Well we've started work on a new furnace for the foundry. The two main reasons for the new furnace were to make it a little bit bigger, and also to use a better refractory. Our old furnace cracked a bit when we were casting bronze, and since I'd like to try doing cast iron at some point it seemed like a beefier furnace was in order. The new furnace was made from a dog food can. They were giving them away at the pet store, so we just couldn't resist. We purchased the refractory from San Jose Boiler Works, and set about ramming it up.
My Housemate Mark has a set of pages showing us ramming up the new foundry, and also using it for it's first melt. This furnace is quite a bit heavier then our previous one, so I set about welding together a sturdy little cart for it so sit on. I intend to make a foot pedal lid lifting mechanism much like the one described in Dave Gingery's building a gas furnace book. After a day and a half of sawing, grinding, welding, and painting the cart was done. With it's coat of mat black paint it almost looks too good to use (47k jpeg), but use it we shall.
Our new house isn't as obliging as to provide us with a convenient natural gas tap, so I'm planning on converting the foundry to propane.
