DIY Electric Foundry Upgrades - 1200°C - Melting Copper

[@taow]

This video has been in the making for over half a year now so I really hope you can appreciate the amount of work that I've put into it! The first half of this video is quite dull in my opinion but the 2nd half is really exciting and contains lots of new stuff for me so check out 11:00 if you're impatient.

[@DatBoiOrly]

TAOW yay your back its been almost a year since you uploaded

[@DatBoiOrly]

TAOW by the way instead of using fire brick replace it with kale wool its far more heat resistant and it will never break

[@intjonmiller]

dat boy orly kaowool

[@intjonmiller]

dat boy orly Bad spelling makes it very hard to find things online. I didn't insult you, I simply informed you and anyone else who might have been interested what the actual term was. Grow up.

[@TheDismoGamer]

you speed it up tooooo fast that itøs hurting my freaking eyes mate

[@Nighthawkinlight]

Good to see an update to this project and glad to know it holds up with time. Also good to know the steel crucible does well

[@billburr1347]

NightHawkInLight I really like your channel and I found this channel through your shout out. You seem like a chill guy

[@Mint_drake]

Just remember, "A grinder and paint, makes me the welder I ain't!"

[@Nosaliz7513]

Ryan Burdick ol bumblefuck

[@tek4]

Ryan Burdick aye, shoulda used some if the blocks of the water from kunickystan to cool that copper

[@jacobkaltz1958]

Love it

[@ebayboy8172]

Last night I saw this video and today went out and made something entirely based on your idea. I had 4 of those bricks already here from my waste oil furnace build and just cut them in half, used a straight cut router bit in the drill press to cut the chanels very quickly, ran a one meter length of 5000w wire stretched out a bit into the chanels, connected mains cable and melted 1kg of Ali in exactly 4 minutes. I actually couldnt believe my eyes having been used to spending ages using my other furnaces that use waste oils. I'm so gobsmacked that Ived ordered another coil and I'll get some full size bricks in, having said that I have half a roll of ceramic blanket in the loft that might try out as an alternative or even consiver making a coil for a my existing furnace. The problems thus far is A: I keep blowing 13amp fuses. B: The mains AC wires are getting way to hot and the plastic sheild is starting to melt. But, what with knocking up a complete running furnace in an hour ( I used normal welding wire wrapped around bricks for temp test ) I am as stated amazed at the speed. Ive just ordered a temp PID thing and a probe from Amazon and another coil. I did put an SCR inline to control the inbound AC but unfortunalty blew it up later this evening in another experiment. Might get another dimmer control. For small 1kg jobs its an amazing tool. Having watched you spend 3 hours doing copper I think maybe a syphon nozzle will stay my prefered route for that as its still much faster than the electric. But hey, hats off to you! Really impressed with the sheer speed, the joy of no flames, no messing around, switch on and go. Really enjoyed today. Thank you.

[@srmy9]

I love your DIY Electric Foundry, I watched all the videos five times!!

[@balisongnet]

I work at a copper foundry in Belgium and seeing you granulate the copper in a plastic pitcher did raise my eyebrow :D when we are 'tapping' from the foundry we granulate some liquified copper in a steel cannister with water and newbies tend to pour a bit too quickly, causing tiny steam explosions, launching the cannister straight up into the air, much to our amusement ofc. Great work nonetheless, you are a very knowledgeable and inventive guy.

[@LemmyAuditYou]

I plan on going to welding school and starting to forge metal at home once I have my foundry set up, it's people like you that inspire me.

[@FluffyTheGryphon]

You're the most legit foundry channel on youtube. Seriously. Thank you for all the information you put in your vids. I'm getting close to being able to build my own foundry setup. And thank you for not succumbing to posting memes for views. Keep it classy!

[@christaylor190]

You are not going to have any problem getting into uni, you are very intelligent and mature for your age, keep it up lad and your going to go far

[@SkashTheKitsune]

Congratulations you have entered... THE BRONZE ERA!

[@Mriya6]

This couldn't have come at a better time. Me and dad are making our own copy of your foundry. We've just finished the hexagonal frames to hold the interior bricks together and we were pondering the best way to make a base and lid, so we can incorporate these upgrades into our project from the beginning. Perfect timing!

