Welding Tips and Tricks

Got a jingle this morning to build one. Been looking at them on Youtube. I have extensive knowledge of re-lining casting furnaces but have never built one. Anyone have any experience with these that can give me some advice?

No but I'll be keen to see how you go.

I was looking at it myself on youtube only a few weeks ago. Building and fabrication seems simple enough. I only ran into slight issues when trying to figure out where and what to buy re crucibles and refractory cement etc. Only because there are so many options.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F71fb7HreMQ&t=132s

Thats the one I had in mind. Probably the same one you've seen. Mainly because its big enough and it looks cool. Makeitextreme is a great channel if you like making your own workshop equipment. They did one but I'm pretty sure they used a blanket material rather than casting, can't quite remember though.

I take about 50kg of copper pipe off cuts/old pipe to the scrap metal ever couple months. I had in mind to melt it down into blocks. That and some furniture ideas I had in mind that needed cast aluminium.

No help here either other than I have looked into making one with firebrick and winding the heater coils from that special wire but never followed up because the main reason I wanted to make one was for hardening steels...But I realized a kiln can do that. But I still haven't bought a used kiln yet. Sometime when I see a deal close to the house on Craigs list I will likely buy one.

I go the go-ahead on this project so I will be posting up some pics in a couple weeks. Talked with my old boss that I worked for lining furnaces and he gave me some great ideas. This is going to be fun...stay tuned..

The beer keg makes a good furnace I have done some aluminum and brass so far.
http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,89 ... l#msg97430

Here is the link to Irornman's build ( Luckygen1001 )
http://youtu.be/1DyeESQpac0

Another thing for you to consider is sand. I tried my first casting with playsand which leaves quite a rough finish then tryed a type at Burnco called golden sand that is used in morter work it's much finer grain as you can see at post # 16 below followed by pics of the casted parts. http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,98 ... #msg110560

Tom Osselton wrote:The beer keg makes a good furnace I have done some aluminum and brass so far.
http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,89 ... l#msg97430

Another thing for you to consider is sand. I tried my first casting with playsand which leaves quite a rough finish then tryed a type at Burnco called golden sand that is used in morter work it's much finer grain as you can see at post # 16 below followed by pics of the casted parts. http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,98 ... #msg110560

Are you the same guy on Tom Osselton on homemade tools? If so I have seen your work.

As far as I know I haven't posted there I'll have to check it out. Lol

Tom Osselton wrote:As far as I know I haven't posted there I'll have to check it out. Lol

I think you ended up there...followed your links and it's the same pics. NIce work. My customer wants to be able to sand cast some parts ( he does alot of custom pool tables and other things) but not on a scale that could justify paying for a die to die cast the parts he needs. Thanks for the links, they are very helpful. I might need to pick your brain at some point in the future.

It was a link for the best from the madmodder site never new it! Lol
http://madmodder.net/index.php

Tom Osselton wrote:It was a link for the best from the madmodder site never new it! Lol
http://madmodder.net/index.php

Ill be getting back to you for sourcing. Thanks for responding!

After a bit of research it seems a blanket and coating i.e. kaowool and itc-100 seem to be the most efficient fuel wise. Not to mention easier to make and a whole lot light than a 2" thick layer of refractory cement.

Look for a boiler wholesaler that deals in industrial boilers. You can get it in any form you want. Powdered can be mixed like drywall mud. Thin or thick as you like you can pour it in or make it like clay and mold it. They sell blankets from 3/4inch thick and up. 2 inch is the thickest I've used. Or you can get the solid bricks that you cut/ rasp into shape. If you need to PM me I can get you a phone number of a company I deal with a lot out of DesMoines Iowa.

Poland308 wrote:Look for a boiler wholesaler that deals in industrial boilers. You can get it in any form you want. Powdered can be mixed like drywall mud. Thin or thick as you like you can pour it in or make it like clay and mold it. They sell blankets from 3/4inch thick and up. 2 inch is the thickest I've used. Or you can get the solid bricks that you cut/ rasp into shape. If you need to PM me I can get you a phone number of a company I deal with a lot out of DesMoines Iowa.

