DIY Foundry Furnace From a Propane Cylinder

[@yvesdesrosiers2396]

Hey there Mr P. You read my mind. I am thinking of building one and blamo Mr P to the rescue to show me how it's done. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to next installment. Cheers.

[@petermarsh4993]

Dear Mark, I firstly have to say that I love watching your videos. They cover a range of topics that I find interesting. Most of them you turn what could be difficult into something that looks fairly simple. There is one think I need to point out. You are MIG welding tube steel that has been painted. For best results, you should firstly strip away the paint back to bare metal. That way you will get better flow and adherence. Love your shop and equipment, I am envious. Cheers.

[@Preso58]

You are correct but then I am lazy and not a very good welder anyway so most of my welds are "functional" at best. Regards, Mark

[@ronwilken5219]

Wot! No wildlife today. I guess four years ago that idea hadn't fermented yet. I can hear them in the background so they're there, you're just not responding. Thanks for the video Mark don't quite know why Yt dragged this out of the archives but it was worth the watch and I'll certainly look for part the twoth. Regards from Canada's banana belt.🤞🇨🇦🍌🥋🇺🇦🕊️🇦🇺🐨👍

[@jiggseystrasser]

The mother of invention can be a cool Mistress aye Mark. Looks like loads of fun. Cheers. Looking forward to part 2.

[@michaelsimpson9779]

The only people never making mistakes are six feet under Mate......soldier on. Good work.

[@chrishill6276]

I missed a lot of this because i had to keep shutting my eyes due to welding flash!! Thanks for this video

[@luigiprovencher]

Your welds look pretty perfect to me.

[@Preso58]

Just don't look too closely. Regards, Mark

[@blazemaster83]

Funny story. I got an old 20gallon (100lb) propane cylinder that I wanted to cut up, and did it the same way as you. I took the neck off and filled it up with water. I dumped it out and filled it up with water again just to be sure. Then I stood it up and passed a torch over the opening, there must have been propane absorbed into the metal, because it went off like a rocket. Shot a 5 ft blue flame out of the opening for a split second and was a very loud screeching sound. I thought for sure it must have been done, but passed the torch over it again and it did it a second time, but not as loud. 3rd time it was clear. Be careful with fuel tanks!

[@Preso58]

Wow, that must have been scary! There was a teacher killed in our region about 10 years ago as he was trying to cut the lid out of a 44 gallon fuel drum with an angle grinder. He had filled the drum with water several times and started to cut the top seam of the lid with some air space inside. The fuel had penetrated the top seam of the drum and as he was cutting the fuel was vaporising from the heat and building up inside the drum. It reached the flash point and exploded in his face. I think it illustrates that any receptacle that has had any fuel in it should be treated with respect. Regards, Mark

[@pgs8597]

G’day Presso, hey nice build, something I too must upgrade. Cheers Peter

[@davidcolwill860]

I'm sure that Sooty and Sweep are helping with this project!

[@anthonycash4609]

After all that welding on the bridge your buzzing right along with that welder now Mark.

[@ashleyward427]

Awesome work Mark. A pleasure to watch.

[@Preso58]

Thanks for that. Regards, Preso

[@crazyfeller5704]

Again, fine work.

[@plasmaDave]

It's a relief to see that the great Mr Preslings welding is as bad as mine 😂 I maybe a bad welder but I'm a great grinder....

[@Preso58]

I used to be good at it but sadly, lack of practice and old age have ensured that I have had to lower my standards. Regards, Mark

[@plasmaDave]

@@Preso58 yes a perishable skill for sure.

[@luigiprovencher]

My only thing though is there a weld-less build of this? For people that don't have welders or all of the other awesome tools that you have? All's I have is cordless power tools and ratchets and wrenches.

[@Preso58]

You could do a lot with threaded connectors. Maybe a ready made solution for the wheels and frame would be a furniture removal trolley or a four wheeled dolly of some sort. Regards, Mark

[@ianbertenshaw4350]

Try to avoid welding away from you , you will find you can see better and control the speed easier welding across your body line.. I’m looking forward to the next video ! Where did you get the refractory cement from ?

[@badbutch5352]

Awesome job. Thanks for the video. A lot of great tips.

