Ultimate DIY Electric Kiln Guide - The Fire Bricks (part 1)

This series explains how to build an electric kiln/furnace/oven, which can be used to melt metals, fire ceramics, burn out casting moulds (and make marshmallows).
In part 1 we start by cutting an old almond oil drum into the bottom and top lid pieces. Then fire bricks are cut to the correct shape to form an octagon shape, and finally they're mounted in the oil drum.
The silicate insulation material is also known as; calcium silicate and bio silicate.

[@stormelemental13]

Thanks for documenting this project and teaching us how to make one ourselves.

[@jakobhalskov]

You are very welcome! It is my goal to share as much useful information as possible for other who are interested :)

[@NPFederation0]

I haven’t even watched the video but I first want to say thank you. Spreading knowledge is a noble deed indeed.

[@janicebartmess2646]

I love clever can-do people like these guys!

[@jonasphilbert6175]

Tusind tak for videoserien! Den har været uvurderlig til at foretaget DIY reparationer af keramik-ovne!

[@MatiCandia]

Very good video, for the ones interested in doing this please use a K95 mask or better, the dust from the bricks is no good for your lungs. Aside that very informative video!

[@gantz4u]

Ive been working on the recipe for the insulated fire brick. Talc20%,ball clay25%,mullite55%. Thats a good recipe for alot of kiln furniture, like shelves, insulators for kiln filaments. Kiln stand offs, whatever. I did 2 small test bricks. 1 with old brown tree leaves i ground up and mixed into the clay and the other with packing styrofoam(EPS Foam) i ground into its individual cells. The foam and tree leaves are just filler to create voids in the brick to create the insulation properties and light weight and I think I did 50/50 by volume and think theyre a little dense and you could go harder on the burn off substrates, But definitely usable at 50/50. Then I fired it at cone 10 and left the kiln lid cracked for maybe 30 minutes as the burn off stuff produced smoke. Then closed it and ramped it. End result is 2 usable insulated firebricks, althoug 2"x4"x.5" (since it was just a test) and no damage to the kiln. Thats probably useful if you can source the raw ingredients cheaper than the bricks and or want to build bigger kilns out of smaller kilns.

[@jakobhalskov]

Cool that is a very intersting approach! I am lucky to live a mile from a guy who imports these bricks, so that is the easiest for me :)

[@christiemcbaine2805]

Amazing and humbling! Well done! Love the dry humor😂

[@gusbisbal9803]

Very professionally done.... I subed. I noticed the attention to detail and interest to not cut corners and take the near enough is good enough path. Well done.

[@happytohelpu2]

Great series.

[@scottjensen7555]

I like your plan. I don't plan on tackling this right now, but I'll file these videos. Thanks, I'll "like" them.

[@SiriusFuenmayor]

great way to show the construction details

[@ak47bobbarke]

Underrated video, you deserve more subscribers and likes!

[@alypolukhin1635]

very detailed, will try myself

[@barrysotero137]

Living in a land that produces excellent tooling must be such a blessing…

[@jakobhalskov]

I am indeed happy to live where I do. Out of curiosity where do you live Barry?

[@paulabel4942]

Are you the Barry Sotero from Kenya? ;)

[@christopher1195]

I love seeing diyers at work! Super cool! I might make one myself

[@jakobhalskov]

Thanks Christopher! 🙏🏻

[@WalkAMile]

How many hours of research did you do before making the first drum cut? What 3d program did you use? Did this program determine design solutions? I'm very interested in diy and can see myself doing every step of this project simply because knowledge if tools impacts craftsmanship. I appreciate your emphasis on quality tools but also appreciation for your neighbour's drill. I am fascinated with the calculation of the wiring, probably because I am not an electrician. How long did the project take from concept to completion?

[@bao5793]

太棒了,是我学习的榜样.

[@JSMail-wu7lw]

Hi Jakob, I would like to know where you got the coil maker or spring maker? Thank you Great job on the kiln

[@rondelby2482]

Hi that is very good furnace you made.

[@jakobhalskov]

Thanks Ron! I am also pleased about it, and there is still so much footage to go through for the next parts of this series :) Wish you the best!

[@rondelby2482]

@@jakobhalskov I hope someday, you make a bronze bell. Bells are beautiful to look and to hear. them ring.

[@danivc9878]

hey with app you using for modeling if you dont mind telling me thanks nice job done

[@geeljireoomaar6140]

Jacob please share with me the printef saw guide the obe you use to cut bricks

[@nico843a]

how did you get a hold of fire bricks, good video :)

[@ronanbpch]

Hi Jakob ! I love the kiln you just made, I'm interested in that printed sawguide, do you think you could give me the file ? thanks !

[@markhoare7051]

Have you got the stl file for the cutting jig available? (ie on thingiverse)

[@drdigitalcollege208]

Hi Jacob Where can I get silicate sheet from being in Pakistan. Or can I make it myself if not available here. Thanks

[@elic307]

I see you don't have thermal insulation other than the firebricks. Is it enough? What temperature do you measure on the outside of the barrel, when inside it is 1300 degrees Celsius?

[@Batgaer]

Is there blue print of material and design of wiring

[@luuuude]

Very nice video! I live in Norway and I wonder where you bought the big sheets of firebrick and what the cost was?

[@jakobhalskov]

Hi Ludvig, I purchased the 30x30x5 cm firebricks for 90 DKK (125 NOK) at ildfastesten.dk which luckily has a pickup point in my city :)

[@barrysotero137]

Turbo Negro!.. Rocks!

