Author Topic: Foundry Stuff (Read 828 times)

Powder keg · « **on:** September 21, 2005, 02:52:12 PM »

Hello All,
I decided to start a topic on my foundry stuff. It will follow the construction of my home foundry. I'm building a new furnace now and shortly it will include a muller I am building. A muller helps prepare the sand. I'm new to this and don't know much about foundry work. I encourage those that have more experience than me, please feel free to criticize my doings, and set me straight.

The first set of pictures are of my new furnace. It is constructed out of a 30 gallon barrel. the diameter is 18" and it is about 20" tall with the lid off. The hole is 10" in diameter. The liner is 4" thick. It was pored out of castable refractory, a type of high temp. cement. I used a 10" cardboard tube for the form. The next step will be the lid lifting mechanism.

To be continued......

kappullen · « **Reply #1 on:** September 21, 2005, 04:34:17 PM »

wow,

That's really impressive!
How many pounds of bronze do you plan to melt in there?
What fuel will you use?

My foundry guy burns some type of oil, kero. I assume.

Kap

Powder keg · « **Reply #2 on:** September 21, 2005, 05:04:08 PM »

Thanks, Kap. right now it's just a 300 pound cement pot :grin: I have a #22 crucible. Should be good for about 60 pounds of Bronze. I've been using propane to fire with but have been considering natural gas.

GGaskill · « **Reply #3 on:** September 21, 2005, 09:53:19 PM »

If you use natural gas, you may need your gas line size increased. I think we had a 3" line in the Art Dept foundry (although we could use a #90 crucible in the large furnace there.)

Don't forget to build the heat slowly the first few times you fire the furnace.

Powder keg · « **Reply #4 on:** September 22, 2005, 12:24:21 AM »

Quote from: Don't forget to build the heat slowly the first few times you fire the furnace.[/quote

Thanks GGaskill, The first couple fires will be wood fires built inside the furnace just to drive any remaning water out of the refractory. Don't want any steam explosions :shock:

Powder keg · « **Reply #5 on:** September 27, 2005, 01:51:55 PM »

I had a chance to fire my new furnace today. Everything went great! I first started with wood. I kept that burning for over an hour. After the coals died down a bit I added some lumps of coal and put on the lid and ran the air to bring up the heat. Steam came out of the refractory for about an hour then quit. After the coal started to dim the outside of the furnace was to hot to touch. Now all I have to doo is make the lid lifting stuff. Later,

Cat Whisperer · « **Reply #6 on:** September 27, 2005, 11:51:59 PM »

Great pictures - thanks!

Something I'ld like to do on a much smaller scale! (I had a commercially build one similar to yours - yours looks GOOD!)

Powder keg · « **Reply #7 on:** October 01, 2005, 04:59:30 PM »

I had a chance to go out and see one of the site sponsers, Rick Neff. I snapped a couple of pictures of the furnace We pored a while back. What a monster!!

Here is a close up of the lid lifting device. It uses a neat cam thingy.

I cant wait to see this thing fired up!! Its about 4 feet tall and I think the inside meaures 20" or something.

Cannonmaker · « **Reply #8 on:** October 02, 2005, 03:51:19 PM »

The furnace has a 22" Inside Dia. and I don't remember the height. I have a #80 crucible as my biggest one, although the furnace should hold the next size up. The 4" wood block in the front will be the safety hole. The two pieces's of 3" Al pipe are for the nozzle's. This may take two nozzle's to get the nessary heat. Once I get the lid pored I may sand blast the furnace and then use Stove Black to paint the furnace.
Besides other items, there should be some mighty fine Cannon and Mortar tubes come from this furnace.
Powder keg, Thanks for posting the pictures.