doing this week)


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## Snake_Whisperer (Oct 5, 2011)

Fuscus said:


> Very, very impressive Aaron - above your normal high standards.
> You may have been able to save yourself some work by buying a non-working fridge from the tip, they have hundreds there, and some look in good nick (guess what I'll be doing this week)



Lol, I did a tip run 2 days after picking that one up. Guess what I saw... D'OH!


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## Chris1 (Oct 5, 2011)

that looks awesome!!
it took me 2 mins to convert my ebay bargain, lol, no cutting, no gluiing, no sanding no hassles!! 

wish i could see the eggs without opening the door tho, hehehehe


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## liney (Oct 18, 2011)

Love the conversion job mate, wanting to cut a hole in my fridge/incubator as well but thinking do I need 2 pieces of glass seeing as most fridge doors have an outer and inner shell/thickness. What do you reckon? Is yours 1 piece of glass or 2?

cheers
Steve


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## J-A-X (Oct 19, 2011)

If you look closely at pic 6 it looks like he's removed the inside shell of the door, put some timber in its place so it helps insulate and gives somewhere solid to put the glass. 
It's a fantastic job as always, you would guess how bad it was to start with, amazing what a good rub back and a coat of paint can achieve


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