Reddit reviews Aroma Housewares AHP-303/CHP-303 Single Hot Plate, Black

Here's a list of 40 things you can make in a microwave, and the internet probably has 10 million more.

Don't underestimate the microwave - you can actually do a lot with one!

Edit: Look into getting a hotplate. You can get one for well under $20, and probably much cheaper if you have a local thrift store to check out (they are quite common). Get one of these and a inexpensive toaster oven, and there is really no limit to what you can make. Again, you can probably find both in your local thrift store and walk out having spent under $20 USD.

Edit Again: Just read you already checked your local goodwill and the condition of the items was a bit off - that happens. Check back. Often. Stuff is always flowing in and out of them. Beyond that - the food you cook is not actually touching the hotplate or the toaster oven itself, so don't worry so much :)

This has been asked a thousand times, at least twice this past week. Please use the search next time. Anyway I'll just copy and paste my last response:

I would go for this chamber:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vacuum-and-Degassing-chamber-1-5GL-/221257099507?pt=BI_Pumps&hash=item3383f368f3

If not this one, then a stainless steel one, the bell plastic chambers are not good if you have a heat pad or something in it.

Go for this vac pump:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005CO9GX6/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?qid=1375793140&sr=1-5&pi=AA160
You could get one cheaper there on amazon or eBay, it's up to you, but I recommend a 3 CFM pump or higher.

This hot plate is battery powered, fits in the chamber, and can keep a pretty good constant low temp:
http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-AHP-303-Single-Plate-Black/dp/B0007QCRNU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375192614&sr=8-1&keywords=battery+hot+plate
Hopefully this gets you started in the right direction, there are many many options for a nice vac set up, I'm sure if you look around you'll find good deals.

That's a shame.

In terms of things that give you a lot of bang for their size, I'd say things like dates, almonds, cashews, raisins, and tuna. I usually carry these when hiking because they're lightweight.

Or if you're interested at all in cooking your own, you could always get a decent electric hotplate like this and take it with you.

It would be cheaper for you to buy the equipment than outsource this, plus it's useful equipment. Actually, you probably already have the equipment you need.

If this board is only populated on one side, then this should be easy. Get yourself a hot plate like this: http://amazon.com/Aroma-AHP-303-CHP-303-Single-Plate/dp/B0007QCRNU

Heat it up to medium. You only want to heat up a small part of the board, so find a nut or some smallish piece of metal roughly the size of the component you are removing. Place the nut on the hot plate, and with needle nose pliers or tweezers hold the PCB on top of the nut. After a couple minutes, the component should flow, so use tweezers to pull it off.

Next cool it off slowly and clean it up with some wick and apply some paste. If you don't have paste, put a little bit of solder on each pad and some extra flux on top of it.

Now heat the board up again and put the new component on and it should flow on just fine.

If you don't have a hot plate, you may be able to substitute your kitchen range (assuming it's electric and not gas), but be very careful, as you could probably easily burn your PCB, and it's not a method I've tried.

It the board is populated on both sides but the area under the component is still bare you may still get this to work, but you have to be very careful not to burn the components by having a taller piece of metal to conduct from the hot plate to the PCB.

Your welcome and thanks. I will pull the pictures of it in operation off my actual camera and post them later tonight or tomorrow. The ones I posted here were all taken with my phone. So I while searching online for tips on this, there were a few people who used the foil and stated it helped maintain the heat. Being I built this in the middle of winter when we were seeing single digit temps I figured it couldn't hurt. I couldn't tell you if it did or not help though, so may be bogus. For my heating source I used two coil type single stove burners similar to these.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000690WNU/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1421282572&sr=8-3&dpPl=1&dpID=41SlDlhogIL&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SX200_QL40

Do note in a test run I tried to use one of the non-coil type and it didn't work; such as these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0007QCRNU/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1421282572&sr=8-1&dpPl=1&dpID=41Gn-mNe9cL&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SX200_QL40

Also note that most people were saying 1200-1500 watt hot plates where mine were 750 and 900. Might have better efficiency with the higher watt ones.

