As it's unlikely I will have any worthwhile content to report in the near future I thought I would put up some pictures of my furnace build from a couple of years back. I've got none of the initial cut up so I'll start with the basic finished casing. The lid lifts with a bar inserted into the socket and then is turned. It rests on a built in stop. Here is a detail of the hinge and lid rest part way through the build. The burner is home made and uses a mig tip as the jet. It works a treat. The refractory is crude, consisting of fireclay and pearlite (I think!). I know it's not ideal but this was a trial to see how well I could build a furnace. I have two bags of proper castable refractory stashed away for the next one (should I ever find time!).
To fit the burner I turned up an (fuzzy) aluminium adapter which held it in place. Only one thing left to do after a week of light bulb drying. Fire! Made some ingots from a Ford C6 casing poured in cake tins. Now I need to get on and use it!
