Starting my first furnace

[Tom O]

For my burner I just had some blackpipe with the blower on one end and made a elongated hole about 6" down the pipe so a bent piece of 3/8 pipe with a drilled brass plug soldered into it and drilled out for the orfice would spray down the center once inserted as I did not have a regulator for the propane the theory being the drill size would regulate the gas flow.

 

[Murdoch]

Hey TomO, I have a question.
Your propane line I see runs at a 45° angle into the air flow.
Mine is at a 90° angle, did I F it up. I was following a video and now I'm not so sure that I should've...

 

[Tom O]

Most of the burners that I have looked at have the gas outlet spraying down the pipe giving it a venturi effect drawing in the air in a none blower system. If you are to use the one shown I'd think the flow would be interupted unless you can fix a nozzle below the fitting spraying down the tube you could mark its position then remove and alter it to see! testing one two right? On mine the gas tube is just bent to enter the pipe and extend a couple inches down past the hole so it can't fall out. It is a simple system but has no problem with aluminum or brass so far maybe this is the year for iron!

 

[Bofobo]

Venturi is not an effect of the gas line inlet, so long as you input about centre 45* or 90* elbows wont make any difference, many designs use a gas tube that goes straight thru the body with a centred hole @90* i used 45* mine works

 

[Tom O]

My main concern would be the possibility of the flame coming out the end during start up, as I said mine is a blower system so I'm not real familiar with this type of burner.
What are you going to use for molds? I'd recommend golden sand from Burnco it is quite fine and works well with bentonite.

 

[Murdoch]

I have a question about castable refractory.
I see online a variety of products. Even Rona has one made by Imperial, how do I know that I'm getting the right one.
I have also seen some recipes for the DIY
Any thoughts or suggestions on this. Much appreciated guys...

 

[kevin.decelles]

I've only ever used refractory that came in a bag like cement where u add water. I know the people are using the cement over ceramic blanket , but have not tried that yet

From the reading I've done, the failure point is usually where the flame blast meets the side of your furnace. This is where the breakdown starts


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[Murdoch]

Just thought I'd ask.
I'm going out to the foundry supply company to get some goodies and the shops website is not posting prices.
I just called and they need info on sizes and such. At the moment I don't have that info, but I will. That being said I want to get castable refractory, a ceramic compressed blanket which has the same R value as a standard blanket, and a crucible. I have $400. Is this enough or do I need to sell a limb?

 

[Tom O]

I would just go with the fiber blanket and zircon coating it has served me well and i have used it for aluminum and brass so far, this year I'll hopefully try casting some iron with it.
The blanket I think is better because less fuel is used heating the refractory and it will cool faster when putting it away, the castable refractory is heavyer to move around and takes longer to heat up costing more in fuel I just use propane but it does last quite a while between fills. (besides you will have a spare tank for the bbq!)

 

[Murdoch]

I would just go with the fiber blanket and zircon coating it has served me well and i have used it for aluminum and brass so far, this year I'll hopefully try casting some iron with it.
The blanket I think is better because less fuel is used heating the refractory and it will cool faster when putting it away, the castable refractory is heavyer to move around and takes longer to heat up costing more in fuel I just use propane but it does last quite a while between fills. (besides you will have a spare tank for the bbq!)

What is Zircon coating?

 

[Tom O]

It is a coating that cost me about 100 bucks what it does is increase the temp range for the higher temps as well as protecting the blanket. You can see luckygen101 making his in this video and then casting iron with it.

 

[Tom O]

Casting isn't that hard what I hate is mixing the sand usually by using a tarp and spreading the sand out to add water {after breaking it up} then mixing it up by hand to get the moisture close!
I have to drool over a muller!

 

[Murdoch]

That's just awesome, where can I buy Zircon coating?

 

[kevin.decelles]

I have a mullet project underway, I'll post pictures when done

I use oil bonded sand. Haven't gone back since I tried it


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[Murdoch]

So last week i thought that I would place an ad in kijiji, just to see if there was a casting group I could join. Today I was contacted by a guy who owns a foundry and wants to start a group. I talk to him tomorrow to discuss details. What a score...

 

[Bofobo]

Do you prep/make your own?

I have a mullet project underway, I'll post pictures when done

I use oil bonded sand. Haven't gone back since I tried it


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[kevin.decelles]

I bought 100lbs of peteobond 10 years ago, and bought 100 lbs of homemade oil bond from a guy in Clive ab. He had a muller and I liked his design

I used to make my own green sand

Once I have the mullet finished I'll recondition my samd


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[Tom O]

I have a mullet project underway, I'll post pictures when done

I use oil bonded sand. Haven't gone back since I tried it


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What diameter muller are you going to make I have seen TUBALCAIN'S in his videos it's a benchtop and looks about 2' dia I would probably be happy with 3 - 3 1/2 ft dia, and there is the rub where to store it the garage is only so big!

 

[kevin.decelles]

I'm using a 60 gal air tank as the shell, i do t have the measurement off hand

My advice is to over engineer it as the torque and forces at play are considerable



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[Tom O]

So last week i thought that I would place an ad in kijiji, just to see if there was a casting group I could join. Today I was contacted by a guy who owns a foundry and wants to start a group. I talk to him tomorrow to discuss details. What a score...[/QUOTE
Have you heard anymore about this