The acrylic heater is nearing completion (design shameless copied from a hack-a-day post).

I still need to make a few more tweaks to it before it’s ready for use. There’s a minute amount of water leaking around the barbs, but that’s easily fixed with some clamps. I’d also like to find something better than a gladware container for the reservoir. Then there’s the brightness… I don’t think the control I’m using was made to dim something with 0.1 ohms of resistance.

Halogen bulb on low

Yes, the overhead lights are on in this picture. Yes, the controls are set to their lowest possible setting. Yes, it’s that bright through the smoked acrylic. I actually grabbed a welding helmet a few seconds after this shot.

I’ll post more details and possibly a tutorial video when I get this thing ready.