110 Heat Treat oven

DURA005682-115V-1400W-$14.50, This puts you at 80% load(12 amps constant) on your 15 amp breaker. This oven is going to be slow... Just build it so that you can upgrade and dont build it any bigger than you think you will need. The 15 amp limitation is really hurting you. Again its gonna be slow, just keep a watch on it and let it do its thing, DO NOT leave it unattended until you are comfortable with it and even then find something to do near by so you can keep an eye on it. Good luck.
 
how slow are you thinking it will be??

If I were to decide to run a 220 extention cord would all the parts be the same??
 
john0270 said:
Not if it's sized accordingly right?
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This is coming from my own experience, I am by no means an expert, just sharing my knowledge. I can tell you that from what I have researched and what I have done myself an oven with an internal capacity of .29 cubic feet running a 4000 watt element with 220v of electricity takes 15 minutes to reach 1500* F. Ern said he wanted a 13 1/2'' deep 4 1/2'' high and around 7'' wide oven which is .24 cubic feet, not much smaller area than mine and the element he is going to be using is only going to produce 1400 watts with 110v then you have to account for the fact that the wire used for the element itself is going to be a much smaller gauge than the 220v element which means less surface area to heat up on the wire(for example the 4000 watt element is 13 guage, the 1400 watt is 16 guage). So I would guess that its going to take 3x-4x as long to reach the temp if not longer(this is just me guessing).

how slow are you thinking it will be??

If I were to decide to run a 220 extention cord would all the parts be the same??
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As far as running a 220v extension, that is what I would do, it wont change anything but the element itself. Check to make sure, but you should have a 20 amp breaker feeding your dryer outlet so that would allow you to get the largest element DURA005681-240V-4000W-$25.25.

Make sure the electrical cord you use is at least 12ga wire. Since extension cords are stranded and not solid wire the 12ga should have no problem carrying the 17 amps needed to power the element. Also this extension will come in handy when you get yourself a 2x72 grinder, you wont have to search all over hell and half of Georgia for a 120v motor, you can use a 220v and you will in turn conserve energy.

Using this set up you can expect it to reach 1500* F in less than 15 minutes if you build it right.
 
The breaker for my dryer says 30!!

What would be the maximum length for an extention cord?
I will have to run about 30 feet to make it to my little workshop!!

Thanks for all the info frossbyte and everyone else, I might be ordering everything I need soon!!
 
I would think a 50' extension would be fine, if you go any further than that I would recommend going to a 10ga extension. Good to hear you are near the finish line, have fun with it and be careful. Just make sure everything is wired up right, and quadruple check everything before you power it on.
 
This thread should help with the wiring of a 220VAC oven. Note that it was discussing the different ways to hook up the SSR and you will need to use the one that matches your power and the type of SSR you get:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6527573

The entire process is nicely explained on page two of this oven manual.
http://www.paragonweb.com/files/manuals/IM205_Sentry_Troubleshooter.pdf

You can google and download the manuals for most any device made. Doing so will help you understand how to program your pid,provide wiring diagrams, and give you good HT advise. I would suggest reading through several companies manuals to get a good base knowledge.
To do that, simple google (for instance) "paragon Ovens". Find the companies site
http://www.paragonweb.com/index.cfm
then click "heat treating furnaces"
http://www.paragonweb.com/Heat_Treating_Furnaces.cfm
Then click a model that looks like what you are interested in
http://www.paragonweb.com/PMT-10.cfm
Then click on the manuals available ( usually bottom of page)
Try several different models, as the information is sometimes different.
Stacy
 
Bigern26,I am digging your thread back up because I am planning to build an oven according to your original plan. I was wondering if you ever got yours up and running?
 
Just a comment from recent personal experience, I just finished an oven from the plans on british blades and we originally wired it up 110 just to see what it would do. Well, it got up to temp but took it's sweet friggin time! To hit 1500F it took about an hour at 100%. We then wired it for 220 and it took about 14 minutes... :) I'm gonna stick with 220. Curious to see what you decided to do. Oh, I got my bricks from a local Harbison-Walker for $2.75 each (or somewhere around there) and they gave me a garbage bag full of inswool scraps they had, with which I lined the entire oven and the outside stays cool to the touch for about 30 minutes and then starts to warm up from the radiant heat. Very happy with how mine turned out, now I need to grind some steel so I can do my first heat treat!

Good luck man!
 
amcardon said:
Just a comment from recent personal experience, I just finished an oven from the plans on british blades and we originally wired it up 110 just to see what it would do. Well, it got up to temp but took it's sweet friggin time! To hit 1500F it took about an hour at 100%. We then wired it for 220 and it took about 14 minutes... :) I'm gonna stick with 220. Curious to see what you decided to do. Oh, I got my bricks from a local Harbison-Walker for $2.75 each (or somewhere around there) and they gave me a garbage bag full of inswool scraps they had, with which I lined the entire oven and the outside stays cool to the touch for about 30 minutes and then starts to warm up from the radiant heat. Very happy with how mine turned out, now I need to grind some steel so I can do my first heat treat!

Good luck man!
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1 hour, heh, I dont mean to toot my own horn(Okay maybe I do), but boy was I close :p. 220v is def the way to go, I may get around to taking some pictures of mine here soon, she aint purty but she works well... keep us informed Ern!

Also about the radiant heat, mine starts to get hot as well after a while, I did not use any insulation on the exterior of my oven, I would recommend it though, the exterior can get rather hot.
 
I had to put this build on hold for a bit. I am slowly getting parts here and there but the firebrick are going to have to wait a while.

I will be going 220 though, It will be more efficient in the long run and a lot easier to ramp temps.
 
amcardon said:
Just a comment from recent personal experience, I just finished an oven from the plans on british blades and we originally wired it up 110 just to see what it would do. Well, it got up to temp but took it's sweet friggin time! To hit 1500F it took about an hour at 100%. We then wired it for 220 and it took about 14 minutes... :) I'm gonna stick with 220. Curious to see what you decided to do. Oh, I got my bricks from a local Harbison-Walker for $2.75 each (or somewhere around there) and they gave me a garbage bag full of inswool scraps they had, with which I lined the entire oven and the outside stays cool to the touch for about 30 minutes and then starts to warm up from the radiant heat. Very happy with how mine turned out, now I need to grind some steel so I can do my first heat treat!

Good luck man!
Click to expand...

How many watts was the 110v element rated for? I have 20 amp circuits to run mine off of so I can go up to around a 2000 watt element on 110v I think. To run on 220 I will have to use our dryer outlet, which means that I will be fighting for the power while everyone is trying to do laundry. It will be faster to wait the hour for the oven to heat up, if that's what it takes.
 
I am a bit electrically challenged but in the diagram below I am wondering how the heck does hooking up 2 positive's, and no ground energize the coils???

I have nearly everything to start building my heat treating oven, but I was going to use 2 120v elements and run it off of a 240plug, just splitting the legs one to to each element, and both would have a common ground. Will this work?

WIRING%20OVENUS.JPG
 
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