If you have ever wanted to forge, cast or smelt metals, then this project is your ideal choice. This is a 30 kVA induction heater built by [bwang] on Instructables. It becomes hot enough to melt and forge steel, iron and aluminum.
Induction heaters work by surrounding the object to be heated with a coil carrying high-frequency alternating current. Basically, the whole setup is like a huge transformer with a short-circuited secondary. In order to make these currents into the workpiece, [bwang] uses the TL494 PWM controller as the oscillator. The output of TL494 is filtered and amplified many times to generate a large amount of alternating current.
Larger versions of [bwang] induction heaters can be seen everywhere in foundries and forging plants across the country; even if this smaller version draws 50 A from the dryer or furnace outlet, induction heating is very effective. We actually want to know why we haven't seen many home blacksmiths using induction heating, so we will leave it to our readers to discuss in the comments.
[sessions] reminds us of this kind of induction heater a few years ago. A bit small, but still usable.
We actually want to know why we haven’t seen many home blacksmiths using induction heating
Propane is portable, relatively cheap, and has low startup costs.
Many home brewing blacksmiths do not research current methods, they focus on traditional ironmaking methods. In addition, most people have a fear of electricity. I guess what people like to watch might kill them. What’s more serious is, you know that the propane torch will get hot, it can make you work, if someone tells me to connect some random electronic devices together, it will heat up my work very quickly, it will save me money in energy . I will be skeptical. It sounds like a panacea to me (well, I really don’t know how it works, produces vortices and what but forget all science for a second)
The components are not random.
If someone told me that the elaborate ritual sword was made by a guy holding a hammer and forged at 3000 degrees in a dirty shop somewhere in a poor town or an industrial park... I would be skeptical...!
I am an EE professional, network administrator, amateur radio operator, and former construction worker. My first hobby is metal processing... This makes me the only person qualified to make the above satire... .! :-p
Oh! I am here looking for how to start using induction furnaces to smelt steel, iron, bronze and brass for casting...
Smelt or melt? The two are quite different.
KC, have you started doing this? I can understand and appreciate your "street credibility". thanks.
K9SPY, I want to know if you have ever used induction forging on the ground? I am in a semi-similar situation, EE enthusiast (unfortunately no degree) and software engineer. I like the idea of using an energy field, I assume it is essentially a HF EM generator to heat the metal for work. I recently inherited a truckload of old tube radio equipment, so I need to learn to get an extra class license, but knife forging is one of my new hobbies, and I'm always looking for new and cool ways to get the job done.
Nowadays, almost all households can be connected to electricity. You don’t need to carry a water tank. You can move around with only one wire...
I picked up a malfunctioning induction cooker for free and spent a few pounds of power transistors to repair it. I do want to know if I can use it to melt metal, but if there is a good article on how to build a melter from scratch, I can keep the hob for dinner.
Although residential electricity services are ubiquitous, there are still many problems with using it for such scary jobs (i.e. electrical codes, homeowner’s insurance, and other people’s mention of not being able to see that may make you annoying Stuff) If you do something wrong, instantly). In addition, this setup does not seem to be able to melt a sufficient amount of metal in a batch to cast anything of important size. Forging can also be a bit awkward because the size and shape of the coil will limit the workpiece. However, something like this would be great for handling jewelry because it involves a smaller amount of metal.
If you want to know how to build a real foundry/forge at a low price, please get the catalog from Lindsay Publications and check the products they offer. The technology they provide is much lower, but they definitely qualify as "true old school" hackers.
This is the same thing used in industrial foundries, so what are you saying you can't melt enough to make any sizable part?
I checked the date on your post, 7 years have passed, and I can't find Lindsay's catalog anymore. I remember browsing their things in awe, but as a 15-year-old I can neither afford their books nor persuade my parents to let me try anything. I think archive.org and the Internet as a whole have taken away a lot of Lindsay's business, but I would like to scan their catalog-anyone? -thanks!
https://openlibrary.org/publishers/Lindsay_Publications
How many open libraries are there
The induction heater uses a frequency of approximately 26-30 kHz to heat the steel crucible with a voltage of approximately 100-220 volts. This voltage can only be switched by a thyristor or a high-power tube. To make such an iron furnace, you may need a Royer-type power oscillator, using two transmitter tubes, the anode voltage can reach up to 1kv, or the thyristor multivibrator can switch 220 volts , 30 kHz.
