BEER KEG FOUNDRY – Breslawski Family

BEER KEG FURNACE
By Rupert Wenig

Joe’s Hideaway

	Joe holding the business part of his sand fluffer. The can under the fluffer is the receiver. A good use for a discarded propane tank. The motor is mounted in the bottom half. The top half makes a very good funnel to pour the sand into. The wheel is an 8″ disc with rods threaded into the disc with about a 1″ spacing.
	Joe’s fluffer ready for business. His furnace is behind the fluffer.
	What you are waiting to see. The beer keg furnace open and ready for use. As you can see the shell is made from a salvage beer keg. The furnace is constructed by lining the shell with two layers of 1/8″ kaowool, then about 1 1/2″ of refractory.
	The interior of the furnace with the tea kettle Joe made for me being tempered to remove weld stress. Note the burner port. Combustion is complete in the first 1/4 turn of the flame. There was no sign of flame out the vent while the furnace was operating. I was able to hold my hand about 3 feet above the vent quite comfortably. After the tempering, melting some aluminum to test the tea kettle and then the brass melt, I was still able to touch the outside of the shell without getting a burn.
	Joe’s version of the monster burner mounted in the furnace actually operating when I took this picture. Note the bell. It is made form a oil patch pipe plug. The burner pipe is 1 1/4″ SS. This burner runs very quiet. Wish I had brought my DB meter to get a reading as it is much quieter than mine. Note the air fitting. Joe added this feature in order to inject more air into the burner. I believe this allow him to get more fuel into his burner, thus, more BTU’s.
	Another view of the burner port.
	The interior of the furnace- hot this time. The tea kettle is up to tempering temp so the furnace will be shut down for a slow cool down.
	The brass casting Joe did for a small horizontal steam engine. Note the neat brass rammer in the back ground.
	The finished brass casting and the original used as the pattern. And this is not to mention all the other neat toys Joe has like a Bridgport mill with a high speed head and a slow speed head, Southbend lathe 10″ Heavy, Rockwell Surface grinder, and Swedish Metal Shaper He also has all the goodies to go with these toys.