When wiring in a flexible cord, you should always make the earth wire the longest in case you gett a pulling force on the cord. For example if you stumbled over the cord and yanked the live wires out of its socket the case off the machine will still be grounded and tripp the overcurrent braker or fault circuit breaker.
Fascinating and a great option when you live in close quarters and you don't want your neighbors to smell a coal fire or see propane flames rolling out of your garage. Great video.
This video is really useful. I'm a UK blacksmith by profession and looking into if I should get an induction heater, this answered most of my questions in an easy to understand way 👌👏 Much appreciated
Thank you so much. It's certainly very convenient for small jobs and short localized heats. For large batches and bigger stuff I use my coke/charcoal forge. Cheers J
To use the 'socket system' I would definitely recommend going 10mm² cables. The induction heater itself might use 6mm², but then you're adding the water pump, a potential cooler, and whatever else you decide off that same supply.
Also the temperature rating of the wiring is often different. That short section will have higher resistance and heat up more. The insulation must be rated for that. The much longer cord will drop the voltage excessively and may not be rated for the temperature, or the connection points (breaker) may not be rated for the heat.
@@court2379 Not only that. Multi-core cables have completely different specifications than single-core cables laid in air, e.g. in cable ducts or control cabinets. It should also be noted here that this is a flexible cable of a special type (this is mandatory if a supply line is used as mobile and with a plug connection). These cables have to be specially insulated, heat-resistant (for use in the workshop, here in a smelter anyway!) and suitable for recurring rolling up and unrolling, against stepping loads, etc. This further reduces the allowed current factor. As an example: A single-core 10mm^2 cable can be loaded with up to 70A if laid optimally (e.g. harmonized flexible cable in switch cabinets), in a multi-core cable with 2 loaded strands and as a sheathed cable lying on the cable duct (or the floor) only with 63A and in thermally insulated walls with 43A. Keep in mind that the protection of the plug and cable (i.e. directly on the plug connection as is often the case with you English and Americans, but mostly in the distribution box) determines the dimensioning of the supply line[1]. For example, you can't use 0.08mm^2 for something that technically would allow it (3A), but that would completely negate the point of fuses, as your cable would burn out immediately, posing a risk of fire and electric shock in the event of a failure . (Note, 0.08 only applies to individual wires in the control cabinet with a load capacity of 3A. For 3A as a plug-in cable or openly laid multi-core cable, at least 3x0.5mm^2 is required!!!). Furthermore, everything is specified for 20°C. For example, if the normal ambient temperature is 40°C, the dimensioning must be corrected by a factor of 0.82. If a three-phase device is operated, the above values change from 63A to 57A. If the cable is operated in the wound state, then an additional factor of 0.80 applies for one winding layer and 0.61 for two. All of this can be read in DIN VDE 0298 Part 4. Greetings from Germany, by the way:) In other countries, corresponding standards apply, because despite some differences, the physics are still the same!:) [1] You're all making a mistake with your thinking (or lack of knowledge?) there. A deadly one;) "That short section will have higher resistance and heat up more." Shorter means LESS resistance and better conductance = less heat-loss. R=ρ*l/A. Where ρ is the specific resistance (copper cables ~= 0,0169...0,0175 Ω · mm2/m), for a straight conductor with a constant cross-sectional area A, and the length l. Do the math. When the l(ength) gets smaller, the R(esistance) also gets smaller. "The insulation must be rated for that." Yes, that is the whole point of all those regulations and the data sheet of the cable. There is no insulation which does somehow magically allow for an out of specification used cable with the wrong cross-section. As said above those these special requirements reduce the heat dissipation of the system (conductor + reinforcement + additives + sheathing + construction + routing type) and that requires the higher dimensioning of the conductor cross-section. WE MOVE IN THIS CAUSAL DIRECTION OF THINKING ... and not the other way around(we start from our CURRENT REQUIREMENTS ... and then choose cable and type of cable!), which doesn't make any sense. "The much longer cord will drop the voltage excessively[sic!]" .... WHUT? U=R*I ... "and may not be rated for the temperature" ... P=U*I where you can calculate your heating with the constant for copper. NO MAGIC! And in no case "excessively" ROTFL. BTW for every 10m PLUG-IN cable over 10m length we use a factor of 0.9. That automatically makes you use a bigger cross-section if you are in need of such cables. And now back to you. WTF??? If you make the cable double as long, you get double the resistance and double the power loss over this purely thermal resistance. This means double the thermal energy has to be dissipated. That was your thought .... or something in that direction? But you absolutely forgot that we now have the double amount of copper ... the double physical amount of REAL COPPER dissipating the same heat as before. All rules that are mentioned (they are not complete!!!) are in place. The loss of voltage over a ridiculously long power cord may be a thing (I said how we mitigate this!), but your point with the influence on temperature is total nonsense!:) "or the connection points (breaker) may not be rated for the heat." IF ... sorry I have to calm down:) If the specialist who made the house connection for you and the wiring of your sockets did NOT use the standardized fuses, then ... I don't know what to do anymore. Again, temperatures are not a problem at all. If a connector is designed for 63A, then it has to withstand it! More than that cannot flow over it. Then the fuse must blow. THAT'S THE EFFING SENSE BEHIND ALL THIS FUN!
@@court2379 If I see you anywhere near an outlet with a screwdriver, I'll smack you so hard you'll understand Ohm's Law and specific electrical resistance in an instant. This is of course meant metaphorically. It is for your own safety that you never mess around with power cords, as you have shown clearly that you lack even the basic understanding of the principles behind it (you got it even wrong ... in the other direction ... the direction that leads to fire and death).
@@dieSpinntSir, first of all, thank you for you answer. Being honest, i am not able to understand it as I goes further than my limited knowledge. However, you may be able to explain whether i can use the machine in this video in my home. I live in Spain and my house runs in 220-240V and my iven circuit goes up to 24amps (i am not sure but I think so). The rest of the sockets in home run on 16amps. I have a contract with the electric company for a 4,5kwh supply. So.. could I use it? Do I need an special workshop wiring installation? Thank you for your help Alejandro
We use induction heating all the time in the Dam's. We use it to braze the jumpers on the core of the stator. It will liquify two pieces of 3/8" copper buss in about 45 seconds.
Lookig forward to hearing your thoughts on this set up and also as my valued subscribers, enjoy these discount Codes on the VEVOR website: Joshua5 - save £5 off everything Joshua10 - save £10 off over £200
One thing you can do is use bigger tubing or flattened tubing to make your own coils for heating stuff. Just make sure the coils allow water through. Also silver plating the coils makes them work a lot better. That thing has the biggest flyback transformer i have ever seen inside it. Most likely it uses a big IGBT to drive the inductor capacitor tank circuit with it being optimized in current mode. 500 isnt bad for the unit and the cooler. Might want to get a spare IGBT module and capacitor (the big white one) for it.🤓
I’d absolutely put an additive in there anyway to avoid any galvanic corrosion. Also, the amount and cost of peltier coolers would be cost and power prohibitive for the amount of heat it’s likely to generate. The heat pump is better. If you want to improve the cooling, you could consider replacing that aluminum coil with a more efficient heat exchanger (radiator, AC condenser, etc) - just be cognizant of pressure drops as they tend to be quite restrictive and may require some testing to meet the low pressure drop of the coil. Or you could deftly add some fins to the coil, if you’re comfortable with the fiddly TIG welding required. Could also add a second water tank on that cart and connect it in series to the other to increase the heat capacity in the system. You could also dump the airlock and look into a swirl pot to remove gases from the system. All good ideas for future projects!
Something to consider with water pumps is "head height". The further up the pump has to push the water against gravity the less pressure it will have at the end. If you had the water cooler mounted beside or above the induction unit you would probably find you get better water pressure then you do with it right next to the floor where it is now. As a hobbyist that doesn't get a lot of spare time an induction forge is the dream bit of kit. Being able to go out, switch something on and be forging in under 5 minutes would be amazing. As it is now with coal or gas I have to wait until I know I have a few hours spare before it's even worth it.
