Thinking about making a heater with the mcmaster strip and a paint can. Wouldn't it work better attached to the outside of the paint can and then the oven mit over top? What size strip, 2x5 or 2x6

These strips work strictly by conduction. A soda can is aluminum... it would never be able to get up to a hot enough temperature and hold that temperature for proper convection to work inside the can.

With mine, it just wraps around the head and it heats it up with no problem, it doesnt matter if you use a soda can or a in my case a can coolie that i just stuck it to then covered with a over mit, as long as the strap is wrapped around the head and contact it, it will heat it

A bunch of guys over here have been making Surestart-type heaters by cutting hte tops out of a thermos, and putting in some kind of hot bulb with a fan, etc.. Wish I were good enough with electronics to do it.

Jabroni,
thanks for the help, couple more question for you...do you set the heat strip close to the bottom middle or top of the head? How is the beer cozzie holding up to the heat? what size and amp strip did you get? I was thinking of putting some type of control (have to go and check radio shack) in between the switch and the heater to control the amps or voltage to get the head close the the magic number of 200* instead of running the risk of over heating if forgottten.

The coozie i used was a normal soft rubber type it had a harder dense feeling to it and it is holding up fine, I just used it as basically a holder/base to munt the strip to so i could then sew my cover to that.. I also got the 2x6 in, which actually when wrapped around the head it a tad short depending on your engine head but doesnt matter it still heats it up.. I looked into a regulator or switch of some kind but didnt need it when i found out ,my turbo 30 charger works to power the strip on motor run function. But again, ive put 5 amps to it before and that thing got HOT, i could smell it hot...So im sticking with around 3.5 amps..

I did receive new heaters made by a clubmember, he originally makes them for heating up largescale diffs. His previous model was made with simple resistance/heater wires and could generate 55 degrees C. This model has a thicker wire made into a self casted silicone tab. This one shoud generate up to 100 degrees C.

I like that design! Much like comp heat, but personally i'd sport "local" level businesses or makers.

Got my heat strip the other day. Ordered at 8:30 am with ground shipping and it was on my desk by 3pm the same day. Apparently Mcmaster-Carr is not far from my job site :D Unfortunately my charger's motor run feature is only good to 8 volts so the heat strip only got the motor up to about 125*F after about 15 min. So i am going to have to get some type of "dimmer" to drop the voltage to between 9 to 10 volts. Any ideas?

Its actually the amps that really heats it.. I have a turbo 30 and on motor run function at 8.9v (the max) its gets to around 135 temp wise but I can also use the charge function at 3.5 amps, and it gets to around 150 degrees and the charge function seems to run a while since it has the voltage drop off feature so it wont stop charging unless the volts drop off more then .03 which wont happen. But be careful, I tried it on 4 amps and it got WAY HOT, so im sticking with 3.5 when i use it..

An adjustable powersupply is the most easiest way. There is a range of high power adjustable voltage regulators called LT1083/LT1084/LT1085 , maybe something to look at.

Here is the problem with that, at this point with all the odds and ends you buy to buld it and regulate power (if you guy that) you could have spent the $70 and just bought one... I honestly found I really dont use it much, it was more of a to do project..

H7 bulb and old spray can works perfect, 80 C after 5 min

what do you use to power it?? how many volts ??

12 volt power supply or car battery.