Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: melting aluminium

Are you talking about an induction furnace?
The investment casting foundry I work with is pretty small by foundry standards. Their largest steel crucible is 100 lb capacity.
Their utility bill is about $20,000 to $30,000 a month. About 2/3 gas, the rest electric.
I think you need more than a portable generator for an induction furnace. It's pretty durn complicated. There is a gigantic
cooling system involved so that the coils don't melt themselves.
I think the only practical home foundry is a fan forced furnace. Gas, oil, or coke. I know a guy who uses waste motor oil. That's
a pretty cheap fuel.

Smoke wrote:

> One of you electrical geniuses want to try figuring out how much electrical
> power I'd need to melt aluminum using an AC magnetic field? Maybe I could
> build myself a simple electric melting furnace and be able to get my
> castings for the CNC (and other) machines done a lot quicker. Perhaps my
> portable generator and a step up transformer could be used as the main power
> source?
>
> Smoke
>
> >I remember from my school physics classes a similar demonstration, but with
> >an alternating field. The apparatus was a U-shaped iron armature, with a
> >coil on one arm & an aluminium ring dropped over the other arm. When the
> >coil was energized with mains AC, the aluminium ring shot upwards off its
> >arm of the the armature, hitting the ceiling. Great fun!
> >
>
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