[@lelearmi6186]

I want to ask a question.With this system, for the fusion of copper.How long does the thread in kanthal 0.8 mm ??

[@yuxini2976]

I love your videos and I was inspired to build one myself. I used a paint can instead with plaster and sand. I finished it last night and I've been messing with it all day. Thanks for the great videos!

[@KakorotFourStar]

I've been working on my own 120v version for a few weeks, I love seeing that you've added a new video to the series

[@MsMotron]

your first video on this kilm inspired me to build my own oven. i actually wrote my own arduino temperature controller and stuff. the first 3 heating wires i bought were no good and melted within the first few minutes of turning the thing on. but kanthal type D seems to work fine. i calibrated the heating wires to draw 3KW of power, so it's a bit more powerful than yours. the main purpos is heat treating knives, therefor the chamber is very long, thin and flat to accomodate long knives(up to 45 cm). i will post the arduino code somewhere if anyone is intersted, but all the controlles are german and the codequality is extreamly bad, so don't get your hopes up. we also came up with wire staple independently, since i had the same problem of my heating elements falling out of their slots.

[@crossthreadaeroindustries8554]

Really good job with these kiln vids - thanks for all the work that went into them.

[@Hovzlozki]

It's been a joy to watch your videos over the years and I'm glad you're finished with your exams. Have a great holiday and can't wait to see what you've got planned for when you return!

[@tommymartin2699]

Dude you make awesome content, I always love the videos you put out regardless of the irregularity! I'm slowly making my way into metal casting/working and your ideas and designs have been incredibly helpful for me, keep up the good work!

[@georgepitts6500]

Your voice has changed! My how the time flys! Good job mate. Keep creating and learning.

[@timmer9lives]

Lots of great info. Thanks for sharing. And yeah....I’m sure there’s a lot of effort involved with everything you posted. Thanks again.

[@silasb5533]

I FINALLY FOUND UR CHANNEL AGIAN IVE LOST IT 1.5 YEARS AGO YES FINALLY

[@vejymonsta3006]

fantastic project. I will be making a similar one in the future for my own projects. Thanks for the video and all the hard work.

[@JJXB2004]

honestly, don't fret about the welds being ugly. to quote AvE: "Grinder and Paint make me the welder I ain't"

[@intjonmiller]

JJXB2004 What kind of paint are you going to use on a crucible? 😂

[@Hovzlozki]

I like to call it 'KZbin spraypaint' just spray it on for the video and let it burn off

[@johnpossum556]

+Jon Miller automotive header paint should work

[@hyperhektor7733]

i think he does it on purpose to solve the issue of metal expansion from heat. (he has severals angels in a row which would bend out of shape he welded normally)

[@HighlanderNorth1]

JJXB2004 Like I always say, "with only a little practice(with emphasis on the words "only" and "a little"), there's a half-assed welder inside each and all of us"! The phrase "half-assed" is descriptive of the last DIY foundry video I watched before I found this one. That one was also electric, but man did it look sketchy in every possible way! Whereas this^ foundry looks much safer and more reliable. This guy put a lot of thought, time and effort into this. Nice job, and btw, the weld was fine.

[@ChrisDePrisco]

Cool stuff! I even used mine the other day for annealing a 3D printed plastic part at just 100C or so. It's so much more accurate and stable than a traditional oven. Copper is fun to pour from a few feet above the water. Pour slowly so it's just a trickle of metal and you end up with what look like copper Corn Flakes. :)

[@taow]

Cheers Chris, Yeah the PID circuits are great for fine temperature control, and thanks I'll try out that copper technique that you suggested!

[@lindsayfog5246]

you can weld stainless with steel rods or mig wire, the welds can rust but Ive made furniture and machine parts that are still as strong as ever and havent rusted.

[@darrenj3267]

another very interesting and informative video. You are one very talented young man .

[@andrewverellen6385]

This is one of the best projects I’ve seen from you so far. Amazing effort in this video. Thanks I’ll be thinking about this method for my own project!

[@dougsbir]

well done yet again hope you have good results in uni!

[@ninalli]

Great work, keep up the fantastic films.

