Kerrystagmer Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Soooo some of you know I own a fair sized comercial induction unit. This unit was originally purchased by a dentist who used it for reclaiming platinum. It has a small coil for crucible use. I have heard so many stories I dont know what to believe anymore. Safetly concerns with the High freq field and such have kept me from playing with it. Does anyone have real knowledge about this? Heat I can feel, see and sense. I respect it and it seldom hurts me too much. I'm just not to sure about this! I see my comercial heat treat just standing right next to his induction units with reckless abandonment. Where is the truth? Kerry Stagmer www.baltimoreknife.com www.fireandbrimstone.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve R Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 (edited) Soooo some of you know I own a fair sized comercial induction unit. This unit was originally purchased by a dentist who used it for reclaiming platinum. It has a small coil for crucible use. I have heard so many stories I dont know what to believe anymore. Safetly concerns with the High freq field and such have kept me from playing with it. Does anyone have real knowledge about this? Heat I can feel, see and sense. I respect it and it seldom hurts me too much. I'm just not to sure about this! I see my comercial heat treat just standing right next to his induction units with reckless abandonment. Where is the truth? Hi Kerry, "High frequency" is a relative term...in the case of induction forges/furnaces it's typically in the range of hundreds of kilohertz, which is an order of magnitude less than cell/cordless phone frequencies. Think AM radio (below, actually). Even if one does go to higher frequencies than that (which I doubt, except possibly for special applications), it shouldn't really be an issue. I think you're safe, unless you're wearing your aluminum foil hat and stick your head in the coil! cheers, /steve Edited October 31, 2007 by Steve R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Erwin Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Not to mention that the hat will help the government read your brains! Beau Erwin www.ErwinKnives.com Custom knives Bcarta Composites Stabilized Woods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B Finnigan Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 You should be more concerned with putting a microwave transmitter(cell phone) 1" from your brain. A friend of mine is a tool grinder for Boeing and he uses and induction forge every day HTing tooling bits. I believe Tom Ferry also uses one for forging. That is one of my future tool purchases but they are over $3k so it's very far in the future for now. Everything I need to know I learned from the people trapped in my basement. I'm out of my mind but feel free to leave a message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bennett Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Yep. You'll be OK. The only warning around our induction, (uses 3 giga watts!), is some pacemaker cautionary stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb0fhp Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Induction is fun to play with....As long there is proper schielding of the power supply unit you are fine. THe units come schielded....you might tick off a local ham radio operator, but they are safe. They are commonly used all over the world for hardening all sorts of stuff, like cam shafts, etc. It works better with symmetrical things....because of the concentration of the field. Scott D. Scott MacKenzie, PhD Heat Treating (Aluminum and Steel) Quenching (Water, Polymer, Oil, Salt and Mar-Tempering) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B Finnigan Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Everything I need to know I learned from the people trapped in my basement. I'm out of my mind but feel free to leave a message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillK. Posted November 6, 2007 Share Posted November 6, 2007 (edited) They have an induction furnace at my university in the industrial college, melts the steel/iron/aluminum pretty darn fast. I'ld hate to see the power bill! Can't comment much on the safety besides the fact that they let the students near it while its operating if they are wearing heat protective clothing. Edited November 7, 2007 by WillK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerrystagmer Posted November 7, 2007 Author Share Posted November 7, 2007 (edited) They have an induction furnace at my university in the industrial college, melts the steel/iron/aluminum pretty darn fast. I'ld hate to see the power bill! Can't comment much on the safety besides the fact that they let the students near it while its operating if they are wearing heat protective clothing. . Have you cast steel with this unit? just wondering if the crucible needs to be fluxed a certain way or enclosed? Edited November 8, 2007 by Kerrystagmer Kerry Stagmer www.baltimoreknife.com www.fireandbrimstone.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Furrer Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 (edited) They have an induction furnace at my university in the industrial college, melts the steel/iron/aluminum pretty darn fast. I'ld hate to see the power bill! Can't comment much on the safety besides the fact that they let the students near it while its operating if they are wearing heat protective clothing. Well, I was not going to join in on this discussion because the induction technology has been around for over a hundred years and seems to be rather safe. The issues of safety seem to come into play when wet or oiled things are placed in molten metal and the metal splashes out and kills the guy standing near it. The megnetic field itself is contained and of very little concern unless you are standing inside the coil. There may be some concern about pacemakers and such, but since the field drops off (by a factor of four .. cubed per distance I think) it should be "safe" HOWEVER if I had a pacemaker and there was a chance of it firing at 10,000 times per second (or whatever the Hz rate was) I might elect to stay away. Use dry materials and be dressed for the metal to go flying and you should be fine, but do be careful. Also..if the coil is water cooled try not to have the water pump into the metal as it will be a small scale vesuvius in your shop....be sure the coil is in good order. Ric Edited November 7, 2007 by Richard Furrer Richard Furrer Door County Forgeworks Sturgeon Bay, WI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerrystagmer Posted November 8, 2007 Author Share Posted November 8, 2007 (edited) I guess i'll wire it up and see where we go. It will be a pain now as I have moved from an industrial complex with 3 phase to my home where I'm using a large rotary converter. The unit I have it listed as 27 amp 3 phase so I'll have to check the power supply out and see if its multiwireable or not. It is water cooled with internal pumps and such. As for clothing and care with molten metal, we pour bronze in the 90 lbs range so we are up to speed on steam issues! Edited November 8, 2007 by Kerrystagmer Kerry Stagmer www.baltimoreknife.com www.fireandbrimstone.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now