Very simple electric forge

D

DSTiamat

Joined
Feb 4, 2011
Messages
53
Hello,

Would it be possible to build a very simple electric forge out of one big firebrick and a 3000w wire?for HT small blades?

Ty
DST
 
is there a chance that if the blade touched the wire it would weld itself together?

jake
 
Sounds dangerous. I wouln'd cheap out on something like that unless you want a Darwin Award.
 
Mudbug that's not a forge that is a heat treating oven the tittle of the thread is a - My new HT oven build WIP
 
At they very least you would need 14 bricks 2 bricks for each side, 4 for the top and 4 for the bottom and one for each end. A thermocouple, PID and SSR from http://www.auberins.com/ $100+ A metal box to hold it all together. A electricl insulation board to mount everything on and setup your Kanthal to copper connection. Then some 20 amp wire for a power cord. If 110 2200 watts is about max. 220v 4400 wats max unless you go to above a 20 amp service.

I supose you could do something smaller and simpler and run it with a switch. But, as mentioned you are going to need enough room that the blade can't touch an element wire. With no PID you can only guess at the temp and if you had one 2 small a chamber would read the element heat more than the chamber heat. I bet I didn't spend $400 to make my 4400watt oven and I have a real oven that works. and I can do 5 blades at once and go up to 21" long. If you are going to spend the time and money for anything do the whole job correctly
 
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The OP is looking for a small HT oven.

Try keeping an eye out on ebay and Craig's list. Small dental ovens and jewelry kilns are very cheap.
 
I am a serious newbie so this is gonna be more of a question than a suggestion.

Wouldnt it be safer/cheaper to pick up a used paragon or glassblowing kiln for a hundred or so, and modify it if needed?
Glassblowing kilns have digital temp controllers that allow you to ramp down temps on a shedule, set predetermined soak times etc..
Those can be had on "sale/barter websites" for a few hundred bucks unless you need a big un.

They can reach very very high temps, and are readily available.

So do you think those might work?

Edit****
ahh didn't see the post above mine.
 
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DSTiamat said:
Hello,
Would it be possible to build a very simple electric forge out of one big firebrick and a 3000w wire?for HT small blades?
Click to expand...

Simple answer, no. 3000w is not nearly enough for forging. If you want it for HT, the heating element coil would probably be too large for a single firebrick. However, it might be interesting to install a couple heat guns into a 2 brick forge and see how it works.
 
The biggest problem with a mini HT oven is that HT is all about control and evenness. A one or two brick oven won't have either attribute.
 
After rigging up 3 1500w heat guns into my little dual burner 2 brick forge, I was able to get the metal up to about 950°. Not enough to forge or HT, but it is something to keep in mind if I ever need a spring temper on something. The problem is the moving air, it doesn't allow heat to build up.
 
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