Any of y'all forging with an induction heater?

[52 Ford]

I was cleaning out a room the other day and found a single burner induction cooktop. I'm gonna keep it in the shop and use it as a bearing heater and to heat up liquids for finishing handles and whatnot... Anyway, any of y'all using induction heating for forging? Not sure how well you could control temperature, other than watching the color on the metal. It would be pretty nice not having to wait for a forge to heat up or cool down and not having to buy propane or coal. I'm thinking about building one to heat smaller stuff - stuff you might normally use a torch to heat.

 

[fitzo]

Watched a bit of David Lisch's story on IG today as he made rasp hawks. He was using an induction heater for spot heating in the vid.

 

[REK Knives]

House/work on YouTube uses induction for forging, seems to work great ‍

 

[Sean Jones]

I can't comment on an induction heaters use as a forge. However the shop I used to work in had one to heat bearings to put on shafts. The guys that used it swore by it. Assuming you can get it up to temperature I think it would work well.

 

[52 Ford]

I can't comment on an induction heaters use as a forge. However the shop I used to work in had one to heat bearings to put on shafts. The guys that used it swore by it. Assuming you can get it up to temperature I think it would work well.

I think this one is 1200W. The readout on it tops out out 550F. I sawMcMaster Carr sells an induction bearing heater and honestly that's the only reason it came to mind. I don't remember the last time I heated a bearing to press it on but maybe that just 'cause I didnt have a bearing heater.

 

[52 Ford]

McMaster wants $2,665.80 for theirs! The one I have looks basically identical except for the temp probe - on mine its built into the cooktop. It's a "NuWave"... think it's one of those "as seen on TV" things.

 

[Sean Jones]

McMaster wants $2,665.80 for theirs! The one I have looks basically identical except for the temp probe - on mine its built into the cooktop. It's a "NuWave"... think it's one of those "as seen on TV" things.

That's expensive!

I have no idea what the power or price was on the one in our shop. I do know they could heat the bearing up in about 10 seconds flat. Then they'd just slip them on the shaft.

This was in a very large shop doing a lot of custom work.

I was just the IT guy watching all of this when I'd go out to the shop to fix their computers.

 

[52 Ford]

Bearing Heaters,

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

https://www.amazon.com/NuWave-Precision-Induction-Cooktop-Watts/dp/B00DP6BJE2/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=nuwave+cooktop&qid=1634525146&sr=8-9

I understand that the McMaster one is probably made better... but over $2000 better? Doubt it.

 

[billyO]

That's expensive!

I've used them a few times (in general blacksmithing projects, not knife making) and they are great for spot heating. I watched a friend heat the middle of a ~6" piece of 1" round to a yellow/white heat and then twisted to break the bar by hand, it took about 20-30 seconds and he was holding each end of the bar with his bare fingers.
All the ones that I've used/seen in various the various blacksmith shops I've worked in, even the smaller sized units have been in $3500+ range.

 

[52 Ford]

I've used them a few times (in general blacksmithing projects, not knife making) and they are great for spot heating. I watched a friend heat the middle of a ~6" piece of 1" round to a yellow/white heat and then twisted to break the bar by hand, it took about 20-30 seconds and he was holding each end of the bar with his bare fingers.
All the ones that I've used/seen in various the various blacksmith shops I've worked in, even the smaller sized units have been in $3500+ range.

We were talking about the induction "hot plate" bearing heater from McMaster being expensive.

I was looking at stationary induction heaters for forging last night. Just trying to get an idea of the amp draw and all that. They get expensive pretty fast, but at least it isnt just a hot plate...

 

[Gliden07]

I bought a small one to play with. I have used it to sofen Tangs on hidden tang knives just to see if it would work. It worked good in that application. I've also watched a Gent on YouTube called Black Bear Forge he has a larger one he just got and says he will be doing more with on his channel. I thought about getting a larger one again to play with but other things are priority now!