Our Home Made Furnace.
Owen and I decided a few years ago to build a furnace and have a go at casting aluminium. Construction of the furnace began some two and half years ago and now it is finally finished. Just a few tweaks to go to get maximum performance. But, as you can see, it works.
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| Getting ready for the test pour. |
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| We used an old beer keg for the furnace casing. I installed the insulation and Owen did all the welding. |
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| Here it is with some typical Otech bling to smarten it up. |
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| One thing Owen learnt was NOT to use your wife's cup cake trays as a mould for a test pour. He thought he would borrow them, pour a few discs and return them to the kitchen without Tracy knowing. Didn't work out that way. (I wish I was there to see the look on Owen's face.) |
Good stuff guys , I started to build one then ended up with a commercial one from the local tech college for almost nothing . I make mostly vintage model aero engines ,love diesels ,have a full workshop in Sydney in the back yard . I have a small ceramic crucible extra ,new , that you can have if you need one . Holds about a cup and a half of metal ,would fit your setup well . I also race F2c control line when I can but getting to old to play with the younger ones now . Keep at it guys ,Geoff Potter.
ReplyDeleteThanks Geoff. We still haven't done a proper pour yet. We have all been too busy. I only just got some bentonite clay for sand casting. I will post the results of our castings in the near future, I hope.
ReplyDeleteJohn Moody.
You should use at least 5% Silicon alloy to get good fluidity for sand casting such as old road wheels or cylinder heads. Add de-gas pellets to remove hydrogen if you get bubbles in your casting. The hydrogen comes out of solution on cooling. For heat treatment immediately quench casting in water and then heat soak at 150C for twelve hours ( works mostly if melt contains some copper and/or magnesium ). A fan forced oven is really good as long as SWMBO does not catch you at it.
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