Blowers for melting furnaces

[@tobhomott]

I use a hair dryer set on "cool" controlled by a dimmer switch extension cord when I run my small low mass furnace on propane. It can keep up with about 5 or 6 psi of propane, great for quick small aluminum or bronze melts. The big furnace runs on diesel or wvo using a small shop vac blower, also on a dimmer switch. I've got a leaf blower I still need to try too though. A router speed controller works well to control it whereas the shop vac's dimmer switch makes it stutter through the mid settings. I also have a bouncy castle blower that really blows, but has annoying "safety" circuits that wont let it run with any speed control I've tried. I'd have to use a diverter or choke the intake, not really sure what use I'll find for it yet.

[@luckygen1001]

I use a house vacuum cleaner and it has a speed controller for my iron furnace and it stutters at the lowest setting but it does not do it all the time. Lucky for me I use it at the midway setting and it never stutters at that speed. The only speed controller that will work with a bouncy castle blower is a variable frequency drive.

[@rescobar8572]

Hello amigo! Very great video. I decided to run a leaf blower with a tee set up on the discharge. I figured that dumping out what I don't need is better than restricting or put back pressure on the blower. The leaf blower is insane! The box said that it produced 140+ mph wind! This is exactly like what a 14-71 roots type blower is to a Top Fuel motor.

[@luckygen1001]

I should try a leaf blower one day.

[@ogaugeclockwork4407]

What a gold mine of information this channel is!

[@luckygen1001]

A lot of the information on this channel is not not on any other channel on youtube. Thankyou for watching my videos.

[@metalmogul4691]

Your metal melting and sand casting videos are my main teacher and inspiration. You have shared a large amount of information for youtube viewers about this process. All of your knowledge and technics are carefully viewed over and over. My results have improved over time. Practice is the other method to refine things and it too is working. Thank you for your blower video as this is a large part of getting temperatures higher and under control. Looking forward to what you post next.

[@luckygen1001]

+Gordon Brown A good blower will help melt metals a lot faster. Too many make the furnace first and then adapt any blower they can find and wonder why their furnace melts metals slowly.

[@bitmannz]

I have had a couple of different blowers of furnaces each which went pretty well. First blower/ furnace combination was a spa pool blower. It made a nice tidy compact blower and performed very much like a vacuum cleaner blower only in a much more convenient package. Most recently my furnace used an old commercial diesel/ oil burner with an inbuilt pump for oil atomization and coupled onto a squirrel cage fan. Great setup only the burner diameter was up around 100mm which caused other complications. Another benefit of this setup was I think motor was only 1/3hp so very efficient on the power usage.

[@abrahamd2k]

I'm using a professional hairdryer with speed control I got at Goodwill, 5 bucks. I precisely control the air intake with Gorilla duct tape at the back of the dryer. Also, cost 5 bucks.

[@luckygen1001]

Are you planning to melt iron with the hairdryer?

[@abrahamd2k]

@@luckygen1001 Don't think I can get to that point yet to melt iron. I have not tested how high a temperature I can achieve yet. I only have a 1/4 in thick steel crucible for now. My goal is to melt cast iron soon.

[@volcom7114]

I have been using an old leaf blower running on a router speed control and it works great. By the way when I say old leaf blower I'm talking mid to late 80's, it has a bearing that's going out of it finally so I've been looking around at a replacement. Thanks very much for the information!

[@clarkeeasterling3225]

Yes I'm sure the quality of your leaf blower exceeds anything on the market these days. Everything is made disposable now

[@captainjerk]

My friend used a hair dryer for a while. He had a small furnace, so that was too much volume for his system. So he changed it over to those little computer fans. They lasted long enough, and they were cheap or free to replace. What with all the free e-waste sitting at the curb for trash pick-up. LOL Thanx for a great vid. Very informative. :)

[@sonny6733]

I have, or had, an old Volta vacuum with built in suction (speed) control which I also plumbed into the furnace through a diverter valve. These were the older type where you could plug the hose straight into the blow outlet. The newer machines don't seem to have this functionality any more. Unfortunately I've killed it by using it to vacuum concrete and brick dust due to home renovation so I'm looking around for a suitable replacement and also another workshop vacuum!

