# The Artful Bodger's furnace book



## mjonkman (Mar 10, 2014)

I've been thinking about making myself a home foundry furnace this summer that would be capable of running on either propane or used oil. Ideally I could start by using a propane burner and then over time upgrade to a used oil burner - assuming there is nothing radically different in the design of the rest of the furnace.

A while back I stumbled on The Artful Bodger's Home Foundry website and http://www.artfulbodgermetalcasting.com/ and he sells a book on making his particular furnace and oil burner. I figure by the time I include exchange and postage to the states the book would be in the neighborhood of $40. I'm curious whether anyone here has made the furnace in question and whether they felt the book was worth the cost or whether there might be a different site and or plans available that would be as good or better. I don't mind paying $40 for the book if its worth it so that isn't my hang up, I just would like to get some feedback on the book from someone that has used it.

I'd eventually like to melt cast iron in the furnace though I'm not going to start by pouring cast iron.

Sincerely
Mark R. Jonkman


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## xalky (Mar 10, 2014)

I like the propane idea better because it's cleaner. 

I built one 18 years ago that ran on propane. I don't have it anymore, my buddy has it. I used a shop vac in the 'blow' mode for the blower. I used a section of exhaust pipe as the mixer/burner. When I built it, there wasn't a whole lot of info on the web about building the burner part. I kinda winged it and finally did get it going well. I singed the eyebrows off my face one time trying to get the air/fuel mixture right. :lmao: I don't reccomend this route. There must be way more info on building these things online now.


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## jim18655 (Mar 10, 2014)

Lots of info here:
http://members.optushome.com.au/terrybrown/welcome.html


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## dpat (Mar 10, 2014)

try   foundry zone.com and backyard foundry.com  lot of info

    dpat


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## 12bolts (Mar 11, 2014)

Hi Mark,
Welcome, whereabouts are you located.
I havent read through Bodgers website so I cant comment on anything he says but I can thoroughly recommend http://www.alloyavenue.com/vb/forum.php/. Probably the most knowledgable bunch of blokes out there on the subject of melting metal. And everything they offer is free.


xalky said:


> I like the propane idea better because it's cleaner.


I have to disagree here, my WMO burner is extremely clean......... as far as burning hydrocarbons gets..... and the calorific value of oil is higher than propane so you get more oompf. However there are plenty of people who swear by their gas fired rigs. I just like the idea of free fuel.
I have a waste oil burner, homemade, and I can get from a cold furnace to pouring temps for bronze in less than 2 hours. On my last burn I melted my steel furnace lid. Bit bummed about that in one way but kinda impressed on the other hand, cause I never melted steel before!

Cheers Phil


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## GarageGuy (Mar 11, 2014)

I'm also planning to build a foundry furnace this summer.  I was going to use a popular 30 gallon steel drum lined with refractory cement design.  I found a drum on CL over the winter.  There are a number of videos on YouTube.  Many are truly frightening with the lack of safety involved, but some of the ideas and designs are alright if you add the proper safety gear.  There is a fellow in the UK (I think) who seems to be very successful with cast iron.  His YouTube channel is "luckygen1001".  Here is a link to his videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/luckygen1001/videos

Tubalcain (mrpete222) also has some good foundry videos here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/mrpete222/videos

I plan to cast mostly aluminum and brass, but would like to move up to casting iron at some point.  The furnace is likely the cheapest and easiest part.  The crucible and other tools, tongs, pyrometer, casting sand, frames, etc will be much more expensive and challenging to find.

Best of luck.  Keep us updated with your progress, and I will do the same.

GG


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## master53yoda (Mar 11, 2014)

I second the Alloy Avenue, I'm also a member there.     I have 2 furnaces mine are both physically fairly small one is a crucible furnace which is most common , the other is a dierct fired tilting furnace that i melt all the cast in, the dross remains in the tilting furnace and is dumped at the end of a run.  most of my runs are 55 to 60lbs from out board motors to ingots.  I completed a run in the last 3 hours including the tear down on the motors.    I do three and sometimes four runs a week.      Both mine fire on Natural gas I use NG because it is quick, easy and this burn cost less then $3.00.  The burners would work equally well on propane.   Oil is going to be the what you end up with in the end if you are going to do cast Iron in any amount, it can be done with propane and natural gas but they both have a lower flame temperature than oil does.    Oil also burns slower so the heat is more spread out than with gas flames.

