Recommendation? Daydreaming induction forge and a railroad track anvil

FredyCro

FredyCro

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So, I have all this ideas of doing some forging in my small basement shop. I don't want an open fire there and Mecha Mecha suggested a cheap induction forge.

My initial research brought up some meager results. I found this interesting series on YouTube which shows that with some ingenious engineering a cheap chinese induction can me made into an induction forge.


I would try to interest some of my friends to try and build one for me. Does anyone have any experience with this and how they fare? I would do occasional stock forging like hammering in the bevels and distal tapers in premade sanmai billets. If I felt courageous I would even try to forge weld some sanmai or forge stainless.

I would also try to fabricate a small railroad anvil, there are countless post on these. I am primarily interested in how to fabricate a stand.

Some of my ideas include bolting the anvil to a heavy steel plate (30 kg) with some rubber in between for noise dampening and bolting all to a stand made of large wood planks. Others would be to fabricate a simple metal stand, for example a steel tube of large diameter filled with sand or concrete. What are the pros and cons of different stand types? I am interested in maximizing the usefulness of a small rail road track anvil (most suggest a heavy stand) as well as the mobility of the stand (for example adding cart wheels to the side of the stand) and reducing the noise to minimum.
 
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And a very basic scetch of what I plan. I could get most of the stuff from local classifieds. I would just need to buy basic mounting hardware. Estimated cost ca 100 Euro and I guess a lot of fab time (hand grinding). I guess I could flatten the top on the 2x72 and do the rest with an angle grinder or get someone with a torch for rough shaping.
 
Check out Derek Melton’s website. He has some good info on inductions forges. If you search fleabay there’s all kinds of “induction heater furnace” listings.
 
FredyCro said:
So, I have all this ideas of doing some forging in my small basement shop. I don't want an open fire there and Mecha Mecha suggested a cheap induction forge.

My initial research brought up some meager results. I found this interesting series on YouTube which shows that with some ingenious engineering a cheap chinese induction can me made into an induction forge.


I would try to interest some of my friends to try and build one for me. Does anyone have any experience with this and how they fare? I would do occasional stock forging like hammering in the bevels and distal tapers in premade sanmai billets. If I felt courageous I would even try to forge weld some sanmai or forge stainless.

I would also try to fabricate a small railroad anvil, there are countless post on these. I am primarily interested in how to fabricate a stand.

Some of my ideas include bolting the anvil to a heavy steel plate (30 kg) with some rubber in between for noise dampening and bolting all to a stand made of large wood planks. Others would be to fabricate a simple metal stand, for example a steel tube of large diameter filled with sand or concrete. What are the pros and cons of different stand types? I am interested in maximizing the usefulness of a small rail road track anvil (most suggest a heavy stand) as well as the mobility of the stand (for example adding cart wheels to the side of the stand) and reducing the noise to minimum.
Click to expand...


I don't have an induction heater (yet), but an amazing bladesmith I know has one, and I called him to talk at length about it. He uses it constantly, it's an incredibly useful tool. It's the self-contained 15kw version that can commonly be found for sale on the internet, and does a fine job heating up even fairly thick sections of steel. Much more powerful than 1800 watts, though. I see them for sale for less than $600, which is a screaming good deal (though the same model is sometimes listed for $1100). That said, if you put one together by buying the components, the price drops even much lower than that.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I just saw the listing Mecha Mecha refers to, interesting. There are even smaller units on Aliexpress (for example 3kw unit for about 300 dollars). If I don't plan on heating larger sections, but work with stock up to an 1/4" would this suffice for getting to forge welding temps? Strong enough to paint the heat through the billet? You see my point?

It would be nice to have someone put one together and to be able to do any troubleshooting if necessary. If I u buy off the shelf unit from China and it sucks, I won't be able to do much about it..
 
Be sure to look at the power requirements and connection method of the induction forges. Many have to be direct wired to the fuse box with heavy gauge wire and they draw a LOT of power. Most small home shops can't power one of any size.
 
Be sure to check the power requirements for an induction forge. Mist take a LOT of power to run. Some home shops may not be able to power one. Some have to be direct wired to the fuse box.
 
There is a lot of material on 15 kw unit on YouTube. It runs of 220v/60a. The water pump is expensive. Buying the proved 15 kw unit and pump would run around 1500 dollars.

I might buy sth like this from Aliexpress just for giggles. 3 kw unit that comes with a power supply and unit. With a custom coil it might even be useful for stock forging.

It is interesting how a large coil on a large unit won't heat a smaller stock over cherry red. So the coil needs to be adjusted for specific work. I saw a vid where an open ended coil is used for forging, so the stock can be inserted sidewise instead through the coil. Maybe if sth like this was fationed with a small slith (lets say 15mm height) I could work on 6mm stock and get it up to heat. A small 2 brick construction could be made to isolate the heat, double as stand and make sure that the work piece doesn't touch the coil. Not sure how that would reflect on the cooling rate of water, but I guess in short intervals the brick would disperse the heat very quickly.

€ 104,68 | 3000W 55A ZVS High Frequency Induction Heater Module Flyback Driver Heater Good Heat Dissipation + Coil +pump +power Adapter https://a.aliexpress.com/_mLkK4Cz
 
Mecha said:
Could possibly insert a ceramic pipe section in the coil to keep the stock from touching it.

If you get the 300W version, be sure to post your results!
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I will, I tried writing the vendor in Aliexpress. I am quite confident it would work for bladesmithing smaller stock but, not sure on the weldforging heat.
 
FredyCro said:
I will, I tried writing the vendor in Aliexpress. I am quite confident it would work for bladesmithing smaller stock but, not sure on the weldforging heat.
Click to expand...

It's possible to forge-weld at lower heat. Forum member Nighthaxan/Suwanee River Knife and Jewelry does it all the time with carbon steels at just above quenching temperature, I believe.
 
This tiny $5 150 watt unit works pretty well. Maybe I should just set up a choo-choo train of these. HA! :D

Based on this video, I'm not sure how much punch a 300 watt unit will pack.

Also interesting that as the metal heats up, amperage draw drops, which is what I expected to see.

 
Mecha said:
This tiny $5 150 watt unit works pretty well. Maybe I should just set up a choo-choo train of these. HA! :D

Based on this video, I'm not sure how much punch a 300 watt unit will pack.

Also interesting that as the metal heats up, amperage draw drops, which is what I expected to see.

Click to expand...

I thougth it was a typo first time you wrote but it's not 300w, but 3000w :)

The guy in the first vid i posted uses a 1800w unit (jump to 4:40 to see the action).

Here is a 2500w unit, melts a thin pipe in the end of the vid.


I
 
FredyCro said:
I thougth it was a typo first time you wrote but it's not 300w, but 3000w :)

The guy in the first vid i posted uses a 1800w unit (jump to 4:40 to see the action).

Here is a 2500w unit, melts a thin pipe in the end of the vid.


I
Click to expand...


Oh ya, I bet 3k watts will be great!
 
Mecha said:
This tiny $5 150 watt unit works pretty well. Maybe I should just set up a choo-choo train of these. HA! :D

Based on this video, I'm not sure how much punch a 300 watt unit will pack.

Also interesting that as the metal heats up, amperage draw drops, which is what I expected to see.
Click to expand...
Instead of Thermocouple we can use amperage as temperature gauge ;)
 
It's a long term project for me, I would like to concentrate on learning to properly heat treat and use my oven now. I also have to up my grinding game now that I have a 2x72. But forging and tinkering on the new gadgets in the shop is fun!
 
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