Hello, I have had a developing interest over the last couple of years leading me to make a small exploratory furnace about 15" tall, with crude refractory in a metal cylinder that I knocked up, into which I poked my propane brazing torch. It works enough for me to want to take it further for casting small sculptural objects. This summer I melted some aluminium very easily but it struggled to melt brass recently in the winter (maybe 8 degrees c) I'm planning to get a Devil Forge burner (malleable iron parts here are quite pricey and by the time I've bought the bits needed I'm about three-quarters of the way there WRT cost, unless a UK member can point me in the direction of cheap iron fittings) I also want to rebuild the furnace with either firebricks or ceramic blanket, so will be scouring the construction forum for appropriate tips. I'm pleased to have found this forum although it looks a bit heavyweight for me, with people been casting for decades and substantial furnaces!
Hi usererror, welcome to the forum! We all started somewhere, my first furnace was nothing more than a pipe stood on end and was wood fired....
Welcome, The DF burner is a viable option if you just don't feel like building your own. Others from UK will hopefully chime in with supplier alternatives. There are some pretty simple builds here on the forum as well that will get you where you want to be if you decide to build it. The components should be way less than buying the DF, but again that's up to you. Don't feel outclassed here. No way. There are some guys here with superior fabricating and casting skills and there are some true professional foundry guys here too (and I am neither), but come as you are and you can expect a friendly and helpful group. Pete
I'm going to add a line to my signature.... "Just say NO to a devil forge" You can make your own for 1/5 the cost of that undersized and overpriced furnace. Kaowool and some satanite. Add a weedburner and your off to the races!
I will make my own better foundry, but was tempted by the burner although if I can find a suitable easy design I'll cost it up and see. I can't find satanite over here in the UK but there must be an equivalent.
If ya really want satanite, have the guy from high temp tools mail you some. It's only shipping. How bad can it be?
IDK. Not exactly sure what it is even and how much I need it. Everything I've seen in other groups, about US postage is that it's expensive and I'd have thought flying a bag of sand halfway round the world would make it particularly unappealing. I'm still investigating stuff ATM and will try to find out what it is.
Satanite is a Harbison Walker Product. It's a heat setting high alumina mortar. Data sheet attached below. You might visit a couple of the blacksmithing forums that have good supporting UK membership and see what they are using to coat ceramic fiber in their forges. This is a very popular application for Satanite and I suspect there could be other locally available alternatives for same. Best, Kelly
Thanks Al203 I've found this, which has a similar temperature rating, but haven't yet found the TDS. https://shop.vitcas.com/refractory-castable-grade-1700.html#tab-label-description Thanks for the smithing forum idea, I'll see what I can find. At the moment I'm trying to determine what construction approach to go for - the pros and cons of the various methods and haven't yet looked in the foundry construction forum as the burner is my pressing need.
That's a castable refractory. My furnaces are castable hot face with ceramic wool insulation. They're great. They're also heavy. They're tried and true and a few years ago I thought they were the only way to go but having watched the thin hotface coated wools build over the last few years, if I do another fuel fired furnace build, it will be Satanite over ceramic wool. I think it makes the most sense especially for a first time build. They are lower mass which means they heat up the fastest and are light weight and portable. They are the most inexpensive as far as building materials (with possible exception of some homebrew refractories) and arguably the easiest and fastest to build. Folks are melting iron in them. That's a pretty good resume for a hobby furnace. They may not be as durable as far as tool impact but they are easily patched and repaired, and over time you learn furnace refractory is expendable, hopefully over long periods of time but depends upon the duty. Best, Kelly
You've headed off my next question - I was just knocking up the attached to post on the construction forum... "Hot face" is just the face of the chamber inside rather than being a specific material? And Satanite is applied like a render by the looks of things - presumably the stuff in the link I posted can't be applied like that. I'll switch to the construction forum now, is probably best. Cheers.
Yes, hot face is just the inner surface not a specific material. Bonz and Tobho Mott will be along to link you up to their builds and construction methods. Best, Kelly
My build is over on AA. You'll have to create an account and log on to see the pics. http://www.alloyavenue.com/vb/showthread.php?13570-A10-Satanite-Furnace-Build
Here's my take on a Fishbonz-type furnace, which I have named the Red Dwarf because on its maiden voyage it was used to make an argon condenser for the local university's astrophysics experiments into dark matter. Also, it is red and short: http://forums.thehomefoundry.org/index.php?threads/another-lightweight-fiber-blanket-furnace.726/ It's the newest of my 3 or 4 furnaces and it immediately became my go-to melter as soon as I tried using it. I built it to run on drip-fed waste oil - the Moya burners I favour originally only have a propane line on them so they can preheat my furnaces enough to ignite the oil drips in the first place, but now the one I use for the Red Dwarf gets used as a dedicated propane burner because the furnace heats up so fast it doesn't seem worth the effort and time it takes to set up the drip feed tank. And I don't come back in the house reeking of diesel and fryer oil, so that is a bonus, at least if you ask my wife... Checking out the furnace construction section here is highly recommended. And definitely take a look around on alloyavenue too while you're checking out Bonz' build thread. AA is the mothership. While it has some concerns such as aging software not getting updated regularly, limited upload space for pictures, a lot of older threads having lost their pictures, an owner who hasn't been heard from in several years holding all the permissions needed to maintain and repair the site, and (as I understand it) long time active members leaving because they got tired of seeing people complaining about such issues, Rasper and the others do a great job keeping the place running as well and as friendly as possible. It's an incredibly valuable archive of foundry lore, from hobbyist metal casters to seasoned career foundry professionals from all over the world. Jeff
There's Kastolite LI + rated for 3000 deg F. My furnace has 2inches of ceramic wool and 2 inches kastolite 30. I'll get a cutaway view of my build tomorrow. Or you try a cupola like Steve Chastians. Patrick
Ok, its not tomorrow but, I was busy. So the picture that is cutaway has crooked red lines which is supposed to be ceramic wool. I hope this helps. Apologies on not being able to post pictures right but, I'll learn. Patrick