[@luckygen1001]

+Justin B All modern vacuum cleaners can be used as blowers. Some are more work than others, you have to see where the air goes in and out and make suitable connections for the air to go to the burner. The best ones to use have speed controlers.

[@headstocktailstock]

Another Interesting vid luckeygen, [as usual] My first blower for my coke fired foundry [built 50 yrs ago with my dad] was a "squirrell cage" fan off an oil fired central heating burner, it had foreward curved vanes,similar to the type used on blown air heating systems,the plus side of these is that they're really quiet, the minus side is that they won't overcome much resistance, It did us for years, [alloy/brass/ bronze & iron,] I never bothered with a vacuum cleaner as they're good but too noisy & hair dryers a bit weak, I now use a bouncy castle blower, the rotor has radial vanes & is narrower than the old one [ narrow radial vanes are more powerfull , if a little noisy] & you can blow coke out of the fire if you like!! I have a radial slide valve on the inlet, & never connect the blower to the furnace just place it near the inlet & it does all I want, I never went fully to propane as it's too expensive & we allways have a couple of tons of coke in for the "rayburn cooker" just a little more faffing on, but the next burners going to be waste oil, [ bl**dy tight Yorkshireman!] as it's free, I do have a small propane furnace just for small odd castings in alloy. [keep the vid's coming thanks!!]

[@luckygen1001]

+headstocktailstock Propane will melt cast iron and bronzes but is not free like waste oil!

[@stevelindsay3643]

I'm just getting into backyard foundry blast furnace builds, and thinking through my options I have on hand I was going to use a leaf blower with a diverted valve to control how much air goes into the smelting furnace. I was going to go with a combination of fuels from used vegetable oil which I have 1/2 a dozen 45 gallon drums full, but its more like lard so it needs to be refined a bit to turn it into oil, and propane, perhaps coal, and used motor oil and diesel... Its all about using whats available and not spending money. I want temps that will melt steel, cast iron and whatever else I have kicking around to turn into something else.

[@donaldasayers]

Bouncy castle blowers can be had cheaply off Ebay.

[@mattcarter7258]

I use a refrigerator compressor as an air compressor (extremely quite). I use medical plastic tubing or rubber tubing (like a radiator hose) with adapter to fit to connect it to a gas/oxy welding torch. I use propane and the air from the compressor to heat my forge.

[@mattcarter7258]

I use a gas regulator from acetylene torch on the propane canister to pressurize the gas as well

[@Booger6995]

$10 hair drier from Walmart. Removed heating coil and wired to bridge rectifier on back of motor. Use variable DC power supply. Works good with coal.

[@Scallisgaming]

i have 2 different blowers, I use a modified ryobi leaf blower when I am running on oil, and use a computer fan at the back of a venturi when I am running on propane

[@zzp100]

I've got a small setup, and I'm running a hair dryer while I wait for something better to turn up!

[@alexwalker8422]

Full sized vacuums, regardless if they are out on the curb, have, nearly always, fully functional fans in them, you will have lots of power with one of those. Mini vacuums work as well often, but there are weaklings that have very little psi change potential on that category, so if you wanna get the equivalent flow of a vacuum cleaner, you'd be looking for a bit and checking them all.

[@alexwalker8422]

It is difficult to turn them into blowers btw, but a container of the right size and a lot of tape will accommodate your vacuum burner very well most of the time, I used an approximately 5" x 5" x 5" peanut container and it fit perfectly in the one I found, and I just cut a hole in the other side and it worked very well.

[@bobdring]

I had a fuel oil fired melting furnace made by Major in Melbourne that needed air at 12" water pressure. I used a CIG "little beaver" hvlp spray outfit to supply it. It needed a variac to slow it down as it was too powerful. I see the little beavers regularly at yard sales for $10 or so.

[@wjackstl]

I've got an identical blower as the first squirl cage....actually I have two of them because the microwave that it came from had two. it was a stainless steel, commercial microwave. I did some research on the particular blowers and if I recall correctly, their output was 60 CFM. a hairdryer's Cubic Feet per Minute output is approx anywhere from 10cfm to 100cfm, but if its your wife's it is most likely around 15cfm. I have read, however, that CFM is not as important as PSI in the furnace.....would be interested in thoughts on that if it is true I have also considered using my homemade (silent) air compressor (came out of a refrigerator) it is plumbed to a 5gal tank I'm rambling on now, so I'll stop take care

[@luckygen1001]

Low pressure blowers work if the outlet is not restricted in any way but because their low pressure output their output drops of a lot when using a smaller output pipe. High pressure blowers don't have this problem.

