Homemade crucible tongs

I am not sure I would want to lift a #20 or #30 with one hand when it is full of brass/bronze/iron, but the guy in the video make it look like nothing.
After shoulder surgery, I always lift with both arms, but no reason you could not lift with both hands.

I can see the need for the heat shield though; getting that close to a crucible with a gloved hand gets hot really quick.
It seems to work well, and very compact.
And it would work well with a hoist too, since it is very short in height.

The welds on that upper left joint would need to be good, or perhaps add a 45 degree fillet in that corner.

 

I'm thinking the same things too regarding heat and welds, that handle weld looks a lot better in reality than in the photos . I have some 1mm thick copper sheet strips which should make an excellent infra red reflector material when clean and untarnished, possibly an insulated crucible lid and then a half cylinder copper reflector shield for the gloved hand around the handle. For now it'll be on aluminium duty until I get some confidence in it's function.

 

Looks good Mark... Still scares the bejeezus outta me. The only thing I see is in the photos of it above (the originals) makes it appear the lock goes "over center" when engaged. Might wanna check that and see if I not seeing stuff. Don't want to see ya get a new nickname like stumpy..

 

Hi Jason, the locking bar actually operates in reverse to the original it's based on. At the moment the bar locking movement is limited in the closing direction by hitting the bottom of the pivot groove in the handle (carefully filed to the correct depth).

That's so there's an option of welding a lever parallel to the top of the handle (right angle to the locking bar) so that the gloved hand keeps the locking bar engaged when gripping the handle but I need to see if it gets in the way of the handle when released/unlocked: I can tack weld it and evaluate the ergonomics. As it's built now, you can keep a gloved thumb on the top of the locking bar to pull it tight.

 

You got it man. I thought I saw a deviation from the original. Sounds like you got a "grip" on the situation... (see what I did there)

 

Bwahahah!

 

I tried my lifter out with an empty crucible in the hot furnace: the radiant heat was so bad the gloves began to steam immediately and I had to get the lifter into position, cool the gloves and then have another try to lift it out of the furnace. Once on the ground I had to whip the gloves off from the heat of a few seconds exposure. Keep in mind the original lifter has a round metal disc heat shield with insulation in the middle of the two discs. I've copied the two disc and will stuff something like 1/4" of glass fibre cloth in between and also have a cylindrical stainless shroud above the discs to block the radiant heat of the furnace walls. The hope is that just blocking the IR radiation will be enough if I work quickly.......if not I'll be able to stuff it with insulation.

 

Just let me know when Ya want me to cast you a cool bronze hook for your new hand.



Seriously... Be careful with that thing. It still gives me the willy nillys.

 

I built these to lift a small crucible I haven't used yet.



You guys are convincing me I need to add a stop. I've been using them to lift my 304SS pipe crucible with ears. Also been pouring with my home design "can't fall out" shank and they work well after I learned to engage and disengage. I didn't know how it was done, just had to come up with something. Laugh, but not too hard.



One advantage after I've poured and scraped the bottom it dumps the slag nicely.

 

Won't find me laughing at that setup. It's brilliant.
Gripping a steel crucible is pretty straight forward. A graphite crucible can be squashed like a mellon when it's up to temp and full. To make things worse, they expand when hot so it takes a gentle firm hand. Or HOOK.....

Can't help myself Mark! Put a lead shied on that scary thing. lol

 

It gives Me the willies too, I wonder if I've neglected some factor in it's design. I plan to use it a few times with smaller aluminium loads to gain some confidence in it. Like others have suggested, you could use some kind of lifting hoist rather than by hand to get the crucible out of the furnace.

 

Looks like a remote lifter is a far safer option, it's a very old design, so old that the user originally wore white asbestos gloves and protective gear. I think the method evolved over time into a risky deal without the excellent heat protection of the asbestos. That one attempt with an empty crucible showed the lifter got hot enough to change the bright steel areas to a brown-purple colour which takes 260 degrees C or 500 deg F. So the radiant heat can get metal that high without any contact at all.

Kelley's idea of a liftable furnace shell is going to be a the best option in my opinion, I have to build a permanent furnace anyway. There has to be safer methods to get a crucible out, even the long handled tongs keep your hands away from the crucible but the ergonomics result in you having a yellow hot container of molten metal close to the family jewels at one point in the procedure: imagine if you tripped and fell over backwards.

 

It's just in case we ever get to shake your hand man. I'm not found of the captain hook look. Captain morgan? Sure. just not the hook.
I do miss the days of asbestos, there are few things that can compare to it. My old jag has a plate near the exhaust that protects the brake and clutch fluid heat. It's covered in asbestos. As long as it remains in good shape, I'm leaving it alone. The stuff works good.

 

Hands are just so, ...handy.

It is so sad, asbestos gloves are so good. I'm pleased to still have asbestos siding on my house. It holds the paint for decades. Intelligent review of asbestos would likely result in asbestos gloves still being on the market. I've got lots of extra asbestos shingles, I may try one of them for a radiation shield.

 

I'll check out the discussion of the different furnace designs, some idea there look pretty good. It seems every modern substitute for asbestos is "not quite there" yet in terms of insulation ability AND durability. Better design has got to be the answer, the only heat resistance my body has is purely ablative .

 

I pick up my 1700 degree shells with just a layer of kaowool all the time while wearing my fireman gloves. The stuff starts to fall apart pretty quick with all the bending, but it's cheap. Reaching into my kiln to pluck them out with the kaowool is still hot as hell and every time I do it, I tell myself I need some kind of shell picker upper thingy. Not fun at all.

 

Tonight's work, tomorrow, clean up and maybe some paint. It has been a while since I have had a welding project. Lost a lot of skill but after about 3 or 4 welds some of my old fines came back.