[@iTeerRex]

I wondered what happened to the casting. A problem.. but the kind that you end up with a nice new tool is not bad having.

[@Preso58]

I did actually get ready to start the casting. I made my greensand too wet and the two halves of the sand mould stuck together (twice). I then purchased some calcium carbonate parting dust which took a week to arrive and in the meantime I purchased the graphite crucible which also took a week to arrive. Then I realised that it wasn't going to fit and on and on it went. I should be back ready to do the brass casting next week (I hope).

[@iTeerRex]

Lol Hopefully the rest goes with out a hitch. Looking forward to the rest of the build. Thinking of building a furnace myself. some day lol

[@paulcurtis9852]

'nother good one Presso! (Paul from Adelaide)

[@Preso58]

Thanks Paul. Today I mixed up roughly half of the pyrocrete to fill the lid and the base of the furnace. Tomorrow I will be making up the form to create the inner surface of the furnace body. Man it's going to be heavy. Roughly 60kg of pyrocrete alone plus the weight of all the steel.

[@petergregory5286]

Mark, Glad to see that you ground off the zinc before welding. But it was nothing personal, it was after all for your own benefit, not ours. Regards.

[@Preso58]

Peter, You were correct to remind me. I wanted you to know that I was taking your advice. Thanks for watching. Regards, Preso

[@brucemcclary3260]

Great project,well done,I’m wondering if the heat from firing the furnace will heat the tank sides enough to cause the galvanized vapors to become a breathing problem?

[@Jim-ie6uf]

Ingenious genius!

[@joandar1]

Hello Mark, Just a thought for the future. May I suggest that you keep your power tools (Angle Grinder) out of harms way. Be it from any source of sparks, I loaned one to a friend and it came back fornicated because sparks went into the vents at the brush end as well as on the Armature. Also direct your sparks away from all important things. I learned this at my expense and now NO tools are loaned unless I am using them at an hourly rate! I have also seen this in workshops where people do not pay for the tools, just use them with no respect. John, Australia. Edit, I look forward to the application of the refractory as this project is on my bucket list. Cheers from John.

[@Preso58]

John, I tend to be an impatient and messy bugger in the shop. I took a good look at my bench today after reading your comment and you will be happy to know I cleaned up and put away my other grinder so that it would not ingest all the metal dust from the other one. I also became more aware of where the sparks were being directed, especially when I noticed that the lens filter on my camera had metal particles fused to the surface. I just had to order three new filters! Thanks for the advice. I really don't want to kill my nice Milwaukee grinder! Regards, Preso

[@grassroots9304]

Puts bolts in wrongly, cusses self. Meh, there are two kinds of genius garage tinkerers: those who occasionally make boneheaded boo-boos and those who lie about it. Boneheaded boo-boos keep us humble. I'm very humble. 😉

[@AlbiesProductsOnline]

If you put the burner on the same side as you are going to turn the lid you won’t have a hot lid to one side and a hot tripping hazard on the other every thing will be to one side out of the way

[@Preso58]

I agonised over the placement of the burner for a long time and settled on putting it at the back behind the wheels and on the opposite side to the foot pedal. I usually have the propane fuel cylinder fairly close to the furnace and I try to keep anything that might be a trip hazard on the same side of the furnace and away from the working area. It's a matter of being disciplined (normally I am not) but when dealing with a crucible of face frying hot metal it tends to keep you focused. Regards, Preso

[@nigesbasementworkshop9541]

Ay up Mark What is the diameter of the cylinder you used for your furnace? I want to build one and I have a few cylinders but they are only small ones much shorter than the one you used but possibly the same diameter. All the best from England.

[@Preso58]

I have a 2D drawing of my furnace assembly on Dropbox. If you follow this link you can download a copy for yourself www.dropbox.com/s/j7bopx7noxi96vn/Mark%27s%20Foundry%20Furnace.pdf?dl=0 Regards, Mark

[@harrydensmore4007]

Hey Mark, great video. wondering if you have a total height of the new foundry furnace. Also chance do you know where one can buy the pyrocreate in the USA.

