Ben Ricard Frankfort Maine Wicked excited, filled with questions and determined to not burn down my house Brand new, wicked new day 1 of ever blacksmith weld or forge . My YouTube is https://www.youtube.com/user/dfas75
One of the reasons I joined this site.. not to just learn the skill, but to learn the terms. In my intro to new members .. someone actually helped me .. always a learning curve .. wicked cool.. Thanx ! Got to run, we got 8 inches of snow last night..
Casting is an ancient art and a road well traveled. The Navy manual is quite the encyclopedia of knowledge but the tutorial at AA is more geared toward the home gamer. This is mandatory reading. http://www.alloyavenue.com/vb/showthread.php?2469-Foundry-Tutorial-Book .....and here is direct link to the glossary of terms in that thread. http://www.alloyavenue.com/vb/showthread.php?2469-Foundry-Tutorial-Book&p=70018&viewfull=1#post70018 Best, Kelly
I like the easy to read burger king picture menu myself..... Seriously, the foundry book is a great source, I've even got a copy on my phone.
Very nice furnace design. You all make my set up look primative I have a question about your design. You have a flip up lid. I considered doing same but didn't know how much heat it would give off when I was standing in front of open lid to get crucible. Do you have an issue with this, or do you just stand off to side when lid is open?
That's because the entire site has been disabled.........probably forever.......sighhhh. Read here: http://forums.thehomefoundry.org/index.php?threads/alloy-avenue.1068/ Best, Kelly
Hope is alive but fading that Alloy Avenue will be restored. The foundry tutorial Kelly linked too in an earlier post can also be found here: http://prometheus-foundry.com/ and there multiple copies of the navy foundry manual online, a quick google search will find one for you.
I heard tons about my flip up lid when I built it (same setup). No I dont notice the heat one bit. 2reasons, one I wear a chrome suit and the second is the furnace is still running when it's open. I bet most of the heat coming off it ends up going straight up because of the blower. I'd build it the same way tomorrow if I had to. It was dead nuts simple. I do have a bit of delaminating of the steel ring that holds the refractory in, but that's not from the flip design and it's easily fixed when that time comes.
I learned early on how much heat my lid radiated. Mine moves up an inch and then rotates in a horizontal plane 120 degrees so that the bore of the furnace is fully open. On my very first melt I left the pneumatic wheels on the furnace. When I opened the lid it took about a minute for the tire in line with the open lid to explode. I was a bit nervous anyway on the first melt since everything was new and that explosions made me jump! From them on I either put aluminum foil over the tire or usually took it off. Nowadays, I use the same lid lift design and there are no tires on the furnace, but there are 2x4's that act to widen the base of the furnace. I have had to put aluminum flashing on them or they will catch fire from the heat of the open lid hovering 3 feet above them. I do not wear an aluminized suit but would probably have to if my lid flipped open. Radiant heat from a white hot source is pretty intense. On a related note, I have made a 6 by 8 inch heat shield out of 20 ga aluminum that protects my hand closest to the furnace while skimming. If I do not, I will notice my glove smoking in pretty short order. That is not good for gloves as they shrink badly and permanently. But that shield makes a huge difference. I can skim bare-handed early in the melt. Not so much toward the end at max heat. But, I no longer cook gloves. Denis
The Internet WayBack Machine still has a copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2018080.../vb/showthread.php?2469-Foundry-Tutorial-Book Scroll to the bottom for the glossary of terms. Might be a good idea to scrap the important threads and put them here. Which sub-forum should they be posted under?
Ok, I am sorry I did not reply sooner but I have been very busy. So in answer to your question. Well the heat is not a problem when melting aluminum, but to stand for to long in front of it when doing brass my gloves will start to smoke. I have to get away and yank my gloves of in a hurry or I get cooked. But the heat is not coming from the lid it is just coming from the crucible and furnace interior. This sounds like a good solution though. I am going to try it, even though my welding gloves have already shrunk. Patrick
I've got the business end of an old garden shovel/spade that had its wooden handle break off, been meaning to turn it into a pouring shank heat shield for a while now but haven't got around to it yet. I've also got a pair of aluminized gloves that work well for skimming and pouring, but the aluminized coating on them wears easily... so I prefer to use leather when I can, so that my shiny spaceman gloves will last longer. As for lids, I've done a lift off and set aside, a swivel to the side, and a flip-up. Ive never had occasion to stand in front of the hot underside of the open flip-up lid for it to get uncomfortable, so to me it seems a fine approach as long as the lid isn't too heavy... but it probably wouldn't take long to get pretty toasty standing there. I've never done cast iron, maybe I'd have a different take on the flip up lid if I had. Jeff
Here is a the heat shield I’ve been using. I transfer it from one skimmer to another. It is photographed with my “final skimmer” that I use to get the last bits out of my crucible prior to pouring. The shield seems to work quite well. (I also like that skimmer a lot. ) Denis
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5wT3Cp-ss_Y0SnbqDSIDhg - mine is here. As a new member can i post link? if it is offense, please let me know.. i will delete the link..
