The Brake Drum Forge

My Father has been very successful in smelting metals using a simple wood fired forge made from 2 discarded truck brake drums and some other scrap metal bits and pieces.

The Basic construction for this type of forge is as per the rough diagram below.

The Door in the top Drum was cur using an Angle grinder, then the hinge and drums where welded together using low carbon welding rods. (Normal Mild Steel welding rods do not work well on this kind of metal).

The Door could be cut with oxy/acetalene but this is very messy and difficult so I would not recommend it.  The Air source we used was an old hairdryer, and we have used a vacuum cleaner as well, both easy to get and cheap.

A small steel crucible was used to melt aluminum and lead with ease, and this furnace could easily smelt iron or steel, but a proper silicon carbide type crucible would be required.

As Truck brake drums are designed to withstand heat, they tend to last quite a few years before burning out (we haven't burnt one out yet).

I'd be curious to see what other people have used to make their own furnaces!.  

Food for thought.

Hows the weather

More interesting info in the works, please forgive my recent non posting spree. I'll make it up to you I promise :-)

Bits - for the weekend. More good recycling stuff coming.

Here are a few thoughts for the weekend...



Wealthy people miss one of life's greatest thrills . . . Making the last car
payment.

Always arrive late at the office, but make up for it by leaving early.

You can get more of what you want with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word.

Buffet; A French word that means "get up and get it yourself.

Airplane travel is nature's way of making you look like your passport photo.

When all else fails. Follow instructions.

Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others.

Good judgment comes from bad experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

Copy from one, it's plagiarism; copy from many, it's research.

I love deadlines. I especially love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy teenagers?

No one will win the battle of the sexes, there is too much flirting with the
enemy.

Some people ask the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a
restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight, dinner, soft music and
dancing. She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays.

As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two...

Looking For Speaking Success?: http://tinyurl.com/29vscjn

Parenting Book - How To Parent Together!: http://tinyurl.com/26ow9or

Tarot Card Reading Secrets.: http://tinyurl.com/2eqp2cb 

Did you Know?

SILVER

Over 95% of the silver produced in a year is used in photography, jewelry and silverware, and industrial products

Kodak and Fuji companies are the world's largest consumers of silver

Silver is effective in treating burns by killing bacteria, allowing the burn to heal more quickly pure silver has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of all metal.

The main producers of silver are the United States, Mexico and South America

GOLD

Gold was made into art objects and jewelry as far back as 4000 BC

Alchemists, the forerunners of today's chemists, attempted  to turn base metal into gold

Gold does not tarnish, rust or corrode

One cubic foot of gold weighs more than half a ton

The main producers of gold are South Africa, the United States, Australia, China, Canada, and Russia

PLATINUM 

Platinum is the rarest of all precious metals

Approximately 10 tons of raw ore have to be mined to produce one pure ounce of platinum

The main producers of platinum are the former Soviet Republics, South Africa, and Canada

All the platinum ever mined would fill a cube less than 25 feet on each side

Scarce metals, such as platinum, face depletion risks this century because of the lack of suitable substances in such devices as catalytic converters and hydrogen fuel cells.