Metal Casting Zone

well now that im into ceramic crucibles and my old furnace is getting close to burn out ive started work on a new one! nothing special just a old gas bottle cut down but this time im lining it! same mix as per crucibles ground up fire brick ...fire clay and potash but im putting in just a few tins of white silica sand as this project will exhaust my supply of fire bricks which came out of an old pizza oven. im busy grinding up the bricks ..... im breaking them into bits and dropping them into water for just a few minutes as this eases the crushing. im putting the "crushed brick through a kitchen strainer. its slow progress but ive made enough for the base so tomorrow ...the sides. for a inner "core" im going to use a cheap 10 inch plastic flower pot! my idea is to fill it and ram it hard with our casting sand!! the idea is to just dig out the sand and the flimsy pot will just flip out... well thats the plan.???? i will figure out some wheels for it!!lol im thinking a old lawnmower base would do fine. especially if it has fold down handles.... i will scrounge the recycle centre for this later this week if i get a chance. im eager to get it rammed up so it can start drying.im not in a hurry to use it so i can give it plenty of time to dry ..( one day is plenty lol lol lol)i will take some pics shortly.

pics as i proceed.

bits and pieces





the plastic pot "core" to form the interior of the furnace.


firebrick samples on the left is the original brick middle is partly ground down and lastly the sieved "sand"


my bag of fireclay and sieve


to "grind down " the brick im using a iron bar and my spare 4 inch steel crucible. its slow progress but i have about 40 % ground after 3 hours of shoulder and neck ache! (no pain no gain!!!!lol lol )

Looks like a good start. You'll be surprised how fast your melts will go in it.

i got a few hours in today but its so hot here at the moment 38 deg c. to try and hurry things along i experimented with putting a "shoe" onto my air chisel and used that to grind with. its works a treat but my weld kept breaking so i made a complete new one to fit the air hammer. so as a "dry" run to help determine quanity i loosely rammed it up. nearly there just another brick i think????

Its about time XL, you were due for a new furnace. are you going to have a lid lifter on this one?

i would like one a1 but materials are a bit scarce. im doing a scrounge at the recycle centre tomorrow (its only open friday ,sat and sunday...sometimes there is only standing room! )so i never know. i do like how you did yours. im getting desperate for a brass melt!!!! (i had to buy some for a project today!!!!that hurt. lol lol

i got a bit more done today

base rammed up with a plastic flowerpot filled with ordinary casting sand in the middle.







"digging "out the casting sand.



two cuts with a sharp knife up the sides and plastic pot came straight out.




as seen in above pic the sides were a little rough so i sprayed with with a fine mist and "dusted them with with straight fireclay and smoothed them up it took five minutes .



i found a good cover for the lot. with the heat we are having here 38 deg c it will help dry the lining.



i will ram up the lid tomorrow with a bit of luck. so far my out of pocket expense is $7 au !!( half a bag of fireclay $5 and $2 against the welding.)the rest i had given to me. plus !!!!! mighty sore neck and shoulder muscles .

That all looks great XL. You shouldn't get much shrinkage with all the grog you put in. Fire it slow after a good drying time.
I'm going to have to do another little furnace, mine is going to burn through the side on any melt now. My insulated lining is collapsing an the heat is coming out around the tuyere.

wow that looks great. very jealous.

Looking very nice,Xl! I hate to be Mr. Picky, but I couldn't help noticing a lack of a drain hole. I realize that this is not the greatest time to put one in, but it may save some headache in the future, especially where you will be using homemade crucibles. If you have a drain, a failed crucible will just mean replacing the crucible and continuing, but if you don't have one you will have to shut down and clean out the spill after it has cooled, possibly damaging the liner in the process. Ask me how I know. Other than that, I think you will find a signifigant performance increase over your old setup. Now just to wait two weeks or so for a nice slow dry time.