Thank you. Yeah the cooler I got says it does 10Lpm and can push that up 10m in height so you would have thought it was enough, it's just enough but a new pump is still cheaper that an different model. Cheers J
I do agree that you loose presure when pumping water hightwise, but that actually is not rally the situation in this case. Because this system is a "closed loop system". So the preassure (energy) you lose by pumping the water upp is regained when the water is pouring down again (inside a pipe). If you would meassure the pressure at the top of the circuit and the bottom you would get a higher preassure at the bottom. But it's actually missleading because it's showing you the static preassure. What is important in this case is that the pressure is enought so that the water can get squezed through the thin passages inside the "radiators" in the induction forge. (I think it's called dynamic preassure). I hope you understand how i mean, it would be easier to explain in a drawing...
Superb video Joshua- unbelievable detail, personally I cannot see anything wrong with your wiring up at all. Very interesting and accurate how you worked out the costings. Total credit / respect to you. 👏👍
Just found your videos; firstly, I must thank you for all the time and effort that must be involved. To add something to the current plumbing discussion: Other than as needed to trip the pressure switch inside the induction heater box, your chiller pump does not "need" backpressure in order to work. The flow of any pump will always be at a maximum at zero head/back-pressure. Regarding mounting the heater above the chiller: clearly the pump generates enough pressure to get the water up to the heater, and once the return line is primed all the way back to the tank, this creates a syphon effect which means that effectively the pump will be working at zero head (just provided the return lines dip below the surface of the water in the chiller tank). I don't think you should need to throttle the flow on any of your outlet valves, unless the pressure switch doesn't actuate without this. Thanks again - Subscribed !
The other thing I could add would be if you Tee'd all your outlets togther, the combined flow might be enough to purge air bubbles without needing the vent valve ?
The air bubble purge technique, absolutely genius! I've had an issue where I've needed to prime a system every single time I had to start it because of the air in the lines. I'll be using a chrome tube to address this issue. OH, and sorry about your finger.
Just subscribed, what a generous RUclipsr. I’m in the area of crafting with scrap metal etc, these videos are fantastic. Anyway, you’re a super gifted artist, please keep making these amazing videos.
While it might sound good in theory, peltier coolers would not be a great idea for this thing. They have terrible efficiency and don't really scale well with massive amounts of heat. Keep in mind that pretty much all of the wattage consumed by one is converted into more heat you need to somehow dissipate from the hot side. They quickly get swamped with the amounts of heat a device like this needs to put up with. Secondly, they just really aren't needed. This device doesn't need to ever be cooled below ambient temperatures (or really even down to ambient). The main goal of the cooler unit is just to keep it (and the coil) from turning into a liquid. A simple radiator and fan is more than capable of doing exactly that, especially at the temp differences you are likely to be seeing. Thermal issues would be better solved by a bigger radiator, fan, or just another cooler unit running in parallel.
A trained electronics theory man here, this induction heater probably works in the neighborhood of 100KHz which is what causes the iron/steel to heat up. It’s all about the materials reacting to a high frequency magnetic field. That’s what this machine generates through the copper pipe. It’s about the hysteresis loss happening in the work piece. If one had a ferrite material coupling that RF field very close to the workpiece, the hotspot would be smaller.
great video and well explained , a bit different from your forge, here in Central Canada a friend of mine has was you would call a breakers business recycling buses and he and his partner have purchased induction coil heaters for the purpose of removing rusted bolts and hardware versus using a torch all the time and these units work the same way and vastly outperform a torch hands down and the amount of time to recycle all the metal and components is getting shorter with each bus they do and much of this work is done outside in our winters minus 15 -25 Celsius is common and their cost for refuelling the torch tanks has dropped by 75%, the initial setup costs were not bad some 50 and 100 foot extension cords 12 gauge and 10 gauge for the bigger wattage units they bought and no major issues as of yet and its been roughly 10 months, he says it beats a torch and you don't have to worry like you would have to set down a torch or relighting it, of course you have to be careful where you'd set down the induction heater of course, our Hydro rates are the cheapest in North America so they save again in this way also , I am going to purchase an automotive sized unit for myself for home automotive use and repairs working on older vehicles, the costs are not bad, 😂
You could add an additional insulated reservoir. Then have your cooler chill the reservoir and get another pump to circulate the chill water. You could increase flow rate that way. If you have the space to add another reservoir
The comment about the cooler is useful. I looked up what's needed for circulation for an english marked version of this thing in the US, and it's 7.5 liters per minute at a 98 foot head. The former probably isn't that difficult, but at a 98 foot head (!!), it's not going to a $30 fish tank pump.
Congratulations on your new tool / toy. Hopefully you get great use out of it my friend for many years to come. Very nice and very helpful and definitely useful video explaining and review this tool. Can't wait to see more videos soon. Joshua. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Forge on. Weld on. Fab on. Keep making. God bless.
Working in a manufacturing facility that has an induction machine and an induction hardener, one of the warning notices advised that it should not be used by someone with a pacemaker. Our units are large so I don't know if a smaller unit would have the same effect. Just thought I would mention this.
FYI, diH2O is functionally identical to distilled (outside of a lab setting) and both with dissolve aluminum and copper over time, and i mean a pretty short time- months to years based on temperature and dissolved oxygen
One of the reasons why I'm considering an induction forge is because it doesn't throw off as much heat as either gas or coal. Though I don't live in an area known for high heat (Rhode Island) we do get stretches of time where the temps are above 27 to 80C (roughly 80 to 85F). Forging at those temps and above can range from not fun to just plain dangerous. An induction forge would allow me to forge during that weather without the added heat risk of a gas or coal forge.
I’ve seen those before and had the chance to use one as well. The best part is the on/off feature. Coal, and even gas, takes time to get going and cool down.
I heard if you get the coils right, winds, frequency, whatever clever business is in the guts; it's specific to the exact stock you're doing and like a microwave (kinda but not), you can heat from the inside out in seconds (even fat stuff, inch square, more). But this is all really new to me so thank you very much for showing us the guts. If energy production does manage to go green, this has to be the future. We love coke, but we simply can't burn it forever. Same goes for gas, diesel furnace, whatever.
Thank you. I think anything that contains rare earth minerals isn't sustainable, I'm not sure how much of the internal parts can be eternally recycled. I use sustainable charcoal sourced from a local coppice that encourages long term bio diversity and growth, but this tool is very convenient and great for certain projects that need a localised heat. All the very best. Cheers J
Yeah it's always going to be hard to choose "greenest". It's like "least bad" is best. I had not even considered coppicing because my supply is coke and it's an urban environment. But that's a really good idea. Even do the thing where you double back the wood gas to heat the box with the wood in it, I dno if you call that retort or not. But that's like digging up even less fossils. Yeah I'll be locking that in the memory banks. I get distracted easily but I think I can hang on to this.
A great explanation of how to setup and use. An induction forge. Your pump probably needs to be upgraded because of your increased head. However it’s easy to test. Fantastic video.
