Low Budget Parabolic Solar Cooker

A first approach to a self made, low budget (hopefully) solar cooker.

This article is my attempt at documenting my experience making a parabolic solar cooker. I have
been reading a lot about solar technologies on the internet and have had the great chance of working
with someone who owns a company that sells and designs solar thermal and photovoltaic solutions.
I wanted to get into a hands-on DIY project for a long time and the moment came when my father
moved to a new house. The old owners left their directv dish mounted on the roof, and since it was
no longer useful I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to take my first steps into the world of
solar heating, with a simple technology: solar cooking.
Before I start to describe my progress so far, I´d like to introduce myself and make a few comments
on the objective of this article. My name is Juan Sebastián Estrada, I’m a 27 year old environmental
engineer from Medellín, Colombia, where I currently live. Although I have a bachelor´s degree in
engineering and some understanding of mathematics and physics, I don’t have much experience in
mechanical engineering or anything of that sort, so for this kind of project I prefer to think of
myself as a simple amateur who is just starting his first solar project. Having said this, I hope that
this article will provide at least some useful information and encouragement for anyone who wants
to try and make their own solar cooker. There are lots of articles and information out there, a small
part of which I have read, and which are very useful, but I believe that every attempt should be
documented and discussed so we can learn from each other. Also, since I live in a Latin American
country, I will write the article in Spanish because I have found that there is a great lack of
information in my native language.

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