Dual Fuel Melting Furnace

[Carlos B]

I built this Gingery style dual fuel, propane/used motor oil, furnace last summer. It runs flawlessly and have melted 5 lbs of aluminum in under 15 minutes and even 12 lbs of iron on used motor oil. It will take a max. #10 clay graphite crucible or A steel crucible for aluminum with a capacity of over 20 lbs. I run 2 burners, a combined propane and waste oil burner with blower and a atmospheric burner in the Riel Mongo burner style. Both heat up very fast the combined burner can run on just propane or waste motor oil with propane to get it started, I have melted 12 lbs of iron in a little over an hr. on just motor oil after starting with propane.The Riel Mongo style burner is a monster melting 5lbs. of aluminum in 12 minutes, my fastest time.

For full build documentation the following link will take you to my site, "Hobby Workshop Projects.com"

Hobby Workshop Projects

Carlos B

[C-Bag]

Very timely post. So when you say it's a Gingery design, I could get the Gingery book and it would be all the info I need?

I have this huge aluminum frame from a high end heavy duty treadmill that is probably at least 70-80lbs that I would love to melt down to make other
projects with and don't want to just take it to a recycler. But I don't know anything about melting aluminum or casting.

[Carlos B]

The Gingery Book is a very good guide with lots of good info. By Gingery type I am pointing out the 3 part design of the main body which allows for easy (and safer) access to the crucible. Most other aspects are different, the size, lift mechanism, mobile base, preheat rack etc. are all my creation. But if you follow the info in Gingery's book you should be able to build a furnace that serves your needs.

Carlos

[Frank S]

Thanks for the post Carlos I have over 600 gallons of used motor oil and other than setting up my re-processor again to make diesel to burn in my Listoroid powered generator. I was just recently thinking of another use for the stuff.

[Carlos B]

That was my thought to Frank when I went with a dual fuel burner. I have a lot of yard equipment etc. and my 45 gallon drum was full so this was a good way to get some more value out of it. The burner has my own dimensions but the tech. and design info I got from "The Backyard Foundry" site.

Carlos

[DIYer]

Thanks Carlos B! We've added your Dual Fuel Melting Furnace to our Heating and Cooling category,
as well as to your builder page: Carlos B's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Dual Fuel Melting Furnace by Carlos B

tags: portable, furnace, burner

[ViktorP]

Hello Carlos,

it has been almost a year I am trying to accomplish what you are writing about! Could you please be more specific about the burner? You wrote that you are using "Riel Mongo style burner". But this burner is propane only (as I have found so far). Could you please describe it more specifically. Send some links and/or hints. Send some sizes, please. Do you preheat the oil before injection? Is the oil pressurized (why you sent a photo of pressure vessel hanging from a roof)?
Any piece of information you write will save me weeks of experimenting.

[Carlos B]

Hi ViktorP you may have missed that I use two different burners. The Riel type burner is an atmospheric burner, does not require a fan and burns propane only. The dual fuel burner requires a fan, in propane mode to mix air and direct the mix down the burner tube, in the oil mode the air blast atomizes and mixes air at the burner nozzel.Thick motor oil requires elevated temps. and some press. at the burner. I painted my tank black to heat up on a sunny day and I use a magnetic block heater to get the temp up to around 100*F. I hung the tank from the eave of my workshop to pressurize the burner feed. At 10' I get a little less than 4 psi at the burner. Its a little tricky to set up but runs good when set up right. This will point you in the right direction but you'll need more info. a good place to start is Lionel Olivers site "Backyard Metalcasting .com".

Carlos

[C-Bag]

Hi ViktorP you may have missed that I use two different burners. The Riel type burner is an atmospheric burner, does not require a fan and burns propane only. The dual fuel burner requires a fan, in propane mode to mix air and direct the mix down the burner tube, in the oil mode the air blast atomizes and mixes air at the burner nozzel.Thick motor oil requires elevated temps. and some press. at the burner. I painted my tank black to heat up on a sunny day and I use a magnetic block heater to get the temp up to around 100*F. I hung the tank from the eave of my workshop to pressurize the burner feed. At 10' I get a little less than 4 psi at the burner. Its a little tricky to set up but runs good when set up right. This will point you in the right direction but you'll need more info. a good place to start is Lionel Olivers site "Backyard Metalcasting .com".
Carlos

Ah, much illumination in that short explanation. I learned a lot in watching the vid on you tube about the Gingery design. I'd not seen the three piece before but agree it's far more safe. Thanks for the pointer on the Oliver site, I'll check it out. I love the idea of repurposing, and this is the ultimate at repurposing to be able to melt and recast. What have you made with the gray iron?

[Carlos B]

Glad you found that helpful. Iron is a different beast than aluminum at double the temp. of aluminum, 2600-2700* it is very unforgiving if you have a mishap, extra care is needed. My desire to melt iron was to see if my design could do it and for thrills more than need. My initial test was a 12 lb open face block seen in the last photo of the initial post. Many home melters of iron run into the problem of hard iron which is virtually unworkable, I added hardwood charcoal dust to the mix to try and maintain carbon content in addition to using soft iron scrap. To demonstrate that I produced workable Iron I sliced of one lip on my bandsaw without encountering any hard spots. Here's the picture:



I have just recently purchased a granite surface plate to check it against so I plan on making a small surface plate for model work out of the iron block. I am sure there will be times when aluminum just will not do and I will be casting more iron.

Carlos