Tray heater recommendations

[Terryro]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a tray heating mat? I've recently retired and downsized but I still like to make lith prints with my collection of outdated papers. I started in photography in 1974 after I enrolled in a college elective course and fell for the darkroom magic. I also have a lot of analog equipment which I'm downsizing as well. Send a message if seriously interested. Thanks for the help

 

[gijsbert]

I use a seedling heating mat, one of these https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08F7NJ4JS , it's out of stock but amazon shows lots of alternatives.
I make my lith developer with warm water at about 35C and with the heat mat it stabilizes around 27-28C. It's low wattish, not too hot, doesn't melt my trays, I've left it on by accident a few times, no problem.
I've been looking for something that could keep a bit higher because I still have pretty long development times. I'm considering a food warming mat like this https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0D6JZTXC8 but i'm very limited on space so it wouldn't quite work.
The lith printing group at facebook is fairly active, might be a good place to ask.

 

[DREW WILEY]

If atop a table surface and not themselves at risk of being under water, old Salton hot trays work quite well. Those were used to keep tV tray meal etc warm, and are both cheap and common on EBay.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

The heating mats work better if they are well insulated from the bench. Place the heating mat on a sheet of Styrofoam and put the tray of pre-heated developer on top of the mat. Try it with water first to see what temperature the whole thing stabilizes at.

 

[Terryro]

Thanks for the recommendations. Much appreciated

 

[mshchem]

The heating mats work better if they are well insulated from the bench. Place the heating mat on a sheet of Styrofoam and put the tray of pre-heated developer on top of the mat. Try it with water first to see what temperature the whole thing stabilizes at.