A customer was considering using an LAC2-18 benchtop oven from Despatch Industries to cure an adhesive used to mount a high-mass (eight-pound) structure to a thick-gauge aluminum plate. However, because even slight variances in temperature can affect the cure, the customer needed to ensure temperature uniformity within the oven before signing on the dotted line.

“The customer supplied Despatch with [sample] parts, which were loaded onto three shelves in the oven,” says Daniel Ruf, Despatch’s engineering manager. “Each part was fitted with a calibrated thermocouple in order to measure the product temperature. Three additional thermocouples were used to measure the air temperature on each level.”

Once testing was complete, the results were in: The temperature range of all six thermocouples was within ±1.26°F (±0.7°C) — considerably better than the 1.8°F (±1.0°C) specification Depatch promises for its LAC2-18 oven.

The LAC2-18 bench-top oven has horizontal recirculating airflow and delivers temperatures up to 500°F (260°C). A high volume fan circulates air through perforated, stainless steel walls to create a constant horizontal airflow across all sections of the oven.