[@mihaiilie8808]

I have a similar size blower with the first one but its 24 V and new costs 500-1000 dollars. EBM Papst fans.Brushless( ferrite magnets not neomidium-more high heat resistance than neomidium),silent and high.They are made for the newest expensive house heating boilers. From scrap i paid 50 dollars on it.

[@poptartmcjelly7054]

I mostly use a blower from an old Renault car, i plug it into my battery charger and let it whirl.

[@petee716]

I use a Kirby vacuum cleaner with a router speed controller.

[@danielvandertorre368]

the one I have for my big furnace is yellow one its for the kids blow up play jumping toys its a hi cfm s its plastic round with the motor on one side its got it s own flat side to sit on the floor .

[@luckygen1001]

+Daniel van der torre Does it work well with your furnace?

[@danielvandertorre368]

way to much air I would need to make it slow down thinking of using a lite dimmer .

[@creast56]

Streuth! That side channel blower sounds like you need ear defenders! I was concerned with the noise from my Propane burner for the neighbours { well, when used in the evening :-) } but that would really wind them up ... lol.

[@luckygen1001]

+creast It needs a muffler!

[@Wimseys]

I use a vacuum cleaner with a dimmer switch.

[@TheJohndeere466]

I made a burner for my furnace that burns propane and I feed it high pressure propane through an orifice and it draws its own air through a venturi. My crucible is steel and it holds about 2 us gals. It will melt it full of aluminum in about an hour. I always wondered if I could melt faster with a blower? Do you have to watch that it doesnt blow too much air and make the burn lean and cause a lot oxidation?

[@luckygen1001]

A blower will make a melt go quicker but you have to keep a close eye on the propane/air mixture.

[@tonypike5785]

I think a cheap 40.00 $ leaf blower is what i will try to use, what do you all think ?

[@JaapGrootveld]

Dear luckygen, hou does the temperatuur relate to te pressure of the blower? Is it so that whit the smal microwave blower you can melt cast iron?

[@luckygen1001]

Low pressure blowers don't like back pressure and when that happens very little air goes through the furnace. Cast iron needs lots of combustion air.

[@465ryda]

Pretty cool that side channel blower was made about an hour away from my house.

[@luckygen1001]

+Mike Hughes You must live close to Detroit?

[@465ryda]

+luckygen1001 Benton harbor is on the other side of the state. I live north of there.

[@mslindqu]

Ha!.. I grew up about 20 min. South of Benton Harbor. What a small world.

[@TheMassweapon]

Which blower would you use for melting iron?

[@luckygen1001]

Vacuum cleaner I find the best for iron.

[@FarmCraft101]

I am using a shop vac.

[@khawk7365]

Hey lucky can you do a video showing the inside of your Coppola and all the connections and explain it?

[@Chefchen21]

why don't you build conical air outlets?

[@clarkeeasterling3225]

I'm working on destroying leaf blower # 2 till I can get a forge type blower like your third one.

[@luckygen1001]

+Clarke E What happened to the first one?

[@clarkeeasterling3225]

luckygen1001 I had a dimmer switch tied into it to lower the rpm and when I would do aluminum melts I would turn it way down. I believe I over heated the motor, if I left it on high for iron melts only it would probably ly still be around but it was also sucking in sand from the floor also which I'm sure didn't help. My new one is mounted overhead.

[@ragmachiningruffazguts1834]

Hi, could you please explain how you run the 3 phase motor with the other motor on 240??

[@luckygen1001]

The first motor runs on 240v and is three phase, it will not start unless you rap a rope around the shaft to get it to rotate. This motor becomes a three phase generator and will start and run other three phase motors.

[@ragmachiningruffazguts1834]

Wow, thats amazing. Perhaps you could make a video explaining how it's done, wiring etc.. keep up the good work, Awesome channel!

[@mertavlamaz6708]

Do you have instagram?

[@luckygen1001]

No.

[@gasonthebrain3738]

Thanks for that info.

[@عبداللهالحمدلله-ي7ف]

I use hair dryer

[@fredfadungy1925]

WAITE jET FULE WILL DO THAT..