[@Thomas-Almanza]

I am very curious as to what type of element you used (the diameter of the wire) and how you wired everything. I'm also making an electric kiln but somehow mine does not go above 780 C, still trying to find out if it's the thermocouple, the wire or bad insulation.

[@jakobhalskov]

Hi Thomas, I am working on part 2 of this series these days and hope to release it by the end of this week. It includes the calculations for designing your own heating elements :) How many kilo watts are your kiln and how well is it insulated? Kind regards

[@Thomas-Almanza]

@@jakobhalskov Hello Jakob, thank you for the quick response and interest! I look forward to the follow-up video. If you can, please include where you bought the wire because I had a hard time finding a decent supplier. About my own kiln project; yesterday I found out that the heating element wire has burned through at 2 of the points where I made a connection to the wiring of the electronics. I think I bend it too much. So I need to fix that first to see if it still won't go higher than 780 C. My kiln is pulling about 3000 watts, maybe a bit more. Insulation is a bit like yours, firebricks (type 26 or 28) first and around those a 'ceramic wool blanket'. I used a big old Miele centrifuge from the 50's for casing. Thanks again, hope to hear from you! Kind regards.

[@jakobhalskov]

@@Thomas-Almanza You are very welcome Thomas! I am wondering how long it takes for your design to reach 780 °C; for my 5 kW design ( closer to 4.5 kW in practice ) it takes 110 minutes to reach 790°C. In the end it is all a matter of how much energy is put into the 'system' vs how much escapes through the insulation/gaps in the kiln. I purchased my "1.4mm Kanthal D wire" from a German supplier called "Evek GmbH" which has fair prices and ships to Denmark where I live. Looking forward to hear from you and see if you can achieve higher temperatures. As you will see in a future video I can achieve >1100 but also managed to melt my SSR relays and PID controller partly.. Kind regards Jakob

[@jonathanbock2116]

What is a rough estimate on building such a kiln?

[@devingray1671]

Do you have a pdf of the Working drawings?

[@ShooShanTinkerbell-eg2ik]

I would like to buy one like this, but smaller. Can you sell one?

[@sammi-joreviews1135]

Can the bricks be written on? I can’t help but think it would go easier if marked say, layer ‘x’ with an arrow facing up & maybe adding a special character for the slanted bricks for the element channels that go to the next layer. It would be my luck to mistakenly mix up the bricks.

[@jakobhalskov]

Yes, I used some small pencil marks without any problems.

[@geeljireoomaar6140]

Please I bit don't grasp the dimensions of the cutting Jig. Please could you send me information of how to make it Thank you

[@firebirdgaming4695]

where did you get all of your materials? and what type of adhesive was used?

[@jakobhalskov]

Mainly from a Danish website (a local guy to my city) who sells/imports everything related to fire bricks and pizza ovens. Checkout ildfastesten.dk

[@alexandrefelix591]

Hello how can we get the sawguide to cut these bricks please, i need it absolutely please let me know and thanks for everything you rock !

[@jakobhalskov]

I have not found a good way to share them yet, but you are welcome so send me an email. It is my full name followed by @gmail.com

[@manishchauhan9495]

What is heat resistant cement ???? I got confusion

[@petkuscinta9797]

Hi, Is it just me or what you call fire brick is actually AAC (Aerated Autoclaved Concrete) often called HEBEL or YTONG? Could you confirm please?

[@elviraantal1195]

No, ytong contains some cement, which is not so heat-resistant! Fire brick is a dense brick made of fire clay, and stands at least 1515 °C, while ytong is porous and fragments at 800-1200 °C.

[@mayalippert2046]

Can one use stainless steel outside as well?

[@jakobhalskov]

Yes, I don't see any problem in that :)

[@StickerStudioByLola]

Er du mon fra Danmark? Hvis ja, vil du fortælle hvor du har købt materialerne, og evt hvad det hedder på dansk? Jeg har ikke kigget alle videoerne endnu - så jeg beklager hvis du nævner det 🙈 Har du mon fundet en løsning på deling af stl til den 3D printede guide?

[@Mannynahar]

Please tell us more detail about this insulated fire brick, shopkeeper confusing me in India. Siliminite 70% something like this

[@jakobhalskov]

The fire bricks are also known under the name "JM26 Insulating Fire Bricks". If you search for this more information will show up.

[@jeffbisscrx]

Regarding your saw never being the same again, you can sharpen the saw with a saw sharpening file. You may have to do this a few times when cutting the bricks as the teeth wear. Here is but one of many videos showing you how to sharpen your saw: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2i8pJ2BndaeY9k

[@anitagejl823]

Where do i get the template to cut the briks?

[@jakobhalskov]

I have not found a good way to share them yet, but you are welcome so send me an email. It is my full name followed by @gmail.com

[@vikkusingh3863]

Love from India🇮🇳 Very nice video and Thank you so much Sir for this video But explain one thing that what is white solid which you are used?

[@jakobhalskov]

It is insulating fire bricks :)

[@chasebryson5178]

How much did it cost?

[@jakobhalskov]

A rough estimate of what is equivalent to 750 USD

[@MOSLIM_AS]

Can the temperature reach 1200 degrees Celsius??

[@MOSLIM_AS]

Please reply if I am welcome to your page brother

[@Samy-lk3bt]

omg

[@dawnbarron5403]

😜 pr໐๓໐Ş๓

[@basileias2002]

!!~~~`