Dual Fuel Gingery Type Furnace

[mattinker]

I did not acquire my condition from handling Al, but like other metals, lead
 for example, we absorb through the skin. It has been argued that the oxidisation on kitchen utensils prevents or at least diminishes the picking up of Al in food. I do not intend to argue with you about heavy metal poisoning, my intention is to point out that when we can protect ourselves, it can be a good idea. Alzhymers disease is thought to be associated with Al poisoning.

Al the best, Matthew

[inthesticks]

No I am not the arguing type either but puting AL in the same ballpark as lead or evan zinc is just wrong. When I worked in the Kidd Creek zinc smelter the lead burners repairing the acid plant worked with supplied air and the area roped of till they were done, now thats toxic yet I could handle lead bars without to much danger its the fumes your body absorbs and condences. Zinc well thats galvanized coatings we all handle them everyday but welders know you don't weld them, most of us shophermits have had a touch of "metal fume fever" from doing so.

The point is we know some metals are toxic and some are not. The jury is still out on AL and in its solid form every one on this earth comes in contact with it on a daily basis. Not to mention that in bauxite form its the second most common element on earth and we are all still here.

Cheers
CB

[mattinker]

The jury is not out on Al, I have high levels of it, amongst other things.

I'm afraid that things are not as clear cut as you imagine!

Regards, Matthew

[RobWilson]

Excellent thread CB 

Nice job casting the screwdriver handles ,seeing them  took me right back to when I was a wee lad in school , we made junior hacksaws with  a cast on handle  , way back when kids made REAL things on REAL machine .


Rob

[inthesticks]

Thanks Rob, my playtime doesn't come close to shining a light on the work I have seen you do on these threads  . I loved shop in school too I have been playing with steel and aluminum in one form or another ever since so this rebirth of interest may be just altzhiemers setting in  .

Matthew my imagination is my greatest asset, are you knocking that too now?

Cheers
CB

[mattinker]

GB, I'm not knocking anything, I fail to see where you've got that idea from.

Forget that I made a suggestion, I only meant you well!!

All the best, Matthew

[inthesticks]

Matthew I got that idea from your initial post I"ll not bore you by quoting it. Your well wishes are kindly noted.

Cheers
CB

[inthesticks]

Not much to update today,Its been sprinkling for part of the day and threatening worse. I did manage to temper my clay graphite crucible which I had forgoten about. Heated the furnace to 300*F then shut it down and let it sit closed up for 2 hrs. Fired it up again and slowly fired it up till the crucible was a bright red heat, shut it down and closed it up. Will let it sit overnight to cool down.

I also got the used green sand remixed and back into my mold bench. Made an adjustment of 2% clay and mixed it dryer. I am hoping for a little more green strength to reduce incluesions and I think I need to vent more and pour faster to reduce gas in the mold.

Cheers
CB

[Pete W.]

I did not acquire my condition from handling Al, but like other metals, lead
 for example, we absorb through the skin. It has been argued that the oxidisation on kitchen utensils prevents or at least diminishes the picking up of Al in food. I do not intend to argue with you about heavy metal poisoning, my intention is to point out that when we can protect ourselves, it can be a good idea. Alzhymers disease is thought to be associated with Al poisoning.

Al the best, Matthew

My understanding is that high levels of aluminium have been (are) found in the brain tissues of Alzheimer sufferers.  In our household I discourage the cooking of fruits that have strong acid juices in aluminium utensils - I prefer to use stainless steel utensils (but maybe they have problems too? I just haven't encountered that literature.)  It's a policy that has a very low implementation cost!

[inthesticks]

I don't think a discussion on the health hazards of handling different metal in our lives belongs here. Please start your own thread on this subject if you want to continue this discussion.

Cheers
CB

[inthesticks]

Well I just melted 12 lbs of iron using the gunk I drain out of the bottom of my vehicle.ha ha ha and none to soon.

The pictures:
1. For a first attempt with iron just an open mold of a 11 lb paper wieght. Actualy if it machines well it will make a nice little surface plate for small work.
2. The aluminum part of the pour, all beded in, ready for the cope.
3. The melting set up.
4 Safety equipment, draw your attention to the insulated leather pouring guantlet gloves for the iron.
5 Aliminum pour.
6 Procceeds of aluminum pour.
7 The iron pour.
8 & 9 Yes I poured it ha ha  scratched my initials in the pattern

This burner performed as well as the atmospheric burner, a little slow on the oil but I think the needle valve for thick oil is a bottleneck. I will replace this valve with a gate valve since I still had half my fan capacity available with the needle valve wide open.Total oil use a little over a gallon. Here are the melt times.

