The Shop > Metal Stuff
New lining for the iron furnace
vtsteam:
Okay, more info:
https://digitalfire.com/material/zircon
vtsteam:
Today I took apart and cleaned my oil burner for the iron foundry. It's a Kwoky type atomizing burner. Before reinstalling it, I was curious to see if it would draw and atomize oil on a winter day. Temp was just at freezing, and I thought waste oil might be too thick, so I opted to try diesel fuel.
It drew the diesel out of a can on the ground fine, and there was a fine spray pattern. So then I mounted it on the furnace to see whether the spray at low temp would ignite. I soaked a paper towel in fuel, set it on the bottom of the furnace, and lit it. Then I started the compressed air and slowly opened the oil throttle. Yup, it lit just fine. I didn't have the blower line hooked up to my vacuum cleaner, so I didn't test it with blast. But I have no doubt the furnace will run on diesel in winter.
I wasn't ready to cast anything yet, I had to locate my iron sand in a container in another shed, make a pattern, and find and check all of my iron casting gear, protective clothing flasks, etc. I moved the ring shanks, tongs, etc. to the tiny shed. The iron sand was not only frozen but also over saturated with water. In fall the container lid had cracked and rainwater had leaked in.
I brought the container indoors, and hope it will thaw overnight. It will be awhile until I can cast anything because the weather is going to be super cold for the weekend. I'll have to see what I can do about drying the sand out.
awemawson:
Steve I used to use the Zircon as a foundry tool dip years back. Things like stirrers and degassing plungers. It was a white thin paste that I diluted with water. May still have a dried out tub!
It set hard with heat but was liable to flake off and not very durable so I’m surprised it’s suggested as a liner on the Kaowool. Sodium silicate syrup will I’m sure slightly soak in and set rock hard and be more suitable.
I’ve got the sodium silicate but not sure if I’ve any bits of Kaowool left over, if I have I’ll do an experiment.
vtsteam:
Andrew it's unclear which exact product Ironman uses for his furnaces - there appear to be many different products with the generic title "Zircon" -- they appear also to have a variety of formulations, and have widely different uses from pottery glazes to furnace linings.
If you watch Ironman (aka Luckygen 1001) building his small furnace in the YouTube video I posted about 8 posts ago, at minute 1:22 you will see him applying it to the ceramic blanket of his furnace. It's a violet colored, and thick enough for a good surface coverage rate. It heat cures to a white color. It would be nice to know what that particular formulation is because he has long term proven use of that product in his style furnace for melting iron.
vtsteam:
No furnace work for the short term. It's supposed to go to -11F tonight, that's -24C.
Then Monday we're going to reverse that trend, work our way up past freezing all the way up to 38F, through snow, sleet, freezing rain, and finally rain, with winds gusting to 26mph. Should be a right mess.
Just so we don't get too comfortable with a 50 degree/day warming trend, we're going right back down Tuesday night to 0 F. Should make for some interesting ice formations! And it looks cold for the rest of the week.....
Not good iron pouring weather, apparently. :(
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