The green safety line (I guess) is supposed to be longer than the phase and neutral line so if it gets pulled it goes the last. When you use clamp terminals use cable tubes with a good crimp tool Sorry for the bad English :)
Nice demonstration. A few nitpicks/ comments: I wouldn't worry about your breakers being exceeded the ratings for the vast majority of breakers is their 100% duty cycle load. A 40amp breaker should handle 40 amps continuously pretty much forever. They all have a performance/trip curve which specifies how quickly they will trip at a given current. Any device that has a large inductive load will create a huge spike at start-up unless very carefully designed not to with things like soft starters and the like. I suspect that the peak power levels registered are for a few milli seconds. I have a 2.4Kw single phase saw that draws 20 amps at start-up without the soft starter. Big transformer welders and the like can spike to over 100 amps for a fraction of a second on the input. I run a 20amp welder off a 16am breaker and it only trips if I've got the welder absolutely maxxed out for more than a few minutes at a time. You should be fine unless you absolutely stress the system with a continuous maximum load for minutes at a time. Peltier coolers are totally inappropriate for this application, they are nifty solid state devices but they are at best 5% ish efficient so they don't work well for large heat loads. You'd need a proper form of refrigeration system to actually significantly reduce the temps although I'd suggest a proper radiator to replace the alloy tubing as an easier intermediate option. Water, even deionised water is a self ionising solvent. Small amounts oc H2O will dissociate into HO+ and H3O- spontaneously and will pick up metal ions over time. It's probably a good idea to add some form of corrosion inhibitor to the coolant mix to retard galvanic corrosion enabled by the water. Just some things to consider. I love how accessible these decent quality tools have become. Thanks for sharing.
Mmmmm.... bangers and mash ! I too have been considering an induction heater for the shop. Lately I've been doing small pieces and far apart so the speed and convenience of a 40 second heat + the lack of fumes, exhaust fans, sweating through a shirt etc. Make these fantastic. Im glad the prices have dropped over the years, tho with the current global political and economic issues, i fear the cost will go up substantially. Great video, as always. Now get the new shop done already ! Hurts my neck to see you bent over.
I nearly gave my thoughts on the matter and I don't agree that it's a fully green alternative. My reason are the power is fulled by coal fired power anyway and nuclear power isn't sustainable or good for the environment either. That as well as the loss of efficiency through the grid via heat loss in transformers etc. Direct heat through coal in my mind is just as green controversially. I didn't share my thoughts because I simply don't know the figures to really comment. The only alternative source could be a large battery bank and solar panels but there are issues on the sustainability of these systems also because of the rare earth materials and manufacturing methods. Cheers J
There is a restriction on over heating. I'm currently putting an upgraded cooling system on mine so I can do larger heats. My current cooler is the cheap end and isn't enough for long periods of time forging. Cheers J
Noting the chiller - one needs to realise that most coolers / airconditioners / etc, which we commonly relate to, ultimately exchange to the air (it is air cooling, just using remote methods to "pump the heat"), IF the airflow over the cooling coil disn't adequate, that would be because the case was to restrictiver, (exchanger too small) or the fan not effective enough - ie not passing enough air past the coils. Adding said "peltier device" would work to consume energy and heat the air inside the case more - there would only be a benefit if one were to send (sink) the additional heat to an external exchanger - or a larger "cold sink" - even having a compressor refrigeration system "in the box" may not solve total problems (IF it were the case as may have been expressed early in the video)- unless the heat were pumped elsewhere - there is a reason why refrigerators pump the heat into the room outside the "cold compartment" (mini spit can remove that to the outside easily enough) - and why many (compressor) portable room airconditioners don't make a lot of sense - the heat needs to be sent outside, and they tend to pump a lot of cooled air outside in the process with whatever ducting is supplied (sealing the window is also a hassle...
Thank you. I nearly did bit on how green it is which currently I don't think it is but I need more information on this and could have caused a controversy. Cheers J
I think you’d need a huge quantity of peltier devices to dump that much heat. Peltier effect devices can cool below ambient, which is great, but it can take a long time to get there. For example, most of the peltier drink coolers you can buy have a small device so they take ages to chill.
@@joshuadelisle Dump the hot water into your bathtub, and have a water intake on the bottom of the tub. The bottom will be cooler water. That much water will take a lot more heat before the temperature goes up. A big volume of water might be perfect for letting you use the thing for awhile. The duty cycle will be low in the sense that a small radiator will mean it takes awhile to cool down. But, if (for example, this is a guess) it takes an hour to get too hot to keep using safely, and then 24h to cool down, that’s a terrible duty cycle. Except that one hour of use is all you need in a day :) One minute on and 24 minutes off would be really annoying. Same duty cycle as a percentage but the actual time before you have to turn it off matters. A huge volume of water will buy you a long time on. And then you can take a nice hot bath to relax. (I’ve never done this, I’m just thinking of the thermodynamics)
@@gf2e I think I will make a cooper coil and dunk it into a bucket of water and just change the water if it's over heating. In the cold months I'll just leave a bucket out side to cool while the other heats up.
Is it possible to melt and cast powdered steel using that induction forge? for example, if you made a small plaster mold of a 3d print could you fill the caster mold with a powdered steel and then melt the steel powder right inside the mold? I could see this being really useful for small strong but complex parts.
The variations of this forge (keep small quantities in mind) specify a top end temperature of 4000F. Obviously drops as you increase the size of a pot, quantity and distance from the coils.
Cheers fella this videos ace, inspired me to look into a profession id thought un-viable due to the coal forge requirements, hadn't even considered induction forges. also, the diesel heater video that was really well produced, cheers.
Just wanted to mention you were initially correct about Vevor being a Chinese company, not Japanese. They are based out of Shanghai, China, and started in 2008. I have a medium-sized metal lathe from them, and some parts of the manual were absolutely fantastic, but when it came to the portion of gear changes, it was horrible. Different tools, but overall, I was also generally impressed with the manual given to me. 3:14 awesome, this is exactly what I've been hoping to see. I'd like to see what IGBTS they use for these machines and how they get a large power output over the smaller oscillating induction circuits. 5:54, not a fan of how they did that cooling system there. Normally, you see a proper small radiator with a larger fan moving air. Clever design to save money, though.
Don't forget that coal can sit for 50 years and still be good. Also, coal doesn't have any capacitors to go bad or circuit boards that there is not a rats chance to ever get a replacement for. If its toss up, then coal is the clear choice over a massive assembly of unknown origin and quality standard Chinese parts - of every sort every imagined. And the water cooling? Another item just aching for issues. Especially in the USA coal and coke are available anywhere in the east by the ton and natural gas is likely 1/3 the cost of Europe. Fair chance now that your gas is American anyway due to that monster Putin. Only the ON/OFF switch is really attractive. But Complicated Chinese electronics seem to have a hidden, built in OFF switch. With unknowable time to failure.
We use server grade antifreeze for our laser which is relatively cheap and non conductive. This is for the UK as the glass can be damaged below 12'c. I would probably do the same for this.
Make sure you don’t have any copper showing when terminating cables into the breaker, also I would use a brass lock ring in the metal clad box. Love your videos 👍
You're limited to the size coil you choose but yes definitely quick and convenient. I still use my charcoal forge for a lot of stuff just because I can get wider heats and have several irons in the fire so to speak. Short controlled heats this is brilliant. Cheers J
Peltier devices would do absolutely nothing in that cooler. A more efficient approach would be to put a finned cooler in there with more surface area such as a transmission oil cooler . that smooth tubing wont do much .
Great video, very informative and covers the things we would really want to know. Thanks. As a future video I would like to see you try a flat coil, and a U shaped coil (a flat coil bent around a bar to form a taco shape. Then you don't have to pass the work thru the hole which could get difficult. Obviously it won't heat the outside edges as well, but my guess is either it won't matter due to just soaking it a bit longer, or you flip the part over and do that side too. Watts and Watt-hrs are not the same thing. It is harder to understand what you are saying when mixing the two. I had to go back and look at the numbers on the meter. Watts is energy flow rate, watt-hr is quantity or volume in a fluid analogy. Just for comparison at the average US electricity prices this runs about 93cents/hour or 1.5 cents/min.. So is much cheaper than any other fuel source except maybe coal.
