Quench Tank

ddavelarsen

ddavelarsen

Joined
Dec 7, 2000
Messages
5,179
Finally did it - built an actual quench tank. I want to thank everyone who's helped me through this privately. You know who you are, and I would never have persevered without your help. All errors and dangerous decisions are MINE, and mine alone. I assume no responsibility for your results or safety. Be duly cautious.

One note before I go any further. I used a small garden water fountain pump for circulation. It's not ideal. The jury is still out whether that will work for very long and even whether it's safe. I will keep my build pages updated to reflect my experience. I'm open to better ideas! I'm not going to defend my decisions but I welcome constructive criticism, the more specific the better.

Anyway, here's a picture of the end product and a link to the build. I'm not trying to drive traffic to my site (I pay dearly for excess bandwidth), just too lazy to recreate it here.

7FinalTest01.jpg


Quench Tank Build
 
Nice! Let us know how the JB Weld holds with the oil. I have seen JB Weld used as a cement/sealant on an electric fry pan and spigot rig to dispense hot wax. It seemed to hold up well for the lady who was using it.
 
very nice but i do not get why you would need the pump for such a small tank?

how hot can you get it?

DC
 
Dave that looks GREAT!!! I really like the website too! You have made some amazing stuff, and beautiful knives,Charlie
 
Joe Cabaup said:
Nice! Let us know how the JB Weld holds with the oil. I have seen JB Weld used as a cement/sealant on an electric fry pan and spigot rig to dispense hot wax. It seemed to hold up well for the lady who was using it.
Click to expand...

A lot of people use JB weld to close up holes in carburetors so that they can be re-drilled smaller. I've done it and it holds up fine for gasoline so it should be good for oil.
 
Joe Cabaup said:
Nice! Let us know how the JB Weld holds with the oil. I have seen JB Weld used as a cement/sealant on an electric fry pan and spigot rig to dispense hot wax. It seemed to hold up well for the lady who was using it.
Click to expand...

69_knives said:
A lot of people use JB weld to close up holes in carburetors so that they can be re-drilled smaller. I've done it and it holds up fine for gasoline so it should be good for oil.
Click to expand...

Well, so far so good. I fired it up this morning and it's been at temp all day with no leaks. Pump's still humming along too. ;)

DC, I'm using a pump just to keep the oil at a consistent temperature throughout the tank. It's probably not a huge issue but the tank is big enough that there would be temp differential between the area around the heat element, for example, and the surface of the oil. That should be lessened with the pump even though convection would probably take care of it pretty well too. Some folks with a more powerful pump actually direct the stream at the blade, which helps, presumably, to move the vapor jacket away from the blade. Mine does not have the volume to affect that though. It just keeps the oil stirred.

It's interesting that we have the same initials - that doesn't happen every day. Before I got a stamp I marked my blades with the same letters.
 
its a genius design. its robust and functions flawlessly, you cant appreciate it until you've heard him really explain the system.
 
Hi Phil, thanks for your note, made my day.

The quench tank has been performing flawlessly, far better than I expected. The only issue I had was switching from veggie oil to Houghton G, I had to reduce the oil temp from 140 to 120 degrees to fully harden O1. Now I'm back in business and the little garden pump is holding up fine. I couldn't be happier with the way this project turned out.

I appreciate all the help folks gave me with this one, and all the encouragement and kind words. Thanks!
 
Great job on the tank. I'm getting ready to build mine. Is the heating element you used a special one or are they all like that(internal controls)? 80 bucks is kinda steep, is there a cheaper way to go on the element? I'm just looking to warm up oil and my tank will be nowhere as fancy as yours. I like the way you boxed in the wiring and switches, nicely done.
 
Thanks for the kind words! Much appreciated.

I put the contact info for the guy I bought the element from at the bottom of this page. But I found it on eBay doing a search for "tank heater." These are used to keep cattle water tanks and such from freezing in winter. There are less expensive ones that don't have the thermostat, I'm just lazy and didn't want to monitor the temp too much. ;) If I remember correctly, a basic one like this without the thermostat was around $25, very affordable.

Good luck with your own build! You'll be glad you did, when it's done. I'm really happy with this one.
 
Thanks for the info. I think I'll try the $25 one first and if I don't like it I'll upgrade to the high class element like yours:)
 
Good luck Mike! You will definitely find that the less expensive heaters work just as well. And the tank will be just what you've always wanted. :) Keep us posted when you build yours, we will all benefit from your approach and experience.

Beautiful knives in your avatar by the way!

Edit: Checked out your website and your work absolutely blows me away! Super, man, spectacular knives. If I needed any inspiration today, I just got it! Way to go brother, that's about as good as it gets.
 
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Dave, thanks for the kind words. I checked out your site and it doesn't look like your short on inspiration. The three pieces that really grabbed me were Donna's dagger, Sheffield bowie and the copper bowl. All really well done.

I'll be starting on the quench tank when I get back from a trip. I'll try and post some pic's. It will definately not be as fancy as yours.
 
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