Um? MOSFET or IGBT can work, GANfet can use a single 5mmx2mm integrated half-bridge switch 5kW
For many flux welding applications, propane is not burned hot enough, it will heat the metal to a ductile state without burning the metal, but coal/coke forging allows higher temperatures, making flux welding easier. Depending on how you operate, the start-up cost of traditional forging may actually be lower than the start-up cost of propane/gas forging
Propane itself may not get too hot, but propane forging is more than just propane. It is propane injected into a forged shell with good insulation (ie: Kaowool). My forge is propane, which is enough to burn 1095 billets into a pool of useless slag.
Like mine, I have two propane-fired forges, one is a tube forge insulated with Khmer, and the other is one of the artist's forges with high-temperature tiles on the top and bottom. I am in the two of them. Some items are melted! Especially when I transitioned from coke to propane, I was not used to the dragon's breath or the brightness of the furnace, so I ended up wrongly judging my temperature several times!
The maximum operating temperature of my three-burner home propane forging furnace is 2625, and my five-burner home forging furnace cover is at the 3250 position of my thermometer... So in short, sir, this statement is incorrect.
Last time I checked, the blacksmith is not known for portability. Moving the anvil is not easy. Last time I also checked, the blacksmith did not fully set up and move quickly. Most people spend time learning and then practicing their craft. Keeping costs low is usually a good feature, but propane tanks also cost money, as do quality blacksmith tools. I don't buy your argument.
Blacksmith shoe horse. Saw a man doing this from a pickup truck. There is an anvil and everything. There can be no more than one thousand dollars for propane forging and tools.
Farriers shoe horse. It is a very specialized subset of forging. A well-equipped blacksmith's shop will have pliers suitable for materials of various shapes and sizes, followed by specialized pliers, for example, to prevent the eyes of a hammer or axe from closing. It also has three hammers in four sizes of four common shapes (cross hammer, straight hammer, ball hammer, round hammer and sled), and then there are also hammers for cutting, rounding, and rounding , Stripes... The list goes on. A farrier bought his shoes and then modified the shoes for the horse that was wearing the shoes at the time. This does not require many tools. Blacksmiths are known for making tools for specific jobs. Sometimes, they make tools to make tools to complete the work.
Not so, some horseshoes still use iron bars or mild steel to make shoes, and some people will buy prefabricated shoes, usually those who go to trade school to learn craftsmanship, rather than old-fashioned horseshoe master apprentices.
That would be a farrier
Comment on the blacksmith shoe horse: wrong. Farriers shoe horse. They have received (or should have received) highly technical specialized training-the anatomy of various animal hoofs and their injuries and diseases, as well as the treatment methods that can be applied through special footwear. Blacksmiths may sometimes make horseshoes, but they are also more likely to make many other things. Farriers, not so many in my experience.
This is a bit like the difference between a gunsmith and a mechanic. Different professions and areas of knowledge, similar skills and tools.
A few years ago, I was a blacksmith (spend a summer in the local historical park and the nearby Renaissance Fair-that year I commuted between 1562, 1845 and 1992. It is difficult to maintain my accent. .)
The person I studied worked as a mechanic for about 20 years before retiring and became a horseshoe, and then worked for a few years until he got tired of looking at horseshoes, so he focused on hammering iron and training blacksmiths.
In fact, "farrier" only refers to metalworkers in French. Before we get all the luxury, our blacksmiths will advertise as "blacksmiths and ordinary shoemakers (horses of course!)
The way, the way is lower. I use propane and charcoal. I spent about 40 dollars. I definitely want to build an induction heater one day, but that day has not yet arrived.
