Thermometer Help!

Lynn · Dec 29, 2003

Thermometer for forge
I think it was this forum that had some information of a Harbor Freight thermometer. I can't remember what to look for but it was some kind of electric tester with a temperature probe. Hopefully this would give me my forge temperature?
Thanks, Lynn

Bruz · Dec 29, 2003

At the risc of high-jacking the thread, are'nt there also like some discs or something that melt at a certain temperature, another way to check the temp of a forge?

Terry_Dodson · Dec 29, 2003

my wife got me this meter from Harbor Freight:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=37772
it does come with the thermocouple, but it only reads temp in celcius, so i need to make me a conversion chart. I have not set it up yet, but i have touched the probe end to some hot metal and it seems to read quickly. Hope this helps. I still havent figured out how i want to mount it.

ESpy · Dec 30, 2003

There are Tempil sticks, which AIUI are a sort of crayon with a known melting point; there are also the cones used by potters for checking firing temps. There are also optical pyrometers, which you can build yourself - http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/optpyro.html (on my overly long to do list).

I use an inconel-sheathed, mineral wool insulated K-type thermocouple that I bought from RS (http://rswww.com rather than Radio Shack, sorry). Rated to 1300C (about 2400F). I went for the more expensive inconel rather than stainless to try and get more life out of it.

To measure it, I use a cheap digital thermometer from Maplin - single miniature thermocouple connector, readout in C or F, cost me about 40UKP.

HTH

Peter

Lynn · Dec 30, 2003

Thanks for the replies! The HF DIGITAL MULTIMETER AC/DC was what I was thinking about.
Peter, a 'cheap' thermometer at 40 Euros? Sounds like I'm better off at $20.
Still thinking cheap, Lynn

Terry_Dodson · Dec 30, 2003

Lynn just remember the HF meter only reads in celcius and only goes to 1000 degrees celcius, i think that makes it around 1880 degrees farenheight or so.

Mark Williams · Dec 30, 2003

I think Ed Caffrey meant to post this here. You may have already read it but here it is anyway.

pyrometer

ESpy · Dec 30, 2003

Originally posted by Lynn
Peter, a 'cheap' thermometer at 40 Euros? Sounds like I'm better off at $20.

We'll have none of that Euro talk here, thank you!

(40 UKP is closer 60 Euros BTW)

Maplin sell a 15UKP multimeter that will read thermocouples, but it only reads in C and isn't as accurate as the more expensive one - I use mine for more than just the forge.

If you want expensive, very accurate and *very* nice - look at Fluke!

Peter

Thermometer Help!

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