[@EricLippert1972]

Good project; very clearly explained. To help you understand why your nichrome element burned out, here's a useful calculation. I'll make some estimates: let's suppose your coil was 500mm long before you stretched it, and the coil diameter is around 6 to 7mm. Each coil is then about 20mm, so the total length of wire, were it straight, would be about 10000mm. What is the total surface area of the wire? If it is 0.8mm wire then the total surface area is about 24000 square mm, or 240 square cm. Now divide 1800 watts by 240 square cm to get 7.5 W/sq cm. That's too high; the wire should be emitting around 3 or 4 watts per square centimeter if you want it to last a long time at aluminium melting temperatures. Your kanthal solution will likely have both a longer wire and a larger circumference, so it will last longer.

[@brandtAU]

great video. have been watching your foundry videos as a guide to making my own, have been so informative. your water cast art pieces look amazing.

[@Milo-pn1zy]

holy crap your a great engineer

[@Rooku_Spooku]

Milo you're*

[@angelov1080]

Quality over quantity, no matter how often you upload the videos are always awesome and very interesting to watch. I'm only a bit concerned with the clearance of the coils to the crucible but in your first foundry video you mentioned you turn it off every time you take the crucible out so i hope that'll be fine. Also i can't wait for that lathe video, just seeing from the little preview, stuff like bokeh from metal shavings and seeing a smudge of copper get turned into a shiny machined piece right infront of you is amazing.

[@STONEDay]

You could squish the copper tube in the vise to flatten it. This way it is easy to bend back and forth and break off. Faster than a hacksaw and no copper loss as saw dust.

[@JBFromOZ]

Thank you for your videos, I am working on my own build video and have so many projects that I want to do next! You have definitely helped me to finalise my design with your updated videos cheers

[@DktheWelder]

well done mate you put a lot of time and effort into it and I t works great

[@johnpossum556]

for a different cooling liquid use what blademakers use... peanut oil or transmission fluid for the copper cooling. you can probably even use used fluid OK. i remember seeing your vids years ago and you've matured into some great interests and useful manskills. keep it up!

[@tbrowniscool]

Feel like you've been away for ages... Great vid. I enjoy watching you learning.

[@H3TIK]

i love you're calm voice xD in all of you're videos

[@H3TIK]

and awesome video taow :D

[@MoltenScience]

nice video man :) would be a nice project for me aswell, ive build myself a propane foundry but net yet an electric one! keep up the great vids

[@djangogaming6546]

hey i know you haha i am subbed

[@StageRightvideo]

Excellent video Artof... I'm still impressed with these things you do and how you happily jump from one tool or machine to another. It's pleasing to see how your welding skills are growing too. However, I think I spotted a redundant Earth wire in your mains lead, which suggests that you haven't earthed the metal work... Might be a good idea to rig something up - just in case. Where will your ideas take you next?

[@JoshuaAlbretsen-bf3di]

I wonder if wrapping koawool on outside of the fire brick cage would help with reducing the thermal leakage, to speeds up the preheating and reducing the exposure of rapid temperature changes to extend the life of the fire bricks. Just a thought to share.

[@nemski69]

your a funny boy. really good pace chock full of info. really good job there

[@rallekralle11]

right, this thing. i bought a few meters of heating coil when i saw the first one of these videos, but never actually built one myself. i just couldn't find any heat resistant material to make it out of. but i do have a big bag of plaster, maybe that'd work mixed with some sand?

[@bjorkline3140]

And i thought it couldn't get any better

[@SuperTooDeadly]

can also use 316L stainless steel wire as a heating element as it has a high melting point and resistance to corrosion.

[@angusadams1244]

Love your videos man 💯💯

[@KnightsWithoutATable]

The iron in the steel and the carbon will leach into your molten Al a little bit. This will change the properties of the final castings and could make them brittle. Add a little copper in each batch and it will change the alloy to a stronger type. Do the reverse, add a little Al, when doing copper, bronze, or brasses.

[@phonotical]

It's a cool upgrade, how do you minimise risk of electric shock with the larger crucible? One thing you could try is making a head cast, have you thought about using a welding mask for the brightness, or yoj could hand make a leather one and use two camera filters, either variable neutral density filters where you could adjust the brightness exposure, or using infrared filters, maybe a low rating of 720nm

[@LeHoangBac]

Ooooh, I didn't knew this was your new video!!!

