Hey Forum, I'm Sharky. Came here searching for some info and insight on a forge. I have a home brewed one. That I REALLY thought was gonna be bullet proof but gotta be over looking something. FYI. The bowl on top actually goes inside the contraption.
Hello Sharky, Tell us more about the furnace, maybe post a picture of it opened. Is there insulation in there? Is there clearance between the sides and the metal crucible? What metal(s) are you hoping to melt and what are you hoping to cast?
There 2 dump truck cast iron brake drums. With a cast iron grate in the middle and a cast iron bowl. Drilled a hole to slide the burner pipe threw. Used a flame thrower torch for a burner. Bent the nozzle part ( the cup ) of the flame thrower in a flower shape in Hope's to sharpen the flame. Which point straight up about 5 inches below the grate. Crappy picture I know. Will have better ones tomorrow
No worries Sharky, tomorrow is fine. A good picture of the inside will help us make better suggestions.
PS: If you can take some measurements of one of the rims on the inside and pass them along to us that might be useful too. Doesn't need to be exact, yardstick or tape measure is fine.
16.5" diameter 12" tall ? I can get copper soft (glowing and damn near see threw) and Aluminum to start to liquefy. But that's it. ( last picture) Saw something somewhere. I may need to add flux, to slow oxidation.?? That it was the missing ingredient. Was on the internet, so its gotta be true. .
Thanks for the pictures Sharky, nicely done! It looks like it may need a few things to become a higher-performing foundry furnace: 1. too much airflow in and out of furnace from the big holes in the casting and a little through the grate -could remedy by adding firebricks on inside bottom to close off unused lower holes and covering most of holes in upper drum w/insulation -switch out grate for plinth block (riser) in the lower drum -exhaust hole may need to be SMALLER (oops, edited) than drum center hole. There is an article on the forum with some furnace design tips, refill your beverage and page through this: https://forums.thehomefoundry.org/index.php?threads/foundry-tutorial.1487/ 2. flame is only heating bottom of container, not swirling around sides of furnace -point burner to sweep the wall of the melting container and insulation not the bottom -lower melting container a couple inches towards flame using a firebrick plinth instead of the grate 3. no insulation -1" minimum Kaowool (ceramic fiber) on the sides and top, soft 1.25" firebrick on the bottom 4. melting container is a bit large to facilitate insulation and swirling -if you had something small enough to allow insulation and a 1" air gap to the sides, your project will become more like a jet engine and less like a BBQ grill -eventually you may want a real crucible and tongs for pulling and pouring As the efficiency improves, you may want to try a different burner and/or inlet position, the nozzle and shroud on the end of the weed burner might not like/take righteous foundry heat, especially if there is an O-ring in there somewhere. Be careful with the gas and molten metal , we want you coming back here with more glorious pictures and your eyebrows and other extremities intact! The grate is probably helping the upper drum to stay put, you may need to rig something to make it safer w/o the grate. A what-if sketch to look at and for others to comment since we all love pictures ! Not claiming to be an expert, just another who has benefited from comments here. My 'daily driver' is much smaller, I have a bigger one about 1/2 done. I use one about this size at a friend's. Dims (approx.) from above post, crucible is Super Salamander A16 The software makes sections 'pink' so please use the added color as the key:
