HI Josh,
Nothing special about the dimensions. I chose 12" wide because that is the length of common skewers so they would fit well. The other dimension just worked out well for about a 150 watt heat source. If you use a bigger box, you'll either need to up the wattage on the bulb or use two bulbs.
The height is important to keep the strips of meat from getting to close to the heat source. That's it. No rocket science.
In fact, my original design used a 12" wide by 18" long by 12" high box. It was assembled the same and used 3 PVC supports, one at each end and one in the middle. 9" skewers were perfect for this design but it did take two 100 watt bulbs in the summer and 150s in the cooler months to heat it.
The 9" skewers went from the support in the center of the box to the left or right end support.
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| | | skewers alternate and lay across the supports.
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I currently use a 24"x24"x24" with 3 supports and 12" skewers. This gives me a bit more than 4 times the capacity of one 12" square box. Same skewer arragenemet as above only 12" skewers meeting in the center rather than 9".
A 24" square box takes 300 - 400 watts to heat it adequately but I can easily dry 40 lbs or more at one time. If you are handy you can put four 100 or 150 watt light bulbs in the box and put them on a light dimmer to control the heat to anything you want.
OOooops, I just checked the link you provided. This is a storage box and doesn't have the necessary four "flaps" on top and bottom. you need these flaps to provide the necessary height. Go to a local Moving & Storage company. They have good sturdy boxes of the correct type. Also, the local Stationary Super Stores like Staples or Office Depot have them here in the USA, but they are in the shipping supplies department not in the file box area. The box you show is a file storage box not a shipping style box.
Lex
