Stuart,
Thanks for the input I'll give that a try this weekend. When I first made this foundry I never tried to melt anything but aluminum. Over time I have had to make repairs to it, such as the lid, & it is possible I am losing a lot of heat from there. I have thought of hooking the heating element directly to the power source (220V with a 40 amp breaker), but I was not sure if the element could take direct power without some type of controller. Anyway, I'll check it out thanks.
Brian
--- In gingery_machines@yahoogroups.com, lists <Stuartlists@...> wrote:
>
> In article <j4js0t+p6p8@...>,
> confed2001 <confed2001@...> wrote:
> > It works & I have been using it for several years, but despite what the
> > plans say it does not get hot enough to melt copper much less brass. I
> > constructed the controller as described in the plans, and am using the
> > heating elements stated, but aluminum is the best I can get out of it.
> > If this controller will raise the temp of a small electric foundry than
> > I need to get one.
>
> I've not seen these particular plans but there are only two things that
> govern the achievable temperature of a furnace. 1) energy input 2) energy
> loss. The first is controlled by the resistance of the elements and the
> available voltage, the second by how well you insulate your furnace. For
> maximum energy input your controller must place no restriction on the
> current supplied.
>
> A simple way of testing the maximum achievable temperature is to bypass
> your controller and feed full supply voltage to your elements. This will
> tell you whether you need to look at improving 1, and 2 and whether there
> is a possible fault with your controller
>
> If you can get to the temperature you want with the controller bypassed,
> you have a faulty controller, if not you need to look at points 1 and 2
>
> --
> Stuart Winsor
>
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