Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 17

36 Contact: BILL MARSHALL [email protected] reheat and melt the metal until the bowl is full again. For the first half of the load, it will be using 2,000 BTUs/# you melt! Not only does it cost more but you wasted the energy used to fill it the last time before it was shut off! Leave them on all weekend and make sure there is a leak detector hooked up to the unit that can sound an alarm if there is a leak in the bowl. MELTING & HOLDING Melting and holding in the same bowl can cause inclusions and an increase in hydrogen gas in the metal. Generally, plan to hold the temperature at a much higher than normal rate in order to overcome the large temperature swings that are typical when loading these types of melters, as there is simply not enough stored BTUs in that small amount of metal left in the bowl to help with the melting process. It must draw all the energy from the heat source which can cause huge temperature swings and leads to cold shots, increased dross, and separation of the alloy constituents. Wet bath reverbs eliminate most of these issues because of their hold to melt ratio. Follow these few guidelines to minimize down time and reduce energy costs usually associated with crucible furnaces.