@@joshuadelisle 1KW could be thought of as the energy flow rate (power, the speed you are performing work), so 1KW output continuously for an entire hour is a KWh (the accumulated work done, not the speed it is happening). KWh would be like the amount of liquid in a bucket. KW would be like how fast you are pouring the liquid in. Some examples. A 100W bulb run for 10hours is 1KWh. A 2000W heater uses 1KWh in 30 minutes. Each accumulated the same 1KWh of work done, but the rate at which they did it is 200x different. Hopefully that helps?
Hi Josh. If you are planing, which I think you are, to use this frequently, it would be worth investing some form of Power Factor correction on your supply. I notice the PF went down to .75 at one stage. That means you’ll be paying for power you aren’t using. Ideal PF is 1.0 which in this type equipment is not possible. A PF of 1.0 or close is only obtainable in purely resistive circuits such as electric furnaces. Also the fact that the electric suppliers are not keen on people using low power factor devices on there supply systems. I won’t go into details of harmonics being generated in switch mode power supplies. As a retired electrical engineer I have experience in this area of supply issues. John.
@@joshuadelisle Hi Josh - i’ll take another look at the video of the power meter display to determine max load plus a bit then see what's out there for. 👍
Breakers trip on a sliding scale the lower the overcurrent the longer they take to trip there are trip curves available online for different types of breakers, some are faster than others.
I have absolutely no need for one of these, but it’s still interesting to watch! I see you’re still in the little shed though; what’s happened with the new workshop on the side of the house? Thanks as always for sharing 👍
Thank you. Other shed has been used for larger projects I haven't shown yet. It's also waiting for the doors and new floor. It's also gotten filed with with junk that I don't know why I keep. Cheers J
Well another advantage is that the induction heater can be used "green" so without CO2 or fine dust byproduct. Might be nice for marketing. "Green forging" 😉 Also komment on the wiring. It seems as if you used bare braded copper wire that you clamped inside of the inductionheater. My understanding is that bare copper wires are notorious for getting loose over time. I actually speak from experience here. So put some solder on the end or even better crimping might be a lot safer. But I am no expert here so take this with a grain of salt
Thank you. I didn't have a boot lace ferrule that fitted so I may get another set to upgrade it. Only problem with green energy is it's not currently green, we still rely on coal fired power plants and nuclear isn't much better. Even an off grid solar system has issues with rare earth elements which are in less supply than fossil fuels. I think the only real solution is sustainable charcoal. Cheers J
One cost associated with combustion forges that should be considered when choosing which to use is the health consequence. Combustion byproducts are terrible for your lungs, and over the course of decades even a relatively small reduction in use could save you a small fortune worth of health related costs and extend your quality of life significantly.
The only drawback between the induction forge verses the coke forge is the comfort in winter in your tiny Ice box Shed, running an electric heater on full blast at -10c just isn't the same as a nice warm coke forge.
A word on the electrics (from an Ex-Spark) Your house, you can do what you want! As an amateur (on electrics) you did not do too bad a job of it! It is important to realise that this is not what the IEE Regs are about as it it portable equipment so while good working practices of general sparking apply they are not cast iron rules! The existing connection was a death trap and the single best thing you did was to remove it! You should not wire socket up relying on the earth from the metal bodywork, but put a separate green and yellow wire to it! Your main earthing point to the bodywork was good (a proper crimped lug) ..... just use this stud to pick up your earth for your socket! In an ideal situation you would then take your socket from the bottom (load side) of your breaker. This means that if someone switches the breaker off the cooler also goes off. The flip side is that you add your cooler load to your forge load and that might cause tripping. I could not tell what type of breaker you had but it should me a "M" type for magnetic devices (they have a different time / trip curve). You have a lot of bare copper showing on the top of the breaker. Most sparks would make it a point of pride not to have Any copper showing above the clamp of the breaker ... but definitely no insulation under it eather! Many would also use a crimped ferrule. Running your main supply through the socket is not good practice, but I understand why you would want a downward facing gland. Again most sparks would also have a boot over the gland, especially in that environment. When you choose your flex size two things are inportant the Length and the Size. For the length you need to look in a table to work out your volt drop per meter and see if your length of run will cause problems. The Size will give you the current carrying capacity of the flex. You need to make sure you are reading from the correct table as 6mm T+E (house wiring) will have a different capacity from 6mm Flex. In your case I don't think the run length will not be a problem and you should also be OK with 6mm on a 32A breaker. The fact that it is not a constant load will also work in your favour. As I said Not a bad job!
Thank you so much this is brilliant information and should help others to do a safer job also. All the very best. You input is much appreciated. Cheers J
Hi @@joshuadelislewhy use SY cable it is NOT armoured!! SY is for machine interconnect control cable not supply!! I have seen people come unstuck with SY thinking it is better protected but not the metal screening is to stop electrical noise especially with inverter drivers to motor's!! A big miss conception!! Even Googling: Low smoke cable variations should be installed for environments where safety is critical, to limit the danger to life or equipment. Under the IET Wiring Regulations (BS 7671), YY, SY and CY control cables are not recommended for use as part of a fixed installation.1 Mar 2023
Good video on the product well done, on the cable there normally a reason for 10mm cable you didn’t say how long it can be ? As there will be Voltage drop over a long length recommend max 2m long 10mm on your CCU there was no RCD or MCBO hear again recommend 30mil amp RCD this can be 100Amp format with TT earth Rod as you have a metal man den we don't won't you getting a electric shock do we. Keep up the good work.
if you can make an argon chamer around the coil you could forge weld stainless damascus with zero problems. Might be tricky getting the item in and out without flooding it's atmosphere though. But in theory, make a box that is airtight at the bottom with access from the top (as argon is heavier)
@@joshuadelisle Thanks! Glad you like the idea! I've been using stainless steel foil filled with argon I pump into the bag before sealing, and then placing in a propane forge. If somehow you could also have a hydraulic clamp around the stainless steel billet mix you could get it to forge weld temp, squash the welds tight, and do it all in a argon atmosphere. No scale. Perfect stainless damascus billets every time that you could flog for 60 quid a pop. Maybe add a argon pump at the top that constantly flows a small amount of argon down into the chamber and keep any aiflows away from the forge and.. yeah.. might work really well.
Only issue is that you cant use non magnetic stainless. But AEB-l stainless and 304 will work perfectly, and are often used together in stainless damascus. For other stainless steels it depends if your units is strong enough to heat up non-ferrous metals.
@@joshuadelisle Would love to see you make it. If you do can you give me attribution credit? The setup would be your coil facing sideways. a 6 inch billet of 2 AeB-L and 3 403 at 1.5mm And enclosed airtight "fishtank" lower part with a semi open top with a draft cover (with an access flap) and in the airtight lower box, have a vice just below the coil you can power with a drill or by hydraulics that when it moves the clamp together it does not break the air seal on the lower part of the box. Has to be slow but hard squish so it does not jerk the argon out of the box. then you just move the steel billet up and down heating then moving down to clamp the hot section and repeat till it is all forge welded. Maybe some kind of drill press mechainism to move the billet up and down from the top.
I have one complaint regarding your channel Joshua ...... Not enough content 😁 .Your presenting is second to none . How's the new workshop coming along ?
Thank you so much Sean. It's coming but I've gotten roped into other pressing priorities at the moment, could be a very busy year coming. Looking for slabs for the floor and will fit the doors soon.
Seems like this could be a good setup for the hobbyist who doesn't want he faff of a coal forge or the noise and expense of a gas forge. Makes me think I could get back to forging again despite my urban environment...
I think that would be a good example of its convenience. You may still want an extraction system for the burning oils on the steel, but a well ventilated space would be fine for most people. Cheers J
@@richardhazell2601 they are cool and very convenient. But given a choice of all the forge types I would still choose a side blast solid fuel forge. I now use home made charcoal mostly which is free to me less a bit of time. Cheers J
Hi! The video is very good! it has a lot of information! I also bought such a Vevor heater, but unfortunately the one that was delivered works with cs 30 - 80 Khz. Do you think you can forge and weld with this? The coil that was added is 75mm. Thank you for your answer!
