Besides induction heating, anything electronic

[T3sl4]

I now officially have a proper website:
http://www.williamsinduction.com/
so if you have any interest in induction heating, motor control, power supplies, or have electronics questions, drop a line!

Tim

 

[goldsilverpro]

I moved this. This is a commercial venture. Keep it in this category. Thank you.

 

[Oz]

A nice website Tim!

You may find it worthwhile having some pricing though as many will not ask. Just one mans opinion.

 

[4metals]

What is the price of a 10KW power supply?

 

[Lou]

Stupid cheap if I remember rightly, especially considering it's made by a Masters in EE with 10+ years of tinkering.

I've known Tim for quite some time and have nothing but confidence in his competence.

 

[T3sl4]

Eh, BSEE + BS Physics. (Spose I coulda gone for a Masters just as well..)

Good point, I'll add prices, and I'll expand with some sub-pages later, showing details of the products. The 10kW unit is currently $2000. That's pretty good, considering you'll spend upwards of $3k for a Chinese unit or $10k for American.

Tim

 

[joem]

and the 1k cost?

 

[T3sl4]

$700.

 

[Noxx]

I would like to get pics or a video of the final 10kW unit in operation. 8)

Thanks

 

[T3sl4]

I've recieved a request for one, so I soon may have more than the prototype to show off. 8) 8)

 

[rusty]

I've recieved a request for one, so I soon may have more than the prototype to show off. 8) 8)

How many pounds of aluminum would you induction furnace melt at a time, I'm thinking that I would need a minimum of 12 or 14 lbs for a product I would like to cast.

To run this furnace from 220 volt single phase what kind of amperage are we looking at.

Best Regards
Gill

 

[T3sl4]

My prototype is built around my welder's 240V, 50A circuit, which is good for 10kW, give or take.

I personally wouldn't recommend induction for aluminum. It's so much easier (and cheaper) to melt with, say, a campfire!

If you have to melt indoors, carbon credits blah blah, well first I'd recommend moving to another state but otherwise, it should be possible to do 20 pounds or so with 10kW. It may take some time (~1 hour?), and you'll need a good layer of kaowool around the crucible of course.

Tim

 

[rusty]

My prototype is built around my welder's 240V, 50A circuit, which is good for 10kW, give or take.

I personally wouldn't recommend induction for aluminum. It's so much easier (and cheaper) to melt with, say, a campfire!

Tim

Yea I suppose a sack full of aluminum pop and beer cans melted over a campfire would work. I'm particular of the aluminum alloys I use in my castings and use a de-gasser to avoid porosity.

The castings I've done in the past, simple fishing and scuba weight molds have become mundane, I would like to challenge myself by getting into something a bit more rewarding.

I'm a fan of the Ford flathead V8 and would like to cast some performance goodies, these new castings are not as simple as filling a candy mold you need cores to cast for instance a Tri Power intake manifold or a cylinder head that has a water jacket.

Twenty pounds is right on the money but the one hour melt time is not acceptable. Thanks for the reply and your honesty here Tim.

 

[Lou]

Why so slow for aluminum?

Besides, one can easily construct a propane or oil-fired furnace that'll do a #20 crucible full of aluminum (or more) for under $500. I've done it.
If you plan on doing quality castings in aluminum and want good surface finish, invest in Petro Bond. I don't have any photos to show on my new computer, but the finish was unparalleled. Furthermore, magnesium castings are readily done with it. Check out backyardmetalcasting.com for more details.

 

[rusty]

Why so slow for aluminum?

Besides, one can easily construct a propane or oil-fired furnace that'll do a #20 crucible full of aluminum (or more) for under $500. I've done it.
If you plan on doing quality castings in aluminum and want good surface finish, invest in Petro Bond. I don't have any photos to show on my new computer, but the finish was unparalleled. Furthermore, magnesium castings are readily done with it. Check out backyardmetalcasting.com for more details.

I use Petrobond exclusively you can't beat it for picking up detail, look at the detail on the McCulloch logo casting.

The logo was cut out from an old chainsaw fuel tank any imperfections were left in, they are from the many years of use the chainsaw had before it died. I could have touched up the few blemishes with auto body filler then sanded to perfection.

 

[T3sl4]

Hmm, well...

With perfect insulation, it will take 12.3 minutes to reach melting point, and 6 minutes to melt fully. That's good, but insulation is really important when you've got something as big as 20 pounds of aluminum (about a half gallon of metal!).

Now, kaowool might be ballpark 0.15 W/m/K thermal conductivity (the actual value varies a lot with temperature), and a square cylinder (dia = height) has a minimal surface area so I will assume the metal is in that shape crucible. The diameter is 4.63 inches, and the area 0.065 m^2. The blanket is 1 inch thick, so it will dissipate 298 watts. Oh well hell, that's hardly anything then! Sure, twenty minutes will do it! As long as you aren't poking at it the whole time, like mama said, don't let the heat out!

Can you tell I love Google Calculator? Automatic unit conversion is sweet... :lol:

Tim