[@davidakoskovacs5344]

2:21 what does he say? What kind of heating element should i search for? Btw, thanks for the video. I've copied the foundry you made and i have had the same problem, the wire oxidize so fast that i have to replace them every 2-3-4 use... annoying, it takes a lot of time to take apart the foundry, also, in mine the two wire go in U shape around inside so it even needs more practice and dexterity to replace them...

[@JohnRoux]

Couldn't work out exactly what was said, but I think he's talking about Kanthal elements

[@darklard]

I've been watching your videos for so long and love your stuff. I say that so you don't think I'm just trying to be mean or troll you just suggest some stuff. 1. In the timelapse sections that have long periods of not talking you should throw in some music. KZbin has a music section with royalty free stuff you can download and put in your videos. 2. There is a ground hum on your mic up until about the 6:30 mark. In your country that's a 50Hz tone. I'm guessing something electrical was happening while you were recording the voice over for those parts. Experiment a little and figure out what it is so it doesn't get into the videos. Thanks again and I hope you took this as a helpful suggestion and not me complaining. Keep it up, you're doing great!

[@gantz4u]

Thanks for the pointers. Here's some ideas I have. 1. I don't like the way the elements are wired. Theyre too close to the metal frame and could bump and short there causing an electrocution off the frame. The proper way I think is an insulating porcelain plug the wire passes through to insulate the metal frame from the element. Think mushroom shape with a hole down the center of the cap and stem. 2. If you want readings over the max out temp. a harbor freight 11 function multimeter will display "a" temp. It's not rated in the manual to display a temp. over a certain temp. but it will display a temp. I haven't double checked it using a control meter like a pyrometric cone to gauge accuracy above its stated temp. but it looked pretty accurate where I topped out at 2193F. The actual probe the meter comes with would need a ceramic insulator or would need to be replaced with a probe that has ceramic insulators. Just cut back the insulation to expose enough of the probes wire. then replace with a few links of ceramic tubing. 3. having the busted firebricks laying around. I would have casted those into the lid and floor to create porosity. Better yet I would have added a burn out material such as styrofoam granule(3.7% by weight) or blendered leaves(44% by weight, I achieved 28% ). I have tested both and they seem to burn out at camp fire level temps and have created porosity similar to the firebrick with no discernible preference over either burnout material. I have not tried this with plaster as the ceramic tho. But assume it would work, just a poor quality ceramic choice for a temp. shock resistant material. A better recipe would be 50% clay and 50% coal ash. The coal ash quality im not sure about. It seems to be determined by eye for acceptable unacceptable based on the coal source and thus ash produced. Here's a primer on my hypothesis on that material selection recipe, this may be more cost efficient than the recipe I am currently using: www.researchgate.net/publication/316192663_Research_into_Coal-Clay_Composite_Ceramics_of_Sichuan_Province_China

[@gantz4u]

also kiln repair cement is not that costly for repairing cracked bricks

[@Loubie2005]

One smart lad 👍👌

[@V2weapons]

wow good work love the vid, i always love checking this channel to see if there's a new upload

[@skyhawk551]

graphite crucibles have the highest operating temperature, but they are intended for use in inert atmospheres

[@MRElectric-ks1ir]

If you melt brass, you might want to consider a respirator do to zinc oxide fumes that boil off of the brass.

[@billhickswasgreat3421]

Re: 2:11 how do you spell "coruthnol" in "coruthnol heating element"? I cant seem to find that material.

[@tubbydammer]

Interesting video but pouring molten metal while wearing plastic training shoes looks dangerous to me. Have you considered getting some boots that would protect your feet if you accidentally splashed some molten metal onto them?

[@stuartcommon4651]

I know this is an old comment but boots are the least of your worries pouring by hand into water. Let's hope his aluminium isn't too pure or else boom!

[@WaschyNumber1]

Nice, you could use for the isolation ceramic wool 🤔

[@tristencother]

Dang I have been watching your videos (Just started a couple days ago) but it is insane to see your welding improve so much.

[@viniciusnoyoutube]

Awesome video! The best one of all foundry. You should probably use some welder glasses because all of the IR and light.

[@dayzmelttogether]

great job man! big fan

[@constantinpereyma827]

Hey, could you make a quick video about the tools you have in your workshop ? There's a lot to learn for a newbie like me ! Congrats for your job!