Great video with lots of information, thanks for giving us a proper introduction! I wonder, does the induction forge work with stainless as well? I kinda remember something like an induction stove wouldn't work with a pan completely made out of stainless but it wouldn't be the first time my brain has fooled me ^^
Love it. Is making a shaped custom coil as simple as shaping a piece of copper pipe to what you want? Couple of fittings and you are good? would be cool to see you make a coil that would evenly heat up a long billet all at once.
So here we are a year later - how do you feel about the unit? I'm pulling the trigger on one this week, but I don't know whether to go with the Chineese 15KW unit or the US Solid one at almost twice the price.
Hi. Mines still going strong as you can see in my latest videos where I make a table with a laser. I recommend a better cooler than what I use as it over heats on large projects. I would think the US version is still made with Chinese parts but I could be wrong. If it is locally made then fixing it if it breaks should be simple. The Chinese ones can be fixed as the parts are all modular. I'm a cheap Scape so I tend to go with the cheapest but I also like to support local businesses if the service is good. Cheers J
It's a ceramic fiber. Any time the hot steel touches it melts. It's there for insulation to stop the coil shorting itself. It's cooled with water yes. Cheers J
Hi Joshua, great video on the induction forge, I have been thinking about getting one. What do you think about oxy acetylene or Propane on a torch saver, I guess that’s what you call it it’s a valve on the stand but shuts the torch on and off, works excellent for me on small hits. Thanks for all your great information
Oxy fuel torches are great for bending work and rivets but very costly to rely on all forging operations. Torch savers are great so you don't have to constantly turn on and off the valves. When I made my forged stags and horses I used an oxy-propane set a lot. Oxy acetylene is great for cutting and welding with. Cheers J
A rig that size in the 1950s would've been a pocket calculator. 😂😂😂 And no long division or multiplication. Just adding and subtracting. Nice video, though. This is everything I'd ever wanted to know about these gizmos (everything that I could think of, at least) and what the pros and cons are if someone decided to get rid of their LP or coal-fired forge in favor of one.
Not sure how it's rated at 15kW (min 60A@250v) if you only have it on a 32A breaker (8kW@250v). There will be reactive power effects and heat output is related to Amps not Volts in that instance (P=I²R) so watch your power factor. I noticed a PF of 0.8 so that would enable you to get 32/0.8 A reactive current from your 32A breaker or 40A reactive. So still only 2/3 of full 60A needed for 15kW. Interesting situation.
When wiring in a flexible cord, you should always make the earth wire the longest in case you gett a pulling force on the cord. For example if you stumbled over the cord and yanked the live wires out of its socket the case off the machine will still be grounded and tripp the overcurrent braker or fault circuit breaker.
Fascinating and a great option when you live in close quarters and you don't want your neighbors to smell a coal fire or see propane flames rolling out of your garage. Great video.
This video is really useful. I'm a UK blacksmith by profession and looking into if I should get an induction heater, this answered most of my questions in an easy to understand way 👌👏
Much appreciated
Thank you so much. It's certainly very convenient for small jobs and short localized heats. For large batches and bigger stuff I use my coke/charcoal forge. Cheers J
Down to earth explanations, acknowledging limitations in knowledge and a sense of humour. Subscribed!!!
Thank you so much. Cheers J
To use the 'socket system' I would definitely recommend going 10mm² cables. The induction heater itself might use 6mm², but then you're adding the water pump, a potential cooler, and whatever else you decide off that same supply.
Also the temperature rating of the wiring is often different. That short section will have higher resistance and heat up more. The insulation must be rated for that. The much longer cord will drop the voltage excessively and may not be rated for the temperature, or the connection points (breaker) may not be rated for the heat.
@@court2379 Not only that. Multi-core cables have completely different specifications than single-core cables laid in air, e.g. in cable ducts or control cabinets.
It should also be noted here that this is a flexible cable of a special type (this is mandatory if a supply line is used as mobile and with a plug connection). These cables have to be specially insulated, heat-resistant (for use in the workshop, here in a smelter anyway!) and suitable for recurring rolling up and unrolling, against stepping loads, etc. This further reduces the allowed current factor.
As an example: A single-core 10mm^2 cable can be loaded with up to 70A if laid optimally (e.g. harmonized flexible cable in switch cabinets), in a multi-core cable with 2 loaded strands and as a sheathed cable lying on the cable duct (or the floor) only with 63A and in thermally insulated walls with 43A.
Keep in mind that the protection of the plug and cable (i.e. directly on the plug connection as is often the case with you English and Americans, but mostly in the distribution box) determines the dimensioning of the supply line[1]. For example, you can't use 0.08mm^2 for something that technically would allow it (3A), but that would completely negate the point of fuses, as your cable would burn out immediately, posing a risk of fire and electric shock in the event of a failure . (Note, 0.08 only applies to individual wires in the control cabinet with a load capacity of 3A. For 3A as a plug-in cable or openly laid multi-core cable, at least 3x0.5mm^2 is required!!!).
Furthermore, everything is specified for 20°C. For example, if the normal ambient temperature is 40°C, the dimensioning must be corrected by a factor of 0.82. If a three-phase device is operated, the above values change from 63A to 57A. If the cable is operated in the wound state, then an additional factor of 0.80 applies for one winding layer and 0.61 for two.
All of this can be read in DIN VDE 0298 Part 4. Greetings from Germany, by the way:) In other countries, corresponding standards apply, because despite some differences, the physics are still the same!:)
[1] You're all making a mistake with your thinking (or lack of knowledge?) there. A deadly one;)
"That short section will have higher resistance and heat up more." Shorter means LESS resistance and better conductance = less heat-loss. R=ρ*l/A. Where ρ is the specific resistance (copper cables ~= 0,0169...0,0175 Ω · mm2/m), for a straight conductor with a constant cross-sectional area A, and the length l. Do the math. When the l(ength) gets smaller, the R(esistance) also gets smaller.
"The insulation must be rated for that." Yes, that is the whole point of all those regulations and the data sheet of the cable. There is no insulation which does somehow magically allow for an out of specification used cable with the wrong cross-section. As said above those these special requirements reduce the heat dissipation of the system (conductor + reinforcement + additives + sheathing + construction + routing type) and that requires the higher dimensioning of the conductor cross-section. WE MOVE IN THIS CAUSAL DIRECTION OF THINKING ... and not the other way around(we start from our CURRENT REQUIREMENTS ... and then choose cable and type of cable!), which doesn't make any sense.
"The much longer cord will drop the voltage excessively[sic!]" .... WHUT? U=R*I ... "and may not be rated for the temperature" ... P=U*I where you can calculate your heating with the constant for copper. NO MAGIC! And in no case "excessively" ROTFL. BTW for every 10m PLUG-IN cable over 10m length we use a factor of 0.9. That automatically makes you use a bigger cross-section if you are in need of such cables. And now back to you. WTF??? If you make the cable double as long, you get double the resistance and double the power loss over this purely thermal resistance. This means double the thermal energy has to be dissipated. That was your thought .... or something in that direction? But you absolutely forgot that we now have the double amount of copper ... the double physical amount of REAL COPPER dissipating the same heat as before. All rules that are mentioned (they are not complete!!!) are in place. The loss of voltage over a ridiculously long power cord may be a thing (I said how we mitigate this!), but your point with the influence on temperature is total nonsense!:)
"or the connection points (breaker) may not be rated for the heat." IF ... sorry I have to calm down:) If the specialist who made the house connection for you and the wiring of your sockets did NOT use the standardized fuses, then ... I don't know what to do anymore. Again, temperatures are not a problem at all. If a connector is designed for 63A, then it has to withstand it! More than that cannot flow over it. Then the fuse must blow. THAT'S THE EFFING SENSE BEHIND ALL THIS FUN!
