I'd appreciate feedback on heat treating kilns. I'd like to use it for heat-treating and case hardening. I think rifle actions are the biggest thing I'd want to heat. I'd probably weld up a steel box for the case-hardening rather than buy the Brownells crucible, since it requires a high ceiling that limits my options to the HT1. Do they use a vertical crucible to prevent warping? Do I want to keep items vertical?

I'm looking at the HT-10 and HT-14 from Paragon and maybe the HT-1 from Evenheat. I thought abou the Neycraft fiber furnaces, but the doors on the ones I've seen wouldn't stay shut/sealed and I saw some reloading dies messed up with too much oxygen getting into the oven. I think the Paragons might be slightly better built and have less wasted space being heated than the Evenheat, though I'm not going to be running it every day, or probably every week, so efficiency might be less important that ability to handle so odd, large item in the future.

But I'd prefer to have a smaller, lighter unit I could move out of the way when not in use. I have 220.

Appreciate any recommendations or reviews. Any thoughts on configuration of the units relative to removal of the items and quenching would also be appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

I had a Neycraft fiber furnace back in the 80's when I was making various parts and it worked great. Never experienced any problems with oxygen leakage through the door. Always had to place a small piece of brown paper in with the parts to consume what oxygen there was and no problem from that point on.

Almost any of the furnaces will work to heat the part, the problem comes when moving the part to the quench.

I have no experience with either of those kilns, but a well known gunmaker I have met uses a top-loading pottery kiln for his heat treating and case hardening. If you are considering buying used, pottery kilns come up frequently around here on craigslist.

Westpac, the Neycraft units I saw were at Trinidad, and the latches were broken and would come open. Could be lots of use/abuse.

Mark, that's a good idea. But how does he get the work out of the top? I had in mind two loops on the bottom of the steel box with a long "fork" to pull out the work.

Do you guys think the knob control is accurate and stable enough, or do you think you want automatic heat control linked to the pyrometer?

Steve,
Paragon and Evenheat have been around for a long time and has earned a good name. Basically what you are buying is a metal enclosure lined with fire brick and refractory cement (oxygen depleted as opposed to oxygen entrained) and a simple variable resistor. Not sure if it’s really possible to make a bad furnace as all the ones I have ever noticed were of good quality.
I’m using a Tempco Industrial type furnace with an Omron controller and software package that I can program in soak cycles and ramp up/down times. Works pretty slick as I can set various program cycles like say “Mauser” or “4150” into the software program then just bring up the proper cycle and click “run”. Everything included, except for an old computer, was had for under 300 bucks.
I’ll second the pottery kiln thing, they work just fine and I’m using one for carburizing now.
Typical steel is wrapped in stainless foil or small stainless bags with a piece of paper in it to burn off the oxygen. I use foil and wrap it kind of like a burrito with long tails expose to make it easier to open when hot. Some furnaces are “oxygen purged” but oxygen replaced is a more appropriate term as inert gas is substituted. Earl.

Good post Big Earl

Thanks guys. Any thoughts on chamber size? If I get the 8x9x9 size, am I going to wish I'd gotten bigger?

How about top-load vs front load? Is it harder to get out the work to quench one way or the other without managing to burn youself?

quote:

Originally posted by skl1:
Westpac, the Neycraft units I saw were at Trinidad, and the latches were broken and would come open. Could be lots of use/abuse.

Yeah, people tend to not take care of stuff that isn't theirs.

That ought to be large enough to do several actions at a time. You will want to make up a stainless “rack” to keep the parts off the bottom of the kiln to promote even heating. With a top load you can simply make a basket type thing to pull out with tongs as compared to the side load where you need a pizza type spatula thing. Either way works just fine. And oh yeah, you will get a burn or two, just part of having fun. Earl.

All,

Thanks for all the info and suggestions.

Found an inexpensive Neycraft on craigslist (latch seems fine) and bought it. Looks good, came up to temp quick. Seems big enough to do my DIY action or case harden Mausers.

On to finishing up the action and welding up a steel box for case-hardening.

Steve

Steve, If possible go with Stainless for the box, shelve and everything else. It doesn’t rust like steel does. Here is a great book on heat treating tool steel, get it when it goes on sale. This is my go-to book on the subject. Earl.

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/IN...-9646&PMPXNO=4898401

Thanks, Earl.