Dual Fuel Gingery Type Furnace

[inthesticks]

I agree Tom fiberwool is nice to work with. Did some work with it at the Kidd Creek zinc smelter. We used to use it to plug refractory cracks in the heat recovery boilers. I plan to use it in a forge I would like to build (to many projects to little time). The brick was free so it reduced my costs considerably and it is of high quality.

Don't know if I mentioned it before but 30 some odd years ago I built Gingery's Lil-Bertha and did some casting. In the first pic. from left is a sander table I cast some obvious beginner problems but it held up longer than the sander. An unused steel crucible still kicking around, some moulding stuff, a set of screw drivers I cast, not recomended for electrical work but indestructable in the shop, plan on casting some more. The black handled srewdriver is like the one I used for a pattern. And on the end a mold rammer still kicking around.

The next 2 pic.'s are a couple conveniences I added to the frame today a peg to hang my burner wrenches and lighting wand and hooks to store propane and oil hose.

The next 3 pic.'s are the second heat today. Got to less than 1/4 on the fan damper before the crucible reached orange heat. Backed off and held for another 5 minutes before shutting down. I don't think having enough air to burn oil is going to be a problem.  Sorry about that last pic. trying to focus on the crucible.

Cheers
CB
 

[inthesticks]

Expected a slow day watching fire in the furnace, not going to happen. Decided to try the atmospheric burner in the morning heat. It lit but insisted on burning well down the pipe. No adjustments I made would get it out of the pipe. Tried it on the vise, good there. Removed Asian welded burner pipe and filed down the weld ridge down the middle of the pipe, tried in furnace, no go .Because of furnace back pressure the venturi effect of the reducer was not generating enough velocity to overcome the flame advance. My jet was 3/4" from pipe inlet, Rupert Wenig's was 5/8" but some of R. Reil's were as much as the full length of the reducer 1 3/4" . I removed the T and jet and went with a straight pipe with a #53 jet drilled in it. After some fiddling to center it down the burner pipe, distance to burner pipe now 1 1/4". Lit on first try and did not retreat into the pipe as I ramped it up.

Installed 2 grease fittings on the main lift slides.

The rest of the pictures are my evening heat with the atmospheric burner. Moisture is all gone, developed a few small cracks. If or as they get worse an occasional application of vesuvious should keep it in repair. Included the second last pic. just for the rich color. This was just before I shut it down.

Cheers
CB

[DMIOM]

CB - I can't contribute anything but if there's a new instalment when I log in it its the first thread I open to read the next thrilling instalment.  Thanks for taking us along ....   

Dave (IOM)

[mattinker]

I'd just like to point out that you will almost inevitably have cracking, it's the nature of the beast, a rigid material heated unevenly is probably going to crack, hopefully fine hairline cracks! i wouldn't worry about it!

Regards, Matthew.

[inthesticks]

Thanks for the kind words Dave. I'm doing what I enjoy and get to share it with like minded people. Can it get any better?  cheers

Yes Matthew have to look close to find few hairlines in hotface. More obvious in fireclay mix in lid. The support installed in the lid should hold things together and the occasional morter application will hopefully prevent any crumbling.

Cheers
CB

[inthesticks]

Decided to try oil before the paint goes on. Filled oil tank and hung with hose and heater installed, temp. increased from 82* to 104* in about 1 1/2 hrs. Second picture is the burner set-up. Fired up on gas to preheat, when the plith started to glow I cracked open the oil and gave it more air. Over the course of 20 minutes slowly increased oil, reduced gas and increased air. In the third picture the oil is wide open the gas is disconnected and the fan damper is wide open.
The next 3 pictures are with the burner on just oil. Hard to get good pic's the heat exiting the top is tremendous. You can see the oil spray hitting along the wall vapourizing and burning. Burned clean except for a little smoke between the bottom 2 sections. The gasket I talked about earlier and an adjustment of the gun in the burner port should cure this. The last picture is the furnace packed up and ready to move indoors for the night.

Quite happy with the results, with a little more use I should be able to fine tune air-oil ratios and bring it up on oil quicker.

Well thats pretty well it. A couple of coats of paint tomorrow or Monday then build some mold boxes and mix up some molding sand, I can then run some tests on how well it melts metal.

Cheers All 
CB

[SwarfnStuff]

Most interesting build.
Thanks for the steady flow of updates. Only trouble is that they keep reminding me of my lack of progress with my 15L bucket one.
Still, I have not been idle and the club challenge of building Elmer Vernberg's Horizontal Twin Oscillator #09. I'm nearly done making bits. Then to finesse them into a pretty shine (Hopefully) before November. Oh, there is the little part where it is supposed to run too, but should not be a problem unlike the Stirlings of recent challenges.
We all await the outcome of test melts from your furnace. Congrats on getting it done. 
John B

[inthesticks]

Thank you for your interest John, this project has been a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, there is still alot of domestic work to be done around here. Hopefully done this year and I can devote all my time to the real pleasures of building things (anything the list is endless  ) in my shops.

Cheers John
CB

[inthesticks]

Guess it's time for the centerfold pictures. Don't see any further changes so I painted the furnace assembly. The frame assembly is Armour Coat gloss rust paint, the furnace shell is Tremclad high heat flat black and the lid is half a spray can of flame resistant paint I had kicking around. If it's actually flame resistant I'll get another can and give it another coat.

Cheers
CB

[Manxmodder]

Wonderful,CB, just wonderful  A really nicely documented method of making a very professional home furnace. Look forward to seeing some melts come out of her.

