Folks,

I want to modify my furnace from Propane to electricity.

First question: can standard incoloy elements handle the temperatures
required? I suppose 1200 deg F to be safe?

They are comparatively cheap and can be custom made to fit the furnace.

Second question: Approx what power am I looking at?
Inner dimensions with lid on is: dia 8 inches , height 10 inches.
Wall thickness 4 inches.
I guesstimate 2 kw will do.

Third question: How do I do the temp control cheaply?

....
I want to modify my furnace from Propane to electricity.

First question: can standard incoloy elements handle the temperatures
required? I suppose 1200 deg F to be safe?

They are comparatively cheap and can be custom made to fit the furnace.

Second question: Approx what power am I looking at?
Inner dimensions with lid on is: dia 8 inches , height 10 inches.
Wall thickness 4 inches.
I guesstimate 2 kw will do.

Third question: How do I do the temp control cheaply?


There's a Gingery book on how to build an electric AL smelter from scrap. It
should answer all these questions and more. Get it from Lindsay Books. IIRC,
the cost was like $4

Karl

Check with your local pottery supply place. They have all the stock
elements like hard and soft firebrick, nicrhome wire, controls,
thermometers, etc.

manytoys wrote:
Folks,

I want to modify my furnace from Propane to electricity.

First question: can standard incoloy elements handle the temperatures
required? I suppose 1200 deg F to be safe?

They are comparatively cheap and can be custom made to fit the furnace.

Second question: Approx what power am I looking at?
Inner dimensions with lid on is: dia 8 inches , height 10 inches.
Wall thickness 4 inches.
I guesstimate 2 kw will do.

Third question: How do I do the temp control cheaply?

or just buy a 2nd hand pottery kiln. a cone 10 will go up to 2300f. you
could then use it to make your own ceramic vessel to contain the metal.

regards,
charlie
http://glassartists.org/chaniarts

"RoyJ" wrote in message
. net...
Check with your local pottery supply place. They have all the stock
elements like hard and soft firebrick, nicrhome wire, controls,
thermometers, etc.

manytoys wrote:
Folks,

I want to modify my furnace from Propane to electricity.

First question: can standard incoloy elements handle the temperatures
required? I suppose 1200 deg F to be safe?

They are comparatively cheap and can be custom made to fit the furnace.

Second question: Approx what power am I looking at?
Inner dimensions with lid on is: dia 8 inches , height 10 inches.
Wall thickness 4 inches.
I guesstimate 2 kw will do.

Third question: How do I do the temp control cheaply?

My oven is bigger than yours I use a clothes dryer element and it will
reach 2000.deg using 120volts.
Take an ohm meter and cut the lenth of the coil down untill it reads
6.5 ohms. the coil will be about 5 to 6 feet long .so you may have
trouble fitting them inside your oven.

"manytoys" wrote in message
ups.com...
Folks,

I want to modify my furnace from Propane to electricity.

First question: can standard incoloy elements handle the temperatures
required? I suppose 1200 deg F to be safe?

They are comparatively cheap and can be custom made to fit the furnace.

Second question: Approx what power am I looking at?
Inner dimensions with lid on is: dia 8 inches , height 10 inches.
Wall thickness 4 inches.
I guesstimate 2 kw will do.

Third question: How do I do the temp control cheaply?


I have had reasonable success with a homemade temperature control by
making a strip of metal that is made of two different metals with differing
coefficients of expansion. One end is secured ant the other end is free to
swing at the temperature changes. Mount a contact nea rthe swinging end
and let it control a power relay.

manytoys wrote:

Folks,

snip?

Third question: How do I do the temp control cheaply?


A salvaged electric cooktop controller works pretty well. It's a
proportional controller, i.e., the higher you set it, the more the
current is "on" in comparison to the total on-off cycle. You have to
experiment a bit to achieve a certain temperature, as they are not
thermostats. These are 240v units. Old cooktops are easy to find, and
when you snag one, you get a controller and 3 spares.

Gary Brady
Austin, TX

To attach to them - use screw clamps. Solder won't stay cold !
Besides it is hard to solder to these anyway.

How about oven or stovetop calrad burners ? 120 / 220.


Martin Eastburn
@ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net
NRA LOH, NRA Life
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder



tim wrote:
My oven is bigger than yours I use a clothes dryer element and it will
reach 2000.deg using 120volts.
Take an ohm meter and cut the lenth of the coil down untill it reads
6.5 ohms. the coil will be about 5 to 6 feet long .so you may have
trouble fitting them inside your oven.


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Good idea, Jerry! What might not be apparent is that the thermostat you
have specified does not have to be in the hottest part of the oven. It
could be "proximity" calibrated to gauge and control the oven temperature by
mounting it at some distance from the inside of the oven, say, in a probe
that communicates with the inside.

Bob Swinney
"Jerry Martes" wrote in message
news:d%rPe.17060$137.11333@trnddc08...

"manytoys" wrote in message
ups.com...
Folks,

I want to modify my furnace from Propane to electricity.

First question: can standard incoloy elements handle the temperatures
required? I suppose 1200 deg F to be safe?

They are comparatively cheap and can be custom made to fit the furnace.

Second question: Approx what power am I looking at?
Inner dimensions with lid on is: dia 8 inches , height 10 inches.
Wall thickness 4 inches.
I guesstimate 2 kw will do.

Third question: How do I do the temp control cheaply?


I have had reasonable success with a homemade temperature control by
making a strip of metal that is made of two different metals with
differing coefficients of expansion. One end is secured ant the other end
is free to swing at the temperature changes. Mount a contact nea rthe
swinging end and let it control a power relay.

"manytoys" wrote in message
ups.com...
First question: can standard incoloy elements handle the temperatures
required? I suppose 1200 deg F to be safe?

I suppose.. I don't know what incoloy is in regards to heating elements.
Typical alloy used is called nichrome.

Second question: Approx what power am I looking at?
Inner dimensions with lid on is: dia 8 inches , height 10 inches.
Wall thickness 4 inches.
I guesstimate 2 kw will do.

3" wall will do. If possible, go with 1-2" light insulating brick or
castable refractory, then wrap that with an inch or so of kaowool or similar
product. And if you really want to go over the top, slather on some
ITC-100!

Third question: How do I do the temp control cheaply?

You don't. I mean you don't bother at all: why run your elements at
anything less than full power when you need all that heat in the pot to melt
the metal? People who build electric furnaces say "I always leave it at max
anyway". Even then, a melt takes a few hours, which does give you time to
ram a mold.

Tim

--
Deep Fryer: a very philosophical monk.
Website: http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms