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When Bill Ferguson told me he was going to add a new
furnace to his tool chest for the Antimony Man I didn't
hesitate to offer to test it for him if he needed any help.
Bill kindly shipped a unit to me a short time later. I have
worked with the furnace now for about five weeks. There are
several gun projects ongoing in my shop and I use a lot of
bullets to test them. Since I do all my casting with ladle
the timing of the trial furnace arrival was most beneficial
for me.
The unit is low and wide and made strictly for ladle
casting. The interior of the crucible is 4" deep, 4.5" in
diameter, has a clean top rim 1.5" wide, and is suitable for
standing your mould on it to preheat if you don't have a
hotplate. The entire unit is 7-1/4" in diameter and stands
7" tall. It has three short legs ~3/4" long on the bottom.
There is a bale attached for transporting it. The thermostat
control is housed in a separate box and is attached to the
outside of the unit. On the unit I am using the max
temperature reached is 850 F. Casting with a setting of
7-1/2 the pot maintained a very close and even 650F for me.
The thermostat holds the temperature fairly close at the
setting chosen. The scale is a simple analog Off-10 device
with half number markings. The unit uses 110V power.
The enclosed card with the unit warns of the need to have insulating
material under the unit if used on a wooden bench. My casting bench
is plywood and industrial particle board covered with an aluminum
road sign. I put two pieces of synthetic stone tile under the unit
to protect the bench. For the unit I have, at least, the warning may
have been the work product of corporate legal counsel. After two
hours of casting with my unit at 7-1/2 I could put my bare fingers
under the unit and leave them there with no discomfort.
In use, while the rim is quite stable if there are no outside
interferences such as rug rats that shouldn't be in the casting
area, or the neighbor's curious cat, it does not get hot enough to
fully heat the mould. But it at least warms it far enough above
ambient temperature you cannot leave your fingers on the mould for
any length of time. The outside jacket allows some heat to reach the
surface but the unit clearly has good insulation.
I found the extra diameter to be very nice to work with. My normal
furnace for the past 10 years has been the largest Lee unit for
ladle casting. This one is bigger. The extra diameter does prove to
be a useful addition. It also results in the crucible holding a full
25 pounds of lead. However, the working capacity is closer to 24
pounds which leaves
about 3/4" freeboard.
This new unit of Bill's is a nice addition for the folks who prefer
ladle casting. It is short, stable, fairly large, has ample space to
catch the overflow as you fill the mould cavities, and holds temps
nicely. So far I have not found anything about it to not like. It
stays with me and Bill needs to tell me the price.
Finally, the standard disclaimer applies. No financial interest in
Bill's business and no options to turn a profit from his sale of the
furnace. |
