heat treat oven - worth it?

TLR

TLR

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Oct 5, 1998
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I accidentally posted this in the wrong sub forum so I'll try again in the right one :)

Well I just stumbled on a heat treat oven a relative of my wife picked up at an auction that he wants to get rid of because he has to much stuff. He's not a knifemaker and doesn't know a lot abot the oven other then it has a fairly small interior (2 x 5 x 14), it is 110v and it has a max temp of 1700. He said it's an older model with a rheostat and no temp gauge. He apparently used a digital thermo to make sure it worked and got up to temp. He wants $100 for it.

I've made some 0-1 knives but have been working primarily with 3v which I know this is not suitable for (1950 -2050).

Should I pick this up of it works? Anything specifically to look for at?

Can't go see it till tomorrow evening and I have no idea how I'll get this back home to Iowa but I can probably figure something out :)
 
It would make a good tempering oven.

Do you have an oven now?

$100 bucks, what's a new oven cost?

I have 2 wax burn out kilns, one converted to PID and have been going to 1900*, may burn out the elements sooner but for what I have in it it's worth it. They are both 120v. units rated at 1700* The tempering oven needs a pid as it won't go below 550*., but I'll fix it soon.

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If it's in fairly good shape, I'd buy it if I were you. If anythign you have a seperate tempering oven.
Chances are, depending on how it's constructed, you may even be able to wire it up with a new thermocouple, PID and element, and reach higher temps for treating stainless and what not.
 
Don't have any type of oven yet. Most likely I'm going to pick it up. I'll go look at it tomorrow night and go from there.

Anything in particular I need to look for or pay attention to?
 
Buy it and make a PID controller. It will do very well for carbon steel HT. The controller will cost about another $100 to build, and you should be good to go. You can use it as is,too. Just pre-set the temps and let sit for 30 minutes at the target temp before you put in the blade.
 
bladsmth said:
Buy it and make a PID controller. It will do very well for carbon steel HT. The controller will cost about another $100 to build, and you should be good to go. You can use it as is,too. Just pre-set the temps and let sit for 30 minutes at the target temp before you put in the blade.
Click to expand...

Stacy,
Could you expound a little about making a PID controller? (Yeah, it's been a while since I posted!)

Craig
 
What brand is it? If its a popular brand like evenheat or paragon, wouldn't they make retrofit kits for older models?
 
bladsmth said:
A PID controller is just a device that monitors the temperature and turns the power on and of to hold it there. It is a smart device, and learns how to regulate itself.

The stickies have a whole section on this:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/782574-PID-CONTROL-FORGE-Salt-Pots-and-more

The PID toaster oven is basically what you want to build. The oven plugs into the PID and the TC is in the oven.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Stacy. When I read your first post I was under the impression that you were actually referring to making the controller itself, not just the SCRs and the other associated equipment. I have a number of the controllers in my shop that I use for various things.

Craig
 
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