Others making small panels will benefit from your example of both oven usage, and time and temperature profile/s.
This could make it even easier for folks to get their feet wet, as they need even less equipment to give it a go.
one important observation was the need to keep the plastic vacuum bag from touching the sides (or any part ) of the oven, we used something, towel/newspaper/cardboard on the underside between the bag and oven rack. then a towel on top to keep the folded up edges away from the top of the oven. maybe just wrapping the whole thing up like a christmas package with paper would be less involved?
this oven has two adjustable racks. the lower one on lowest track we covered with foil (above the heating element) and set the upper one to give us enough top clearance. the lowest digital temp setting for bake starts at 170*f/75*c..too hot for pre heat..we brought it up to 170* then shut it off.
in the mean time we have assembled our glass/eva/cell/eva/backing layer then some kind of air wick (old bath towel) and slipped it into a contractors garbage bag (that oven baking bag, pot roast/turkey bag is a great idea) and pull a partial vacuum (just enough to flatten the bag a bit) and fold any extra plastic back over the top with something to hold the folds on top. and put it into the "now cooled off a bit" oven..sorry, the temp at this point is unknown? guessing still up there but much less than the 170* we use a cloth cover to "seal" the partially open oven door..
....after 15 minutes or so we start the vacuum pump back up and run it for 15 minutes..then turn the oven back on set at 170*..run it at 170 for 15 minutes then start bringing the heat up in 10 degree increments every 5 minutes stopping at 230*f/105*c.. (these bags seem to give out at anything much higher) already at 45 minutes here..now we let it run for a goodly amount of time, an hour or so at 230*..getting impatient now but try and wait here -> an hour seems like a really, really long time! we pull it out after an hour clean up any eva and backing overlap along the edges with a razor (a tiny amount of overlap seems to be a good thing) and put it back in the oven and bake it at 275*f/135*c for another half hour.
we let the vacuum pump keep running through this whole process..even the unwrapping part for another 10 minutes. the now free running pump has a chance to cool down? ...just seems like a good idea, but probably not needed.
a cleaner look at the profile:
layered up and bagged in warm oven at ~120*f for 15 minutes
then pull full vacuum for 15 minutes at ~120*f ..listen to sound of pump <- a gague would be a better indicator. (can't find the hose and gague set)
push the temp up every few minutes in 10 degree increments stopping at 230*f
hold 230* for an hour ..listen to the pump <-if the sound changes we have lost our seal..if it's still too early (you decide) pull the bag out and slip another right over the leaking one and back in the oven it goes..listen to the pump.
after an hour remove, unwrap and trim.
back in the oven for a half hour at 275*f/135*c
let it cool a bit and then hit something hard with it to test...repeat the process with the now cracked panel with another eva/glass layer.
or we can skip that last bit and just use it with the single glass layer.. -> recommended
no worries here using the stove. conversation was something like this
me: honey, when are you going to be out for a few hours? i want to use the stove to vacuum laminate some solar cells. it may get loud and foggy in here for a while.
her: i'll be out all afternoon. oh, that's what you dragged that HVAC pump out for?
only a few things are off limits in the kitchen. they include: no carburetors or transmissions on the table and no hoot owls in the freezer. ->the owl thing only recently made the list..oh, and no unattended exposed electrical stuff, after "the electrical tickle incident".
very reasonable she is this one. even helps me raise and lower the mill.
a good starter project might be three 3x6 cells tabbed and bussed in a standard 8 1/2 x 11" picture frame. we can see how it works and play with the finished product as a 1.5v battery charger..good times!
cheers, dave