The cheapest Chinese machine suitable for forging size is US$2,000. Americans are about twice this number. I am an amateur in Washington State. Grant Sarver, the renowned blacksmith and tool manufacturer of our Northwest Blacksmiths Association, began selling and promoting these machines many years ago. They are quite commonly used by professional blacksmiths here. They are suitable for specific purposes related to the size and shape of the raw material being heated. Well-equipped blacksmiths can afford a large number of tools, and they use induction heaters as part of several other heating methods. Propane forgings can and do reach the welding temperature, but they are also limited by the size of the combustion chamber and burner. Coal can easily reach the welding temperature, but forging welding is not the only thing, and it is not even used frequently. It requires more skills than arc welding, and arc welding with heating and hammering is almost indistinguishable from forge welding. As a hobbyist, I wanted an induction heater, but I had to build it only for cost reasons. This is good because it will definitely be a fun, exciting, and educational experience.
Not sure what machine you are using, but I have a coal forge, two propane forging furnaces, a 2×72 belt machine, a 4×36 belt machine, and several other table grinders, a hammer press , 200-pound hay anvil, 3 column vises and a 50-ton press, plus pliers and hammers, and various other jigs and tools... I may have $2,000 and can make almost anything you want.
1. Properly set up induction forging will not kill you and the cheapest (and weakest) is 5-7 thousand dollars. Many blacksmiths use simple brake drum forging, coal and gas supply for every few cents of heating, which is more expensive due to the large start-up costs and crazy electricity bills. Propane also requires only a box with fiberglass insulation, a propane tank and a burner. This is too expensive. You can only process workpieces that are small enough to fit in the ring. As a traditional coal forging, if you have enough time and coal, you can heat 20 pounds of steel in it.
The induction coil needs to have a specific size. When you forge, you may have apparently random fragments, depending on what you are building. Therefore, this electrical method is not practical...
You do know that coils are easy to make and only need approximate dimensions to work properly. The easy-to-use online calculation will easily provide you with a good enough court to make your coil. I use compression fittings and various coils of different sizes and shapes made by myself for forging and melting. I hope that one day I can make a product with the right power and structure to melt Inconel for several projects I own.
I know this article is 3 years ago, but one thing about electricity: my place in Canada is very expensive... For example: melting about 8 pounds of aluminum costs me about $2.00 propane... in terms of electricity It cost me about $17.00... Now I don’t know how long it will take for a 50A 220 volt induction forging furnace to melt the same material. I think each method will take about an hour... Most importantly, my next month The rate will rise again, so the cost will be higher...
Pure mathematics says 1kg = 37mol Alu * 24.2 J/Mol Kelvin = 896.3 J/Mol Kevin * 600 Kevin temperature increase = 538 kJ/kg Al melting... / 220 V / 30 A = 81.5 seconds melting. ()
The highest 17.00 electricity in Canada is about 0.17/kwh, so you need to have a 10kw induction forging that runs for 10 hours
Electric heating metal has existed for many years from memory, and I remember reading an article where it is used in the workshop. I don't remember the exact method used, but I remember it used oak barrels and high current.
As a blacksmith, I first saw the problem of induction heating. In many cases, your steel is not straight. In addition, I would like to know what it is like to heat metal particles in a strong magnetic field.
What you need to ask yourself is "why the tradition hasn’t changed much for thousands of years." In addition, due to the introduction of silicate and carbon in the forging process, most of the manual forging work using traditional methods tends to last longer, and You won't get this using induction.
We dug up some tram parts and blacksmith tools that have more than 60 years of burrs. These were pulled out, cleaned up, and almost as good as new. The same is true of Mastermyr's discovery. http://netlabs.net/~osan/Mastermyr/
Even items manufactured in propane forging will not be as durable or exhibit the same quality as items manufactured using traditional methods.
However, these types of equipment are very suitable for certain forging processes, such as rivet manufacturing, bolt manufacturing, and so on.
I bet you still ride to the market.