Then on one of the burners I placed a thin metal mixing bowl, like these ones:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00QVO3SYE/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?qid=1421282900&sr=8-5&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70

With as you stated wood soaked wood chips. Once I got into a rythm I was swapping in a new bowl of chips every 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

Let me know what else you are interested in knowing.

The heating pan and the little frother ran me up about 20 bucks. Nice little setup for quick ejuice making and steeping.
Heating pan
Mini mixer/frother

Heh, you've gotta be some kind of engineer with a title like that.

Anyhow, I just throw leaves in a cheap pot on a hot plate to make the tea concentrate. Something like this is capable of maintaining below-boiling temperatures even though it's not terribly precise.

You can use pretty much any kettle to keep water warm for diluting. A stovetop one is nice because you can leave the heat on low so it stays hot. Although totally not necessary, I love my Zojirushi for this, because I always have the hot water on tap.

I just use this cheap-o hot plate. I think as long as you have a good digital thermometer and are diligent about monitoring temperature, the type of heat source isn't as important.

You can do quite a lot with just a cheap single burner and a pot and/or pan: http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-AHP-303-Single-Plate-Black/dp/B0007QCRNU. It's very compact as well (9.4 x 3.1 x 8.5 inches)

I've actually used the same one for years for a lot of my cooking and made just about anything you can think of without any issues.

Get a small hotplate and you can cook whatever you need!

http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-AHP-303-Single-Plate-Black/sim/B0007QCRNU/2

You have a good idea, The inkbird might work paired with a Hot Plate
It says about 560°F or 293°C

Are your referring to something like a hot plate? I was just re-reading and it says to not place a flask directly onto electric coils, but a glasstop-stove is fine. To be honest, I do not know if this is more like the former than the latter

Toaster oven ftw. :)

We do some boards at my hackerspace this way. Used an Arduino, Thermocouple, and solid state relay to get the right heat profiles. So fun. Next up is solder masks, etc - right now we're just using regular copper clad boards.

Also, for our hot plate we use one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-AHP-303-Single-Plate-Black/dp/B0007QCRNU and a copper plate (to spread the heat evenly)

http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-AHP-303-Single-Plate-Black/dp/B0007QCRNU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374600897&sr=8-1&keywords=hot+plate

You can probably buy this.

I place my board on one of these and turn it to the absolute lowest possible temp.

Then I put some paste on a piece of tile and use one of these to lightly dab paste onto the pads. Just don't wait too long before reflowing because the paste will dry out.

For that you might need a starter if you don't want to ruin your hotplate. You will find a cheap one for camping trips for around 20 bucks like this http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-AHP-303-Single-Plate-Black/dp/B0007QCRNU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1413817807&sr=8-2&keywords=hotplate
Special ones for hookas are more expensive. With windcover or tinfoil around it coconut coals are ready in 10 minutes.

https://www.amazon.com/Aroma-Housewares-AHP-303-CHP-303-Single/dp/B0007QCRNU/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=hot+plate&qid=1568294665&s=gateway&sr=8-4

​

Hot plates aren't really all that special if you don't need a magnetic stirrer. Someone might correct me but I can cook just as well on a 200 hotplate as I can on a 10 dollar one. And if by any chance you're in California I'd be happy to have one of mine sent to your school xD

OP, I second the hot-plate/single burner idea: link. You'd be great if you can pick up one of these and one pot and a pan.

You can check out /r/eatcheapandhealthy and look at their advice for kitchen-less cooking. Focus on frozen veggies (your mini fridge should have a mini freezer) like broccoli, store leafy greens in the mini-fridge, and look for already-cooked proteins like rotisserie chickens (but then watch your sodium intake since those things are brined before cooked). Seems like you're in a tough spot, but it will just take some creative thinking.

They make some pretty good battery powered ones that are small enough to fit in some chambers.

Just make sure you know the measurements of each before you buy, or you'll learn the hard way.

EDIT: here is an example