Home Bulk Raw Beeswax Core Molding Sodium Silicate Paraffin Wax Castable Refractory Sandcasting Mix Frost-Stick Dry Ice Machine
 Honey  Propane Burners Software Ebay Store Stuff! Contact Us

The value of an idea lies in the using of it. Thomas A. Edison 

Frostic Incorporated Sells Bulk Raw Beeswax, and Manufactures Portable Dry Ice Makers, High Temperature Refractory Mix, Casting Sand Mix, High Pressure Propane Burner Assemblies, Hardwood Fuel Bricks and other speciality products. Frostic Incorporated, 4191 Waug Road, Benzonia, MI 49616

Google
High Temperature Insulating Castable Refractory Mix Refractory Casting Mix
is a dry cement based Insulating Refractory, which can be cast into a form or mold to make kilns,
Melting Furnaces, Annealing Ovens, Wood Stove Platforms, Fire resistant walls, Outdoor Wood Furnaces,
or any other use which requires resistance to high temperatures and insulating properties.
Generally 3" to 6" wall thickness is recomended.

How much to buy?  use our Refractory Mix Calculator

For Pricing and Shipping Calculations please Visit  Our Ebay Store
Crucible FurnaceCrucible FurnaceCrucible Furnace
Melting Aluminum

Pictured is a small furnace that we made by pouring the mix into forms. Forms can be made using the same techniques that are used to pour concrete.

Wood, metal, cardboard, and other materials that will hold their shape while the cement based components of the refractory mix harden, can be used. Duct tape can be used to hold the forms together while the mix is curing.

How to use your Castable Refractory Mix:

Add 50lbs of all purpose bag sand, then clean water; mix well.
It should be the consistency of cookie dough.

Each 50 lb Box makes 100 lbs of Refractory after you add 50 lbs of all-purpose bag sand. This saves on the cost of shipping.

Pour into the mold making sure that you have included forms for the holes necessary for flame inlet, and exaust vents. While pouring, vibrate the mold to remove any air pockets or bubbles from the casting. Air pockets can be dangerous during the drying/fireing stage; Trapped air can explode as the furnace body is heated.

Allow to cure for 24 to 48 hrs. Full strength should be acheived in 36 hours. Once it is cured, remove the mold material and allow it to dry (in the sun is good) for a couple of days. Once it appears dry you can start firing it.

Firing Procedure:

Firing is critical. If you heat your new furnace too fast it will begin to steam. If it begins to steam it will form cracks. Castable refractory mix is sensitive to quick changes in temperature. Some cracks are usually ok, as long as your furnace remains substantially intact it should work just fine. The furnace shown is NOW over a year old and we fire it up about once a week. Over time it has developed some major cracks but it still works very well.

Begin firing very slowly. Ideally, do not raise the temperature more than 100 degrees per hour. If it begins to steam turn of the flame and let it cool down until the steaming stops. There is alot of internal water to be removed. We, like most people, tend to be impatient and just blast away. For best results follow the above schedule closely.

Once the steaming stops, turn the flame on again and slowly heat it up. Over time you will get to 2400 degrees and you can then let your furnace body slowly cool down.

Additional Information:

This particular furnace has 3" walls and the outside barely gets hot while the aluminum is molten inside the crucible, when fired the inside glows bright red and I can still touch the outside of the furnace... (Not a recommended procedure)

NOTE: CASTING METAL IS INHERENTLY DANGEROUS. YOU ARE RESPONSABLE FOR WHAT YOU DO WITH THIS PRODUCT. BY PURCHASING AND USING THIS MATERIAL YOU ARE AGREEING THAT YOU WILL NOT HOLD US LIABLE FOR ANYTHING THAT YOU DO IN CONNECTION WITH THIS PRODUCT. USE EXTREME CAUTION AROUND MOLTEN METALS AND HIGH TEMPERATURES. MAY CONTAIN FREE SILICA; USE A BREATHER MASK WHEN HANDLING THE DRY PRODUCT.
****Contains Portland Cement wear gloves and avoid contact of the wet product with your skin ***

Each 50 lb Box Makes 100 lbs of
High Temperature Insulating Castable Refractory Mix
after you add a 50 lbs bag of all-purpose sand.

100 Lbs of HTICR is about 1.4 cubic feet.
1 Cubic Foot of finished HTICR weighs about 73lbs

Refractory Mix Calculator

Purchase Refractory Mix at:

Purchase at Frostic Incorporated Ebay Store

WoodBurner     Rocket Stove     Quik-Tube Building Forms

  Rocket Stove Animation

Obtaining very high temperatures

by Klaas van Ditzhuyzen
Velp, The Netherlands

When one needs very high temperatures (> 1400 C), e.g. for melting platinum, iron, etc. the following possibilities are available. However, the higher temp is needed, the harder to keep it. This is because of the law of physics which tells that the heat loss by radiation equals the fourth power of the temperature difference with the surroundings. An example is the fact that a candle has a flame temperature of 1500 C, but no object (except the very tiny soot particles which are responsible for the candlelight) of a reasonable size can be heated over 1000 C. Note: Except the oxypropane torch I've never tested or tried out these things, but I'd like to someday. Use always dark (welding) goggles when looking into such hot objects, otherwise damage to your eyes will result.

Oxyacetylene or oxypropane torch.

A small one, available in hardware shops, for about $150 yields about 2000 deg C and is able to melt a few grams of iron or nickel. Some use small disposable oxygen canisters and others use hydrogen peroxide with a catalyst which generates oxygen on demand (as my one). The latter one is usually cheaper per unit of consumed oxygen, but the 30 % peroxide solution is really wicked stuff. Avoid contact with any part of your body. Always use a face shield and rubber gloves when refilling. The larger ones used for welding require an oxygen canister with 200 bar pressure and these can usually only be rented. Moreover some safety requirements apply, e.g. no fat or oil on the oxygen reduction valve, etc. So these larger ones are only feasible when one works regularly with platinum or palladium alloys. Acetylene (C2H2) is hotter, but harder to obtain.
Special requirements apply with acetylene tanks.

Small blast furnace

Especially useful for larger amounts of cast iron. One can make a shaft of about 50 cm long and 10 cm inner diameter from high temperature grade refractory (e.g. refractory concrete) and fill it with charcoal briquets mixed with pieces of iron. On the bottom the charcoal can be lit by a torch and then be blown by a reversed vacuum cleaner. This will get so hot (>1500 C) that the iron will melt and precipitate to the bottom. Charcoal chips are too light: they will be blown out of the furnace by the air vent. Anthracite (hardly available) works well too,but it releases lots of SO2.

Thermite

This is a mixture of 75 mass % iron oxide Fe2O3 (rust)and 25 mass % aluminum file or saw dust. It should be ignited by magnesium ribbon or by a little potassium chlorate KClO3 with sugar and glycerol. This yields a temperature of 3000 C (yes you read it well: C, not F). However, the reaction is hard to control and is hard to lite off. It is used for welding rail tracks. Note: virtually no material can withstand the temperature, so forget the item on which you let the reaction take place.

Electrical arc heating

Using a welding transformer (a 150 amps one costs less than $150)and attaching carbon electrodes (can be gotten from old zinc-carbon flat 4.5 Volts batteries in which there are three to the wires also yield temps up to 3000 C.

Graphite Rod for Electrode 12 inch by .5 inch diameter


Klaas van Ditzhuyzen
Velp, The Netherlands

Above is an excerpt from: A Metal Melting Furnace by Klaas van Ditzhuyzen



Visit Our eBay Store: Frostic Incorporated