BL Workshop

Make a solar hot dog cooker

If you curve some aluminum foil just right, you can cook hot dogs with the sun’s heat.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

  • Utility knife
  • Tape
  • Saw
  • Drill
  • Roofing nails
  • Glue
  • 2 sheets of corrugated cardboard, 7 1/2 inches by 30 inches
  • 2 2-by-2-by-12-inch connector boards
  • Piece of poster board large enough to cover the bottom of the cooker
  • 12-inch-wide aluminum foil
  • 2 1-by-1-by-13 1/2-inch wood uprights
  • Small wooden dowl, sharpened at one end

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Step 1. Using the utility knife, cut a curve from the two pieces of cardboard.

Step 2. Connect the curves together using the 12-inch connecting boards, glue and roofing nails.

Step 3. Bend the poster board over the curves, mark with a pencil and cut to size. Glue and tape in place.

Step 4. Spread glue evenly onto the poster board. Carefully glue down the aluminum foil. Make it as smooth as possible.

Step 5. Drill a hole in one upright, cut a notch on the other and glue in place.

Step 6. Aim the cooker at the sun, skewer your hot dogs, and get the rolls and mustard.

HOW IT WORKS

The sun reflects heat off the parabolic curve and concentrates it at a single point.


 


 

Comments about “Make a solar hot dog cooker”

  1. Andy says:

    This is awesome– I will definitely use this.

    AJM

  2. Christine says:

    Wow….this would have been helpful!!! The dimensions were not included in the print instructions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We made one but it was too small and took way too long to cook the hot dog!

  3. mets35 says:

    my class is going to do this

  4. cj says:

    WHAT!!

  5. The Joker says:

    Not that cool

  6. triple hhh says:

    this works really good

  7. matt says:

    thats awesome how did you think of that!

  8. MONEY BAGS says:

    I wish I could use a knife.

  9. ykukjloj says:

    AUSOME!!!!!!!!

  10. kurlita says:

    hey this idea is craaaazzzzyyyy n i love it!!! hahahahaha xD

  11. lizzie says:

    =) Hey i really think this is a great idea we are goin to do dis as a science fair project but one of our team member doent want 2

  12. pewe says:

    that is cool my 8th grade class is do it in science it is alsome

  13. Brianna E. says:

    OK… now I’m hungry…

  14. Chloe says:

    I did that in school!

  15. red man says:

    This looks like an art project from my school!

  16. Pacdotman says:

    And so I was dreaming I was being attack by a monster in the first place.

  17. Dan man says:

    That also happened to me. Not a dream!

  18. Giants says:

    My class does this on Fridays

  19. Brianna E. says:

    This is kinda cool! I wish I could do that!

  20. monkey man says:

    why didn’t someone tell me that before it would have saved me some time i love hot dogs

  21. hey says:

    cool idea

  22. hey says:

    i am going to use this for my project

  23. Solar green person says:

    It is also very green

  24. hot coco master says:

    it sounds like a cool idea!!!!!

  25. Anonymous says:

    neato

  26. star 11 says:

    this cooker stinks

  27. zac of troop 700 says:

    i luv hotdogs

  28. bald man 201 says:

    it makes me feel hungery

  29. pmdkid says:

    interesting

  30. Andrew says:

    This idea is swell. I tried it at home with my fam. We all enjoyed the hotdogs.

  31. packersfan says:

    sweet

  32. J-man says:

    If you make the uprights and somehow the skuer bigger, you can cook other stuff. This is a great idea. Where did you get it at?

  33. silver says:

    hmp!!!! I WISH i had the materels!!-.-

  34. gaza says:

    this is the most awesome ,stinky project i every did

  35. Anonymous says:

    i made it got 2nd place

  36. Mysterious stranger says:

    This hot dog cooker is awesome I’m sooo using this for my project. Hope I get an A+.

  37. mikka says:

    how long will it take?

  38. ERROR THIS MICROSOFT! says:

    Looks easy, but hard! I guess it will probably explode! 8O

  39. 18neMevoli says:

    i was just wondering how long it will take to cook the hot dog and how to build it

  40. Ham says:

    Is that really work by using aluminiumfoil ?

  41. sam says:

    this is cool

  42. CamperCook53972 says:

    This is a great idea. The solar cooker for a hot dog needs direct sunlight (no shade trees) and the outside temperature needs to be above 94 degrees Farenheit to cook the hotdog in about fifteen minutes or so ( usually with a Heat index of over 107 degrees Farenheit)– about the same temperature as cooking an egg on a cement sidewalk which does not have shade trees around. This is a great idea as a school science fair project. It’s a way to have a hot, cooked meal using absolutely no matches or charcoal.

  43. zigywigi says:

    it dosent work not good directions sorry

  44. ghg says:

    YEAH!!!!

  45. ye says:

    This is a great idea. The solar cooker for a hot dog needs direct sunlight (no shade trees) and the outside temperature needs to be above 94 degrees Farenheit to cook the hotdog in about fifteen minutes or so ( usually with a Heat index of over 107 degrees Farenheit)– about the same temperature as cooking an egg on a cement sidewalk which does not have shade trees around. This is a great idea as a school science fair project. It’s a way to have a hot, cooked meal using absolutely no matches or charcoal.

  46. Bad Newz says:

    this is the best idea I have ever heard

  47. jmoney4 says:

    thats cool

  48. Quitzell says:

    At my school we did practically the same thing except we used Pringles cans. THey work just the same and all you have to do is cut a hole in the can add plastic wrap and wait a while. :)

  49. cubscoutguy says:

    thats easy

  50. Mr. Science says:

    I didn’t try this yet,but it is awsome!

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