As a knife manufacturer that uses charcoal, propane and induction cookers at the same time, I can say that the quality is not comparable. The more modern the method, the higher the quality produced. Induction has no effect on the grains, and once the austenite temperature is reached, your steel will not interact with the magnet. In addition, the current is constantly switching, so there is actually no way to affect the crystal.
I have seen gas-forged chisels that are quenched and tempered, and then machined to accept the carbides burned in the induction field. We have always wondered whether this frequency is a factor that causes the operators to reduce their mental health.
The advantage of this is that it can be done in the apartment.
Does anyone have any induction Korean barbecue skills?
For Korean BBQ, use a hair dryer to blow a large piece of exhaust pipe onto Kingsford (or other) charcoal. Yes, it works. An anvil and quenching are still needed, but the five-gallon bucket should be quenchable. Children play in the swimming pool with sand and catch slag on your terrace to accommodate the anvil area. The fire extinguisher can be used "just in case" and 12 packs of beer for the nosy neighbor, who has a mobile phone on his hip. Viola!
The use of coal adds carbon to the metal processing process, thereby controlling some factors in the final product. Using other heating methods will lose a lot of control.
I am friends with many utility knife manufacturers who specialize in Damascus, and there are more professionals with induction forging than this article suggests. For large companies, cost is usually not a problem, they have a large number of write-offs every year. The biggest problem is to relearn the forging process of these induction units. After years of work, these people have become accustomed to using sintered forgings and have a mature feeling about their equipment. I prefer the induction hand... The gas stove is loud, hot, and bright. When I ended my friend's forging, it took a long time for me to solve my vision problems.
I would like one of them for heat treatment of watchmaking parts-but I am worried that it will be overkill! Can anyone tell me if it is fully heated, or can you control the power output-for example, I can heat the screw or barrel mandrel to cherry red and maintain a constant power output there for a few minutes?
If not, the idea that I can melt steel in my apartment is incredible. Not everyone wants to dispose of expensive propane, or use the entire side of the house for things like huge propane forging grills or blacksmiths to melt steel.
I now have a man who has a Levin instrument lathe and a complete watchmaker's workshop in his kitchen-he will kill for one of them to melt a small amount of metal in a compact form. This is great! This is exactly why I have come to hackaday many times a day for many years.
From the perspective of apartment owners and even neighbors, the concept of my tenants melting steel in their apartments seems a bit scary at first glance.
You forget, no matter what intent and purpose, when you sign the lease, it becomes their apartment, and what they do in it is their business. If they cause damage, take it out of the deposit. What about all the fires caused by frying, cooking, cigarettes, etc. every year?
Unfortunately, in Canada, there is no "security deposit" for apartments. When the owner takes you to court, he will recover any losses.
This must be the stupidest statement ever made.
Since it is electric, I think you can use some PWM to control the temperature.
In the foundry, we not only have a 10 MW furnace for melting 10 ton batches, but the mechanic also has a tabletop device to heat the bearings while installing them on and on the shaft.
Snap-On sells very few portable induction heaters, and it is easier to remove the bolts than using a flashlight in a small space (that is, under the hood of a car or inside a car). It is called Mini-Ductor II:
http://blog.toolsource.com/index.php/2010/07/mini-ductor-ii-magnetic-induction-heater-kit/
14 ounces of propane cost me less than 2 ounces of butane...it was a waste of melting glass for me to play for a few days. Nevertheless, for metals, playing with dangerous voltages and eddy currents piqued my interest. I think I will build one of them at some point. I want to see how small I can copy it and retain functionality.
I just wish I did not live in an apartment so that I could use any available method to melt aluminum for casting. :|
In fact, I am saving all my scraps and things from beginners' practice through turning and milling, so I can melt them one day. :o
We had a similar post two years ago.
Can you add a link to the article in the post?
Induction forging and smelting have gained a firm foothold in the specialty metal market, where the presence of coal/coke/natural gas exhaust gas affects the properties of the metal. If you want to quickly melt large pieces of metal and still use juice, then the electric arc furnace is your choice.
