Stephen Chastain's Iron Melting Cupola Furnaces for the Home

Home enthusiasts discuss their Foundry & Casting work.

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RCW
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Stephen Chastain's Iron Melting Cupola Furnaces for the Home

Post by RCW »

Just finished reading Stephen Chastain's Iron Melting Cupola Furnaces for the Home Foundry. I'm impressed. Can't wait to build one!
http://stephenchastain.com/book1.htm
--Bob
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steamin10
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Re: Stephen Chastain's Iron Melting Cupola Furnaces for the

Post by steamin10 »

OK. Where are you going to get the Coke to run it? Do you know how much it costs per ton?

If you use wood charcoal, any iron in contact with it will pick up some Sulfur, which translates to sulfur carbides, the stuff that made Titanics plates brittle, and does the same for Iron if not innoculated just befor the pour.

I dont know if you understand the chemistry, jsut touching on what must be known, to be best successful.

I can be done, in fact , done every day in many small foundries. Just watch your step and have fun.
Big Dave, former Millwright, Electrician, Environmental conditioning, and back yard Fixxit guy. Now retired, persuing boats, trains, and broken relics.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart. My computer beat me at chess, but not kickboxing
It is not getting caught in the rain, its learning to dance in it. People saying good morning, should have to prove it.
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SteveR
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Re: Stephen Chastain's Iron Melting Cupola Furnaces for the

Post by SteveR »

Instead of coke, can you use something like this?:

http://www.onlinepetdepot.com/loving-pe ... -9794.html

Buck a pound is a bit pricey, but more doable than buying a ton of coke (I'll bet the neighbors will complain when they dump it in the front yard!)

More fun and excitement!

steve
12x36 Enco Lathe, 9x42 Bridgeport, SMAW, O/A, Miller MIG w/gas, plasma
Not enough measuring tools...
1.5" Allen Models Consolidation on air.
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Measure twice, cut once, wait - it was supposed to be brass! :)
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steamin10
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Re: Stephen Chastain's Iron Melting Cupola Furnaces for the

Post by steamin10 »

P-L-eeeze! Industrial material is cheap, but large in quantity. If you are going to run a 4-5 inch bore, you can easily burn 200lbs of Coke in just over an hour, to get about a hundred cast iron. Once warm, efficiency goes up some and longer runs help, but it becomes a JOB to run 5, 6, hrs. Not hard if you gat 2 beer buds that do weird stuff, very hard alone. The Coke should be less than fist sized. Fish tank (gravel sized) will actually blow out the top on startup, often in flame.

Once lit, there is little smoke, until another charge lights off. Then you will see why Open Hearth furnaces fell by the wayside, and bessemer converters.
Big Dave, former Millwright, Electrician, Environmental conditioning, and back yard Fixxit guy. Now retired, persuing boats, trains, and broken relics.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart. My computer beat me at chess, but not kickboxing
It is not getting caught in the rain, its learning to dance in it. People saying good morning, should have to prove it.
Patio
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Re: Stephen Chastain's Iron Melting Cupola Furnaces for the

Post by Patio »

http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/vie ... il+furnace
Great search engine on this site.
Hope that helps!
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steamin10
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Re: Stephen Chastain's Iron Melting Cupola Furnaces for the

Post by steamin10 »

Patio, and others with interest. I corrected a mind fart at that thread about rotors as feed stock. With apologies.
Big Dave, former Millwright, Electrician, Environmental conditioning, and back yard Fixxit guy. Now retired, persuing boats, trains, and broken relics.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart. My computer beat me at chess, but not kickboxing
It is not getting caught in the rain, its learning to dance in it. People saying good morning, should have to prove it.
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