My old boss is a Redline dealer so he can get me refractory at cost so I have that end covered but the Kaowool blanket is going to be hard to get only because you have to buy a certain quantity and it isn't cheap. Do you know if they sell small quantities?

I think they will cut off of a big roll a foot at a time. I thing the roll is 48inches wide.

Poland308 wrote:I think they will cut off of a big roll a foot at a time. I thing the roll is 48inches wide.

I have a call in to a friend at the refinery near me. He says he can get me some....have to wait and see but I appreciate all the help. Just got a price on refractory...approximately $160 for 2800 degree. $140 for 2400. My customer is so excited he's been texting me all morning...

I was looking a back in November or so for kegs for this. I found someone selling them in Sydney on ebay for 80 each. Seemed reasonable, I don't know what they are worth but I supposed to a homebrewer thats a pretty good price?

Anyway, found a guy today on Gumtree. Has about 10. Wants $20 each for them. I might buy 5 or even the whole lot. Make some BBQ's out of them and sell them. Gotta be some other good uses for them. Not sure why they are for sale, when do they cease being suitable for beer? Photo looks like the back dock of a club or pub.

Very complete series on a home-built furnace from myfordboy on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbnroan ... ZsP2z0pfeZ

Bye, Arno.

Rupes wrote:I was looking a back in November or so for kegs for this. I found someone selling them in Sydney on ebay for 80 each. Seemed reasonable, I don't know what they are worth but I supposed to a homebrewer thats a pretty good price?

Anyway, found a guy today on Gumtree. Has about 10. Wants $20 each for them. I might buy 5 or even the whole lot. Make some BBQ's out of them and sell them. Gotta be some other good uses for them. Not sure why they are for sale, when do they cease being suitable for beer? Photo looks like the back dock of a club or pub.

I do quite a bit of keg modding for homebrewers. Some of them will only use brand new kegs while others will use aged ones. If you can find kegs cheap...grab them. You can always turn around and resell them for some extra beer money and they will never go down in value so I always have a few laying around. The guy I am building this furnace for was thrilled to know I had a keg for his project and the means to get the job done. Homebrewers, especially new ones, will spend money freely to get up to speed with their colleagues and not look like a noob. I don't know when/why they retire kegs..maybe when they get dented up really bad and the metals strength might be comprimised. Grab those kegs...thats a deal!

I'd run the serial #s past any listed/stamped owner/distributor on the kegs, to be sure I wasn't buying a "hot property", so to speak. That price is remarkable, to say the least. I think I paid a bigger deposit than that on the last keg of beer I bought for a party 30 years ago.

...always wise to cover one's behind...
Worst case, you might get a finder's fee if you do the legwork to confirm whether or not the sale is legal.

Steve S

I've seen them on Kijiji in Calgary for $20 / 25 bucks, I've been thinking about using one on its side for a forge setup.

Got the top prepped and poured yesterday. I put several screws through the top for anchors for the refractory to grab onto. Cut most of the top skirt off the keg but left the handles , trying to reduce weight a little. I am going to add pics as I build this as kind of a tutorial for anyone that might be interested. Going to pour the floor and start on the burner today. My customer, who builds high-end custom pool tables, told me he wants to cast pocket corners with it. He is working on the prototype. This is going to be an interesting project. Sorry you had to break your neck to see the pic.

My prototype burner. Nozzle shroud comes off to change nozzles. Used a.035 mig tip for a spray nozzle. Got an air reg going on the air fitting. Gonna play around with it this weekend. I love doing stuff like this.

What fuel are you using? I have been looking into this for a project, and have been considering a waste oil burner. The web has a wide range of ideas on the topic.

If you don't mind a newbie question: how does your burner work? Do you mind showing an exploded view?

Here it is running. The addition of air makes a giant difference. I may go down to a.030 tip and see what happens. I will show a closeup of how it's built. Pretty simple.

Looks good! If you want to control the gas flow get a regulator or use the ball valve but I wouldn't change it until seeing how it runs in the furnace.