Coincidently I was watching John 'Doubleboost's' channel last night on casting brass name plates and his use of sodium silicate sand to ensure the detail being preserved in the mold.This led me to a couple of other videos showing how to make your own sodium silicate from sodium hydroxide and silica gel.
All really interesting and useful stuff to know......OZ.

 

[inthesticks]

Thank you for your enthusiasm OZ, I am looking forward to some melts too. Building some mold boxes today.

I believe I have been to a few sites on sourcing and making your own sodium silicate,  very interesting. Unfortunatelly one of the non-pleasures of living in the sticks is the slow internet service. The few big providers in Canada can't make outragious profits out here  but thats a rant for a different thread. Anyway it makes videos too time consuming for me to access.

Cheers OZ
CB

[tom osselton]

Excellent build,  I may use some of the features on my next furnace build, I want one in the garage so I can cast year round with a hood vented outside Im looking forward to seeing some of your castings!

[inthesticks]

Thanks Tom, yes casting year around in Canada, when I finish insulating and heat my garage I'd like that too.

Made a couple of molding flasks and bottom boards today. Nothing special just 2 light wieght 12" x 13" flasks to get me started.

Cheers
CB

[tom osselton]

I hear you! My garage has had the plywood exposed for 20 some odd years so this year it was taken back to frame and reskinned and that plastic siding attached. I had them build a extra gable on the roof so I can put up some video cameras.

[inthesticks]

Hello Tom, Yes when I built my garage/workshop I completed the shell and exterior I purchased OSB board and insulation to complete the interior. The OSB board got used on an extention to store firewood and materials and the insulation is still waiting to be installed. Oh well maybe next summer.

Well you can't make molds without a molding bench, Ha Ha well you can but its a pain. Not alot of finess here its made from constuction grade lumber but its very heavy and very sturdy. The bin will hold over 200 lbs of molding sand and the shelf can store 7, 5 gallon pails for another 300+ lbs. The roll bars slide out for access to the whole bin. 2 coats of Tremclad enamel and its ready for use.

Cheers
CB

[tom osselton]

I'm planning on osb for the interior as well.
Your going all out do you mix the sand by hand or is their a muller in the works? I like the bench one that Tubalcain has on his molding bench or Ironmans its bigger but done in one shot!

[inthesticks]

I will be mixing my sand by hand for now, if I find I am casting enough for it to be a chore then a muller would be in the works. I have 3 or 4 plans  somewhere in my files, I haven't decided Yet. I have a lot of Tubalcain's stuff so I may have that somewhere, Ironman likes his videos so I haven't seen much of his work. The polititions have all promised affordible high speed internet to rural areas but I'm still waiting .

Cheers
CB

[tom osselton]

Probably would have a better chance asking Mark to borrow the Facebook drone for testing purposes!

[inthesticks]

Yes I know Tom but I keep hoping.

Crazy hot and humid today, it was all I could do to paint yesterday's work. Amazing what a couple coats of paint can do to less than great lumber.

Cheers
CB

[SwarfnStuff]

Golly CB, that looks too good to bung sand n stuff in.
  Great job and as for using construction lumber, Hey man, it is a work bench after all.
John B

[tom osselton]

Looks good all painted! I'm just wondering if the bin should have been made out of a 2x12 after all its better to have too much sand than not enough for those multi casting sesions.

[inthesticks]

Ha Ha Ha Yes John I am going to feel bad dumping dirty wet sand and clay into it

Tom sounds like you intent on doing a load of casting. For occasional casting I think its better to have most of your green sand in sealed 5 gallon containers on the shelf underneath. Saves you retempering 400 lbs of sand if you let it dry out between casting sessions.

Well that heat wave is going to break tonight  . Spent the day indoors and built a pouring shank for the clay graghite crucible. I modified surplus oversized fireplace tongs I picked up for a song from Princess Auto years ago for this purpose. After alot of bending and filling and bending and welding I came up with this.

Cheers
CB
 

[tom osselton]

Thats not a bad idea having the tangs like that!  I just use the basic ring that the crucible sits in for pouring but a couple tangs like that would stop the worry of tipping it to much. I store my sand in a plastic container also and find that after storage for a while it gets that funky/mildew smell although it does clear up after a while.
With redoing the garage this summer I haven't done anything in the garage but I got my tig set up again yesterday I'm building a vacuform machine that will live at Protospace so I'll have to weld some aluminum before insulating and putting the osb on the walls, should be interesting.

[inthesticks]

The clay graghite crucible will only be used for a very few # of iron or brass melts. The idea of 20 lb of molten iron or brass popping out of my pouring shank is pretty scary  could result in serious injury or fire I wouldn't take the chance. For a #8 or smaller I think this will do, for a #10 or higher heavier pouring shanks are required, some with spring loaded retaining hooks and various other mechanisms. For aliminum I plan on using only steel crucibles so welding on hooks and eyes makes it handier for pouring.

You need air tight lids. With all air excluded grouth should not occur.

Cheers
CB

[SwarfnStuff]

CC, the only thing that comes to mind regarding your tongs is a question about pouring.
     Is there going to be enough leverage / grip to control the pour? A crucible of molten brass at that distance might just be wanting to tip out faster than you might like. Would a short bar welded on at right angles 1/4 way down one of the shafts give you more tipping control?? From the pics I gather you are right handed so perhaps on the left side?
        Bear in mind that I have yet to build my furnace let alone do any melting so may be looking for problems that are not there.
       Great re-purposing of the fireside tongs though and the lugs are a great idea. That crucible ain't going anywhere you don't allow.
John B