@@court2379 If I see you anywhere near an outlet with a screwdriver, I'll smack you so hard you'll understand Ohm's Law and specific electrical resistance in an instant.
This is of course meant metaphorically.
It is for your own safety that you never mess around with power cords, as you have shown clearly that you lack even the basic understanding of the principles behind it (you got it even wrong ... in the other direction ... the direction that leads to fire and death).
@@dieSpinntSir, first of all, thank you for you answer.
Being honest, i am not able to understand it as I goes further than my limited knowledge.
However, you may be able to explain whether i can use the machine in this video in my home.
I live in Spain and my house runs in 220-240V and my iven circuit goes up to 24amps (i am not sure but I think so). The rest of the sockets in home run on 16amps.
I have a contract with the electric company for a 4,5kwh supply.
So.. could I use it? Do I need an special workshop wiring installation?
Thank you for your help
Alejandro
We use induction heating all the time in the Dam's. We use it to braze the jumpers on the core of the stator. It will liquify two pieces of 3/8" copper buss in about 45 seconds.
Lookig forward to hearing your thoughts on this set up and also as my valued subscribers, enjoy these discount Codes on the VEVOR website:
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One thing you can do is use bigger tubing or flattened tubing to make your own coils for heating stuff. Just make sure the coils allow water through. Also silver plating the coils makes them work a lot better. That thing has the biggest flyback transformer i have ever seen inside it. Most likely it uses a big IGBT to drive the inductor capacitor tank circuit with it being optimized in current mode. 500 isnt bad for the unit and the cooler. Might want to get a spare IGBT module and capacitor (the big white one) for it.🤓
I’d absolutely put an additive in there anyway to avoid any galvanic corrosion. Also, the amount and cost of peltier coolers would be cost and power prohibitive for the amount of heat it’s likely to generate. The heat pump is better. If you want to improve the cooling, you could consider replacing that aluminum coil with a more efficient heat exchanger (radiator, AC condenser, etc) - just be cognizant of pressure drops as they tend to be quite restrictive and may require some testing to meet the low pressure drop of the coil. Or you could deftly add some fins to the coil, if you’re comfortable with the fiddly TIG welding required. Could also add a second water tank on that cart and connect it in series to the other to increase the heat capacity in the system.
You could also dump the airlock and look into a swirl pot to remove gases from the system.
All good ideas for future projects!
Something to consider with water pumps is "head height". The further up the pump has to push the water against gravity the less pressure it will have at the end. If you had the water cooler mounted beside or above the induction unit you would probably find you get better water pressure then you do with it right next to the floor where it is now.
As a hobbyist that doesn't get a lot of spare time an induction forge is the dream bit of kit. Being able to go out, switch something on and be forging in under 5 minutes would be amazing. As it is now with coal or gas I have to wait until I know I have a few hours spare before it's even worth it.
Thank you. Yeah the cooler I got says it does 10Lpm and can push that up 10m in height so you would have thought it was enough, it's just enough but a new pump is still cheaper that an different model. Cheers J
You lose about half a psi per foot, so only about 1psi here.
I do agree that you loose presure when pumping water hightwise, but that actually is not rally the situation in this case. Because this system is a "closed loop system". So the preassure (energy) you lose by pumping the water upp is regained when the water is pouring down again (inside a pipe). If you would meassure the pressure at the top of the circuit and the bottom you would get a higher preassure at the bottom. But it's actually missleading because it's showing you the static preassure. What is important in this case is that the pressure is enought so that the water can get squezed through the thin passages inside the "radiators" in the induction forge. (I think it's called dynamic preassure). I hope you understand how i mean, it would be easier to explain in a drawing...
@@joshuadelisle pls put some ferrules on those input cables
Superb video Joshua- unbelievable detail, personally I cannot see anything wrong with your wiring up at all. Very interesting and accurate how you worked out the costings. Total credit / respect to you. 👏👍
Thank you so much. Your very kind as always Trevor. Cheers J
Just found your videos; firstly, I must thank you for all the time and effort that must be involved.
To add something to the current plumbing discussion: Other than as needed to trip the pressure switch inside the induction heater box, your chiller pump does not "need" backpressure in order to work. The flow of any pump will always be at a maximum at zero head/back-pressure. Regarding mounting the heater above the chiller: clearly the pump generates enough pressure to get the water up to the heater, and once the return line is primed all the way back to the tank, this creates a syphon effect which means that effectively the pump will be working at zero head (just provided the return lines dip below the surface of the water in the chiller tank). I don't think you should need to throttle the flow on any of your outlet valves, unless the pressure switch doesn't actuate without this. Thanks again - Subscribed !
The other thing I could add would be if you Tee'd all your outlets togther, the combined flow might be enough to purge air bubbles without needing the vent valve ?
The air bubble purge technique, absolutely genius! I've had an issue where I've needed to prime a system every single time I had to start it because of the air in the lines. I'll be using a chrome tube to address this issue. OH, and sorry about your finger.
Just subscribed, what a generous RUclipsr. I’m in the area of crafting with scrap metal etc, these videos are fantastic. Anyway, you’re a super gifted artist, please keep making these amazing videos.
Thank you so much. Cheers J
Wow that's really awesome. I've dreamed of doing something like this with solar panels on a workshop.
Would need a big set up but possible. Cheers J
While it might sound good in theory, peltier coolers would not be a great idea for this thing. They have terrible efficiency and don't really scale well with massive amounts of heat. Keep in mind that pretty much all of the wattage consumed by one is converted into more heat you need to somehow dissipate from the hot side. They quickly get swamped with the amounts of heat a device like this needs to put up with.
Secondly, they just really aren't needed. This device doesn't need to ever be cooled below ambient temperatures (or really even down to ambient). The main goal of the cooler unit is just to keep it (and the coil) from turning into a liquid. A simple radiator and fan is more than capable of doing exactly that, especially at the temp differences you are likely to be seeing. Thermal issues would be better solved by a bigger radiator, fan, or just another cooler unit running in parallel.
Plus misting the coils with water for evaporative cooling would be an even cheaper and more effective way to maximize cooling.
A trained electronics theory man here, this induction heater probably works in the neighborhood of 100KHz which is what causes the iron/steel to heat up. It’s all about the materials reacting to a high frequency magnetic field. That’s what this machine generates through the copper pipe.
It’s about the hysteresis loss happening in the work piece.
If one had a ferrite material coupling that RF field very close to the workpiece, the hotspot would be smaller.
great video and well explained , a bit different from your forge, here in Central Canada a friend of mine has was you would call a breakers business recycling buses and he and his partner have purchased induction coil heaters for the purpose of removing rusted bolts and hardware versus using a torch all the time and these units work the same way and vastly outperform a torch hands down and the amount of time to recycle all the metal and components is getting shorter with each bus they do and much of this work is done outside in our winters minus 15 -25 Celsius is common and their cost for refuelling the torch tanks has dropped by 75%, the initial setup costs were not bad some 50 and 100 foot extension cords 12 gauge and 10 gauge for the bigger wattage units they bought and no major issues as of yet and its been roughly 10 months, he says it beats a torch and you don't have to worry like you would have to set down a torch or relighting it, of course you have to be careful where you'd set down the induction heater of course, our Hydro rates are the cheapest in North America so they save again in this way also , I am going to purchase an automotive sized unit for myself for home automotive use and repairs working on older vehicles, the costs are not bad, 😂
You could add an additional insulated reservoir. Then have your cooler chill the reservoir and get another pump to circulate the chill water. You could increase flow rate that way. If you have the space to add another reservoir
Thank you. I allocated space in my new shop for one but don't know enough about them yet; your video really answered some of my questions.
Thank you so much. All the very best. Cheers J
The comment about the cooler is useful. I looked up what's needed for circulation for an english marked version of this thing in the US, and it's 7.5 liters per minute at a 98 foot head. The former probably isn't that difficult, but at a 98 foot head (!!), it's not going to a $30 fish tank pump.
