# My new auction Buy! Kiln/heat treat furnace?



## xalky (Dec 29, 2013)

I just bought this glass kiln at an auction. My thought was that I could use it as a heat treat furnace.  It goes up to 1800*F and has a programmable temp controller. Before I bid on it, I looked at Heat treat temps in the Machinerys handbook and none seem to be above 1800*F, so I thought this would work fine. Plus I can program it for tempering and cooling modalities.


This thing sells for almost $3000 new. I paid $285 plus auction fees for it. If nothing else I'll resell it! )





http://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/auction/view?auc=1033813

Heres a description of the newer model , looks the same to me. http://www.amaco.com/shop/product-870-gsf-670-kiln.html

Marcel


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## Cactus Farmer (Dec 29, 2013)

I  just bouoght a pottery kiln to do the same plus it will allow me to case harden parts and the actions I make. Mine does not have the tepm control but I have done some work with these heaters before and I can add a control if I need it. Nice find.......if you sell it I'm on the top of the list if the shipping won't bankrupt me:man:


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## xalky (Dec 29, 2013)

Well, I'm glad it'll work for the purpose I had in mind. Other things that I thought I could do with it is, use it as a powder coat oven, ceramics and glass obviously, aybe ceramic coating parts for high heat applications. I thought it'd be a great utilitarian thing to have around for all kinds of projects.

Marcel


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## valleyboy101 (Dec 29, 2013)

Very very nice find and an even better price.  Congrats.
Michael


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## Senna (Dec 29, 2013)

Fantastic score Marcel! I so need a heat treat furnace in my new shop.

That one is pretty sophisticated too.

Congrats!


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## xalky (Dec 30, 2013)

Now i just gotta re-learn how to heat treat. I did some in engineering school, but that was in 1983 ) I guess it's like following a recipe. :whistle:


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## Ray C (Dec 30, 2013)

Just saw this post...   Dude, You Suck!

I like that one better than mine.


Ray


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## xalky (Dec 30, 2013)

Ray C said:


> Just saw this post...   Dude, You Suck!
> 
> I like that one better than mine.
> 
> ...


I was hoping you'd see this, so you could tell me if it'll work.....I take it that it'll work just fine then. :rofl: 


Marcel


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## Ray C (Dec 30, 2013)

Now, go and order some stainless steel shaft stock on ebay.  Maker sure it's at least 3/8 to 1/2" thick and weld together a glorified BBQ grill rack. Make it as perfectly flat as you can and support the underside with many legs so it won't sag under heat.  The height should be about 1 to 1.5" tall.  The spacing of the rack bars should equal 1.5 times the diameter of the shaft you got.  You'll need this as a support rack.  Don't lay any items directly on the fire brick.

Do you have any hardenable metal on hand?  If so, tell me what it is and I'll send you a recipe.  Just tell me how hard you want it to be and I'll walk you through it.


Ray






xalky said:


> I was hoping you'd see this, so you could tell me if it'll work.....I take it that it'll work just fine then. :rofl:
> 
> 
> Marcel


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## xalky (Dec 30, 2013)

Thanks Ray. I haven't picked it up yet. I gotta call today to make arrangements for pickup. I'm hoping there's a rack that didn't make it in the pictures. I will do as you said if there's not one with it. 

I do have a 1 1/4" bar thats labeled M2 i think. I will check it out and report back.

Marcel


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## Ray C (Dec 30, 2013)

Uh oh, you won't be able to do M2 in that oven.  It requires a heat treating (Austentizing) temperature of 2200F.  You can normalize it for stress relief and make it easy to work on though.  That does not require such high temps.

I'd suggest starting-out with something easy like 1045, 1095, 4140 (or 50) or O2.  For O2, you'll need a vat of transmission fluid.  The others are just water/brine quenched.

Hate to tell you this buddy but, you just opened Pandora's door and now you need a surface grinder.  You also opened the door to a whole new world because you can make any part out of most any metal and it will function about the same and have the same strength.  All non-heat treated steels have roughly the same strength characteristics and it doesn't really make a huge difference until you heat treat it.  You've just added a whole new dimension to your bag of tricks.

Ray


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## xalky (Dec 30, 2013)

I've been keeping my eyes open for a surface grinder and a tool post grinder. I'm in no hurry.  I'm pretty patient and open minded when it comes to waiting for deals to come my way.  I lost the last SG that I bid on because I was too cheap, I could have gotten that one for about $600 but the other guy was hot on it and kept bidding it up. If i had kept bidding on it, it could have went way into the realm of ridiculous. So, i stopped bidding.

There's a do-all manual surface grinder on that same site but it says the lubrication system is broken, not knowing much about surface grinders, I'm thinking it needs a pump. I have no idea what that would cost to fix.

Marcel


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## xalky (Dec 30, 2013)

So check this out. I went to get the kiln and the maintenance guy at the school proceeds to tell me that they couldn't hook it up properly because they had the wrong voltage. They must have 3 phase with 208 volts using 2 legs. This is a single phase 240 volt kiln. The guy told me it's brand new, never been fired! It sure looks brand new inside. The only thing it's missing is the left side prop-leg for the lid. It wasn't showing the base in the auction photos or the 2 kiln shelves with the 2 spacer blocks, those came with it too!:lmao:

















Ray, do you think I could use those stoneware shelves for heat treating instead of making a grate?

Marcel


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## Senna (Dec 30, 2013)

Marcel, you officially suck!!!:thumbsup:

What a sweet deal you got here!!!!!!


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## genec (Dec 30, 2013)

My daughter has one of those four glass, those plates that you got with it have to have a special kind of coating painted on them.
  I don't know if that was to protect them or to keep the glass from sticking to them.  have fun and enjoy.


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## Rbeckett (Dec 30, 2013)

Marciel,
Dude, youre killing me....  I cant keep up with your pace bro.  I really like the idea for different uses and the ability to do computer controlled heat treatment is going to add a whole new dimension to your machining capabilities.  I can see a home built rifle with color hardening somewhere in your future.  If the freight wasn't soo high I would send some stuff to you for treatment when you get it all set up and running.  Doesn't look like it is going to be too difficult to get some serious use out of it for all kinds of projects.  Once you start it Is like crack, you'll be looking for more stuff to put in to fill it up so you can run that batch.  Kind of like that last minute swirl through the house looking for stuff to put in the dishwasher so you can get that part of the house keeping done for the day.  Best of luck and congrats on another killer find and great idea....

Bob


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## Ray C (Dec 30, 2013)

I really don't have an informed answer about using that shelving material for heat treating.  My inclination is to say no but, in reality, if everything is contained within the oven -and everything including the shelf material are at the same temperature, it's hard to think of a reason why you cannot use it...  Sorry, I don't have a definitive answer.


If you feel however that owning such a device that has such a perplexing aspect to it, is causing you grief and unhappiness, I'll gladly take it off your hands -so you can be free of that burdensome worry.

BTW:  Never cover-up any of the slots that house the heating coil.  Try to keep all things at least an inch clear of the elements...  You'll cook the elements in no time as those are designed to be "open radiator" types (vs. the ceramic core types).

Ray


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