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Let's Talk Smelting--Heat Source Equipment, Furnaces? Torches? Backyard Foundry?
CP
post Jun 20 2004, 08:39 AM
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Another topic suggested for discussions.
Questions and answers.......Let's hear it everyone. ^_^

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gold_tutor
post Jun 20 2004, 10:07 AM
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I'll kick it off, Dan and Denise with an idea filled URL
**** ***** plus **** ****
a BUILDERS' BEWARE caveat.

I won't say which person or which set of internet plans was used, but I have a Thrift Store Prospecting Gold Kit buyer/reader who was gung ho to try to smelt his own harvested scrap gold instead of following my advice.

The man was a highly accomplished concert pianist who wanted a hobby I guess.
Whatever floats yer boat, yes?????

Regardless,
he--who will remain nameless but finally bravely shared his painful story with me--
built one of these type, small footprint sized small scale foundry units.

On first use, he ended up severely burning his left hand simply from firing it up
wrong. He spent considerable time in the hospital, in therapy, and almost got divorced by his wife for his "stupidity"

So fer gawd's sakes, gals and guys...if you want to branch into this small footprint
arena,
buy AND USE the googles,
ditto the gloves
buy real tongs
a face shield is a good idea
ditto a leather welder's apron/chaps
tie up the dog
lock the kids in the house
keep an ABC fire-extinguisher handy
and most of all think these processes through.

ASK QUESTIONS FIRST!!! Not after the accident when your hand is too bandaged up that you have to type with a pencil in yer teeth!

AND DON'T HURRY.

Look, gang...
I poured perfectly my first time,
splattered all to hell and gone the second one,
so, take it from someone who has their learning curve under their belt.

Undoubtedly you will spill some, too, at some point.

If you do, no biggie. That's why God invented Gold Panning. You can always
dig up the burned area, grab yer pan and a 5 gal bucket, work the material
and recover your splatters and major "chunk."

Yes, I have a regular furnace and not one of these homemade jobs. Makes no difference.

The Good Lord above gave us only one pair of eyes, hands and lungs.
Unless you want to order replacements from Sears (or eBay???)
A-- don't rush,
B---have someone you trust cover your six so if you do get hurt while you are learning,
C----the learning part isn't fatal or causes permanent disability and they can call for help.

You'll have your hands full learning. And you can ask your questions here. Might not like the answers, but no one will call you stupid. The only dumb questions are the unasked ones!!!!!!!

Now with that off my chest, here's the fun URL for your do-it-yer-selfers.
And NOPE, don't get one red cent from this dude for mentioning him here, nor have I bought any of his books...I've just studied his site and there is a resonance of experience, success, and solid info about this fella that I think makes him worth mentioning.

Build Your Own Backyard Foundry

Take care out there guys/gals. And Happy Father's Day.
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Si_NM
post Jun 20 2004, 12:55 PM
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Field smelting,, a fun and challenging endeavor. My experiences have been way way in the field so to speak, away from good electric sources. Accordingly I prefer a unit that is handy to operate with limited facilities. I'll post some pics and try to outline what you are looking at. The unit is a blown air and propane system, heating a barrel like melter. The first pic shows the unit. Note the pull off lid,, also you can see a central blow hole. The three blocks by my foot are ingot molds.. Note a pan of gold waiting to get melted.

The second pic shows part of the propane tank and gas line hooking into what looks like a hair dryer. This unit is inserted into a blow hole toward the bottom of the melting chamber. Propane flowing, hair dryer blowing, a flame starts heating a graphite crucible inside containing the melt ingredients. Gold melts at near 1900F and this unit will maybe put out 2100 on a good day.

Third pic shows the blower inserted into melter ,, lid off,, graphite crucible with gold and flux installed. Flux is primarily borax, lesser soda ash, spar, minor silica

Fourth pic lid back off,, melt completed ,, ready to pour.

