Rob Tedge Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 Hi, I'm looking to make a small foundry for melting tin bronze. I'm considering using soft fire brick and the insulator and nichrome coil connected to a 240v 10amp socket and a heat source. I would not expect to do more than 200g of bronze at any one time and will mostly do lost wax casting. I'm trying to establish whether nichrome can handle bronze melting temperatures. Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 They make very nice commercial ones for small melts. Looks a lot like a thermos bottle with a cord. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 Nichrome wire heating coils should work. That is what we use in the kilns. It's rated at 2055° F if I recall right, bronze melts at 1742° F. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timgunn1962 Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 Personally, I'd go for Kanthal A1 or equivalent, rather than Nichrome, though that is primarily because it's what I've used in the past for Heat Treat ovens/furnaces and a couple of little crucible furnaces. There are several grades/compositions of Nichrome with differing maximum temperature ratings. I seem to recall the rating for Kanthal A1 being higher than for any of the available Nichrome alloys when I last looked. It's not simply a case of being able to take Bronze melting temperatures. The element will need to take Bronze pouring temperature (around 1150 degC, 2100 degF? but very dependent on which Bronxe alloy, alloy, thickness of casting and many other variables) plus whatever additional element temperature (delta T) is necessary to drive the heat output into the surroundings while those surroundings are at that pouring temperature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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