Homemade heat treat oven?

Tod Lowe

Tod Lowe

Well-Known Member
Im getting ready to make my own heat treat oven using the tutorial off of British Blades.
Has anybody on here made there own and what kind of problems should I look out for?
The box looks pretty easy to build and my brother in law is an Electrical Engineer so im thinking this should be a smooth build.

Im wanting to treat Ats 34 or 440C. These steels seem like good ones to start on but I am open for suggestions.

I also have a question about the firebrick. I had a bunch of soft firebricks given to me but I dont know the rating. Is there any way to tell? I need the ones rated for 2300 degrees
 
ive not made to quite that design .. but ive made close to.

with the firebricks - some have a rating sprayed onto them in paint .. some have a marking on the box ... others dont give away any secrets.

how light are they?
they should be light and round and easily cut through with a saw ..
if they are solid and more like a normal house brick .. then thats not what you are chasing and you should find others.
 
Dee said:
ive not made to quite that design .. but ive made close to.

with the firebricks - some have a rating sprayed onto them in paint .. some have a marking on the box ... others dont give away any secrets.

how light are they?
they should be light and round and easily cut through with a saw ..
if they are solid and more like a normal house brick .. then thats not what you are chasing and you should find others.
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The brick I have is the soft brick but I figured there are different ratings for these.

Thank you for the replies. It doesnt look like many people have tried this.
 
Shank try and build one. I am going to try as soon as I have my surgury. What can it hurt? Find out what your cost will be first. Post pics, give it a shot. There are lots of places that sell the soft fire brick. Call them. Do you know where you got it at?
 
jawilliams0425 said:
Shank try and build one. I am going to try as soon as I have my surgury. What can it hurt? Find out what your cost will be first. Post pics, give it a shot. There are lots of places that sell the soft fire brick. Call them. Do you know where you got it at?
Click to expand...

I think I read that the minimum rating on these bricks is 2000 degrees so im going to use them. If they dont work im not out anything since they were gave to me.

I will keep you posted on my progress.

Good luck with your surgery .
 
I have a video where a guy shows how he made his own. Let me know if you want it, I'll dig up the website. I also talked with a guy who made his own. He said that the door was the hardest part and a guy made one with a removable lid and that it worked better, or was easier to make. I might do it that way.
 
obsessis said:
I have a video where a guy shows how he made his own. Let me know if you want it, I'll dig up the website. I also talked with a guy who made his own. He said that the door was the hardest part and a guy made one with a removable lid and that it worked better, or was easier to make. I might do it that way.
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Sure I will watch the video if you have it.:cool:

I can see where the door would be the most difficult part. Its a simple looking build though .

I cant believe nobody on here has built this and has any feedback.
 
Jeff Pearce said:
This should be a great work in progress...please post pictures. 2thumbs
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I will probably have to sneak around and weld it up at work quickly so Im not sure about a WIP. I had to weld my grinder up on night shift and I wont be back on nights for another month. The new maintanace manager is not very popular.
 
Shank there were a couple of guys on a different forum that did a work in progress on their build. If memory serves me correct their biggest problems were the heating element. The rest is pretty straight forward. Good luck with your project.
 
jawilliams0425 said:
Hey Shank have you gotten any farther on the oven? Just wondering.
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Hey.
It's funny you ask.
I just got my elements in the mail yesterday!
I have been contemplating making mine a little bigger but have concerns on ramp up time and holding heat with
a larger space.
I am by no means an expert on this stuff. I am bumbling my way thru it using the tutorials. I plan on getting this built this week so hopefully I have some info to share.
 
I kinda followed those plans! If you followed the link to get your elements, they will heat. I ended up melting my 2300 degree firebrick and runing my elements.:eek: I made the mistake of turning it up to 1500 degrees, not realizing my controller was set up for Celsius not Fahrenheit. I figure I was well over 2400 degrees Fahrenheit. Won't make that mistake again!!!
 
arrow-360 said:
I kinda followed those plans! If you followed the link to get your elements, they will heat. I ended up melting my 2300 degree firebrick and runing my elements.:eek: I made the mistake of turning it up to 1500 degrees, not realizing my controller was set up for Celsius not Fahrenheit. I figure I was well over 2400 degrees Fahrenheit. Won't make that mistake again!!!
Click to expand...

Thats good to know!
I did get my elements at the same place.

Im to the point in the build where I need to do the door. I have a bunch of kawool im thinking about using in the door instead if brick.
I have to find ss bolts today.Not easy to get around here.

What did you use to pin the elements to the brick? Im using what looks like heavy fence staples but they are made from carbon steel.
 
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