Building a small multi fuel foundry. I'm building it from a 100 lb propane cylinder. the burner is 2 1/2 id. The chamber itself is 6 5/8 dia and 16 in tall. ( I know a little small) But it will work with the crucibles I plan to use. I guess my questions are these... How big should the exhaust port be? Would i be ok to fill the chamber walls with Mizzu or would it be beneficial to insulate with Kaowool? Does kaowool still work if it's compressed? Ill include some pictures so you can see what I have going on. I primarily plan on working in brass/bronze
Nice progress pics Forest! My concern would be not enough space for oil to burn around the crucible, but I don't have firsthand knowledge to back this up. Any change of getting a bigger form for the chamber?
You may want to have a look here at this sticky. https://forums.thehomefoundry.org/index.php?threads/foundry-tutorial.1487/#post-33858 The foundry tutorial was copied from the old Alloy Avenue forum....Anon's work I believe. There are rules of thumb for furnace construction at the post/location the link takes you to butwhole thread this is a good read for any new comer to the hobby. Best, Kelly
I have a 4” exhaust hole for my 10” bore oil furnace. I would start on the generous side. You always have the option of covering it. I believe what you said about your bore size being big enough for your crucible but you also need to consider the lifting tools. One of the cringiest demonstrations on YouTube is the guy using channel locks on the rim of the crucible to lift it out. You’ll need to get your shank down in there without continually scraping the bore to lift the crucible. If you don’t already have your refractory, buying castolite-30 might be the way to go. The refractory is insulating, would make koawool less important, and would probably work fine at 2” thickness giving you a bigger bore diameter. I can’t tell from the pictures, how high is your burner from the bottom of the cylinder? Yes, over-compressing koawool will reduce its effectiveness. My 2 cents. Pete
Thanks all, I think I'm going to have to find a different form for the burn chamber. I could probably get by just running on propane but waste oil is free. My main use of the foundry is for casting mushrooms. I've made a few by melting my copper with an oxy ace torch (big rosebud) in a makeshift enclosure of firebrick. Also poured a few using my burner in the same makeshift enclosure just using propane. Where I live I go metal detecting and find natural (native) copper. Also working in the steel fabrication industry I get my share of copper/brass consumables. Peete my burner at the moment is 1 1/2 inches above the floor of the chamber
