40 replies to this topic

[Sam Thompson]

At about 2.00 mins in this video the steel is drawn through two rings. Is that induction heating?
YouTube - Around America's Blacksmith Shop

[Frosty]

Ayup, that's induction heating.

Frosty

[Ferrous Beuler]

Yes, that is induction heating. I saw another vid somewhere on youtube showing another one. I was amazed at how fast a heat was taken.

That bit from 1:15 to 1:35, what sort of blacksmithing technique is that????

[Sabre]

yes it is!!, i think its cool, wonder how much power it uses......

[TASMITH]

I don't know how much power they consume but I do know that when we put a new addition on one of our plants and installed three Lasco hammers each with their own Induction heating coil units Ontario Hydro run a seperate high voltage transmission line into the plant to supply the power. I do know that they convert the power input to an extremely high frequency and that they could heat an 1 1/2" rd bar from room temperature to 2250 deg F in under 20 seconds! They used to run about 3 1/2 bars of 1 1/2" rd per minute when forging large connecting rods in the hammer.

Terry

[dablacksmith]

from the people who run them ive been told that they dont add apreciably to your electric bill...ive seen one used at a demo and if i had the bucks would really like one!

[brianbrazealblacksmith]

Grant Sarver, Off Center Forge, was working on making an affordable induction forge the last time I saw him. When I saw it I was amazed and asked him if he had ever welded with it. He said no, but the next day at the ABANA conference he said he did weld with it that night after we left. If I could afford one I'd have one. It would save a serious blacksmith alot of time and money in just the heat time, and not to mention the comfort of not as much radiant heat or coal dust.

[HWooldridge]

They are great for consistent sizes - in other words, repetitive work of a certain size and I'm sure an induction unit is the cat's meow for toolmaking. They are not as useful for odd sized stuff, like scroll work.

[grimcat27]

there are a lot of videos of induction heating on you tube

[johnptc]

a 15 kilowatt unit will work nicely for a bladesmith

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

Hi guys! I'm Grant Sarver and I've been selling a small unit for about five years now. It's 15 KW (that's about 50 amps on a 220 single phase circut) and about the size of a tower computer. It will heat about 15 inches of 1/2 inch bar in about 15 seconds! You can get a nice welding heat in 20 seconds. Coils are easily made from common 1/4 inch copper tubing. A short coil of about 2" diameter will heat a wide variety of parts. Longer heats can be had by moving the part back and forth thru the coil. Six inches from the anvil if you like! I've seen Darryl Nelson do an upset square corner on 5/8 bar in two heats with his.


In my shop I went from about $250 - 300 per month in propane to where I saw about $25.00 - 30.00 per month increase in my electricity! I manufacture the OCP or Off Center brand of tongs and swages etc.

Oh yeah, $2,995.00

[johnptc]

pics please

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

Note there is a small piece of ceramic in the coil to support the bar.

The unit in pic 1 uses a separate output transformer with a six foot cable from the power supply. The unit I sell the most of today has the output transformer and power supply in the same box. There is a fair power loss associated with the cables.

Attached Files

•  hot half.jpg   217.79K   153 downloads
•  tong heat3.jpg   17.46K   160 downloads

Edited by nakedanvil, 14 May 2009 - 02:37 PM.

[Frosty]

Ah HAH Grant!

Really good to have you aboard buddy!

I know I welcomed you earlier but now I know you is YOU I'll make it a bit more personal. ;)

Frosty

[johnptc]

what a great setup... drool

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

Mark Aspery and Darryl Nelson were kind enough to make this video and post it on U-tube:




YouTube - Induction Forge Show and Tell video

[Jmercier]

Someday I plan on owning one of these =) Unfortunately that someday is after I get a power hammer in my shop. I just got a digitally controlled electronic heat treating oven, so the last (major) tools that i can even /think/ of that I want in my shop are a hydrolic forging press, power hammer, and induction forge.

I do more bladesmithing than anything else, and it seems that an induction forge would be wonderfully suited to bladesmithing, however I dont know a single bladesmith off hand who actually uses one. If I could afford it, I'd love to be the first =) If anyone knows of a bladesmith currently using an induction forge, pass their info along, i'd like to talk with 'em.

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

New induction video:

[dlpierson]

That's just sick!

I've been wondering what the coil for heating flats looked like. Thanks a lot for showing it.

One of these is very, very likely to be the next major purchase for my shop. Unfortunately
that won't be very soon. There's this "major" part...

[thingmaker3]

Grant, how many watts does that gizmo pull from the wall outlet?