06-04-2015, 11:26 PM
Got the refractory poured, took quite a while and I had very little left over, just enough to do some minor patching up if required.
Sure is funny stuff to work with, I've done a lot of work with concrete and mortar over the years, although not recently- I earned my living laying bricks for several years a few decades ago. This stuff is very coarse-grained, difficult to get a good finish around the ports as it is either pouring out so you have to hold it back, or gone off too much to trowel it.
Mixed it up in a barrow- I have a tractor-mounted cement mixer but you tend to end up with a fair bit of waste that way and with this stuff being so expensive that was not an option. Actually did the last stage of the mixing by kneading it with gloved hands- something that would have got me laughed out of any bricklaying job back when.
Had a helper to hold the various tubes in place while I rammed the refractory around them, was not an easy task
I ended up running back and forth to the bandsaw cutting pieces of plywood to hold the stuff back from coming out the holes; this arrangement worked well for the tap hole so we could move on to the other ports
Got the inlet and preheater hole formers in place
then worked my way to the top, drop a layer in then tamp it down.
I made the exhaust hole in the lid a fair bit bigger, found some pvc pipe about 4 1/4" o.d
made a few plinths.
and a choke ring for the exhaust. This will probably be good for placing a full crucible on I think. 6" pvc pipe outside, 3" soup tin inside
Glad to get this job done, I plan to leave it sit for a month before disturbing it. Time to start getting the new mill sorted, then we're off on a bit of an outback trip so this can wait til I get back.
Sure is funny stuff to work with, I've done a lot of work with concrete and mortar over the years, although not recently- I earned my living laying bricks for several years a few decades ago. This stuff is very coarse-grained, difficult to get a good finish around the ports as it is either pouring out so you have to hold it back, or gone off too much to trowel it.
Mixed it up in a barrow- I have a tractor-mounted cement mixer but you tend to end up with a fair bit of waste that way and with this stuff being so expensive that was not an option. Actually did the last stage of the mixing by kneading it with gloved hands- something that would have got me laughed out of any bricklaying job back when.
Had a helper to hold the various tubes in place while I rammed the refractory around them, was not an easy task
I ended up running back and forth to the bandsaw cutting pieces of plywood to hold the stuff back from coming out the holes; this arrangement worked well for the tap hole so we could move on to the other ports
Got the inlet and preheater hole formers in place
then worked my way to the top, drop a layer in then tamp it down.
I made the exhaust hole in the lid a fair bit bigger, found some pvc pipe about 4 1/4" o.d
made a few plinths.
and a choke ring for the exhaust. This will probably be good for placing a full crucible on I think. 6" pvc pipe outside, 3" soup tin inside
Glad to get this job done, I plan to leave it sit for a month before disturbing it. Time to start getting the new mill sorted, then we're off on a bit of an outback trip so this can wait til I get back.
Lathe (n); a machine tool used in the production of milling machine components.
Milling Machine (n); a machine tool used in the production of lathe components.
Milling Machine (n); a machine tool used in the production of lathe components.