In the United States, not all houses/apartments have 220v 50w sockets, and it can be very expensive for electricians to install them. In addition, if you want to be portable, nothing can generate heat more than a beautiful propane or acetylene cylinder, but if someone can use Prius to power a portable induction heater...
Will this induction heater melt platinum?
Yes. Anything that can conduct electricity. However, some metals may "burn off", oxidize, etc. at the melting temperature. I have never melted platinum, so I am not sure that it needs to maintain a complete environment.
Will there be a problem with the crucible material? I know that graphite is incredibly conductive, so I would be more afraid of using the crucible type. I have been using a 100W CO2 laser with a focusing lens to melt more expensive metals in a vacuum! (My stream sediments contain a lot of natural copper, gold, silver, etc. The metals are obtained electrochemically, but it turns them into a mixed slime covering my graphite cathode!) The concept of induction is less dangerous than it is. A laser beam that can be reflected.
I'm sure you won't melt the stolen CAT.
Will this special induction furnace melt platinum?
So... induction heating is widely used in foundries. Therefore, if the metal you use comes from a modern foundry, it may already have any inherent problems when you buy it. Of course, these are usually at the melting point temperature. I can see some concerns about this, but I have never seen any problems. Honestly, what are you forging that might be a problem? ...In terms of electric shock, high current, high frequency and low voltage have the same danger as arc welding. If you are not satisfied with the electrical equipment in the cabinet, please do not build it. Size limitation, yes. But if you want to forge some small things, why waste resources on the furnace? You can use it for smelting, annealing and forging. The coil that induces current is easy to make, so it has a certain degree of ductility in application. As for not adding carbon to the metal, this should be the advantage of controlling carbon addition. The carbon addition should be carried out during the hardening process. You should heat the parts of the work you did not hit with a hammer to maintain even heat during work... There are several reasons. I think this is a good addition to the store. I am a mechanic, and induction annealing is a great tool for us. Use a MAP gas torch to remove the pants.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but this works by inducing a current in the conductive metal, which results in a short circuit in nature. I don't think it will have the same effect on biological tissues. Therefore, if the conductor is properly insulated, this may also be safer than a propane torch.
The long-term effects of living in a strong magnetic field are unclear. But there is a lot of evidence that high-voltage wires are harmful to physiology. Induction furnaces operate at a similar hertz, but at a much higher intensity.
I don't worry about using one occasionally, but it may cause problems for people who use it every day to make a living.
I think the power transmission is about 50-60hz, and induction heating is usually at least a thousand times that.
you are wrong. The induction coil induces eddy currents into the metal, thereby agitating the molecular bonds. The heat generated by this action may cause the material in the induction coil to melt. Due to the heat transferred back from the heated material, the coil will heat up. If no material is inserted into the induction coil, the induction coil will be very cold during operation.
I have considered trying induction heating, but I think it is not practical for my particular profession. I usually forge curved or generally large objects, such as sickle blades and axes. I think any induction device is similar to a flashlight because it will find heat and may distort the project if you are not very careful, but I don't know, I think this technology is very promising, however. On the topic of casting, I also have the same concerns. For iron and aluminum, in most cases, people want to melt a larger amount and then cast it all at once. I have done welding, worked in several machinery factories, and have done quite a long time in casting and forging. I believe that every situation will be different. For those who recycle precious metals such as gold and don’t want to bulk them, I think it’s quite ideal! I have been using electrochemistry to recover gold, nickel, silver, copper, etc. from the ashes, and feel that induction melting is the best way to separate them. I have been using a focused 100 watt CO2 laser to melt these materials and burn off the carbon without introducing any additional contaminants. I would prefer induction heating. When you have the opportunity to reflect the invisible laser beam, you will have a bad time! I don't understand why the temperature cannot be precisely controlled by induction to make the life of smelting and final casting easier. Although I will stick to traditional bulk smelting crucibles or cupolas, anything in bulk.
