Thread: Heat Treatment Furnace Construction

Originally Posted by .RC.

Maybe Ray is in the Pizza Mafia...

We deliver horse heads on demand as well..

Just an update, I'll post plans when it's all finished, things keep changing...

Josh made up the bearing blocks for the door mechanism, there's a total of 8 required, these 4 are to be bolted to the door.



The outer frame and trolley is finished, and painted.



The outside is to be clad with 0.9mm 304 stainless sheet. The sheets are sitting on top at the minute, I leant one on the side for the picture.

Here is the door frame, with the bearing blocks mounted, and the arms are party made.





Should finish the door mechanism and test it out in the next few days. Then the next stage is to start the final brickwork and some internal frames.

Regards
Ray

That door really has me scratching my head. I'm sure it will make sense once it goes together. Did you get your element yet?

Stuart

Stuart "Why did you surface grind the arms?".
Ray "Because I can" hehe

that looking really professional Ray (thinking you have way-too much time time on your hands)
on those heatload calcs...how long do you reckon it will take to get upto temp?

Hi Eskimo,

I've tried to calculate how long it will take to get up to temperature, but there are too many variables, so I'll just have to wait till we arc it up and see, I'm hoping for less than 1-2 hours to get to 1100C. But I can put in extra elements if needed.

Josh has been making the parts for the door mechanism he designed in solid works, and we got to assemble the mechanism for the first time this afternoon, works nice and smoothly and we can now work out how to do the counterbalancing.

The door in it's closed position.


Propped open with a bit of wood makes the mechanism a bit clearer.


Close up of the door bearing


The bearing on other end of the arm, attached to the frame.


One step closer..

Regards
Ray

Looking great Ray(and Josh),
Are you going to need to chamfer the door bricks?

Stuart

Originally Posted by Stustoys

Looking great Ray(and Josh),
Are you going to need to chamfer the door bricks?

Stuart

Hi Stuart,

The bricks on the door are stacked like this... looking from the inside of the furnace..




So the bottom and sides will only have a faint taper for alignment and sealing, but the inner top edge of the bit that goes on the inside will need to be chamfered to follow the arc or the door as it closes, The bricks are easily filed and shaped so it shouldn't be too hard to get right.

Regards
Ray

Ray,
I was just thinking that is you chamfered the roof it might seal better(which it might). It then dawned on me that if you camfered both the roof and the the door you would get a tight fit. But that would need the kiln to be made a little lower and maybe I'm worrying to much about nothing.
Stuart

Hi All, Just a progress report..

Got some cooking foil during the week...



Meanwhile.. here is the construction of the furnace base...

The stainless steel sheet is fixed to the bottom of the frame with M4 stainless button head cap screws. And the first layer of support bricks can go in like so.



The middle gaps between the rows of support bricks is filled in with ceramic fibre blanket. And the mortar for the floor layer is laid down.



The floor level layer of bricks is laid down. The specs call for mortar gaps of 1mm, so it's not like normal brick laying, it's more like glueing bricks together.


The sides are next, and I need to cut the grooves for the heating elements, which I'll have later hopefully by next weekend.

So, next installment, installing the elements and building the sides.

Might get a chance to work on the cooling racks and work support frame before then....

Regards
Ray

PS, Forgot to mention the mortar is Vesuvious TUFSET SUPER a sodium silicate based refractory mortar.

a drawing board..what ever happened to AutoCad and the like

Originally Posted by eskimo

a drawing board..what ever happened to AutoCad and the like

Autocad, that's old school, it's all solid works nowadays, and the drawing board is the place I seem to always go back to... as in back to the...

Regards
Ray

Originally Posted by RayG

it's all solid works nowadays,

Ray...your always mentioning your son uses Solidworks....what does he know about the Student edition..ie is it any good? etc etc..maybe I can/should get my son to get it?

Originally Posted by RayG

Autocad, that's old school, it's all solid works nowadays, and the drawing board is the place I seem to always go back to... as in back to the...

Regards
Ray

Solidworks is fantastic... When I did my (very) brief stint at uni, Solidworks is what they were using. Some time later, I tried to draw something in Autocad, and gave up after about 2 hours with nothing on the screen. The same part (in 3D) in Solidworks takes me maximum of ten minutes . Its FAR easier to just pick up and use than Autocad (which spent all its time shouting at me, and telling me I'm doing it wrong). And then you can just tell Solidworks to make a 2D drawing, and section views from wherever you want, straight off your 3D part!

Only problem with it is the sheer cost (as is normal for programs designed for industry use).

PS, Forgot to mention the mortar is Vesuvious TUFSET SUPER a sodium silicate based refractory mortar.

Hello Ray,

Is there any chance that you could let me know who supplied the mortar?

Bob.