"Using a Slow Cooker/Crock Pot to speed-dry mini's" Topic

In the past, I have advocated using a Slow Cooker/Crock Pot to speed dry Urethane-Stain, or other oil-based coatings on mini's. On the Low temperature setting, the typical Slow Cooker/Crock Pot will heat up to 170 F: soft plastics melt at 248 F, or higher; hard plastics slowly melt at 300 F.

I've been using a Slow Cooker I picked up at an estate sale, for 5+ years, to speed-dry my minis, baking them at 170 F for 30 minutes -- works superbly! It has a dial temperature gauge which can go up to 400 F (more a tabletop oven, than a Slow Cooker, but it is quite large, able to accommodate 25+, 2-inch square based miniatures at a time). I use an oven thermometer inside of it, to monitor the temperatures, to keep them near 170 F, and I've never had an issue with it -- until now.

I was bake-drying a number of soft and hard plastic mini's. I dialed the temperature setting down a bit, to around 150 F. I ran it in my garage, which was at 34 F, to allow the fumes to escape without stinking up the house. The cold garage sucked the heat out of the Slow Cooker which tried to maintain its internal temperature… I lost nine soft plastic, 60mm Vikings, with 11 being mildly affected; I had around 20 hard plastic, 28mm figures which were mildly deformed, but are sill usable. All were drying in the same batch -- like I said, this unit is large, and can handle a lot of minis in one go.

If you use a Slow Cooker to speed-dry your mini's, be sure to keep the room temperature where you are using it, at, or above, 60 F, or it could over-compensate and melt your mini's! Cheers!

Unfortunate – thanks for the advice!

How long do they take to dry when you don't cook them?

Typically, air drying takes 2-4 days, to fully dry, 100%, not just on the surface of the figure. Note that even brushing on The Dip Technique, the collected pockets of urethane-stain can be more than a millimeter thick (likely a few hundreth's of a millimeter thick, over the flat areas of the figure). The fumes linger for 2-4 days, as well, as they off-gas until they are fully dry, all the way through their layers.

Normally, I bake them for 30 minutes. The garage stinks badly, due to the off-gassing of the fumes, but I can open the main double-wide car stall door, as well as the back access door, and the fumes will disappear within two hours, even with minimal cross breezes to push them out.

When I first started baking my miniatures to dry them, I used my electric stove's oven, set at 170 F, its lowest temperature setting (safe for all common types of plastic). I blocked the door open, with a rolled dish towel, and I turned on the exhaust hood's fan directly above the stove, which vented outside the house. It still stunk up the house, badly (opened a nearby window, to increase the air flow, but it was still bad). The flashpoint temperature of the fumes is not too much higher than 170 F, so that was a risky prospect. I did that for a few years, before I switched to a Slow Cooker/Crock Pot, in the garage.

We installed a new gas stove, a couple of years ago, so using the oven, with an open flame, is right out! My wife developed asthma, so another capital reason to bake my mini's dry, outside, where the fumes can't affect her. It's the Slow Cooker or air-dry, out in the garage, now.

I'm thinking of making a very large, insulated box, with a vent, for the Slow Cooker, to maintain its heat: cut up a 4x8 piece of Poly-Iso (Aluminum Foil covered) insulation cut into a box with 2-feet of clearance on all side, and a top vent for the fumes to escape; the Poly-Iso insulation can withstand temperatures above 170 F, based on past experiences with it, and it is R-13, per two-inch thickness -- the Slow Cooker will heat up the surrounding air, quickly, and it will require little energy to maintain its internal temperature. I will keep a much closer eye on it, checking it every five minutes, to make sure nothing goes wrong. I can put the Cooker, and its insulated box, outside, with an extension cord, to keep any fire hazards out of the garage, as well. I will hold off applying The Dip Technique to my miniatures, until I have a large batch to do at once. That will minimize the times I use it (more assembly line type of work, which is always the most efficient way to do it). Cheers!

Just in terms of how effective exhaust systems can be … the Warsaw, Poland airport has glass smoking boxes (small rooms perhaps 6x10) inside the terminals. They were remarkably effective.

In Japan, we were seated next to a table where the man was smoking. This was a "robotoyaki" restaurant where the open grill in the middle of the dining room requires excellent ventilation. When he exhaled, the smoke was simply whipped upwards and we couldn't smell a thing.

So, it's possible to have really, really good interior ventilation, if you're willing to invest in an exhaust fan and duct.

I've had plans for an activated charcoal filter for a spray booth, for indoor use, for more than a decade. Always wanted to build it, but never had a real need for it… This sounds like a better option: build a wooden/cardboard box with a Plexi-Glass window, vent it to the activated charcoal filter, and set it up in my crafting area, in the basement. I can watch it bake, while I paint more miniatures. I can use it to spray primer aerosol paint, as well, so it will serve double-duty! Thank you, emckinney! Cheers!

With all those fumes, I'd think I'd be looking for a water-based "dip". And I'm sure not in a hurry to dry stuff out in any type of oven, it can wait a few days… ;-)

I did look for a water-based dip, and wound up tinting my own mixes of Future. Unfortunately, Future was discontinued in 2022, so if/when my stash runs out, I'll be back to the drawing board. <grump>

The indoor spray booth sounds like a great idea, regardless. I could use one of those myself.

I have experience with this type of physics. My "Retirement" job is taking care of a commercial swimming pool and Jacuzzi. The pool heater is turned off for the Winter but the Jacuzzi remains in use year round. The evaporation rate on the Jacuzzi is at least twice as fast in the Winter.

Yup, I melted a Historex horse in a Crock-Pot. I use a cheap metal tool box with a cheap light socket set in the side. An old style light bulb dries oil paints at a sensible yet low temp. Plenty of room, and lower watt bulbs can control the temp easily.