Wrapped in some insulating sheet and taped with masking tape.
There are my two steel crucibles. I am going to use the Plumbago on this melt.
I've done one melt, this is the second one. You can see the dross on the steel can lid at the back. Some of the charge being preheated on top of furnace.
To light the beast I just let the lighter flame get sucked into the burner air holes ie the holes out near the jet end.
Here the Plumbago crucible is nearly to the brim.
This is the result of three melts. There are 16 International 3-7/8" dia pistons there. I did the melts one after other whilst everything was hot.
Poor bloody terracotta pot, wasn't meant to be used to this end. I thought they'd crack but didn't think they'd get to plastic/flow state. Anyway I'll pull out what I can and keep using this EA furnace, see what happens.
UPDATE
14 th Sept 2001
Well here is what bottom half of the furnace looks like after 14 melts. The rim of the pot is still there and the concrete is holding up pretty well. Most of the concrete that is missing is the result of breaking the melted parts of the flower pot out. You can see the twin burners, on right and left sides. The stand for the crucible is a piece of square RHS(rectangular hollow section) with a bit of plate welded on. There are holes cut in the RHS to allow escape of molten metal should the crucible ever break.
This should be a new window, minimise or close it to return to Home Page or press