Last weeks I made a new Kanthal furnace (small, 4 1/2" cube inner chamber size) which appeared to be much faster and more convenient than the one I built in 2010. I used 12m (40ft) of 1 mm diameter Kanthal wire and I tested with two heats to 1200 C powered by 1400 W, using a regulator and thermostat. In the latter case I melted 220g of copper in 30 minutes starting from a cold furnace. That is not bad for an electric one. The old one of me (same power) required one full hour. https://www.metallab.net/kanthal.php#new2020 On top of this page there are two links (the first two) to videos I made.
