Why is nobody dabbling with electric arc furnaces?

Nutfarmer said:
Check out the crucible furnaces that burn waste oil. They will heat up enough to melt cast iron at a lower cost. The heat is hard on the crucible and the furnace lining.
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I have ideas in that direction too. That is my plan B if this doesn't work out. It's not plan A because driving around looking for waste oil doesn't seem fun. I have electricity on tap.
Nutfarmer said:
Be careful of not exceeding the duty cycle of your welder. When welding you weld for a few minutes at a time. In a furnace it is continuous. Most welders won’t take a continuous load at the higher amperage.
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Good point. I need to check the duty cycle rating on my welder before going any further.
 
whitmore said:
I once considered an old hobby design for electric arc furnace construction using
carbon rods and... an electric flatiron to limit current straight from the wall outlet.
Construction details involved a flowerpot and 'water glass' for mixing high temperature
mortar. Graphite rods with a 'buzz box' welding set would be a lot safer.
graphite rods for sale here
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Why did you not pursue it? What did you find that dissuaded you?
 
savarin said:
download this and have a good read
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Thanks, I have never come across a dowloadable copy of that. I had planned to buy it along with the gingery books before they (whatever that place that sold them, can't remember) went out of business. I have seen these or similar in action and the result is impressive. If this casting thing grows beyond melting a few pounds and into "let's cast a whole lathe" then this will be the direction I will go. But for now it's a bit involved.
 
strantor said:
Yeah but I think it is designed with the assumption that shielding gas will be cooling it and I ran it without shielding gas.
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That was my point. Without gas it was guaranteed to overheat. Calling it "air-cooled" is a misnomer, it's argon cooled.
 
MrWhoopee said:
That was my point. Without gas it was guaranteed to overheat. Calling it "air-cooled" is a misnomer, it's argon cooled.
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Sometimes it takes something like burning up a torch to realize something so obvious. Or at least it does in my case.

I cleaned up the torch just this morning and inspected it. A bunch of rubber is melted off the outside and the collet body was cock-eyed in the handle, I assumed because the handle was melted. But it was because the collet body was bent. I replaced that and reassembled, it actually seems to be intact. Unbelievable. What is it they say about God protecting drunks and idiots? Or was it children? IDK doesn't matter, either one fits.
 
I worked with induction (and arc) furnaces that melted sand into quartz glassware like 30+ years ago. Always wanted to build an induction furnace: simple, clean, no arc furnace level fire and brimstone jetting out everywhere trying to kill you….
 
Have you considered just getting into pattern making and out sourcing the casting to someone else? I would recommend you make the patterns, then pour them in ZA-12 (zinc-aluminum alloy that melts much colder than aluminum), to prove the patterns work then send the pattern to someone else to deal with. Iron melts very hot, I let someone else get the nasty burns from mistakes.
 
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