This 8in 304SS propane fueled unit our first one. I made a YouTube video about it in thermal IR view <-- Click Blue Text to View the first startup of this unit in thermal IR, I include a visible clip of the unit operating at start of the video!
For years I have dreamt of having a forge for smelting metals like copper & aluminum, silver & gold, & for knife making, blade making & more. Inspire by many other YouTube personalities with their videos Meg & I agreed to procure an 8in unit in 304 SS to melt pop cans & scrap wire // We do not drink normal soda pop or fluids containing sugar, since we are both diabetic & do interval fasting, but we have some friends & coworkers that do, who generate aluminum cans that we collect for smelting in this furnace.
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| IR view of Forge at Full Operating Temperature |
Aluminum Thermal Energy Storage Concept
Heating aluminum in an insulated container can create a thermal battery energy storage solution most recently explored by a engineering firm making a device that does this to store electricity in a referable way using a large insulated aluminum block as the energy storage medium.
Intense Heat Of 80,000 BTU Propane Jet Flame
Melting metals requires very high temperatures & this unit able to heat the crucible to 2100 F or 1150 C by combustion of propane fuel with atmospheric air. I operate it on a ceramic brick for protect the ground from intense heat produced during the short 1 hr or less operation of this forge
Melting Beverage Cans
Smelting aluminum beverage cans makes a funny sizzle noise as the residual fluid in the cans boil off as you add the crushed cans to the crucible. Shortly after adding the cans, the can label will start burning off with a yellow sooty flame. I found that I could add about 4 cans then put the lid back on & turn the propane up to cleanly burn off the soot with a blue cleaner burning flame emitted rather than orange with a bunch of smoke & soot.
First Operation with IR Capture
This operation done at the end of a domestic garage with the door up for fresh air & venting, & the garage was left open for an hour after operating the forge to let the forge cool off & for all the air pollution generated to diffuse out of the garage. Better to operate this completely outdoors. I was shooting in this way so as to setup my IR camera dongle into my iPhone SE in order to capture the warmup sequence of the forges first firing. After capturing the video, video imported directly to iMovie & edited then uploaded //
Dirty Emissions
Sadly the unit releases air pollution, smoke, soot, CO, CO2 & metal vapors toxic to people. On the plus side it will not be operated often or much & only runs for 20-50 min at a time & propane a relative clean burning hydrocarbon compared to gasoline or diesel or coals or fuel oil // I am considering adding an aftermarket automotive catalytic convert to the forge lid vent hole to help further reduce emissions
Electric Slower & Less Reliable
I did a lot of research before buying this unit & while my friends in the scientific community got fully electric smelting units, including really expensive induction heating units, I went with a low cost propane unit made of 304 stainless steel lined with Kaowool ceramic high temperature fireproof material that resists the intense heat of the blue hot propane flame // I used teflon tap on the threads of the jet & hose connections to make a good seal. It only costs $12.11 to fill the 20lb propane tank with 4.4 gals at The Grange in Issaquah, Wa, USA close to where Meg & I currently live!
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