*Building a new apparatus, Need help! *

[DFalk]

I thank you in advance for any help that may be able to offer.....THANKS!

I'm building a new piece of equipment for our restaurant and unfortunately I'm no metal expert so I'm looking for a little help from the experts.

I am wanting to build a spike toaster.

A spike toaster is just a series of spikes. Each spike being approx. 1.25" in diameter and approx. 7" tall, made out of hollow food grade 304 stainless steel tubing.

Here's a link to an example photo of what a spike toaster looks like: thing that makes the whole in the bun | Yelp

The purpose of the spike toaster is for the spikes to heat up to a bun toasting temperature, then a loaf of bread is impaled on the spike, which then toasts the inside of the bread before having condiments placed in the hole followed by a hot dog.

Unfortunately, you can't buy these for commercial use, so I've got to have one made....bummer!

I have two questions regarding the heating of these spikes:

1. How well does stainless steel retain and disperse heat?

What guage stainless steel should be used?

Should I line the inside of the hollow tubing with a copper lining or something else to assist in heating the entire spike?

2. I want to be able to heat this with an electric current and I have no idea how to assemble this. Does anyone know how I would go about finding parts to have an on off switch, temperature control and heating element to heat this contraption.

Thanks so much for any help that you're able to offer!

Derek

[doorknob]

While I'm not sure whether or not I can help you with this, I had a question that might be relevant.

I had never heard of such a thing before I read your post, but a quick google search shows that you can buy units for home use (although they're pretty expensive). Have you considered doing a patent search for spike toaster designs, both US and European? Of course, theoretically, if it is patented and the patent is currently in force, then you might be prevented from building or using one that mimics the patented elements, however you could learn a great deal about their construction from studying the patent disclosure, and might even figure out a way to duplicate the function that does not infringe on the patent.

Alternatively, buying one of the home units and reverse engineering it would seem to be a reasonable approach. Maybe you could even locate a service manual for one of the devices, which would offer some useful clues.

There are many types of off-the-shelf heater units that might be able to be pressed into service, but to avoid getting bogged down in trial-and-error testing you would need more info about things such as temperatures, dimensions, and the like.

The copper/stainless approach sounds like it might be a good one. Other metal "sandwiches" might work well too - for example, one of the premier manufacturers of pots and pans is All Clad, and their claim to fame is the use of a sandwich of stainless steel covering an aluminum core, which supposedly gives a more even distribution of heat to the food. So it might be worth investigating All Clad's patents to get more details about what alloys they use in their products.

Strangely, I'm craving a good hot dog or two right now...

[DFalk]

Doorknob,

Thanks for all the fantastic ideas. I really appreciate your help.

Thanks!