They are one of the first companies to make watches that can display time in multiple time zones, including altitude, GPS location, and temperature. If you sometimes plan to use the small G Shock product line, be sure to shop around to make sure that your budget is usually far beyond your budget. Kikuo Ibe, this watch is designed to absorb the impact and turbulence of sports or outdoor activities.
Doesn’t the material around the coil become hot? The cost of most miniature catheters is about US$700 to US$1,000, the inside of the coil is no more than 2 inches, and the working length is 50 to 65 mm
Coal will not add carbon to low-carbon steel, it will harden if it does, so the induction will be as good as coal or propane.
I use coal forging because induction or propane limits the size of the objects I can heat.
If you only want the metal to reach 475 degrees, would you limit the voltage?
Is it possible to use one of them to heat two different types of metals to 475 degrees, such as 40 pounds of stainless steel and copper? Can the solenoid valve control the power to be turned off and on in a pulsed manner?
A little real knowledge on this subject. The heating characteristics and coupling are affected by the operating frequency. Low frequency is used for deep penetration and effective melting. Even 60hz (scr generator, or triac) in a very large melting device. 2 to 5 MHz (tube) units have been used for cemented carbide and surface hardening. The 30-100 khz unit from China is suitable for general rapid heating and melting. One point of advice 1. Learn to calculate the necessary heating rate (watts induced in the load). Don't forget the inverter or coupling efficiency. 2. Different metals have different conductivity. You may need more copper turns than graphite. 3. Some metals are magnetic, but when you get close to the Curie point, this characteristic will decrease. 4. The closer the metal is to the coil, the higher the coupling efficiency. 5. It may be helpful to use magnetic materials (ferrite, mu metal, etc., depending on frequency and desired effect) to concentrate or shield part of the load. 6. At the melting point of steel, ordinary crucibles can be used as "hot spots". Some small areas of materials become ions and therefore conduct electricity. These areas can and will melt. Put a sandbox under your load to prevent this from happening (the crucible will also crack) 7. If your induction heater has a frequency range, you may need a meter that can read the inductance. Wavetek used to manufacture dm27xt at a price of about $100. It has the usual useful range of capacitance and inductance frequency. I don't know who made it today. There is a capacitor in parallel with your coil (in the induction heater). You want them to resonate at a frequency that the induction heater can handle. The manufacturer should specify a safe inductance range. If heating steel... Curie point... 8. The 3 common ways to control the power supply are 1) change the voltage of the fuel tank circuit 2) open and close the entire circuit 3) at the line frequency (50/60z /-), scr ignition stage
This is just the basics
As the blacksmith and foundry said.
I have a small induction stove, the kind used by dentists, and I can’t help but buy it at a pawnshop. And the brass, bronze, and zinc sand castings from the large Radyne water cooling unit, where the crucible is hydraulically lifted to the floor level of the crane. Although theoretically the same https://radyne.com/what-is-induction-heating-2/induction-heating-basics/, the absolute difference in power density and control is huge. There are many variables in the metal and size of the crucible.
From the forging aspect. Regardless of the fuel used, its heat flux has a time component. For closed forging furnaces, the thermal insulation performance and mass flow rate will determine the maximum temperature for a given volume. As an example of what I mean, I need to straighten the curved forklift time for the tractor. (I know it breaks the temper, but my friend is unreasonable about it.) Although he thinks that a small oxyacetylene rosebud can get an outdoor working temperature of 2 inches x 4 inches in winter, I know better. A simple pit with drilled rectangular steel pipes, a few bricks and a blower quickly turn some old coal into coke, and can transfer enough heat to work instead of sucking it away.
The same is true for this project. If in a closed forging furnace with good insulation, the ability to get more work to working temperature will increase.
Closed-a box with only one wall open, or a window inside, or through it. I used to work in a special propane forging plant with a small window on it, just to chisel/upset/twist the railing.