I keep my furnaces as small as I do so that i can pick either one up and carry it without any problems.   



Good luck and be safe, shoes long pants, gloves, eye protection, and good ventilation.


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## mjonkman (Mar 12, 2014)

Thank you all for the responses.

Phil - I'm in central Virginia (USA)

I've looked at a lot of the sites both today and/or in the past. 

Another site worth mentioning is backyardMetalcasting.com (or is this the site DPAT  where referring to with "backyard foundry.com"?)

In terms of youtube, I have to say the single most inspirational and informative (at least from my perspective) on home foundry is the one guy that has never said a word in any of his videos: Myfordboy - https://www.youtube.com/user/myfordboy (GarageGuy if you haven't already watched his 30 some odd videos, I'd say it be well worth it). I'd say myfordboy's videos are why I want to try metal casting - with the full reason to make model engine parts vs. buying casting kits. Pattern making is something I think I would enjoy immensely as I'm an avid woodworker as well.

From everything I've gleaned from various websites I think my thought process /understanding is leaning towards

1) Build a furnace of reasonable size using the highest temp refractory cement I can find - right now that appears that a company about an hour or so away might stock KAST-O-LITE 30 PLUS (3000 F) or is at least listed as a distributor (http://www.hwr.com/ProductCatalog)

2) Furnace design appears to almost identical between those powered by propane and those powered by oil or other gases - the prime difference obviously being the burner. But I should be able to build a furnace that would be able to be used with either propane or used oil and simply swap the appropriate burner. - Would this be a reasonable statement?

3) I think I will start out with a propane burner and restrict myself initially to learning casting techniques using Aluminum. I think based on what I've read its a tad safer or at least not near as hot (though hot enough to do the same damage I suppose). 

4) I'll probably start with wooden boxes as I have tons of wood out here - like 3000 bd ft of oak, cedar, maple, cherry and walnut.. though I'll restrict myself to building things out of oak.

5) I'll probably start with some form of green sand - there seems to be a lot of recipes out there on making your own

6) I figure I can probably make the tools like the tongs etc myself. Depending on budget when I get to that point I may just buy a reasonably sized crucible vs using a steel crucible.

I'll definitely take a look at the Alloy Alley and probably sign up for that forum - it appears to actually be related to the backyardmetalcasting site.

Thanks again for the responses and if you have more suggestions, I'm all ears.

Sincerely
Mark R. Jonkman


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## ironmonger (Mar 12, 2014)

mjonkman said:


> <<snip>>
> 1) Build a furnace of reasonable size using the highest temp refractory cement I can find - right now that appears that a company about an hour or so away might stock KAST-O-LITE 30 PLUS (3000 F) or is at least listed as a distributor (http://www.hwr.com/ProductCatalog)



Furnace temperature is a product of the volume of the furnace and the BTU's introduced. To get higher temps add BTU. The peak temperature of the various fuels have less to do with the temp than the BTU.



mjonkman said:


> 2) Furnace design appears to almost identical between those powered by propane and those powered by oil or other gases - the prime difference obviously being the burner. But I should be able to build a furnace that would be able to be used with either propane or used oil and simply swap the appropriate burner. - Would this be a reasonable statement?



Yes, but bear in mind equal heating requires similar BTU input



mjonkman said:


> 3) I think I will start out with a propane burner and restrict myself initially to learning casting techniques using Aluminum. I think based on what I've read its a tad safer or at least not near as hot (though hot enough to do the same damage I suppose).



I doubt you would know the difference... the burn would hurt like hell regardless of the metal. Appropriate PPE is a must.



mjonkman said:


> 4) I'll probably start with wooden boxes as I have tons of wood out here - like 3000 bd ft of oak, cedar, maple, cherry and walnut.. though I'll restrict myself to building things out of oak.



Most of my flasks are made from wood. They are easy to make, and extend if you have to. You can also use them to cast aluminum flask parts as well.



mjonkman said:


> 5) I'll probably start with some form of green sand - there seems to be a lot of recipes out there on making your own



I like Petrobond oil bonded sand. I don't cast every day, and I can open a bucket of Petrobond and go to work right away. There are many casting supply houses around the country, if you have one close by, visit or call and see what they can do for you. Carpenter Bros is my local outlet, and they sell to small shops here. Last time I bought Petrobond it was about $60 for 50 pounds.



mjonkman said:


> 6) I figure I can probably make the tools like the tongs etc myself. Depending on budget when I get to that point I may just buy a reasonably sized crucible vs using a steel crucible.