Fifth pic,, pouring. Note safety gear. Ingot mold had been sooted heavily with pure acetelyne smoke to prevent sticking

Sixth pic cooling mold with a thin film of slag on the ingot. Note slag is always saved as there is small value to be reclaimed as shotted gold beadlets remain in the slag

Seventh pic,, typical bullion bar, ready for a little cleanup,, usually just a dip in icy water while still hot to shatter off any stuck slag,, then a little bristle scrub brush action. pics follow in following posts,, I hope this isnt too cumbersome
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Si_NM
post Jun 20 2004, 01:08 PM
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Pic 1
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Si_NM
post Jun 20 2004, 01:12 PM
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pic 2
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Si_NM
post Jun 20 2004, 01:15 PM
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pic 3
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Si_NM
post Jun 20 2004, 01:17 PM
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Si_NM
post Jun 20 2004, 01:20 PM
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Si_NM
post Jun 20 2004, 01:23 PM
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Si_NM
post Jun 20 2004, 01:27 PM
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pic 7,, whew done,, my apologies to all for using so much space on this thread,, I'm gonna sit on my hands for 2 weeks now for penance hehe
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Denise
post Jun 20 2004, 03:18 PM
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GREAT PICS SI!!! B)
Thanks for sharing. Never feel like you are posting too much, you have great info to share with all of us. :)


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gold_tutor
post Jun 21 2004, 09:22 AM
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Good Job, there Si. Great teaching photos.

I'll play "straight man" fer ya...

Here's a couple Qs...one for my friend who built one of the "other" furnaces to his everlasting regret...

How's the safest way to light one of these fire at the bottom smelters?"
I didn't see any "window" cut into the tube near the propane connection from which
one could safely light that foundry.

Seriously now...no cute answers like "use long matches" or "say the rosary 4 times first", k?
laugh.gif laugh.gif laugh.gif

Second question is:

How do you keep foundry heat from conducting back to your blower and not frying it from heat?

I didn't see any heat diffuser gizmos. Are you depending upon forced air to provide the lack of heat conductivity back to your fan house, or is your inlet pipe some type of non-heat conducting ceramic?

Third Question:
What is the weight of that furnace pictured. (Yes, you can guesstimate with and without the lid in place laugh.gif Some of us aren't as young as you are in those photos, ya'know.

Thanks, Si.
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Si_NM
post Jun 21 2004, 12:00 PM
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Lets see,, to answer your questions,,on lighting,, you place a burning something in the melter,, I used to use a piece of canvas soaked in diesel,, then crack propane valve,, just a tad,, they have knobs on the valve like your water faucet, get air blowing gently,, then as things heat up,, turn up the valves in small stages til she is snorting. Maybe takes 5 minutes to throttle up. If you get impatient at the start and open things up full throttle at the gitgo,, well that has advantages too,, there arent any barbers in the wilderness, and the impending FOOM and fireball keeps you nicely trimmed,,,,, j/k

On heat transfer,, the blower tip doesnt get very hot just as a torch tip doesnt overheat. The flow actually keeps the flame base somewhat away from the end of the tip, then the flow keeps the melter heat at bay too. To be fair,, those blowers arent plastic,, the tip is a thin but hi quality stainless alloy it looks like.

On the melter weight,, yep it's heavy,, I hate to carry more than one at once,, ;)

But you need to be a big tough guy to mine,, at least that's what I tell the girls,,, ^_^ ,, but lugging one of those around isn't near as bad as putting a track back on a cat, when you turned in the deep goop and didnt notice the tensioner needed a shot of grease,,
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Coalbunny
post Jun 21 2004, 10:05 PM
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What I used to do is take a small piece of newspaper, wad it up, light it and drop it in the hole. THEN turn the propane and air on, on low. Sometimes it doesn't work and ya gotta do it over.


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If they were they'd have eaten the snake instead of the apple and we'd still be in heaven....
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gold_tutor
post Jun 26 2004, 04:25 PM
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I had to learn the hard way Carl and Sierra, which gas to turn on first.

Would either of you two gents like to weigh in with the "correct order" and why for the other novices out there, especially the brand new hobbyist using his/her first torch or foundry?

After I learned the answer for my 2 tank torch, I made up a laminate card, punched a hole through it and used a zip-tie to attach it to the handle. I don't use it often enough to remember. Now if my cook stove was a two-gasser, I jis might 'member laugh.gif laugh.gif laugh.gif

Thanks, guys or anyone else who would like to join the discussion and help out the newbie prospector. Redpaw, Russ, Mark, Gat...you'uns lurkin'????
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