New Furnace Build ,,, Cupola

[Rob.Wilson]

Hi Lads


This afternoon i thought it was about time i made a start on building a cupola furnace    , the build will use what i have at hand around the shop  and the bits and bobs i have managed to scrounge up for the project   ,,,, so the build  should come in under budget at 10 quid 

I am not working to any real plan ,just working it out as i go and to make best use of  the materials at hand 


So may as well work from the ground up starting with the stand and a bit of welding 





the furnace barrel on for size

found a bit of plate just the right size to make the drop bottom from

this was cut to size and a hinge made from bit out of the that may come in handy one day draw

next a few bit of tube were welded to the bottom so a bar could be fed through them to keep the furnace bottom up in place when the furnace is in operation .
At the end of the casting session , this bar will be pulled out and the content dumped on the floor.




Rob

[dsquire]

Rob

I was just sitting here wondering what Rob was up to in his shop now that the weather is getting a bit nicer. Suddenly this pops up and now I know. I can see by the way that this is starting out that it is going to be another excellent thread.

My only concern is, do you really think that those welds will pass muster with Mr. Stevenson? 
I'll be enjoying the rest of this build as it comes. 

Cheers 

Don

[CallMeAl]

Nice start, Rob.  This is going to be very interesting!

[Stilldrillin]

Looking good Rob!   

Watching, quietly....... 

David D

[DaveH]

Hi

Nice welding 

Dave

[Bluechip]

Hi Rob

Most impressive   

So. Next question ..

Why is a Cupola Furnace different from the one you have ??

Kindly explain for the benefit of doombrains such as myself .. who have lived sheltered lives .. blowing the heads of transistors ... 

( Yes, today ...      ... back to Krakatoa electronics .. )
 
Dave BC

[Rob.Wilson]

Cheers Lads 

Rob
My only concern is, do you really think that those welds will pass muster with Mr. Stevenson? 
Cheers 
Don

probably not Don 

Hi Rob

Most impressive   

So. Next question ..

Why is a Cupola Furnace different from the one you have ??

Kindly explain for the benefit of doombrains such as myself .. who have lived sheltered lives .. blowing the heads of transistors ... 

( Yes, today ...      ... back to Krakatoa electronics .. )
 
Dave BC

Cheers Dave ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, you could zap more things if you dug out that welded you use as a seat 

The reason for building a cupola furnace is ,,, cheaper fuel (coke)  and its a better type of furnace to melt iron with ,(will also melt bronze), made for the job    only down side is i will have to use it outdoors ,, but when up and running it should  melt continuously  about 350 lbs of iron  an hour if i needed  and will hold about 70 lbs of molten iron in the well . So its a summer job 

The other furnace will be used just for ally and bronze ,, that i can do indoors 

Cheers lads


Rob
 

[saw]

Nice work Rob. 

[Bluechip]

Hi Rob

Oh! Coke .. never thought of that.    Assumed it was a bigger gas wotsit  ..

Welder is fine as it is. Not wearing it out at the moment. It's resting. Could do with a cushion for it though ... a bit parky around the nether regions ..

Dave BC

[John Hill]

I wonder if I could buy coke around here.

The gas works are long gone so what other industries would be making coke?

[John Stevenson]

Crap welding 
I was going to say looks like pigeon $hit but knowing that lot up norf they have probably ate them all.

John S.

[Bernd]

I wonder if I could buy coke around here.

The gas works are long gone so what other industries would be making coke?

Since you probably don't have any steel mills in New Zealand, I'd say make your own. That leads to the next question. Can you get coal? The lumps should be bigger than your hand.

Bernd

[John Hill]

I wonder if I could buy coke around here.

The gas works are long gone so what other industries would be making coke?

Since you probably don't have any steel mills in New Zealand, I'd say make your own. That leads to the next question. Can you get coal? The lumps should be bigger than your hand.

Bernd

One steel mill at the other end of the country.  Plenty of coal but I dont know if I can buy it as it is probably outlawed in this 'green' town.

[lordedmond]

Rob

Having been around molten metal for the first ten years of my working life I used to work at Stanton ,part of Stanton and Staveley ( I am a sparks )

we had blast furnaces x6 and more small cupola's than I can count , plus in the latter years induction furnaces from 750kw to 1.5 mw

My point consider a few vent holes in the drop base to vent the refractory

are you going to use lime stone as a flux along with two level taping holes.

as you can guess seeing iron casting inc ductile ( with the magnesium flare ) was common place , the finest casting was to cast nuts and bolts that screwed together without any machining

good luck with the project , bet it will have a 20 foot flame on blow down before the bottom is dropped


Stuart

[Rob.Wilson]

Crap welding 
I was going to say looks like pigeon $hit but knowing that lot up norf they have probably ate them all.

John S.

  we have ,mmmmmmmmmmm

Rob

[Rob.Wilson]

Rob

Having been around molten metal for the first ten years of my working life I used to work at Stanton ,part of Stanton and Staveley ( I am a sparks )

we had blast furnaces x6 and more small cupola's than I can count , plus in the latter years induction furnaces from 750kw to 1.5 mw

My point consider a few vent holes in the drop base to vent the refractory

are you going to use lime stone as a flux along with two level taping holes.

as you can guess seeing iron casting inc ductile ( with the magnesium flare ) was common place , the finest casting was to cast nuts and bolts that screwed together without any machining

good luck with the project , bet it will have a 20 foot flame on blow down before the bottom is dropped


Stuart

Hi Stuart  

Thanks for the input    ,,, i had not considered putting holes in the base to vent the refractory  as i had planed to just sit the furnace on the base ,, is it beneficial to have a few holes in the base ?

