Update on Furnace

I am really excited to announce that my furnace and all the components that go with it are finally done!! This on-going project has really been a challenging and rather spendy one. I normally don't go all out with sinking alot of money into these type of things unless I feel like it may have some potential output. The trick with saving a bunch of money on "just parts" is to do alot of research on what might work. (In this case I had alot of custom type weld jobs that I don't have tools or experience in.) I always test my limit and brainstorm how I can possibly build something out of ordinary junk. I mentioned before that my two best places are either a junk yard or some specialty shop that may have something laying around that I could possibly talk them into giving me. Nine times out ten I get it free, but sometimes they are pretty tight with their stuff that I would have to end up spending a few dollars. I have built alot of things over the years, and very seldom I have something that actually works with what I have available to me. I used to think how fun it would be to work for a big firm with a research and development dept., but after I get into reality I finally realize that if I were to really have something it would be taken away because of the rules of the company. When Lisa and I were in our first few years of marriage we lived in my grandpas old house in town. He and grandma passed on but had all this furniture that no-one really wanted in this house. So with lots of creativity moving it around and stuffing some of it in closets and such we finally made due and lived with it. I will never forget this one piece of furniture that they had, it was a small pink lazyboy type of chair that did'nt do anything but sit there. Lisa hated the color but admitted that it was comfortable, so we lefted it out to enjoy. I really liked this chair because it would literally wrap you in when you sat in it, and when you sat in it your legs were at a perfect 90 degrees and your back would be straight and it was just comfy. This was just the perfect chair to sit and think, I spent alot of time just sitting, reading and pondering my thoughts. I have to admit that I came up with some really cool ideas in this pink chair and to this day they are still in my notebooks filled with stuff. To get back to the point, I wanted to share that I can't wait to take my project to the next level. I'm not going to be to hasty because I want to make sure that I have everything in place before I go for it. One things for sure, if it don't work I sure had alot of fun building it.

The Perpetual Magnet

I'm going to put aside my furnace project and tell you about another project I have been working on. This project has been in developing stages since 2004 and to this day I'm still stuck on this particular phase. I have been researching this idea inside out and had many long discussions with different people about the perpetual motion magnets. The most common answer I get is "IT WON'T WORK!!" If it did it would have already been in the works. **FRUSTRATING** Well, I have'nt let it deter me and have been looking at all possiblities. I had a friend who is a physics pro tell me "Newton laws of motions is what it is!" "Many people who are scientist and endless grants still have'nt solved this problem." . Well, there you have it, I guess this is a fruitless idea and finally just put it on the back burner and moved on to another idea. While pondering this other idea (which is a game) I kept on thinking about this perpetual motion idea. I kept on thinking "Why won't this work??" I started to research again on the internet and it was a double edge sword everwhere. Some people say's they figured it out and others said nope it's not possible. I even read that one guy totally had a prototype going and it has been working for "X" amount of time. So to top it off he say's that magnetic perpetual motion is so powerfull that his machine self destructed because the magnets made this spinning motion go so fast and it broke. I thought about this and in a way it makes sense because if you were to put two opposite poles together it will resist each other. So it leads me to believe that you would have to put some kind of braking system on it to control how fast this thing goes. I just could'nt stop thinking about this perpetual motion magnet idea so I would spend alot of time during my spare time and start drawing up how I thought this thing could work. Days, weeks, months go by and every now in again I would pick up some parts that I would need to build me a prototype. Then the time came... I had this raw prototype put together with lots of hot glue, pipes, wood, and other adhesives to see if I could test my idea. I finally put it together and........"Nothing!!" .. I asked one of my brothers one day what he thought about this particular idea, and with new feedback his answer was that the properties of a magnet are very tricky. He said that North and South Poles on a magnet always have to connect. He said that there is no such thing as a MONO Pole magnet...It did'nt matter how many times you cut it in half it will create new poles. Well, this was exactly the answer I was looking for!! This was one of the reasons my makeshift prototype would'nt work because the magnetic fields are so strong that which ever angle you turned the magnetic field there were a counter part. He told me that magnets don't respond to some metals which are copper, lead, alluminun, and some others that I don't know about. This is were I get excited because I wonder if I could take one of these metals and create a shield around one of the poles to make it not read the other pole. He said that mono pole magnets don't exist so my theory is to try to make one. SO! This is why I am putting together this furnace to melt me some copper and build me prototype with magnets to test my idea. I have no idea if this is possible or if I'm wasting my time, but in the mean time I am really having fun just trying. I'll keep you posted and if you have any thoughts on this I sure would love to hear your input.

My Furnace Completed!!

02-05-08 I have been really busy and all, but in the mean time I have finally finished my furnace! Here's the final product.

This has been one of my hardest projects that I have tackled this far. I have never done this before and I really had to research this idea to make sure I was putting it together right. I have made some modifications and changed a few things but in all I hope it works.

Lets take a tour and see how this thing gonna work?! (Theoretically)

First... You open the furnace lid. You'll see a hole with pipes etc. The outer concrete wall is the insulator which helps keep the heat in so it can reach the designated temp I need to melt the metal.

Second... The space between the pipe and the concrete is the place to put the fuel and airflow. The pipe on the bottom right side of the furnace is the air source. The fuel I plan to use is a combination of briquettes and coal. After the coal gets nice and hot I turn on a makeshift blower to add air to the coals to really get this thing going. (I read that during this time the furnace will be sounding like a jet airplane getting ready to take off. I really hope my neighbors are nice :/...)

Third... The inner pipe is the actual oven. This pipe is 5" diam and 1/4 " thick. It should be able to withstand some heat. The crucible I made for this is 4" diam and 1/4 " thick and this is designed to fit snuggly inside the furnace.

Fourth... Add fuel and light it up and wait.. during this time I will be preparing my self for melting and casting by putting on my safety gear which I plan to buy. I need a face shield, apron, leather shoes, etc. I already purchased the gloves.

Fifth.. I take the crucible / ladle which I had custom made differently than the people on the internet were using.














And I take this thing and place it into the furnace to start heating up.
















Sixth.. I close the lid and put the center piece pipe I had made to help guide the metals into the ladle cup that is fully inside the furnace engulfed in flames.






This is what it looks like if you were to look at it from the side..

Seventh.. Now comes to the fun part. After the ladle starts getting really hot I can now insert the metal of choice into the chimney pipe looking thing to melt it. I have no idea how many cans I can melt at this time, this is one of those ongoing things and I'll tell ya later. The metals I want to melt are copper, brass, tin, bronze, allunimum, and what ever I can find hopefully for free.

Here's a demo of what it will look like.:)






As I was updating my post I noticed that my hair is gone. Nobody told me that my hair was heading south. Lisa say's I wear to many hats and don't notice it. She said that we can buzz it and make it look more even. Can't wait!! :):) Well this pretty much sums up this time around and hopefully I can update sooner than later and next time see where I have gone next.

Thanks for visiting!