Metal Casting Zone

Jammer wrote:
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.yes we are hard on our furnaces. this clay type of lining ...when it fails will get ground up as grog ...clay added and re rammed .

mctc wrote:
wow that looks great. very jealous.thanks mike. im hoping it will be as good as it looks.

OddDuck wrote:
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.you have a keen eye!!! ive been debating with my wife over this as its pot leak that forced this project forward. i will grant you the final vote and put one in . its still very easy at this point to do so...before its fired. this furnace is dedicated to brass and for firing ceramics.i like my old setup for economy and aluminium ...breaking down scrap... and a forge so when this furnace is operational i will rebuild my charcoal /wood /gas ....forge /furnace thanks for the input about the drain.

i got the lid rammed up today i used a empty coffee can with its bottom cut out..leaving "lid" in place (it was my wifes idea!) forced it thru the rough hole i cut and filled with casting sand. i roughly welded some "bars " in so the lining will have have something to hold onto. once i had rammed it up ...i just got a broom stick and punched out the "lid" and then the sand was released. pushed the tin out and sprinkled the surface with fireclay... sprayed a fine mist of water over it and worked to a slurry.i then used this slurry to put a "surface" on it. now comes the hard part!!!!!! waiting for it to dry!!!!lol lol

here it is all fired up!!



i cast these today in it using my homemade crucibles. the smokebox and rear wheel is the limit to the crucible. the rear wheel is 4 inch.



the old and new!