I am still undecided weather to use limestone as a flux ,,,,,,,,i will have ago without at first  and see how things go ,,, as it is a small furnace it may not (i hope ) have too much problems with slag .

I probably will still add a slag tapping point  .


Rob

  

[lordedmond]

Rob all I can say all the ones at Stanton had vent holes in the base ,they were a bit cruder than your project with just two half circle doors held up with a prop , a chain was attached at the end on the shift , this was then fastened to a Lansing Bagnel Tractor , then away we go prop away and bottom dropped if you were lucky  

the best bit or worst was if there was water in the pit  

the day end process was to blow down the cupola to get rid of most of the remaining coke the drop the bottom


FYI the blast furnaces had 4000 hp steam turbine blowers with coopers stove to heat the blast the pipes before the tuyere's glowed red hot , the cupola's had 50 hp to 150 hp blowers , most of the equipment when I was there before 1972 ( 10 years ) was DC  

[Rob.Wilson]

Sounds a fun place to work Stuart 

Was that a Lansing Bagnel Tractor  a TUG electric ?   


Here is one of the places have the pleasure  of working in   
 

The crucibles are over 6 foot tall and the moulding flasks ,,,,,,,,,well i could park my van in them 


Well i got a wee bit more done tonight ,,, not allot ,but moving forward 

Drilled the four radial blast  holes in the barrel ,,,,, i used my handy doodad tool to mark the position of the holes ,,, great tool made in the USA .

i  marked a line around the barrel some 11" up from the bottom ,,, stick the tool on with the point touching the line and mark that position .

rotate barrel 90 degrees and make sure it cant move 

remove tool and reset it back on the barrel with the pointer at zero


repeat until all four positions are marked out ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Nice and easy ,,,,,,,,,just right for a Geordie bloke 

then i burnt out a couple of large washes from some 3mm plate  for the wind belt



Rob

[John Stevenson]

repeat until all four positions are marked out ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Nice and easy ,,,,,,,,,just right for a Geordie bloke 



Rob

Is there still 360 degree's in a circle up there ?
Just wondered because some thieving tyke is liable to have nicked a few   

John S.

[lordedmond]

Rob
by hek they did not use this new fangled lecky thing

the older ones were petrol then the went modern and got a diesel one or two

yes it was very interesting but very old I was there 1962 - 1972, they were still casting pipes vertically in a pipe pit using hydraulic king post cranes , lot of hydraulic accumulators  around the place.
It was a common site to see a Lansing Bagnal towing a truck with a five ton ladle on molten iron trundling out to a casting plant sloping everywhere  

the biggest sand casting was for slag ladles they were built up moulds bricks held together with sand ,straw and hoarse dung then struck off with a strickle to get the shape ( one of my uncles did that type of moulding )
another one did brass casting using the crucible in the pit method

of course the large volume runs ,for tubing plates were done with sand slingers on a rotary roundabout track ( they were still using the same plant that used to make bombs during WW2 ) that plant used a different type of furnace to melt the iron called a Cessey SP. I never saw those but they had stainless steel pipe it the very top that pre heated coal dust which was blown in at the bottom

What I ddi see was the time they were doing a huge order for the tubbing plates ,they brought down from the blast furnaces the iron in 75 ton ladles ( just to speed thing up a bit )

the of course was the pipe spinning plants that was a sight to behold iron spraying out like cathereen wheels   when the socket end failed


sorry to go OT in your thread but seeing the word cupola invoked many old memories , but at the time it was just normal part of my working life ( it was no fun though to have to mend the cranes that had the 75 ton ladle stuck on the hook it was hot )

Stuart

[Rob.Wilson]

Hi Stuart


"sorry to go OT in your thread "      ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,No worries you go for it    ,, i am all up for hearing about how things were cast and how things were done and i am sure others are .

I have seen pipes centrifugally cast at another foundry i used to go to ,,, as you say it is worth watching ,,, they were making short lengths of thick wall, high spec nickel alloy tubes ,, the mould was spun up and the alloy pored in until the excess metal  and any slag flew out all over  ,,, the gaffa explained that centrifugal casting gave a much finer grain structure to the metal     i think they use the same method to produce piston rings .


  John ,,,, nope there seams to be more after i have had a few 


Rob

   

[Bluechip]

and any slag flew out all over    

Hmmmmmm  ... now that's an idea for getting shot of the Chuckle Scrubbers ... 

BC

[Rob.Wilson]

and any slag flew out all over    

Hmmmmmm  ... now that's an idea for getting shot of the Chuckle Scrubbers ... 

BC

  what diameter would you say the two of them are   


Rob

[Bluechip]

and any slag flew out all over    

Hmmmmmm  ... now that's an idea for getting shot of the Chuckle Scrubbers ... 

BC

  what diameter would you say the two of them are   


Rob

Diameter ???? Dunno ... one's short and fat, seriously over-square. T'others sort of skinny ... both gormless and noisy.

Try THICK ... that'll be a good approximation.. 

Dave BC

[Rob.Wilson]

and a bit more , ,,,,,,,not allot but moving forward ,,, welded the rings to the barrel then rolled  up a bit 3mm plate for the outer .



a bit more plate required  
 


Rob