Evenheat SB 718/818 Salt Bath Kiln

[javand]

Hey guys, not sure if this has been mentioned here, but when I was trying to track down a stand-alone TAP controller board to convert an old industrial HT furnace (don't get me started on how annoyed I am with the TAP guys lack of response to customer inquiry), I noticed that Evenheat is now showing a couple of special salt bath vertical kilns in their catalogue.

Not much info on them, but they appear to be nicely designed, thick stainless tubes with grounding for the salt pot, etc.

They only come with TAP controllers, and mention that they use special software config specific to that task for the controller.


Anybody heard anything else or seen these in person? Any info on what changes were made to the software? I didn't make it down to Blade this year unfortunately, or I'd have asked them there.

Just curiosity mostly, I've had a setup ready for a couple of years but still not using it, too concerned I'll set my current tinder box on fire.

I like the turn-key setup, and I'm guessing a lot of safeties could be built into an electrically fired one with a controller of this type.

Any info or thoughts?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

You have to read around through all the "features" dropdown and specifications pages. They still don't seem to have a price yet? I suspect it will be a very pricy tool. I'm guessing $3000 or more.

 

[javand]

You have to read around through all the "features" dropdown and specifications pages. They still don't seem to have a price yet? I suspect it will be a very pricy tool. I'm guessing $3000 or more.

Stacey, $2200 is the catalogue price (you have to find an obscure link to a PDF of course), for the smaller diameter pot version. I'm guessing we'll see a street price a fair bit lower than this, maybe $1800ish through resellers, based on comparisons from the retail and street price of their other kilns.

Not outrageous, IMO, considering one could easily spend half or more building this, even with the requisite machinery and fab experience necessary to do such.



Honestly I'm semi-amazed to see a commercially offered product of this type, considering the potential for liability... I'll give Evenheat kudos for offering such a niche product, on the open market, potentially to hobbyists.

 

[Frank Niro]

I have a maker friend who has and uses a high temp. salt pot. I've been with him twice when he was heat treating carbon steel and stainless blades. He used the aluminum plates to quench the stainless blades and canola oil for the carbon steal ones.I was pleased as can be to see the hardness values after the blades had the temper drawn. Why as Tracy has pointed out the salt bath system may have as need for considerable care in use It sure seems to be a very smooth system to use.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Thanks Javand. I tried to find a listing, but only got a "not available" reference.
That is in the affordable range. Probably around $$2200-2500 by the time you get the needed pot and supplies. You still have to add the salt pot (6" or 7" by 24") and salts. The 718/818 units are a "salt bath heat treat kiln" , and is only the heater housing and controller. They say salt pot tubes will be available from evenheat.
https://evenheat-kiln.com/?p=product-showcase&i=132

 

[javand]

Thanks Javand. I tried to find a listing, but only got a "not available" reference.
That is in the affordable range. Probably around $$2200-2500 by the time you get the needed pot and supplies. You still have to add the salt pot (6" or 7" by 24") and salts. The 718/818 units are a "salt bath heat treat kiln" , and is only the heater housing and controller. They say salt pot tubes will be available from evenheat.
https://evenheat-kiln.com/?p=product-showcase&i=132

Ahh another point I hadn't noticed.

Here's the "retail" price list, they show sch 80 pots at $320 if you scroll to page 6 of the pdf, along with the prices I mentioned above. Gotta say honestly I'm tempted by the "turn-key" option at that price point, considering how nicely designed it appears. Although since they're offering the option to buy most of the accessories, may make sense to just buy the modified TAP controller, and duplicate their relay and safety setup, they list the specific controller available as a replacement part and any of the components at semi-reasonable prices.


I've always preferred the idea of electrically fired salt pot, the conductivity issue being the only concern. I wonder how well the touch screen controller will hold up in the vicinity of molten and vaporized salts though..

 

[SirSpice]

I talked to their guy at their booth yesterday at Blade Show. $2200 is the list price I was told, but the distributors might be pricing it lower. They're selling it through three distributors Jantz, Tru-Grit, and a third one I can't remember. It looked pretty cool. This one is using the TAP controller. You'd probably want to tilt it down in use so you don't drip molten salts on it . Upgrading to the TAP controller seems like a no-brainer to me. For 5% extra cost you get a truly modern, beautiful user interface that can be connected to your computer.

 

[javand]

Thanks for the photos!

From the literature I read, it seemed as though these models were *only* available with TAP controllers, and they were running custom software for this app.

I would definitely expect to see Tru-grit pricing below retail, it typical is, although if they're limiting this specifically to those distributors maybe they'll lock the price up. Hopefully not. If these get down to 1800ish street price, I'll have to get one.