The Home Machinist!

Hi all,

I searched around the site and did not find info on the making a furnace capable of melting aluminum, bronze and iron. But then I didn't go through all 532 pages of hits either.

I am aware of the Gingery books and am about to buy them. I do see a lot of different furnaces out there using a Google search. Gets confusing fast. I guess there are 6000 ways of accomplishing the end goal.

Anyone have a good "cookbook" for a newbie to follow without getting distracted by all the possibilities?

Thanks

Dale Grice

Dale, here we do a lot with castings and not so much with furnace building, where you want to go is Alloy Avenue:

http://www.alloyavenue.com/vb/forum.php

They have all kinds of people working on all types of furnaces, I have been a member before they changed their name.

That site is sort of the "Wild West" of metal casting, some of those things they propose or are doing could get a person killed.

Thanks for that. I have been there before and forgotten about it.

Dale

I recommend CW Ammen, has a few books out about operation of foundry and its pitfalls. Dont try to reinvent the wheel here, this road is well traveled by experienced people. The gingery stuff is cleaver, but very short in utility, read that as dangerous in newbe hands. Go back in this topic and read some of the other questions and guidance before you delve into the Net, where the Darwin and Murphy clans live. There are some great things there, but keep your salt shaker handy, as most are total newbs.

I tell you what I used in the beginning, a propane powered furnace built using a mixture of materials available at the hardware store. I used 4 parts perlite and 1 part furnace cement (by weight) with a splash of water to thin it. Smear it around the inside of a steel container big enough to

This mixture is rated up to about 2000°F so it would be good for doing aluminum. Much more and it will start to flux but it's great to start with because you can get all of the materials local.