Arc furnace failure.

[airmodel]

Here is a video about an arc furnace which shows that just because the arc flame has a very high temperature it will be successful in melting high melting point metals. The problem with this furnace is it needs lots and lots of kilowatts and having a electricty supply to have lots of kilowatts is not available in your home. This applies to any kind of furnace that uses electricity to melt metals. An oxy acetylene torch has a very high temperature flame and has the same problem it will not melt a kilogram of steel.

My oil burning furnace can melt 14kg of cast iron in 50-55 minutes but the amount of kilowatts the oil produces is about 70-80 kilowatts, any less than that it will take a lot more time to melt. At the end of the video he says that an induction furnace will solve his problems but there is another problem to solve, does he make the power supply for the induction furnace or buys one? Watch from 12:38 to 17:06
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW6ty2aeZ-k" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW6ty2aeZ-k</a>

[vtsteam]

The melted products are all highly contaminated. The amounts melted are very small.  The costs of equipment and ruined crucibles are high. Chromium fumes are poisonous. The photos of burns from the prior referenced experiment are horrific.

It is hard to understand why someone would do these things.

[AVTUR]

The melted products are all highly contaminated. The amounts melted are very small.  The costs of equipment and ruined crucibles are high. Chromium fumes are poisonous. The photos of burns from the prior referenced experiment are horrific.

It is hard to understand why someone would do these things.

I think that is pretty safe. Research chemists just under 200 years ago died working with HF and nitrating solutions in ordinary laboratories. At least heat prevents you getting too close to molten metals.

AVTUR

[bent]

A local foundry uses an arc furnace to produce ductile iron castings on a Disamatic jolt-squeeze machine.  We're talking several tons of iron at a time (8-10 tons per hour).  The sturm und drang from the arc is awesome, even at the 100 ft. distance behind protective glass where we stood to watch.  They have to call the electric company to coordinate the furnace runs with them.

https://www.romac.com/foundry

[internal_fire]

A local foundry uses an arc furnace to produce ductile iron castings

I believe Romac uses an induction furnace, not an arc furnace.

Big difference.

Gene

[airmodel]

It is hard to understand why someone would do these things.

A long time ago I used an AC arc welder to melt 50 grams of steel to turn it into cast iron. It worked but I quickly realized that melting larger amounts would prove to be very difficult and never tried that experiment again.

[dieselpilot]

The guy made a video for clicks. Cool. he showed an experiment that wasn't successful. Cool. Channels I don't like I don't watch.

There are plenty of DIY induction heaters.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBoxISZrN2Y" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBoxISZrN2Y</a>

[airmodel]

There are plenty of DIY induction heaters.

That video you posted is a really good one compared the many others that are on youtube. I like the part where he uses a ocilliscope to confirm that the power factor is close to 1. Many on youtube add caps to improve the power factor on the work coil but does it really work if you don't have an ocilliscope?