The Foundry: Trying the New Blower and Iron Melt Attempt

3-29-13

Built a blower for the burner to make it burn hotter and hopefully melt iron

4-11-13

Someone commented on the previous video saying there was too much oil being added to the fire.  I played it off thinking the air from the blower would balance out all the extra oil and make it a more neutral flame, but no, this person was right.
I tested the furnace with the blower and tried to melt iron.  Unfortunately, it didn't melt.  The problems this time were:

• still too much oil
• the blower wasn't formally connected to the furnace, just blowing air from the background

Also, during use, the motor of the blower got really hot so I didn't feel safe using it, not that it really made a big difference in this test.

For the blower it either needs a better, more balanced rotor or a stronger motor.  Also, it needs a pipe to guide the air to the furnace.

As for the burner, I'll modify the tip to allow less oil to come out, probably by brazing the opening and re drilling a 1/16" hole.

Another problem with the burner:  the air hose connector is too close to the furnace.  When I turned off the air, the flames and heat came back out of the tuyer and melted the air hose.  

The good news, I got this cool picture of the glowing crucible.

5-30-13
I brazed the nozzle of the burner shut and re drilled it back to 1/16" to avoid excessive oil flow.  I also had to re turn it in the lathe back to its original cone shape.

Here are the latest updates to the burner, an elbow was added to avoid torching the air hose again, and a longer pipe for the oil was added to comply with a future holding devise.

CONTINUE TO PART 4 -- Soap Dish Casting Attempt #1

BACK TO PART 2 -- First Success

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