Nice Satanite Furnace How-To Video

Discussion in 'Furnaces and their construction' started by FishbonzWV, Jun 5, 2019.

  1. FishbonzWV

    FishbonzWV Silver Banner Member

    He did a great job making this 2 part video.
    These furnaces are catching on.

     
    _Jason likes this.
  2. Tobho Mott

    Tobho Mott Gold Banner Member

    Here's another:

    Anyone know this guy? He seems to have some knowledge, but I don't recognize his name from any of the forums.



    Jeff
     
  3. Tobho Mott

    Tobho Mott Gold Banner Member

    Double post. :mad:
     
  4. Al2O3

    Al2O3 Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    They do make a lot of sense for hobby furnaces due to their low mass, low cost and ease of construction. The low mass is beneficial not only for reduced heat time and fuel consumption but also portability. They may sacrifice a little on durability but depending upon your frequency of use and with minor hot face maintenance here and there, it hardly seems a concern.

    Best,
    Kelly
     
  5. PatJ

    PatJ Silver

    Generally, I would say that coated ceramic blanket would not be suitable for iron work, but it seems like there is always one person who upsets the apple cart, and that is ironsides and his zircoat-coated ceramic blanket, which he says works well with iron temperatures.
    See video below at 5:00.



    If I could find a supplier for zircoat, or could find it for a reasonable price, I would probably try the coated ceramic blanket design.
    The coated blanket design is simple and lightweight, as Kelly mentions.

    It is sort of like a cupola; its a great way to melt iron........if.........you have access to plenty of coke for fuel; otherwise the cupola design is not an option at all.

    The jury is still out I think on whether a Satanite-coated ceramic blanket will withstand iron temperatures as well as a Zircoat-coated ceramic blanket furnace.

    Coated blanket seems to be the trend now though, and after mixing and ramming cast refractory, I can understand its popularity.

    And I think there are different temperature ratings on ceramic blanket, and the success of a coated ceramic blanket furnace may rest on the temperature rating of the ceramic blanket (ie: is it high enough for the work you are doing, and high enough for an oil burner if you are using that type burner).

    Edit:
    If I ever build another furnace, I am considering using 2,600 F insulating fire bricks with a 1/2" layer of Plastic A (the 3,800 F variant) on top.
    I think this arrangement would work well, and would also be quick to build.

    .
     
  6. Tobho Mott

    Tobho Mott Gold Banner Member

    There are definitely different ceramic fiber blanket max. temp ratings. My new furnace has 2300F blanket on the outer layer and 2600F blanket on the inner layer. The Satanite itself is rated for 3200, but as thin as it goes on, I suspect it doesn't protect the insulation quite as well as the 1" dense castable (3200F rated) hot face in my other furnace.

    If I ever take a run at cast iron with either furnace (or heck, even if I decide to dig out the old Gingery charcoal furnace), you'll see the results and the castings here first...

    Jeff
     
  7. Al2O3

    Al2O3 Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    It is? How many melts did/has Melterskelter gotten out of his? .......sure, requires some maintenance but that was so with your furnace too. I thought the motivation for MS' lid iteration was he suspected possible wool thermal breakdown and complications with supporting his silencing chimney.

    I don't see why you should get hung up on it being Zircoat. It was developed as a core wash and not rated any higher service temp than Satanite. A lot of the other commonly available iron/steel core washes would probably work just as well. Ironsides probably just used it because it was available to him. The highest rated version of Zircoat is HT and is 1800C (3275F) while the other variants can be as low as ~1500C (2732F).

    https://www.metcast.com/cms-zircoat-w.html

    You need to ask metcast for datasheets but.....

    https://www.jyoticeramic.com/content/zircoat_making.htm

    Lastly, if a few less minutes of melt time wasn't important you could just use forced air/propane, or just dial your current burner back a tad, not be so hard on your furnace, and call it a day.

    Best,
    Kelly
     
  8. Melterskelter

    Melterskelter Gold Banner Member

    I have gotten quite a few melts out of the furnace so far. I wish I knew exactly how many but I am thinking 20 or 30 with no indication that it won’t hold for 30 or 50? more. It is correct that the lid was more problematic, but I attribute much of that to the screwed up exhausting of flame related to the muffler/chimney and my initial poor design of the attachment of muffler to lid. Satanite seems to be a pretty good isolator (maybe not insulator) serving an important function by preventing direct flame/oxygen/CO/ other nasty stuff contact with my 2600F wool.

    Denis
     

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