Furnace modifications (furnace 2.1) - Zapins

Discussion in 'Furnaces and their construction' started by Zapins, Dec 14, 2017.

  1. Zapins

    Zapins Gold

    So I modified my furnace. Furnace 2.1 now has a swivel lid. I caved guys. I joined your ranks. The door hinges eventually burned through and had to come off.

    [​IMG]20171214_225158 by Zapins, on Flickr

    [​IMG]20171214_225257 by Zapins, on Flickr

    I am improving my tig welding if I do say so myself. The trick is to keep the torch farther away from the puddle than I initially thought.
    [​IMG]20171214_225119 by Zapins, on Flickr
     
    OCD likes this.
  2. PatJ

    PatJ Silver

    Welcome to the swivel hinge world.
    I use a modified swivel and hinge combination, but a simple swivel hinge is generally what people use, and they seem to work well.
    I started with a swivel, but my top band slipped since it only clamped to the furnace refractory, and so my lid jammed open during a melt.
    Its a good idea to weld the top band to the frame as you have done.

    The welds are looking good.
    My dad use to tell me weld beyond the end of where you want the weld, and then back up slightly, perhaps 1/4" or a little more, since the end of the weld has little strength (he was a certified welder), so I generally try to do that.

    I like the wheel arrangement.
    It gets the furnace down as low as possible, which helps when lifting out a crucible.
    What is on your casting menu for 2018 ?
    Did you get your big rock cutter finished? or you still doing the school thing ?
     
  3. Zapins

    Zapins Gold

    Still doing the school thing but I am in CT near my furnace for this month so I will try cast the bird, some humming birds and a set of flowers. I have plans for welding up my wet saw vice assembly as well. Those are the major goals anyway but we will see how much actually gets done. The projects take a lot of time and I have other stuff going on during the days.
     
  4. Tobho Mott

    Tobho Mott Gold Banner Member

    I like how you are using the long inner pin of the new hinge as the swiveling part. The long pin in mine only moves up/down (if it ever does swivel, this has no effect on the lid) because I used the short outer piece of pipe as the moving piece on mine, and it sometimes binds up a little when I try to lower the lid; I end up having to give it a little thump to get it to go down the last inch or so. I bet yours won't do that.

    [​IMG]
    (best pic I have of the hinge on mine - the flange is welded to the inner pin and drives the short outer pipe section welded to the lid upwards when the pedal the long pin sits on is depressed)

    Jeff
     
  5. Zapins

    Zapins Gold

    Funny you should mention that but mine binds too when I lower the lid. Might have to take the file to the outer pipe and alight it better. Maybe a hammer would do the trick too. Oil would just burn off
     
  6. Tobho Mott

    Tobho Mott Gold Banner Member

    LoL, so much for that theory! Well, maybe it's not that big of a deal - I know I haven't tried to fix mine.

    Hmmm.. But you really do only need it to lift the lid up a tiny amount before it can swing to the side... Maybe there would be less side to side pressure on the inner pin to cause binding if your pedal was already closer to horizontal when the lid is in the "down" position? ie. if you were to chop off maybe 1/2" from the bottom end of the long pipe.

    Just a thought, though. If it ain't broke, as they say...

    Jeff
     
  7. OCD

    OCD Silver

    Gotta love those Mad Max designs. :cool:

    Zap,
    If memory serves me correctly the arc only needs to be approximately 1/8" away from the puddle and the torch is suppose to held at approximately a 15* angle so the argon can flow not only over your work piece but the filler rod as well.
    If the arc is too long (torch held too far away from the puddle) you'll start getting porosity.

    Practice, practice, practice.
    You are improving though.

    About your furnace lid mechanism.
    Grind away some of the "inside" of the slider pipe on the bottom (bevel it).
    The weight of the lid is causing the inner edge of the outer pipe to dig into the inner slide rail pipe wherefore causing the binding ordeal.

    On second thought, after looking at your set up once again...........................
    Regardless, something is definitely binding so I would start looking for scars being caused from whatever it causing the binding ordeal and start grinding the opposing culprit.
     
  8. PatJ

    PatJ Silver

    I ended up using a tapered wheel bearing on the top of mine to stop the binding.
    Probably overkill, but it works great.
     
  9. Zapins

    Zapins Gold

    Hmmm interesting. Will have to give thw bearings some thought.

    I'll see about grinding the inside tonight. I think that will fix it.
     
  10. OCD

    OCD Silver

    I used a transmission thrust bearing I purchased off of Amazon for around $5.
     
  11. Zapins

    Zapins Gold

    I think the next few furnace mods put me at furnace 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4 respectively.

    I increased the height of the furnace by another 4 or 5 inches to accommodate the #16 crucible, I lengthened the swivel lid to match the new height and I modified the blower assembly with a Y pipe and a new more powerful blower (135cfm) with a 120v plug. No more battery charger red neck style furnace!

    Clearly I need to sandblast and repaint the sorry thing before it goes back to hell, I mean, service.
    20190124_215852.jpg 20190124_215836.jpg 20190124_210503.jpg
     
  12. PatJ

    PatJ Silver

    The mods look good.
    Don't paint it though, you will make the rest of our furnaces look bad :) (just kidding, I have started painting everything I made for the foundry just to stop the rust).
     
  13. Zapins

    Zapins Gold

    Yeah the rust is bad news. Heat seems to help it develop quicker. Even though the 2000f paint doesn't last very long it does seem to stop the rust.
     
  14. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    It's been a couple of years since I built mine.
    The lifting mechanism isn't so shiney anymore. The pipes get too hot to touch barehanded and that heat definitely promotes rust. I just spray it down with PB Blaster as part of the startup procedure.

    Pete
     

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