Experimental Arc Furnace

I acquired these carbon electrodes and tested them in a little experimental arc furnace. In the video I'm melting copper slag that has a lot of metal left in it. The slag goes between the electrodes with borax over top. I arc it and the heat melts the copper.

I can melt steel as well with this. I 'm planning to build a firebrick lid to make it more efficient and able to melt larger quantities of metal at once.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• arc
• furnace
• melting
• pouring
• foundry
• welder
• graphite
• carbon
• electrodes
• diy
• homemade
• experimental

[perrybnewman]

I purchased a cheap 110v arc welder from ebay. It adjusts from 30-100 amps. The problem is I can't put it above 50 amps without tripping the standard household breakers. And the arc is far too weak to melt any amount of material larger than a nickel. What am I doing wrong? Besides getting the cheapest welder I can find...

[billygotgrove]

@perrybnewman You need a 20 amp breaker to run these. It sometimes trips from this thing too. You probably have a 12 amp breaker.

[perrybnewman]

@billygotgrove All of my 110v breakers are 20 amp except for a couple that are 15 amp. I've tried all the 20 amp circuits, and they still end up overloading.

[billygotgrove]

@perrybnewman You are approaching the extents of my electrical knowledge then. The wires may possibly be too small of a gauge? That or the welder is just inaccurately labeled. Someone else can give you a better answer than me.

[ldsakn]

hey guys this tip is for those who wants to melt copper or any other Metals.to do that you would need a transformer which is 100 or 200 amp.but more then that is batter i use 150 amps transformer to melt copper remember that 150 amp not volt the uploader said volt thats wrong .you can buy the transformer or you can make one search into google you will have what you want and if you have a transformer then just rewound the secondary with 6or12 awg wire the lower the awg the higher amp you will get

[billygotgrove]

@ldsakn Where did I say volts? Help me fix it. That would be in error. My welder is a 120 volt welder though.

[billygotgrove]

@CIACProdcutions The "furnace" is a dish made of 3000 F castable refractory. I have a better furnace planned that will have some insulation too for practical sized melts. I would really just get a dedicated transformer. $100 for a cheap welder like the one I'm using will save you some work.

[CIACProdcutions]

What did you make the furnace body out of? I have a large 1000v transformer that i was going to rewind to get more amperage out of. Any tips?

[chronicbob]

@billygotgrove Thanks for the advice :) I guess i will have to use less amps but i do need to give the water a slightly high charge but don't worry i will not be touching the water my self :)

Also i just see your comment about your new channel so let me know when its up and running :)

[billygotgrove]

@traxxaslover123 Thanks. Cool to hear your getting started. In the near future, I will be starting a new channel, hopefully with an HD camera and making a whole load of videos that I have planned. I've been up to quite a bit lately, but have no camera to record it all. Stay tuned.