Congratulations on your new tool / toy. Hopefully you get great use out of it my friend for many years to come. Very nice and very helpful and definitely useful video explaining and review this tool. Can't wait to see more videos soon. Joshua. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Forge on. Weld on. Fab on. Keep making. God bless.
Thank you so much for your kindness and support. God bless you too. Cheers J
@@joshuadelisle your very welcome
Working in a manufacturing facility that has an induction machine and an induction hardener, one of the warning notices advised that it should not be used by someone with a pacemaker.
Our units are large so I don't know if a smaller unit would have the same effect. Just thought I would mention this.
FYI, diH2O is functionally identical to distilled (outside of a lab setting) and both with dissolve aluminum and copper over time, and i mean a pretty short time- months to years based on temperature and dissolved oxygen
Nice video Josh very in-depth, hope you're keeping well old chap.
One of the reasons why I'm considering an induction forge is because it doesn't throw off as much heat as either gas or coal. Though I don't live in an area known for high heat (Rhode Island) we do get stretches of time where the temps are above 27 to 80C (roughly 80 to 85F). Forging at those temps and above can range from not fun to just plain dangerous. An induction forge would allow me to forge during that weather without the added heat risk of a gas or coal forge.
Thats a good reason. cheers J
I’ve seen those before and had the chance to use one as well. The best part is the on/off feature. Coal, and even gas, takes time to get going and cool down.
That's definitely a good benefit. Cheers J
I heard if you get the coils right, winds, frequency, whatever clever business is in the guts; it's specific to the exact stock you're doing and like a microwave (kinda but not), you can heat from the inside out in seconds (even fat stuff, inch square, more). But this is all really new to me so thank you very much for showing us the guts. If energy production does manage to go green, this has to be the future. We love coke, but we simply can't burn it forever. Same goes for gas, diesel furnace, whatever.
Oh. Happy solstice. May the light return to you as we recede from it.
P.P.S. Gold wedding band should be fine.
Thank you. I think anything that contains rare earth minerals isn't sustainable, I'm not sure how much of the internal parts can be eternally recycled. I use sustainable charcoal sourced from a local coppice that encourages long term bio diversity and growth, but this tool is very convenient and great for certain projects that need a localised heat. All the very best. Cheers J
Yeah it's always going to be hard to choose "greenest". It's like "least bad" is best. I had not even considered coppicing because my supply is coke and it's an urban environment. But that's a really good idea. Even do the thing where you double back the wood gas to heat the box with the wood in it, I dno if you call that retort or not. But that's like digging up even less fossils. Yeah I'll be locking that in the memory banks. I get distracted easily but I think I can hang on to this.
A great explanation of how to setup and use. An induction forge. Your pump probably needs to be upgraded because of your increased head. However it’s easy to test.
Fantastic video.
Thank you Larry. Cheers J
The green safety line (I guess) is supposed to be longer than the phase and neutral line so if it gets pulled it goes the last. When you use clamp terminals use cable tubes with a good crimp tool
Sorry for the bad English :)
Thanks for just opening them both up so we can get a good look at the internal guts appreciated.
Thanks for the follow up to the other induction furnace video. Nice to see this one works.
Yep this is the one that's worth having. Cheers J
Nice demonstration.
A few nitpicks/ comments:
I wouldn't worry about your breakers being exceeded the ratings for the vast majority of breakers is their 100% duty cycle load. A 40amp breaker should handle 40 amps continuously pretty much forever. They all have a performance/trip curve which specifies how quickly they will trip at a given current. Any device that has a large inductive load will create a huge spike at start-up unless very carefully designed not to with things like soft starters and the like. I suspect that the peak power levels registered are for a few milli seconds. I have a 2.4Kw single phase saw that draws 20 amps at start-up without the soft starter. Big transformer welders and the like can spike to over 100 amps for a fraction of a second on the input. I run a 20amp welder off a 16am breaker and it only trips if I've got the welder absolutely maxxed out for more than a few minutes at a time.
You should be fine unless you absolutely stress the system with a continuous maximum load for minutes at a time.
Peltier coolers are totally inappropriate for this application, they are nifty solid state devices but they are at best 5% ish efficient so they don't work well for large heat loads. You'd need a proper form of refrigeration system to actually significantly reduce the temps although I'd suggest a proper radiator to replace the alloy tubing as an easier intermediate option.
Water, even deionised water is a self ionising solvent. Small amounts oc H2O will dissociate into HO+ and H3O- spontaneously and will pick up metal ions over time. It's probably a good idea to add some form of corrosion inhibitor to the coolant mix to retard galvanic corrosion enabled by the water.
Just some things to consider. I love how accessible these decent quality tools have become. Thanks for sharing.
Great video! I’m thinking about getting one and you’ve covered a lot of the information I feel I wanted before thinking about it seriously.
Thank you Chris. I'm glad it was helpful. Anything else you need to know feel free to ask. Cheers J
Mmmmm.... bangers and mash !
I too have been considering an induction heater for the shop. Lately I've been doing small pieces and far apart so the speed and convenience of a 40 second heat + the lack of fumes, exhaust fans, sweating through a shirt etc. Make these fantastic. Im glad the prices have dropped over the years, tho with the current global political and economic issues, i fear the cost will go up substantially.
Great video, as always. Now get the new shop done already ! Hurts my neck to see you bent over.
Thank you so much Yep all coming together on the other shop. Lots more to come. Cheers J
The environmental benefits and future fuel reliability of coke supplies will make these more cost effective nice review Josh 👍
I nearly gave my thoughts on the matter and I don't agree that it's a fully green alternative. My reason are the power is fulled by coal fired power anyway and nuclear power isn't sustainable or good for the environment either. That as well as the loss of efficiency through the grid via heat loss in transformers etc. Direct heat through coal in my mind is just as green controversially. I didn't share my thoughts because I simply don't know the figures to really comment. The only alternative source could be a large battery bank and solar panels but there are issues on the sustainability of these systems also because of the rare earth materials and manufacturing methods. Cheers J
If it says 10mm2, use 10mm2... it may be 6mm2 inside, but that's likely short lengths. The volt drop over longer lengths may be an issue etc.
As for the Water Cooling Lay out Fit One Way Valve to Feed and Fit the Return Pipes Above the Machine and Down the Sides
With a coiled up magnet and a piece of metal in between, you could constantly produce high amounts of heat.
The last bit was great and thanks for the safety warning. Good review.
Thank you so much. Cheers J
What a brilliant toy for my workshop........always great info / content on your channel Josh....🏴
Thank you so much. All the very best. Cheers J
I just watched the video. Thank you. For how long can it work continuously? Are there any restrictions?
There is a restriction on over heating. I'm currently putting an upgraded cooling system on mine so I can do larger heats. My current cooler is the cheap end and isn't enough for long periods of time forging. Cheers J
Noting the chiller - one needs to realise that most coolers / airconditioners / etc, which we commonly
relate to, ultimately exchange to the air (it is air cooling, just using remote methods to "pump the
heat"), IF the airflow over the cooling coil disn't adequate, that would be because the case was to
restrictiver, (exchanger too small) or the fan not effective enough - ie not passing enough air past the
coils. Adding said "peltier device" would work to consume energy and heat the air inside the case
more - there would only be a benefit if one were to send (sink) the additional heat to an external
exchanger - or a larger "cold sink" - even having a compressor refrigeration system "in the box" may
not solve total problems (IF it were the case as may have been expressed early in the video)- unless
the heat were pumped elsewhere - there is a reason why refrigerators pump the heat into the room
outside the "cold compartment" (mini spit can remove that to the outside easily enough) - and why
many (compressor) portable room airconditioners don't make a lot of sense - the heat needs to be
sent outside, and they tend to pump a lot of cooled air outside in the process with whatever ducting is
supplied (sealing the window is also a hassle...