[@Preso58]

Harry, the total height from the base to the top of the lid is 21 1/4" or 540mm. That is more than enough for my #8 crucible. I don't know if there is a pyrocrete stockist in the USA but you could try a place that does pottery or kiln supplies. The place where I got mine also supplies to pizza oven builders. It is also used in brick kilns. We used to have a brickworks in the district and they used it to repair kiln linings but it was rated at a much higher temperature. Regards, Mark

[@bobvines00]

Mark, I've _finally_ caught up on all of your videos again! I really like your ideas here and will have to try to do something similar. Did you get a gas tank that had expired and was no longer useful to the gas company? I'm thinking that my "local" gas companies ought to have some expired tanks that they'd sell for less than the cost of a functional tank. I've got a _large_ "scrap yard" bronze bushing that I want to cut up & melt down for casting into something that might actually be useful. Or just into small ingots for use later -- as a learning exercise. Of course, starting with aluminum before brass & bronze is probably a lot smarter & safer for me.... Then comes cast iron or similar if I catch the bug -- an expert foundryman about 25 miles from here does this in his back yard for casting replacement parts for antique engines that he restores. I'm looking forward to your next video in this very interesting casting series!

[@Preso58]

Bob, I was lucky to get my LPG cylinder for free. I asked a mate of mine if he knew where he could get one and he told me there was an out of date one at the school where I used to work. It was in excellent condition but had past it's test date and apparently the gas company just left it there instead of collecting it and retesting it. I was going to get in touch with our gas supplier to ask if they had any old ones for sale but who can argue with free! I had also intended to check out our local recycling centre at the rubbish tip so that might also be a possibility. The pyrocrete that I used will be good for aluminium, brass and bronze but I am not sure it will stand up to temperatures required for Iron. There is another grade of pyrocrete called 241 which is more expensive but should be good for iron. Good luck with your build. I had always thought it was too hard and too expensive to get into home casting but no one was more surprised than I when my first casting turned out perfectly! Regards, Preso

[@anthonycash4609]

Hi Mark. Love the new foundry , I bet this one will work great for you. I know you said the pyrocrete was relatively available to you in Australia but kind of pricey. I live in the US and was looking for it in the big box stores and on line. I can't seem to find it over here. Is there another name for it or a different product that will work the same. I've never really needed it due to I don't melt down any of my materials. But recently I was able to get my hands on some aluminum 5 inch round stock that was used in stretch strength testing and is full of stress cracks which makes it impossible to machine down and use. My thoughts was to melt it down into ingots to where I could use it. Thanks for any help or ideas.

[@Preso58]

The Pyrocrete that I used is made by an Australian company called Foseco. I purchased it from a company that sells to potters. There is another company in Brisbane that sells soft and hard refractory materials for making and repairing pottery kilns. Some suppliers who do pizza ovens might also sell a similar product. I get most of my stock for melting in the home foundry from a car recycler. I can buy cylinder heads, intake manifolds and the like for about $1 per kilo. The problem is cutting it up to fit in the crucible. I can get access to a large metal cutting bandsaw but you need to avoid the valve seats and the valve bushings. They are really hard. I was told that wrought aluminium is not always suitable for melting but I sometimes add a few bits to the melt if I have scrap that is no good for machining. Sorry, but I don't know of a US equivalent to Pyrocrete but try the pottery market. They have to fire their kilns to similar temperatures. Brick makers also use refractory cements to repair their kilns. Good luck!

[@gibbsey9579]

Have a look at Keith Rucker vintage machinery on utube. And look back on his videos. A couple of years ago he built a furnace, and he lives in Georgia, USA.

[@anthonycash4609]

@@gibbsey9579 thank you I will give that a try.

[@graemetho9805]

@@Preso58 I looking into to making one now that I have seen yours, where did you get the pyrocrete from? Foseco don't seem to have it on their website, but not sure if they would sell me just a couple of bags anyway. There is a shop in Milton selling it online but they only have 5kg bags, I will give them a call to see if they sell bigger amounts

[@hippizitify]

On your hossfeld Bender copy what are the angles of the bends I have plans to do one but it didn't give me what the angles are thank you

[@Preso58]

Frank, I found a set of drawings online although they were all in inches (we're metric here) I redrew the design in Autodesk Inventor. You can find the drawings here kinzers.com/don/MachineTools/bender/ I just checked and it doesn't specify the angles but you can calculate them by drawing out the linear dimensions to scale. I reality, I don't think the angular dimensions are all that critical but mine were bent to 150 degrees. Regards, Preso

[@hippizitify]

@@Preso58 that's the same drawings I have I just don't know the angle of the two bends

[@Preso58]

@@hippizitify Hi, did you read all of my reply? I set mine to 150°

[@hippizitify]

No I did I'm sorry but I got it now thanks

[@joeblowjohnny2297]

You got to stop playing with toys bro ! Make 1 out of a steel 36" wide covert ! Got plenty of room on mine .....I love it !

