The Start02 (10/01/2009)

Okay I found a 20 liter plastic paint bucket This will become the "hole" inside the furnace into which the crucible will be placed ... The crucible holds the metal to be melted down.












In order to hold the bucket centre and also keep it from going right to the bottom of the furnace I have fixed some normal carpentry 90 deg. fixtures flush with the top of the furnace. Since they are all exactly the same length I'm pretty sure the bucket will be centred. The bucket will "hanging" off these four brackets...









<---- Like this......
The next thing I did was to mark out where the best position for tuyere will be in relation to the bucket hanging inside the furnace body. And then to cut the hole. I made it square for a reason which I hope will become apparent in a future update.







BTW. I tuyere is basically the hole where you'll put the burner into. It is the burner that does all the hot stuff.





okay next I fitted the tuyere tunnel. Again I used g-clamps and those brackets to keep everything lined up at close to 90 Degrees, and at the necessary angle.











Right that is the basic structure of the furnace... Sofar there has been no brain surgery involved at all... I hope everything else goes this smooth and quickly...

In the next update We'll start pouring the refractory cement around our bucket.

The Start01 (10/01/2009)

Well first thing a furnace seems to need is a container to keep the refractory in place, I got this really nice hot water boiler tank, which is perfect for this application. As you can see it needed a bit of cleaning up. It seems they pour in some kind of expandable foam to insulate it during construction.





So after a bit of cleaning up, using a normal file, the foam stuff really wasn't as stuck on as I initially feared, only took about 10 minutes to clean the outside.










Okay still here?? well next up I marked the centre of the tank all the way around, I chose the center because that would allow me to make another furnace later on, one that fixes all the mistakes made on this one.... Well that and the fact that even half this tank would make one helluva BIG furnace for my needs.

<--- See the white line in the centre ?? That is what you do If you make your own.




Next thing to do is to cut on the line you marked previously.... See this is not so difficult. But PLEASE!!! pretty please be careful when handling power tools such as a grinder. Wear Safety goggles!!!







Right repeat the white line step to get a sizable chuck off the open end. This will become the lid of the furnace.

Again... Be careful!!!

I also Cut off that odd piece of pipe sticking out the bottom... didn't need it so it was removed.

The Furnace (Introduction)

This is a project I have been planning for a few years now, and recently a friend of mine said he was interested in melting the tin out of the raw ore he mines... the smelters charge a fortune!! His production rate does not justify the insane costs charged by professional smelters..

I on the other hand want one to be able to cast things from metal for my various projects, and Aluminium is easy to melt down, and easily obtainable as scrap from just about anywhere.

So this is my first foray into the world of casting, and foundry work. Hope you enjoy reading about my struggles as much as I enjoy the struggles themselves.