# Dehydrator screen



## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

I've been looking all over for some screen/mesh to make my air drying trays from. I'm currently using muslin and cheesecloth, but those are usually only good for 3-4 uses before they get stained and funky. All I can find are premade plastic (shudder) trays for the commercial electric dryers and fiberglass (shudder) mesh. I can use larger slatted cooling racks for the larger stuff I'm drying, but I need a finer mesh for small berries and herbs, etc. Does anyone know where I can find food-safe metal/silicone screen/mesh suitable (and affordable!) to make my own trays? Or should I just give up and stick with the fabric?


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## Chixarecute (Nov 19, 2004)

Do a search for dehydrator on this forum - someone posted a link for food grade plastic mesh maybe 3 weeks ago!


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## rags57078 (Jun 11, 2011)

http://www.lemproducts.com/product/4161/Accessories


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

I must have missed it, or am getting search disabled in my old age LOL.

Thanks for the link Rags! This looks perfect for almost everything I'd need, and for everything else I can just layer up with an offset to reduce the hole size.


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## Just Cliff (Nov 27, 2008)

Here is that post Chix was talking about. Hope it helps.

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=406362&highlight=dehydrator


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks Cliff -- I'm looking into your supplier. Teeny shipping concern as one of the FAQs states "Continental US", so fingers crossed.

PETG and PTFE are the ones FDA rated for food contact, but they're way more expensive than the Polyethylene and Polypropylene. Is there really that huge a safety concern? Since this is only for short-term drying and not long-term storage, I'm only worried about leaching and potential toxicity when exposed to fruit acids and salts, especially exposed to UV/sunlight.


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## hhhandyman (Apr 28, 2011)

Stainless steel screening is also available, but expensive The stuff I have used is heavier gauge and has slightly larger openings than standard window screen.


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## Just Cliff (Nov 27, 2008)

PlicketyCat said:


> Thanks Cliff -- I'm looking into your supplier. Teeny shipping concern as one of the FAQs states "Continental US", so fingers crossed.
> 
> PETG and PTFE are the ones FDA rated for food contact, but they're way more expensive than the Polyethylene and Polypropylene. Is there really that huge a safety concern? Since this is only for short-term drying and not long-term storage, I'm only worried about leaching and potential toxicity when exposed to fruit acids and salts, especially exposed to UV/sunlight.


The link I posted is the same material I use. The polypro is food safe. Also the temps you are dealing with are quite low in the grand scheme of things. Even using these in a greenhouse, I can't see your temp getting over 150f. 
As far aas shipping. I didn't really think about that. Do you hav anyone in the lower 48 that could reship to you? Maybe if you talked really nice to the McMaster people they would ship them USPS?


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

hhhandyman - I looked into the stainless mesh. It's optimal for sure, but if you think the cost is expensive, you should have seen the shipping charges  Guess it weighs more than the poly meshes.

Cliff - yeah, I doubt that we'd get much above 150F even with 24 hours of direct sun without some serious insulation and parabolic mirrors, the ambient temps are just too low here even in summer. Besides this is an air/solar dehydrator, not a solar oven  It's normally really arid here so we'd be relying more on straight air drying than heat assisted evaporation anyway. 

I'm getting to be the queen of sweet-talking folks into shipping through USPS Parcel Post or Priority in Flat Rate boxes. Whenever I run into a supplier than will only ship via UPS or FedEx I'm more than happy to pass them by and give my business to someone else who will use the regular mail. The only time I have my folks remail for me is if I absolutely can't get something from another supplier that will work with me, or if shipping within ConUS is free. UPS & FedEx is $$$ since they don't deliver out here in the boonies and they either rely on air freight carrier (Overnight/Red only), or charge you exorbitant rates and then drop it in the USPS system in Anchorage anyway :rolling eyes: Seriously, it costs us less to ship something to my in-laws in UK than to have the same item shipped here to Alaska... crazy!!!


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