How to Make a Foundry Furnace for Melting and Casting Iron and Steel

This is a step-by-step DIY video guide on how to build your own blast furnace, for melting and smelting hard metals such as steel and iron, as well as any softer metals such as copper and aluminum. I am currently working on a way to convert the cap-stone into a "hot-box" for when I want to forge the metals, as well.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• smelting
• smelt
• melt
• melting
• home made
• DIY
• furnace
• blast
• hot
• fire
• metal
• cast
• casting
• foundry
• instruction
• step-by-step
• how to
• heat
• steel
• iron
• tin
• copper
• aluminum

[NeverThat]

Fantastic video,

Few questions but the biggest one is what do you mean by pressing something into the fire cement?

You lost me on that one.

[PutYourHeadInHere]

@NeverThat The furnace cement is very soft and, if there is any significant amount of humidity, it will get runny. And when it is baked, it will form bubbles as the moisture evaporates. So, basically, what I meant was to line the surface of it with something absorbent and stiff (i.e. heavy cardboard) and heat it slowly for a while (like with a small, gas space heater) before fully firing it, so that when the furnace finally gets to peak temperature, the cement doesn't bubble.

[MrCliip]

Great video. i just got mine done and works great. thanks!

[PutYourHeadInHere]

@MrCliip Glad to help! Let me know if you have any further questions! :-)

[ba470]

hi to all, it will be nice if someone help me about cement, do I need to just fill up by normal cement can cover it by fire cement? or I should fill all by fire cement ? Thanks

[PutYourHeadInHere]

@ba470 You can use only fireclay cement, but it is VERY brittle and breaks easily. I use parts because I want to make sure the furnace lasts longer, but using fireclay for the whole thing would improve its refractory quality.You just have to decide what you want more: heat resistance or durability. Either way, make sure the fireclay or cement is a good 3 inches thick, at least, or neither will do you much good for very long.

[NeverThat]

@PutYourHeadInHere

That explains a lot. Thanks cant wait to try this build!

[jorgefernandes93]

@PutYourHeadInHere  Thanks a lot my friend ;)

[PutYourHeadInHere]

@jorgefernandes93 By packing coal inside, around your crucible, and forcing air in through the bottom, the fire is effectively "force-fed" which causes the fuel to be consumed more rapidly ... and because the coal burns so fast, there is much much less time for heat to escape (especially when the furnace is capped), so it continually builds until the coal is burnt out. I have a laser thermometer, and when I run this particular furnace, it runs between 2700-2800 degrees.

[jorgefernandes93]

could this reach over 2700º F.

If someone can give me explanation about that ??