Don't over look graphite crucibles, they are much less pricey than the SC. I don't think that I would use them for Cast Iron very often though, The welded steel work pretty well, have a S40 stainless steel one that I made up, but I still like the graphite. YMMV


I have the book, and while I don't think that there is anything that you couldn't find online, I look at it like shareware. I like to encourage folks to write and publish useful tech info. 

Many furnace designs have a 'vent' in the bottom to allow the metal to exit the furnace if a crucible should break. I build mine with a solid bottom. If a crucible breaks I would rather chip out the metal or build a new furnace than contend with the molten metal flowing all over the place. That's just my take...

I haven't built a oil fired crucible furnace as yet, but I will use the book as a starting off point. I don't think that you would find many on the forum who would build ANYTHING just a described... 
You have to have a plan to deviate from.

paul


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## Flammable_Solid (Mar 12, 2014)

Aluminum takes a lot of energy to melt, even though it melts at a lower temperature.  The high conductivity of Al makes the spatter stick to you versus bounce off of you like Fe.

Invest in the proper PPE, as medical bills cost more than anything else.  Kick-off style safety shoes are worth the $$$.


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## mjonkman (Mar 12, 2014)

I went ahead and ordered the book. As per IronMonger I think it will give me at least give me a starting point as well. 

Thanks again

Sincerely
Mark R. Jonkman


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## GarageGuy (Mar 13, 2014)

master53yoda , what kind of lining do you use inside your direct pour furnace?  What are the advantages and disadvantages of a direct pour furnace?  I'm thinking of using waste oil as a fuel (free fuel is a good thing), and was wondering if it was a good match for this type of design.  Thanks for your thoughts,

GG


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## master53yoda (Mar 14, 2014)

Both furnaces start with a 1" koawool, my crucible furnace just has a ceramic hardface that i replace as needed.   The tilting furnace i covered the kaowool with a 3/8 mesh stainless wire and the a 50 50 mix of 100 grit silica sand and the ceramic slip.   once that had dried i gave it a thin covering of pure ceramic slip and then fired it  to about 2300 to vitrify the surface.     Bear in mind that niether of my furnaces are intended to do cast iron.  the top end is brass.   The purpose of the tiliting furnace was to melt down raw scrap aluminum,  I put the scrap in as large as it can handle, about 8" square by 15" long is what I aim at for size,   The dross floats on top of the aluminum and heavier metals like iron sink to the bottom,  I don't let anything big stay in the pour but i don't fight broken off bolts etc. as the metal goes crumbly I pull out any thing big like bearings or cylinder sleaves and then let it melt.   When i pour the aluminum it pours out from under the dross and leaves the heavey on the bottom.    I then put it into the crucible furnace to flux and degass.

The only draw back that i could see with the type furnace that i'm running the burner needs to be able to run clean in open air and still run ok when the furnace is closed up.   I would thing that a Delvan siphon type burner should work ok  you may need to keep a constant ignition source to prevent flame out when your first starting the breakdown processs because the top is normally off the furnace untill it gets broken down.  My gas burners don't have a flame out issue but they will flame out if the scrap has oil etc on it because of insufficient air.    If I start getting smoke i cut back the gas so the air is excess and the oil etc. can burn clean once the other fuels are burnt i open the gas back up and it normally relights.  That process would probbaly not be as easy firing oil.      The only thing i have found that won't burn clean is even small amounts of rubber that is used for a vibration isolators.  I strip every bit of that off of the casting because of the not burning clean.   

bear in mind these furnaces were designed for aluminum and temps typically even when melting the aluminum our of the dross at the end of a run don't get mucj over 1850 to 1900.

good luck

art B


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## george wilson (Mar 14, 2014)

Aluminum may melt at a lower temp,but it also transfers heat quicker than iron. Either metal is more than hot enough to vaporize your flesh,don't forget. Wear shoes you can kick off as suggested. NEVER wear tall boots that metal can get down into. You will have very severe burns before you can get one off.


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