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I Forge Iron

Home build induction heater


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  • 2 weeks later...

Great read. I own a 15K unit, one of the ones that broke and Grant fixed... will be nice if we get a USA heater in production -- also we don't need all the bells and whistles on the imports.

Larry -- can you post a few photos of your coils? Would be most interested to see them. I'm in need of some kind of solution for heating very small tips -- I find myself waiting more to heat small pieces, than large ones, :-)

-Tod

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Not yet, the current control is about done being tweaked then it will all go one one circuit board that we will send off to be made. Maybe a couple weeks then it will be in my shop for actual blacksmith testing! I will be building a water cooler for it then too, right now its just got the water hose hooked to it, works great but will be nicer to have a contained cooler.

Played with a crucible some, pretty fun, worked great.

Not sure how many of these we will be able to build, wont be a large scale type thing. Once this one is in my shop I will add lots of videos and pictures for those interested.

If anyone is interested in a future trade for one of these induction heaters once they are completed, feel free to pm me, I would be looking to trade for certain tools, power hammers, press, anvils, maybe some other shop type tools.

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Some pictures of printing the first board, my brother decided to make the first one himself just in case there is anything that needed changed after we get it all running. It will eliminate the messy white breadboard with all the wires sticking out of it and allow us to package it all nice inside a case so that it doesn't just look like its some garage project. If you look close you'll see the name for the induction forge and my brothers company on one of the boards, when pronouncing it, the 2 stands for squared, its part of an equation that makes this whole thing work.

This step in build is over my head for sure :)


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  • 3 weeks later...

Moved the induction forge to my shop last night, its amazing. I knew it would be better but untill i actually started forging I didnt realize how easy it makes things. I will post some pictures and videos this evening, im at my real job now...blah.

One thing i learned was, why forge on a red heat when you're 5 seconds from yellow again! lol

Stay tuned

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Having it in my shop is the last testing phase before we start ordering parts and better cases to build a few more units.

Videos of pulling some metal apart in the induction forge, just for fun.





Flickr album.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/josh-campbell/sets/72157630185449586/?page=4
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  • 2 weeks later...

Not too much new the the forge, just sourcing parts needed and other planning. Found some good prices/suppliers on parts, might be ordering 76,000 coupling transformer cores lol...

My brother is starting to work on a Kickstarter project for this as well, hopefully that goes well. There are lots of "maker" type items that do really well, small cnc machines, 3d printers and such.

Still not sure where this forge project will end up... fun so far though.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Ordered parts to build and test a couple water coolers. Getting more parts in for the forge as well, my brother started working on some mounts and a few components with the sheet metal machine we got, fun stuff! The new forge will be so much better than the first, so many things changed during the design and build of the first.

I did a little rendering of the plan for the new capacitor bank.
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Old capacitor next to new one, the new version only uses 1 cap, old version used 2. Also the old caps were rated at 100amps, new one is rated at 1000amps and designed specifically for induction application.
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Induction Brothers,
If you are considering the production and sale of these induction forges, you may wish to limit the on-line documentation of your progress, which others might copy. The authorized biography of Apple's Steve Jobs revealed how, early on, partner Steve Wozniak would be so enthused with a technical breakthrough that he was ready to show immediately the finding to fellow electronic whizzes, but that Steve Jobs would caution against such, saying 'let's make some money' from the discovery.

 

 

I forge Iron has always been about the free flow of information. If that confuses you, read more of this site, and see it in action, also this is not secret technology

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Induction Brothers,
If you are considering the production and sale of these induction forges, you may wish to limit the on-line documentation of your progress, which others might copy. The authorized biography of Apple's Steve Jobs revealed how, early on, partner Steve Wozniak would be so enthused with a technical breakthrough that he was ready to show immediately the finding to fellow electronic whizzes, but that Steve Jobs would caution against such, saying 'let's make some money' from the discovery.


Good advice, thank you for your concern. I have been just showing the components without many of the details and ratings. Most of this information is available online already with other induction builds, its just no one else has had the time or know how to really put it all together and perfect it I suppose. There are a lot of little things that go into each piece that cannot be copied just from seeing them, as well as the control board, probably the most important part, cant be copied by just seeing it.

We are not really planning a full on production, we are planning on making it an open source type product ranging from DIY kits with schematics and plans, to complete units.
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dudes, very cool
can i make a small suggestion .... add quick connect coupler to the copper heating coil so you can switch coils quickly ... trust me it'll make a big difference as i find your constantly switching... having the coil close in size to the dim of the piece of iron makes a difference in heating time

G

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dudes, very cool
can i make a small suggestion .... add quick connect coupler to the copper heating coil so you can switch coils quickly ... trust me it'll make a big difference as i find your constantly switching... having the coil close in size to the dim of the piece of iron makes a difference in heating time

G


Thanks!

Yes, the quick connect is a must have. We also plan on having some remote coils that you can hold in your hand for some added reach for different projects.
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  • 2 weeks later...

I suppose the threat of kathy bates coming at me is enough to scrounge up a few.. :)


I should have some new pictures here fairly soon. Just been a busy time of the year, my brother still working away on the finishing parts of the forge and I hauled about 10 truckbed loads of logs and brush from my front yard after getting a large tree trimmed away from the house/powerline.

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