[@funny1048youtube]

great job awesome foundry cant wait to see what is possible with this foundry and what items you can cast with it just be careful pouring molten metal in water because it can cause a steam explosion

[@browaruspierogus2182]

You may also look into induction heating as the circuits are ridiculously low priced.

[@zechariahp8206]

Do you think that eventually you could make a foundry for melting steel for maybe making knife blanks?

[@AllChemystery]

Didn't you mean kanthal not Karanthal?

[@hyperhektor7733]

no he means normal Anal

[@ifell3]

great video, the thing that worries me with an electric kiln is touching the coils with the crucible.

[@mattisado]

when it comes to graphite crucibles u need to run them through a min of 2 heating and cooling cycals be for using for melting to fully cure the graphite and close any pors in the material same gose for ceramic

[@GermanMythbuster]

+TAOW How is "karafnol" written propperly? cant find it anywere?

[@Vinwelder]

GermanMythbuster Yeah, it's definitely Kanthal wire. Is used for many different heating elements and is even used commonly nowadays for all of the Vapes that people use instead of smoking. Isn't very expensive either...

[@gateway8833]

That last Aluminum pour you could call that London during rush hour

[@nikitaredko2348]

Interesting design and great workmanship! Thanks for sharing your work. Would be curious to see a thermal image of the kiln in action. Where does most of the heat escape from etc. How about running costs? Lets say to melt aluminium, 1kg or so... How many watt/kilowatt Hours for example? How would the design need to change to allow 'duel fuel' electric/gas firing? Very surprised the welds on the steel crucible holding under high temperature(suppose I just did not know its temperature tolerant enough)

[@lewisjack432]

Great video, this must have taken you so long. I wish I could support you on Patreon you deserve so many more views and Subscribers. Congrats on 200k

[@brettski74]

Just wondering for those who have built similar foundries, do you have problems with creep in the heating element. I've been working with mine for about 3 months. Over repeated heating and cooling cycles, the element expands and bows out and tends to hold that shape after cooling and becoming more pronounced with more heating/cooling cycles. My first heating element lasted most of this time, although I finally had to replace it a few weeks ago when it failed. I'm assuming it arced against the crucible, as it was broken at two places where this seems to have been likely. Today, I actually saw my second element arc against the crucible, so that element is now done. I've found that pushing those bowed in sections back into place when cool does help a little, but after heating and cooling, the wire is significantly stiffer and resists being pushed back into shape. My thought is that the metal softens when heated and probably cools reasonably rapidly once power is cut which may have led to hardening the metal somewhat. One thought I had was to maybe build some kind of insert with fire brick to push the element back in place, turn it on until the element gets hot and the let it cool with the fire brick insert holding it in place until fully cooled, although I haven't tried that yet. I know that silica glass could probably provide a solution, but silica glass is a rather expensive material. Has anyone else experienced this creep problem and if so, have you come up with any solutions to help keep the element from bowing inward toward the crucible?

[@davidbennett1451]

hi there the heater coils in a dyer . it is prefect i think. al you hav eto do is sat them in place and run the wires.... tell me what you think... my dyer got wet so i had to can it.. so i think it will work..

[@yield_yt]

The hot knife videos were in Fahrenheit, the incandescence temperature of any material is around 1000 degrees Fahrenheit.

[@ronalmeida2536]

You are awesome. Thanks for a great video.

[@danny_hvc]

love this channel!

[@almonies]

You really should have a cool down set up or you will keep damaging your bricks. You should slowly bring the temperature down to allow the bricks time to shrink. Blacksmiths use mild steel for our tools because it can heat up and cool down almost unlimited with out any problems. So yes it will work perfectly for casting crucible.

[@kemza310]

omg new video finally :)

[@sevenproxies4255]

Also, do you think the efficiency of the foundry would be negated a lot if you made the grooves for the coils a little deeper? I'm thinking that if you can get the coils in deeper grooves, then the risk of having the crucible touching them or accidentally touching them with the set of prongs used to handle the cucible would be reduced.

