"Master-Blaster" Melting Furnace

"Master-Blaster" Melting Furnace

Part #3 - Burner Setup & Firing the Castable Refractory

Here we are on Sept 14 (2003) and there was just a fresh snow fall...

No, I'm just pulling your leg, and trying to further the misconception that a Canadian summer is really 2 months of bad skiing.

I took this image earlier last winter when I first started to gather parts for this project. This tank has over 200 gallons of Diesel that I'll be using as fuel from here on in...

I made up some plates to cover where the ignition coil used to be, and wired in a switch with proper grounding and BX type metal sheathing.

The oil line is a 15 ft length of industrial Air line. It is a 2 ply line that is oil resistant, with a secure brass fitting crimped on that bolts directly into the injector casing.

The other end has a marine fuel coupling that mates to the fixture on the marine fuel tank. Both the tank and marine coupling have a check valve type fitting that hopefully will keep air out of the line once it is primed.

Oh sure, I like to be the tough fearless guy that'll do anything for kicks... But the truth is shown in this picture, where I'm ready to unload about a pound and a half of feces in my pants if anything goes wrong.

As I know less than nothing about oil burners, the tank is positioned about 12 ft back, my left hand is on the kill switch, and I'm wishing I'd thought to go to the bathroom before starting this thing up...

I'm quite concerned about the fact that I can't keep the burner lit, but really don't want to install the 10KV ignition coil.

Here it is cooling down after a 5 minute run.

The Refractory has been setting-up for over 3 days. The Packaging gives specific instructions on how to cure the refractory, by raising the temp 75F per hour.

I have no way of doing this so I opted to do a 5 min run, 1 hr off, 10 min run, 1 hr off, 15 min run...

The castable is curing to the same snow white that the Fat-Boy did.

Here is the last run of the day...

The furnace ran for close to 20 Minutes without incident. Of the may fears that plague my hyper active mind, major cracking or worse, a large chunk blowing out of the top or side.

I hope that I finally get a reasonable night sleep as there are 2 things from the perpetual list that I can now draw a line through.

The self sustaining flame issue had more to do with the wind and lack of combustion chamber, than the ignition coil.

To light the burner, I simply crumple a sheet of paper into a ball, drop it into the burner tube, flick the power switch on for about 2 or 3 seconds and then back off. That soaks the paper with fuel.

Light the paper with a match, give it a few seconds to really flare up, and then hit the power. I've lit and re-lit the burner 5 or 6 times without any grief. The Burner does not appear to re-ignite off the heat of the refractory in testing so far.

This is the image that says it all, just friggin' Awesome!!!

It is so bright against the evening dusk it hurts your eyes. Even though I have yet to melt any metal in this baby, I have no concerns that it won't be up to the task.

I have next Saturday reserved for melting as much metal as I can crank through this unit. The idea was to take the next step toward a more pro furnace... no cleaning or ash, faster, more consistent melts, and cheaper, more accessible fuel.

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