I think people change slowly. People are afraid of change... Induction is a good thing. Heating or soldering is much faster... If I can afford one, I will buy one... I am 50 years old and I like to work by the fire and swing a hammer... I don't care where the heat comes from, although I do like it Look at the flame.. If I have an induction heater, I will soon take a picture of the flame near it :)
"We actually want to know why we haven't seen many home blacksmiths using induction heating" I can only speak for myself here, but the main reason why I don't build and use induction forging/the only reason is that no one seems to be able to provide simple instructions . I am not an electrical engineer. The reason is simple. Although IQ is close to the level of genius, all EE Greek is obviously too much for my simple craftsman/artisan brain. (Seriously, when they handed over your degree to you, did they make you sign an oath to stop speaking simple English?). I really want to build an induction forging and can easily see its advantages. But every time I start searching the internet for how to do it, every video and instruction follows the same pattern, which is to spray out a bunch of Greek and acronyms, and assume that all of our stupid hillbillies treat their content. I just said nothing. Seriously, before my brain said "F* this, my waste oil forging works very well", I have completed about one-third of the material list. We understand, you are electrical engineers...you are very smart and well-educated, congratulations. But to be honest, this is not the starship you are building-with all your education and experience, at least one of you should be able to make a pretty smart layman understand what you are talking about. I dare to guess that the main reason most of us insist on using coal, propane or waste oil is that people don’t need to learn a new language to use coal, propane or waste oil.
A sign of truly skilled and knowledgeable people is that they can make almost anyone understand themselves clearly.
Wow, that's half of reading. I have an ongoing induction furnace project, which has been in progress for about four or five years. I have a separate, insulated, inclined coil and crucible (graphite 4 inches), and I have successfully cast aluminum, copper, brass, bronze, and iron.
The learning curve is steep. I have some qualifications in mathematics, physics, and electronics, but I haven't reached the level of a degree. I have been studying general engineering for many years.
All the functional systems I built are based on the Royer self-resonance circuit of the mazilli flyback driver. Although these are simple to build, I found them to be very unpredictable and completely uncontrollable-they either work or explode and are spectacular.
Over the years, the experiment has completed a panacea bill, but I still don't have a practical system.
I have sought advice and help various geniuses in the electronics department develop the next version, but honestly, I think it’s time to pay £600 on a Chinese LH15a 15kw induction system to see if I can use an insulated tilting crucible. This is a big bet, but I have seen one of these machines use a small graphite crucible to melt iron to pouring temperature in about 30 seconds. My experience has led me to believe that no matter how small the induction circuit is, if the crucible is well insulated, it will eventually bring any common metal to the melting point and pour point.
My interest in small-scale induction melting stems from the noise, smoke and space required to operate a natural gas/oil foundry. If you don't have a spare outdoor shed or a huge flue in a workshop, burning gallons of fossil fuel is impossible. Then there is the issue of fossil fuels, saying that you like climate change and a cleaner melting must be better.
In the period when my system has been in the button state, it is absolutely fun to use, quiet, clean, and safer for me. Shut down immediately, with no lost heat, no real fire, no smoke, and no need to lift the pot filled with molten iron in the tilted crucible, which is certainly exciting, but also the most dangerous. I very much hope to have a safe, reliable and useful induction stove, but my opinion is that unless you spend a lot of money and a lot of time, the homemade version will not be the case at all.
I think China has done all this work, and it seems to be very cheap. How reliable these boxes are is another question.
There are blacksmiths who use induction heating. But compared with combustion forging, they have a serious flaw. Dimension of heating.
Not particularly suitable for reheating large vortices that are much smaller. Rather than forging the entire volume under relatively uniform heat (theoretical and design-based), one must work on site manipulation to try to obtain uniform heat. Therefore, it is applicable to some processes, but not to others. It lacks flexibility.
You will definitely not burn your steel because you have too much iron in the fire but
The circuit board seams of these 2.5kW Chinese ZVS induction heaters are not too complicated, but I have not seen anyone plagiarize; nor have I seen anyone explain how they work in layman terms, let alone expand it to 15kW. Agreeing with Richard's point, "A sign of truly skilled and knowledgeable people is that they can make almost anyone understand themselves clearly."
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