[@The52brandon]

lol, keep in mind many of those 1000 degree dorks were from the states. So they'd be measuring in F, not C. I don't know why we haven't switched because it would be so much easier than clarifying and translating

[@springplus300]

He must be talking about Kanthal wire. If you have trouble finding it, it's basically a trademark FeCrAl (Iron-Chromium-Aluminium) alloy. So you can search for that instead if you have trouble finding anything. Be aware that Kanthal is well known for being the highest quality FeCrAl alloy out there, so alloys not branded Kanthal might not reach the same temperatures or last as long. They'll be significantly better than NiCr wire though.

[@balisticsquirel]

Re- a stainless crucible... Look up what happens to stainless steel when it's welded (heated to melting or near melting temps) without an inert gas shielding. And you won't want to be using stainless any more.

[@mrAmd54321]

Great video! Kanthal. BTW

[@HiNinqi]

5 years later is this still the ideal design? Any better materials now?

[@loukskywalker3578]

Good job really appreciate the effort

[@firstmkb]

Have you thought about running Argon (or even Nitrogen) into your furnace to prevent or reduce oxidation? Obviously it isn't airtight, but you could reduce the free oxgen fairly easily. GREAT job on the project BTW - I've enjoyed it and may build one for heat treating metal.

[@___xyz___]

2:12 I can't for the life of me hear what you are calling the alloy of the new heating element. Caraphnel? Craphnel? Graphinel? Karafennel? I get 0 results for either. Either it's written in a foreign language, or no one online has ever heard of that alloy.

[@___xyz___]

I swear. I can not find a coil by that name anywhere. Are you sure you pronounced that right? You said the same thing twice. I hope you're not making things up.

[@nixie2462]

I too can't understand his pronunciation of the alloy, but as far as I have found, he is referring to Kanthal, FeCrAl, with 1500ºC melting point, 100ºC more than nicrhome. It is easily found on Aliexpress, for example. ;)

[@andyh7537]

Kanthal

[@theodorehesse4959]

Super inspired by your handy-work! How many feet of the 16g Kanthal wire did you use in this build?

[@sam111880]

curious so when buying this different types of kiln wire do they give you the max resistant ratings so you can work out the 240 volt/ 33 ohm where did you get the 33 ohm rating all else is easy to compute from there. Also how do you know what power rating works well with what size/shape kiln your building ? How many kiln wire coils do you need for a given size volume kiln and given power rating to heat the chamber to desired temps in reasonable amount of time.

[@DutchPhlogiston]

Plaster of Paris is not heat resistant. It hardens by forming a hydrate, which is dehydrated at moderate temperatures. IIRC, around 300 deg C. At that point it becomes a crumbly powder.

[@itanc1]

nice one fella! a good format of video, the right pace and good information. clay graphite would be my choice for the crucible as they are very high temperature and very durable. as you have a lathe why not cast cylindrical ingots in a bean tin full of sand packed around a wooden former as ready made lathe billets? nothing so much fun as pouring metal! good work

[@Kintepro]

karathanol? do you mean kanthal? Sorry, just asking....trying to find some.

[@MrZhefish]

just google FeCrAl wire

[@ImCannibalOfficial]

Yeah, he means kanthal.

[@chrisatloafercreek4364]

You are the best!

[@Lucas-uu5em]

You could also use tungsten wires in three phase. They're expensive though.

[@DariaM00re]

Since electronics are not my strong point, when using a PID I guess you still need to take the resistance of the coils and how long they are into account so that the amps don't go high enough to trip the fuses right? UK here also. Also, great videos and guides, made the entire process really easy to understand.

[@strongholds12]

wonder if a hybrid foundry with coals and air along with electricity would get it up to steel melting temps

[@magnus867]

How much dose the foundery cost to run an hour?

[@vedranlatin1386]

He was talking a couple of kW in the first video - say it's 2kW, running it for an hour is 2kWh. Electricity prices vary with where you live, but you can expect to pay around 0.15USD for kWh. So even a worst case scenario should come under 1USD per hour - peanuts basically.

[@alfteck]

that is why i eat raisins.

[@raisinbranman]

Alf Cara thanks

[@polymetric2614]

1800w = 1.8kWh per hr @ $0.12/kWh = $0.21/hr

[@josephhgoins]

Would you consider doing a materials list with links to the materials you used? I know some of the other Makers do that and get a small cut of the proceeds. That way I know that I'm getting exactly what you used and you're getting paid for your time.