Bead Pillow

K

Kaisersozei

Evolving Lead Gorilla
Last week I broke down and purchased a 28qt ("that's all I'll need, honey...really...I swear....") Coleman cooler to handle the overflow from my 100ct humi. Heartfelt beads are sitting in an old nylon stocking in the humi, but they're kind of bunched up in the corner. Instead of using a mesh bag in the cooler, I wanted a means of increasing the surface area of the beads, so I created a "Bead Pillow". It took me one robusto session (about an hour fifteen:ss) to make and cost less than $3.

Pick up some #10 plastic canvas (the mesh is small enough to keep the beads from falling through,) a needle and some heavy-duty thread. Craft stores carry all this material.

Beadpillow.jpg


Cut the canvas in half, then (over a beer and a cigar,) stitch the two halves together as manly as you can:

stitch.jpg


Leave a pouch on one side

pouch.jpg


so that you can pour in the appropriate amount of beads:

insert.jpg


I'm using 4 oz of 70% RH for the 28qt cooler. This particular pillow could probably easily hold up to 8 oz.

Tie off the stitching and shake out any bead particles.

upright.jpg


You can then spray the beads directly through the canvas and since the canvas is heavy duty plastic, it can stand upright along the side of the cooler.

incooler.jpg
 
I'll take two please. :D

Very creative and functional solution. Thanks for sharing this with us. :tu
 
I like it very much. Thanks for the inspiration. I have been looking for something like this. The flatness allows for maximum surface area exposure, hence better exchange rate:tu

You will get less "snow flakes" if you avoid applying water directly to the beads, even spraying a mist. It takes a bit longer but placing a saucer with a clean sponge saturated with distilled water in the same enclosed area as the bead pillow will bring it up to the desired RH.

The direct addition of water through mist spraying or immersion is not recommended, since the high heat of decrepitation causes silica gel beads to crack and fragment. Although silica gel retains its hygroscopic properties, the overall response time of silica gel in a tray will slow down because of denser packing from the mix of large beads and smaller fragments.
Click to expand...
 
That is a great idea, thanks for sharing:ss
May I suggest in the future to save yourself some time, and this goes for everyone here, just send me your overflow cigars and I will make sure to give them all a safe home.
 
With more and more of us trying out beads this is a wonderful project.
I see the benefit of many beads being exposed to the air.
I would think about attaching the pillow to the top of the cooler.
How is it working out since you made it?
Any changes you would do?
Tom
 
TOB9595 said:
With more and more of us trying out beads this is a wonderful project.
I see the benefit of many beads being exposed to the air.
I would think about attaching the pillow to the top of the cooler.
How is it working out since you made it?
Any changes you would do?
Tom
Click to expand...

The one pillow has kept the cooler rock solid for months. Haven't even had to recharge the beads, although I only open the cooler about once or twice a week.

Mounting to the top is a good idea--except that the cooler lid can be flipped to double as a drink holder, so that would screw up my beer slots! The nice thing about this cooler is that the lid seats firmly when it's upside down, too. Highly recommended!:al
 
Excellent idea sir!! Looks like I have a project ahead of me now. I think I might add some quilting (more cigar time) to keep the beads from settling out to the bottom. I'll see if it's worth the effort.
 
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