I just watched one of your YouTube video of your cupola. That thing looks like fun. I can see how it takes several people to run.
Here's a booklet that came with it. I read online that some of these units have silicon carbide heating elements and the insulation is high quality asbestos lol. Sorry about the poor lighting.
That's not a huge amount of power so I'm guessing any melt will be slow (my kettle is 3Kw!) Still at $135 that's a fair chunk of kiln...
Sorry about the picture quality, the original is legible. The center leaf reads: "70 minutes to 1850 degrees F. And improved efficiency -- only 1800w loss at 1850 degrees F."
That sentence must have been talking about one of the larger models. Yours is only similar in power to OMM's at 1150watts so not losing 1800w. At only 5x8x4 it's a fairly small volume. Still a nice little muffle furnace for heat treating. If you decide to melt in it, be careful not to spill or splash any molten metal onto the heating elements. At their operating temp, they will alloy, melt, and quickly fail. I probably should have mentioned when I referenced operating temps that they become de-rated for different element configurations such as when the element is confined in a groove which makes the localized temp hotter than the average furnace temp. The max temps I cited more appropriately apply to the wire being wrapped around a ceramic rod. Best, Kelly
Makes sense, I was hoping to be able to get ut up to 1300 or so for aluminum at least. But if nothing else it will be good for heat treating.
FWIW, I have my furnace controller set at 1800F when I melt. It wouldn't matter if it was set higher because it always achieves (aluminum) pour temperature before the rising furnace temp reaches 1800F. Best, Kelly
Mine is a muffle style too. It pulls 13amps and peters out around 1900f. It zips to 1000 in 15mins and hits 1500 in an hour. That last 100 took me forever the other night. You could still cast glass in that thing easily or go in the earring making business.
I am another with a small muffin type heat treat oven and must agree. It will do the job but it is not what it was built for. As Kelly has mentioned. Just a bit of spillage on the coil will cause a rapid failure. I lost a coil one time when i decided to make an aluminum melt in a SS mixing bowl. The funny thing was the aluminum just seamed to seep through the thin SS. If all you want is an aluminum melt until you can get a proper furnace running . A hole in the ground and a bit of charcole is very easy and quick. It might just save your nice small electric furnace. I should head my own advice but probably wont. I have 2 small parts to pour before my furnace will be complected, Joe
Joe and Kelly are right, I wouldn't melt metal in my little kiln either. A replacement MUFFLE for me is almost $400. I probably shouldn't even be melting glass in mine! It's a burnout oven is what they were originally built for. It is what it is. https://www.riogrande.com/product/replacement-muffle-for-neycraft-fiber-furnace/703002
