Resurrection of a CFEI 100 KVA Induction Furnace

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awemawson:
First job of the day, put another and hopefully final coat of varnish on the pump house door and door frame. This should now be finished bar a handle to pull it open, and the making of a couple of plastic foot like spacers to stop it sitting on the (potentially wet) lower slab and rotting.

Then the big move - pulled the tarpaulin off the generator, moved it so that it was roughly aligned with where it need moving, put an axle and two wheels on the front, and sat the back on a pallet. The theory being that I could push it with the fork lift to pretty well where it was meant to be.

Well theory and practice often differ :clap: As the floor of the stable slopes I couldn't stop the front end gradually running off course and going down hill. An 8 ton block and tackle attached to a front chassis member at one end, and a support RSJ of the stable at the other turned it's head in the right direction. Then the application of a pallet jack to the front allowed a friend to steer it while I pushed with the forklift.

Eventually we got it deep enough in to the stable and close enough to the wall that I was just able to get the forklift under the generator at 90 degrees to the side, pick it up and finesse it's positioning. Getting the fork lift back out was fun as it's a relatively narrow space reduced by the width of the generator, the length of the forks and of course the length of the forklift itself. I think it took about six back and forth jiggles with clearances measured in fractions of inches :bugeye:

Generator placed and a start performed - it still works :thumbup: Then started a considerable amount of putting away all that had been displaced. I gained some space by double stacking some pallets in the tractor shed but the stable isn't tall enough for that trick!

Main generator cable unrolled between the big blue Induction Furnace Driver and the generator, and yes, it's long enough so that's another unknown ticked off.

Now I need to sort out the generator exhaust to the outside world - it very quickly fogs up the stable despite 'Yorkshire Boarding' (6 inch planks spaced one inch apart) and fully open drive through doors either end.!

. . . but we ARE getting there :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Spurry:
Looking good.
Not sure how your forks are secured on the Hyster, but when I have found myself in a 'sticky' situation, I just slide the forks off their backplate,
move the machine, drag the forks out from whence they are stuck, then pop them back on again. Can save a lot of 'tooing and froing'.
Not sure if that is possible with your machine. HTH.
Pete

awemawson:
No Pete, my frame is pegged to stop the forks sliding off. I'm sure with a bit of work that it's possible - but not that easy (by design)

Spurry:

--- Quote from: awemawson on June 05, 2020, 09:37:26 AM ---No Pete, my frame is pegged to stop the forks sliding off. I'm sure with a bit of work that it's possible - but not that easy (by design)

--- End quote ---
Mine wasn't easy until I took the safety bolts out. :bugeye: Having said that, it's usually easier to just drop the complete backplate/fork assembly off the machine with a couple of small levers.
As your machine is a specific forklift, I did not think the latter facility would be available to you, but that the former might.
Pete

awemawson:
So varnish dry, PTFE spacers fitted and door finally in place. Why PTFE - 'cos I happened to have a stick of the right diameter sitting by the lathe !

With the door on it was now worth making and fitting the anti-vermin shield round the cable and pipe entries in the Pumphouse floor. I drew it up in Autocad and had intended to cut a trial in plastic using the Laser Cutter, but when I turned it on, on performing it's initialisation homing sequence it's ignoring one of the sensors and crashing into the end stop. They are hall effect sensors and in fact waving a bit of metal at the 'faulty' one it lit up so possibly a broken wire - something to investigate :scratch:

So never mind - cut it in metal. Actually it fitted rather nicely - three bits needed to be able to get it in place, and rare earth magnets join them pretty effectively.

But having cut the steel on the CNC Plasma Table why is the welding shop full of fumes? The automatic fan hadn't turned on as it should but works happily if manually turned on. Something else to investigate.

OK next job, extend the generator exhaust to a height that it will clear the feed bin lids when they are open, and make up the length to take it outdoors. It's 2 1/2" BSP heavy walled steam pipe. I had about 50" of it and a length of flexible exhaust left over from when I got the generator. Careful measurement told me that by lopping 14" of the pipe and threading both ends I could get the height right and there would still be enough to reach outside if I used a bit of the flexy that already had a threaded stub welded in one end.

So how to thread 2 1/2" BSP - my threading gear stops at 2". No alternative really than single point threading it on the lathe using a fixed steady.

Slight snag - no 55 degree external threading tips - got internals but that's no use. Hang it it's not a nuclear submarine it's an exhaust - use a 60 degree tip and wing it :clap:

Slight adjustment to threading depth to get a reasonable fit, and a bit of crest rounding with a file and my 'thread gauge' (a malleable iron elbow) was a tolerable fit. Time to assemble it all.

Firstly I bored a five inch hole through a six inch Yorkshire Board in the stable wall which should be enough clearance to keep the hot exhaust off the timber. I need to find some insulating material to support where the pipe passes through the timber.

Then all was screwed together and a test run performed - all OK

Incidentally I went to fire the generator up last night and there was a very loud bang and a spurt of flame from the side of the generator. Scary at the time, but it proved to be the cheap Chinese battery isolator switch had failed in a spectacular way spewing it's contacts in molten form across the top of the battery. Needless to say I took the switch out of circuit!

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