Like a lot of others, I'm interested in induction heating. It's the price that scares me. I see some cheapo (less than $100)portable induction units for sale. They're meant for kitchen use. Are these strong enough to heat steel? What sort of specs does one look for?

"Watts" are the spec you look for. Look for something at least ten times as powerful as the rice cookers. 20 times as powerful would be better.

Thanks

I'm also looking to convert an induction cooker into a forge. The only two options I see are 1800 W and 3000 W, which both run at 60 Hz. Would these work? I'd be heating around, say, 1" diameter stock at most.

(Sorry - I don't know very much about this topic. This project is mostly out of curiosity.)


Thanks, everyone


Edit: I guess I'm not too worried about efficiency. I'm mostly interested in if a converted cooker can just get some steel up to a nice forging temperature...you know, eventually. (Within a reasonable time, of course.)

Try http://inductionheatertutorial.com/ . Lots of good info about power requirements, and how to make your own. You will probably need 220v, maybe 40 or 50 amps to generate the power you need, 8KWatts to maybe 10KWatts for 1" stock, and you will need decently tight coupling to keep the power demands as low as possible, so you will wind your coil to fit your forging, plus enough room that you don't touch the coil. May want to line the coil with a layer of ceramic cloth, just to avoid contact, if your coil is very tight.

Whooo...that's a complicated project. Thanks for the link! It's going to take me a while to gather all the pieces I'll need, not to mention the knowledge required to do this safely. It should keep me busy for a long time.

have just bought a single induction hob, will open up the case and see if I can disconnect the thermostat in it and / or replace the coil to try a few things whilst awaiting developments on other things.

its a 2kw