1:23 furnace cold, burner on with initial aluminum charge in steel pot, gas press. 10 psi.
1:30 initial charge melted
1:37 crucible full 5 lbs. of aluminum, burner off and poured
Melt time from cold 14 minutes

1:46 Clay graphite crucible with 12lbs iron, 2oz. charcoal and 2oz lime in furnace,burner on.
1:50 Started to slowly feed oil.
1:58 gas off, oil wide open, fan damper 1/2 open
2:55 Melt bright white, furnace shut down and mold poured. Did not want to take a chance of loosing my K type thermocouple which only reads accurately to 2400* F so eyeballed it.
Melt time 1 Hr. 9 Min. As noted earlier should be able to speed this up by increasing the amount of oil delivered to the burner.

The furnace exceeds my expectations when I imagined the layout for this project. Cost between 500 and 600 dollers not including all the surplus and salvage I have collected over the years and the propane and piping system which would have been installed weather this furnace was built or not. This price may seem low given how much refractory and steel I purchased but that is because I have enough left for 2 more projects. A version of Steve Chastain's tilt furnace for pouring BIG aluminum castings keeps comming to mind (to many projects to little time ).

I'll do one more post on the procceeds of this melt and this thread is done. Happy casting all

Cheers all what the heck make that a bottle of the old captains pivate stock 
CB

[tom osselton]

Your moving right along how was the sand for the iron? I see others using coal dust in their mix I'm guessing for the carbon.

[inthesticks]

Moving right along? You must have missed a couple of posts Tom  I'm done but 1 post. I didn't mix sand for iron since I am not casting iron much It buned the organic flour which is a good think but held up very well. The coal dust is used so when the molten metal hits it, it gases off preventing sand from sticking, which is what the flour did. The carbon is controlled in the crucible which is why I added a handful of hardwood charcoal dust. If you have ever hit a hard spot when working iron you will know why that important.

Cheers
CB

[inthesticks]

Here's the contents of todays pour. I cut a slice off the lip of the open face iron block. cut very easily without any hard spots to destroy my bandsaw blade, Should make a great little 5 X 5 surface plate for small work.

Rob I have 8 shiny new screw drivers to take you back to your childhood, don't be a stranger say hi, I try not to leave to often. The adjustment on the green sand helped, noticeably better finish on these handles.

And thats all she wrote.

Cheer Up
CB

[inthesticks]

Well caught up on some of the work I neglected around here. Took a day off today to play on the computer, made up a 3 part PDF for thoughs interested in building a similar furnace or improving on this design. Considered measured drawings but my use of salvage and surplus materials would make it hard for the home builder to source, use what you have .I included most of the complimentary  :)and constructive comments made here.  Files are zipped to reduce size, heres Part 1.

Cheers
CB

[inthesticks]

And heres Part 2

[inthesticks]

And finally Part 3. Darn my slow connection  . Fall work is coming up firewood etc.  If I can manage a few days in there for a few worthwhile castings I'll update them here.

Cheers
CB

[Will_D]

Many many thanks CB.

You have put a lot of effort into this project - not only building it but importantly documenting it for the rest of us. I have downloaded the pdfs and something along these lines is on my must do list.

Once again thanks

Will, Malahide, Ireland

[inthesticks]

Thank you for the positive feedback Will_D.
Good luck with your build  .

Cheers
CB

[RobWilson]

I am liking the new shinny batch of screwdrivers CB 

Now why did I not think of doing that   

Always good to see some foundry work 

Rob

[inthesticks]

Glad you like them Rob, like I said not recommended for electrical work but indistructable  around the shop.Did not coat them, loosing their shine but even oxidized they look good. 2 of the blades were a little of center but the finish was great.

Been raining on and off for the last 4 days so I am stuck inside. I got outside work to keep me busy for a while but I am going to try and get in a few casting sessions before the snow flies.

Cheers
CB

[RobWilson]

Me being ignorant  and curious CB  , when does Canada get its first snow falls ? and how deep does it get in your neck of the woods ? 


1mm is deep where I live and brings the country to a stop 

Rob

[inthesticks]

Not ignorant at all Rob you have to experiance it to know it  I have had very few Halloween's without wet snow flying, but October is a funny month you could get hit any time. As far as accumulation the last 2 decades have been all over the place one wild year we had green grass in February other years we can get as much as 5 or 6 feet.

Cheers
CB

[RobWilson]

Cheers CB   

The UK would be seriously f*&ked if it received 5 foot of snow    . anyway enough off topic  .

Will you be getting around to building a casting shop , for all year round melting of metal ?



Cheers Rob

[inthesticks]

Rob you have been eavesdropping on my brain. The 12 x 16 room pictured below was divided from the back of the garage/workshop for that purpose but its taken so long to get here that its turned into storage. When I get the garage/workshop insulated and heated that is still the plan for this room.

Cheers
CB