[@oldninjarider]

Who is Alec and why do you have his square tube?

[@oldninjarider]

@Barry Manilowasuch a forgery.

[@Preso58]

Will, the truth is that I used to teach at a secondary school before I retired. At the end of the year we would clean out the piles of unfinished student projects and anything that was still straight stock was fair game. So, "Alec" donated his stock to me because he was too lazy to finish his coffee table😁 Regards, Preso

[@oldninjarider]

@@Preso58 ahh a life lesson then don't be like Alec and not finish your project. 😂

[@anneg4361]

Mark love the video

[@ninetwenty]

Great job thanks

[@rallybbek]

Welding gal in shorts, you like to live on the wild side 😅 , great build so far, 👌

[@Preso58]

Yes, I know, not regulation work wear but the day I was doing this it was around 35C in the shop and about 90% humidity. Just wearing a long sleeve shirt was enough to have me drenched in sweat by the end of the day. Getting a hot blob of zinc certainly livens up your footwork too.

[@rallybbek]

@@Preso58 sounded like a good day for a beer or 3 😉👌

[@Arouth249]

This is awesome! I’m definitely going to be doing this soon

[@johnnym1320]

I've noticed that the steel in Australia seems to have that blue coating on it, is there a reason for this?

[@petergregory5286]

Ran out of red paint?

[@Preso58]

John, you can buy bare steel in flats, sheets, rounds and angle but all RHS and SHS comes with the blue finish. It could be something to do with the low volume of sales here compared to other parts of the world or because we seem to have just a few companies selling steel in the domestic market. I was watching a channel called Scott Turner. He makes industrial style steel furniture and he has to strip all the blue paint off his stock with paint stripper before he starts his projects. Go figure!

[@johnnym1320]

@@Preso58 I'm really interested in this build, its something I've always wanted to try my hand at. I like your design

[@ypop417]

A little help in the future to better your welds grind the paint to bare metal about half an inch.

[@Preso58]

You can clearly tell that I am no welder. I make what I call "functional welds" I think I will leave the "cosmetic welding" to Jody et.al.

[@mikelole]

Perhaps you could have welded the handle onto one side of the upright rather than the back? this would have allowed the lid to swing further.

[@Preso58]

Mike, but then it would be asymmetric! 😮 To an Aspergian personality like mine it would drive me nuts. As it turned out, I found that the lid just clears the cavity but now I realise that it gets really hot. The blowback from the burner seems to travel up the hollow tube. I am going to have to block the hollow end and maybe make some sort of wooden insulator/hand grip. I test fired it yesterday and so far it's looking good. Next episode out in a few days!

[@Arouth249]

What welder do you use in this video?

[@Preso58]

Andrew, it's a Cigweld Weldskill185. It will do MIG, MMAW and lift TIG. Regards, Mark

[@Arouth249]

Mark Presling thanks for the info!

[@Gowieee]

How did you make your burner?

[@Preso58]

Adam, Most of the parts were turned on the lathe. The rectangular slots for the air vents were filed by hand. The long stainless steel tube is just press fitted onto the gas jet holder. The gas hose barb was a commercially available item threaded into the mild steel gas jet holder. The jet itself was a brass fitting I made from scratch but I am sure you could buy them ready made. Check this video. It shows more details on the burner at about 15:21 kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXipin2tq7B_iNE Regards, Mark

[@donnykiofetzis5775]

put some lead in your left shoe

[@rodgerdodger280]

There is no H in crucible

[@Preso58]

Rodger, You are correct. I just googled this and now realise I was mispronouncing it. Sadly I just finished filming the next episode of the foundry build and I must have mentioned the "C" word about 50 times. I will try to make amends! 🙄

[@ShevillMathers]

👍🇦🇺