homemade HT oven success

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Dakota 11

Joined
Apr 14, 2006
Messages
252
well spent this last weekend making me a oven for HT. I managed not to get shocked and everything is working good. the oven heats up to 1500 in about 4 minutes and seems to hold temps within 5 degrees. Cant wait to put my current o1 project blade in there and get a real soak at the correct temps. having high expaectations now that i can control the temps so well. demsions are 18 inches long, 6 inches wide, and 4 inches tall.
 
Congratulations! I have an older kiln working on a pid and ssr but, it is to big and slow and I want to built an oven about the size of yours. maybe a bit higher. ! would like to go about 20x6x6. My question is what gauge and length of wire did you use. If yours get to 1500 that quickly I am sure it would get that size chamber hot fast enough for me. Where did you get your elements or wire?

Which brings me to another question. I was messing with it this weekend and I decide to experiment a bit and stuck the thermocouple from my forge in the top. This thermocouple is connected to a old needle scale and it read about 60f colder than the pid and its thermocouple. I quickly switched positions with the 2 thermocouples and the readings of each didn't change much. How do I know which one to trust? Thanks
 
Holy crap !! It gets to 1500 in 4 minutes !!!!! What did you make if out of a nuclear reactor ???
 
i got the elements from budget casting supply in sonora california. it has 2 elements hooked together. its plugged into a 220 30 amp line. i made the box similiar to the one that is floating around the web, cept i added a 1 inch layer of inswool to the bottom, top and all sides
 
Lets see some pics! I've been collecting parts for the past few weeks. Got some used soft fire brick cheap, and a potter friend just gave me two new heating elements.... scrounging the sheet metal from metal fabrication place's dumpster at work....just waiting for some angle iron to build the frame. What kind of controller did you use, the one from budget?
By the way, can anybody tell me what PID means? Its been driving me nuts...
Ed
 
I got my PID (proportional-integral-derivative (how it figures the temp)) of ebay as well as my type k thermocouple and ssr. Probly about a hundred bucks total and an afternoon wiring. If you want I can look up the sellers and let you know.
 
Dakota 11 said:
I managed not to get shocked
Not getting shocked is always a bonus!. That does sound really fast compared with other ovens I have heard about. What is the power drawn?

Happycat I have been collecting up parts too: Sheet metal for the outside can be got pretty cheap new. I have also decided to just use Aluminium angle for the frame. It costs a bit more but will make it much more mobile, and easier to work.

Lang
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Hi!
This is my first post in this forum. I Have been reading every know and and then, nice forum!

I build a small HT oven a couple of month ago, specially designed for knifes. Perhaps it's of interest to some of you.

It is 9 x 9 x 40cm inside and it heats up to 1500F in ~15min and up to 1850 in 30min. Maximum temperature is ~2010F. With only 1500W.
Find some pictures and a detailed description (in german, though...) here:
http://www.messerforum.net/showthread.php?t=44273
just ask, if you need further information.

Jan.

ps. hope my english is not too bad...
 
that works out to about 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"x 15 3/8". Which would be fine for many and at 1500w 110v would be enough . The idea of building the oven with soft brick inside a container and pouring the voids with refractory is an excellent idea. I think most want a horizontal oven though. This method could be used horizontally very well.

Your English is as good as most of ours
 
im using 13 amps and pulling i believe 3100 watts of juice. u dont want to fill voids with castable refactory, if u do when tthe soft bricks heat up they wont be able to expanded a little and all the bricks will crack. is why i used a 1 inch layer of inswool to wrap the bricks in.
 
My design is also working on 3kW and according to the element supplier who spec'ed it for me, it should take about 15 mins to get to temp... so you got a gem there dakota!
 
ib2v4u said:
The idea of building the oven with soft brick inside a container and pouring the voids with refractory is an excellent idea. I think most want a horizontal oven though. This method could be used horizontally very well.
Click to expand...

Actually, around the softbricks, there is a layer of isowool first, the remaining space was filled with vermiculite. I have only some refractory (1/2 inch or so) on top to keep this material inside.

I use this oven in both, horizontal and vertical position. But for HT of knifes I prefer to heat them hanging tip down. Reduces warpage.

Jan.
 
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