Small Portable Arc Furnace

Easily Built of Clay and Bricks

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Important notes:
Books and magazines from this time period often listed dangerous chemicals, formulas and processes -- without including adequate safety precautions. We have tried our best to screen for these and indicate them by coloring them red (with safer alternatives offered on the last page) but it is always important to use care and common sense with any how-to article, no matter when it was published.

Small Portable ARC FURNACE

Use rubber gloves to avoid electric shocks and dont look at the arc itself unless you wear dark goggles.

The furnace with cover removed. Chemical compounds can be prepared in small crucibles set on the bottom within the bowl

HOME workshop experimenters are often stumped for the lack of a high-temperature furnace. It is relatively easy, however, to build a furnace like the one illustrated, which develops about 2,300 deg. F. and satisfies all ordinary needs. Preparing Clay Mixture. In a crock mix smoothly 5 Ib. of kaolin, 20 Ib. of fire clay, 25 Ib. of silica (white sand), and enough, water to make a plastic mixture. Remove about 15 Ib. and pound it on a board until all air is forced out. Repeat with remainder. Allow to set over night, keeping it covered with a damp cloth. Carbon Connections. Thread a 12in. length, of -in. pipe, cut it in two, then drill and tap holes for set screws as shown. Fit wood handles on opposite ends and wrap with friction tape.

How the bowl is set up on bricks. .A wood base should be provided so that the furnace can be carried easily by two persons.

List of Materials 10 Ib. kaolin or china clay (80c.) 100 Ib. silica or white sand ($2) 100 Ib. fire day No. I, pyrometric cone equivalent rating 30 (78.) 4 fire brick slices (25.) 40 common brick (50.) 6 Ib. powdered asbestos (30.) 12-in. length of -in. pipe and 2 nuts for -in. pipe (50.) 2 carbons, in. (30.) 18 by 18 in. 10-gage metal (50.) 6 alundum crucibles, 1-in. mouth ($1.20) 210 ft. (1 Ib.) bell wire (75.) 150 ft. annealed iron wire. No. 14 (25.) 1 by 5 in. board, 5 ft. long (15.) NOTE: The prices in parentheses are what the author paid. The fire clay and fire brick slices may be obtained from any oil-burner establishment.

Construction of Bowl. Make a disk of clay 10 -in. in diameter and 3 in. thick. Form a strip 2 in. wide and 3 in. high. Place this on the base, all along the edge, and smooth with moistened hands. Lay the pipes and nuts on this wall directly across from one another and 4 7/8 in. from the bottom surface of the base. Complete construction of the walls until 8 in. high. Construct the lid according to the drawings. Set all in a cool place for four days, then remove outdoors for a similar period. Baking Clay. After they have been air-dried, place the leather-hard bowl and cover in a cool oven. Start with a temperature of 50 deg. F. Every hour and a half raise the heat 50 deg. until a temperature of 450 deg. is reached. Then reduce the heat 100 deg., every hour and allow the clay to cool slowly. When

cool, drill the specified air holes. Laying Brick. Lay common brick on sheet metal and fill in between them with clay. Prepare more clay, using same ratio as before. Set the bowl on the fire brick slices. Construct a brick wall around the first brick and bowl as shown. Pack between the bowl and brick with powdered asbestos mixed with water. Allow to dry thoroughly. Reactance and Connections. This arc furnace needs a reactance to limit the amount of current passing through. Cut enough 1 by 6-in. strips of soft iron or transformer steel to make a pile 13/8 in. high, wrap with tape, and wind with No. 12 insulated wire until the coil reaches a diameter of 3 in. Connect on end of the reactance to a carbon, the other end, along with the second carbon, to the 110-volt A.C. house current. Electric welder's goggles should be worn to protect your eyes from the arc's glare.

BOWL WORKSHOP HINTS

LID
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Safety Notes:
Powdered asbestos. Obviously, asbestos is a substance you want to omit from this project. Its purpose was to provide insulation between the bowl and the outer wall, to keep the heat in. I would recommend substituting it with ceramic fiber, or filling the area with castable refractory. Here are some links that offer material just as good, or better than, asbestos: http://budgetcastingsupply.com/Castable_Refractory_Kast-0Lite-26-LI.html http://www.baileypottery.com/kilns/kilnmaterials.htm http://stores.ebay.com/KILN-SUPPLY-WAREHOUSE You can locate more suppliers by doing an internet search using keys words: ceramic supplies kiln insulation, or furnace insulation. ....