How I am making an electric furnace

Those are ceramic bushings. You can get them in various sizes from companies that sell coils online. I forget the website I got them from, but there is an appliance repair shop not far from you near prices corner that carries them.

 

SS for coils? That's true, I think you are right. Some vapers use SS. Most run kanthal or nichrome.

Damn, And I just tossed out an old heater coil that had about 40 of those ceramic rings. WHOOPS. Next one I see, I'll snag them. Good item to have.

 

Yea, my coils are nichrome. The company I got them from sent me extra nichrome wire for hangers, but didn't send me enough. There was only enough to do half the forge. I probably should have ordered more, but thought the SS would be fine. If the SS ever fails I'll redo it with thicker nichrome.

 

This is really slick! I love to see old stuff repurposed. Can't wait to see it in operation.

 

Thanks. And me too.

 

Well the door is finally on, and seams to work quite well. The inside is three layers of 1/4in wool. There is a nice groove around the door that allowed me to push the top layer of wool into it, and then a strip of wood stove fiberglass door seal pressed in to lock in the wool.



I have a few ideas on a door latch. Some pretty elaborate, and others quite simple. I'll probably go with a simple approach, but if anybody has any ideas, please share.

 

magnets?

 

Magnets are one option... As long as they don't get super hot. They lose their magnetism.

Keep it simple. Some kind of swing arm to hold her shut tight.

 

I actually thought of magnets, but was afraid that when opening the door, the sudden release could shake the oven and tip the flask over. Idk, maybe I worry about nothing?

I actually started making a simple latch (swing armish) that should work ok. We'll see how it goes.

 

Well, if the part I'm making now doesn't work out,,,,,,

 

For as much as I liked David's screwdriver idea, it was a little too complicated. I took a simpler approach. Of all the ideas I had, I chose the easiest that would work. You can pretty much tell from the pics how it works. The fiber lock nuts allow me to adjust how tightly it holds the door, and how easy or tight the latch can rotate.

I did not put in a safety switch (maybe later), but I did install a rather high tech safety device that is guaranteed to prevent me from opening the door with power on the coils.

 

That's a good latch.

 

No pics this time. I'm only posting because it's been a while. It's almost done, but I ran out of ceramic wool and had to order more, then I ran out of rivets.

I'm basically making panels to close out the openings left over from removing the plastic parts of the microwave. I also had to make a back panel to hold wool to insulate the back wall.

It should be done in a couple of days, then I'll post pics.

Later,

 

Well, it's all done. I did turn it on to make sure it works. I only brought it up to about 120 deg F. I will fully test it out next week. I have a few days off.



I made the back panel deep enough to hold two layers of 1in kao-wool. I made it from two pieces because I thought it would be easier, and Lowes didn't carry a piece big enough to make it out of one piece. In hind-sight, I should have bought a big enough piece from my local steel supply and bent it up as a single piece. Oh well. And I know what you're thinking, I didn't use enough rivets.

 

Thanks.

I did put an inch of wool on the oven floor. I just forgot to get a pic of the complete inside.

I will jet everyone know how it works out and if there are any issues.