DIY Metal Melting Foundry Furnace built using Salvaged Refrigerant Tank

hello and welcome to another diy tutorial in this video i'll demonstrate how to turn a salvage refrigerant tank into this metal mounting foundry furnace let's start by cutting off this section of metal to free the tank's handles do not dispose of them as they will be used as the handles for the furnace later during the build next cut off the valve from the tank you can dispose of this as we will not be needing it for this project i'm using an abrasive disc to remove the paint and rust from the tank this also preps the tank for paint and welding in future steps i'm using an index card and sharpie to draw a line around the entire tank using the tank's mid section weld line as a guide i'll follow this line with a cut off tool leaving a small upper section that will become the lid of the furnace i'm welding on a washer to help me stabilize the two and a half inch hole saw as it cuts the exhaust hole on the lid the drill bit inside the hole saw will drill into the washer and guide the drill so that it won't wander away this is a comparison shot with and without the washer welded on [Music] i'm using 1 inch square tubing for the legs they have been pre-cut to a length of 5 inches off camera they will give the tank ample height from the ground and are very sturdy i made this hinge to open and close the furnace lid using five nuts and one bolt a quarter inch in size for the barrel section of the hinge i bored out the threads using a quarter inch drill bit this hinge can be done using any size of nuts and bolts you have on hand just make sure the sizes of the nuts bolts and drill bit match i'm removing the threads for a smoother finish on this bolt this will be used as a handle to open and close the furnace lid cut off a lower section of all four legs at an angle so that they make complete contact with the ground and the furnace remains leveled next is to prep the handles to be welded onto the body of the furnace i'm cutting two inches in length from this two inch outer diameter tubing that will function as an inlet for the burner now reduce a portion of the tubing to match the curvature of the furnace to make welding it on easier i'm using a one and three quarter inch hole saw for the burner inlet hole remember to take into consideration the resting height of your crucible inside the furnace before making the hole i welded on four quarter inch bolts to the inner part of the lid this will help keep the ceramic blanket in place after it's installed here's a shot of our current progress so far no welding is required after this point i'm adding a few coats of heat resistant primer and paint to the entire furnace body and lid [Music] this will help with rust prevention and will make the furnace look great [Music] i'm adding a small batch of my fire brick recipe to the bottom of the furnace to add some weight and prevent it from tipping over accidentally it will also create a flat surface to keep the crucible level link to the firebrick recipe will be added to the description below after a couple of days the firebreak blend has fully hardened it's now time to start fitting our furnace with its ceramic blanket i'm using a 1 inch thick blanket that will stand direct flames of 2200 degrees fahrenheit of continuous use at 2400 of intermittent use at higher temperatures it begins to shrink and become brittle and will start melting at around 3 200 degrees fahrenheit this blanket will protect the metal walls of our furnace and keep the outer wall temperature at a much cooler and safer range i'm also adding a coat of rigidizer to all the surfaces of the ceramic blanket this will rigidize the surface locking in small ceramic fibers that can come loose and right side of the furnace becoming a health hazard if inhaled in a previous video i used the spray bottle to apply the rigidizer so i decided to try the brush on method this time around i was also a lot more generous with the amount applied but it was definitely worth it as the blanket ended up much harder this time i ended up using the entire 1 quart bottle for this project i'll add a link to the description below of the ceramic blanket and rigidizer that i used for this project this is where the four bolts in the interior of the lid come into play you want to pierce a blanket with each bolt and expose it on the other side place a one and a half inch washer on each of the bolts and secure it with a nut this will keep the ceramic blanket in place for the lifetime of the product apply rigidizer to the inner portion of the blanket cut off the excess from the external walls of the lid and press the outer edges to create a thick brim apply rigidizer to the brim to harden and maintain shape reform as necessary with the two and a half inch hole saw drill through the ceramic blanket to open up the exhaust hole apply rigidity to the exposed parts of the exhaust hole i'm covering each of the exposed washers and bolts with a piece of ceramic blanket and adding rigidizer this will protect them from the high heat and will also avoid the unwanted transfer of heat to the outer wall of the lid this is what all four bolts covered up look like [Music] i'm using three quarter inch bolts to secure the burner to the furnace drill the holes evenly spaced from each other to the burner in the tube with a 3 16 inch bit add threads to the hole using a quarter inch by 20 mc tap check that all your bolts function properly with the hole saw drill through the ceramic blanket to create the access hole for the burner check the fit of your burner i've placed the link on the description to the tutorial on how to build the burner i'm using for this furnace [Music] add your finishing decorative touches to your furnace i'll be adding the channel name to mine [Music] [Music] there you have it your very own metal melting foundry furnace thank you for watching this tutorial video if you found any of this helpful please like and subscribe for more content like this

Channel: Sizzling Ingot

Views: 2,525

Keywords: sizzling ingot, melting metal, foundry furnace, high temperature, furnace

Id: Ah-TyFCPERg

Length: 7min 43sec (463 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 07 2022