Excellent comparison of processes at the end.
Thank you. I nearly did bit on how green it is which currently I don't think it is but I need more information on this and could have caused a controversy. Cheers J
I think you’d need a huge quantity of peltier devices to dump that much heat.
Peltier effect devices can cool below ambient, which is great, but it can take a long time to get there. For example, most of the peltier drink coolers you can buy have a small device so they take ages to chill.
Thank you. I may just add a larger radiator with a larger volume of water instead. cheers J
@@joshuadelisle Dump the hot water into your bathtub, and have a water intake on the bottom of the tub. The bottom will be cooler water. That much water will take a lot more heat before the temperature goes up.
A big volume of water might be perfect for letting you use the thing for awhile. The duty cycle will be low in the sense that a small radiator will mean it takes awhile to cool down. But, if (for example, this is a guess) it takes an hour to get too hot to keep using safely, and then 24h to cool down, that’s a terrible duty cycle. Except that one hour of use is all you need in a day :)
One minute on and 24 minutes off would be really annoying. Same duty cycle as a percentage but the actual time before you have to turn it off matters.
A huge volume of water will buy you a long time on.
And then you can take a nice hot bath to relax.
(I’ve never done this, I’m just thinking of the thermodynamics)
@@gf2e I think I will make a cooper coil and dunk it into a bucket of water and just change the water if it's over heating. In the cold months I'll just leave a bucket out side to cool while the other heats up.
Peltiers I understand are also very inefficient. (As per tech ingredients channel)
actually peltier devices are quite inefficient, they create 2 times more heat than they remove...
Is it possible to melt and cast powdered steel using that induction forge? for example, if you made a small plaster mold of a 3d print could you fill the caster mold with a powdered steel and then melt the steel powder right inside the mold? I could see this being really useful for small strong but complex parts.
In small quantities you can. I've melted rods of steel so it's definitely powerful enough. Cheers J
The variations of this forge (keep small quantities in mind) specify a top end temperature of 4000F. Obviously drops as you increase the size of a pot, quantity and distance from the coils.
This is game changer....holy cow you can still heat the steel without being inside of coil
Cheers fella this videos ace, inspired me to look into a profession id thought un-viable due to the coal forge requirements, hadn't even considered induction forges. also, the diesel heater video that was really well produced, cheers.
Thank you so much. Hopefully lots more to come soon. Cheers J
Just wanted to mention you were initially correct about Vevor being a Chinese company, not Japanese. They are based out of Shanghai, China, and started in 2008. I have a medium-sized metal lathe from them, and some parts of the manual were absolutely fantastic, but when it came to the portion of gear changes, it was horrible. Different tools, but overall, I was also generally impressed with the manual given to me.
3:14 awesome, this is exactly what I've been hoping to see. I'd like to see what IGBTS they use for these machines and how they get a large power output over the smaller oscillating induction circuits.
5:54, not a fan of how they did that cooling system there. Normally, you see a proper small radiator with a larger fan moving air. Clever design to save money, though.
Amazing for the price. A very interesting review. Just think of all the toxic fumes you will not be inhaling from using this instead of carbon fuels.
Don't forget that coal can sit for 50 years and still be good. Also, coal doesn't have any capacitors to go bad or circuit boards that there is not a rats chance to ever get a replacement for. If its toss up, then coal is the clear choice over a massive assembly of unknown origin and quality standard Chinese parts - of every sort every imagined. And the water cooling? Another item just aching for issues. Especially in the USA coal and coke are available anywhere in the east by the ton and natural gas is likely 1/3 the cost of Europe. Fair chance now that your gas is American anyway due to that monster Putin. Only the ON/OFF switch is really attractive. But Complicated Chinese electronics seem to have a hidden, built in OFF switch. With unknowable time to failure.
We use server grade antifreeze for our laser which is relatively cheap and non conductive. This is for the UK as the glass can be damaged below 12'c. I would probably do the same for this.
Make sure you don’t have any copper showing when terminating cables into the breaker, also I would use a brass lock ring in the metal clad box. Love your videos 👍
Thank you. I hadn't got the right size ferrule at the time so I'll put some on those wires soon. Cheers J
very professional all round 👊 shame about your finger 😅🤗
This is a game changer in metal forging... you can reshape the metal so quickly....
You're limited to the size coil you choose but yes definitely quick and convenient. I still use my charcoal forge for a lot of stuff just because I can get wider heats and have several irons in the fire so to speak. Short controlled heats this is brilliant. Cheers J
@@joshuadelisle thank you Josh...this video was truly educational...induction is futuristic...
@@vukken99 thank you. One of my most recent videos I use it to heat treat a knife. Cheers J
Excellent video mate. Very useful for me as I've just stumped up for one. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you. All the very best. Cheers J
Peltier devices would do absolutely nothing in that cooler. A more efficient approach would be to put a finned cooler in there with more surface area such as a transmission oil cooler . that smooth tubing wont do much .
Great video, very informative and covers the things we would really want to know. Thanks.
As a future video I would like to see you try a flat coil, and a U shaped coil (a flat coil bent around a bar to form a taco shape. Then you don't have to pass the work thru the hole which could get difficult. Obviously it won't heat the outside edges as well, but my guess is either it won't matter due to just soaking it a bit longer, or you flip the part over and do that side too.
Watts and Watt-hrs are not the same thing. It is harder to understand what you are saying when mixing the two. I had to go back and look at the numbers on the meter. Watts is energy flow rate, watt-hr is quantity or volume in a fluid analogy.
Just for comparison at the average US electricity prices this runs about 93cents/hour or 1.5 cents/min.. So is much cheaper than any other fuel source except maybe coal.
Thank you. Can 1kw be euqal to 1kwh if we use 1kw in exactly 1 hour? I've heard people say i'm getting this wrong but I'm not sure how I am?
@@joshuadelisle 1KW could be thought of as the energy flow rate (power, the speed you are performing work), so 1KW output continuously for an entire hour is a KWh (the accumulated work done, not the speed it is happening). KWh would be like the amount of liquid in a bucket. KW would be like how fast you are pouring the liquid in.
Some examples. A 100W bulb run for 10hours is 1KWh. A 2000W heater uses 1KWh in 30 minutes.
Each accumulated the same 1KWh of work done, but the rate at which they did it is 200x different.
Hopefully that helps?
Hi Josh. If you are planing, which I think you are, to use this frequently, it would be worth investing some form of Power Factor correction on your supply. I notice the PF went down to .75 at one stage. That means you’ll be paying for power you aren’t using. Ideal PF is 1.0 which in this type equipment is not possible. A PF of 1.0 or close is only obtainable in purely resistive circuits such as electric furnaces. Also the fact that the electric suppliers are not keen on people using low power factor devices on there supply systems. I won’t go into details of harmonics being generated in switch mode power supplies. As a retired electrical engineer I have experience in this area of supply issues. John.
What device do you recomend putting in? cheers J
@@joshuadelisle Hi Josh - i’ll take another look at the video of the power meter display to determine max load plus a bit then see what's out there for. 👍
Breakers trip on a sliding scale the lower the overcurrent the longer they take to trip there are trip curves available online for different types of breakers, some are faster than others.
Awesome machine, and the price is great too.
Hopefully one day I have the workspace to put one in!
It's not bad. Good for quick project in the weekends if not able to in the week. Cheers J
You can pause on the peltier cooling due to their low capacilty to remove heat. Also, it would not improve system operation.
great review sir, this item is well worth buying over propane furnace.
Great video, hope your finger gets better 😀
Ha ha. Thank you. Cheers J
Only connect the shielding wire/cable at one end else you will obtain earth loops.
I have absolutely no need for one of these, but it’s still interesting to watch!
I see you’re still in the little shed though; what’s happened with the new workshop on the side of the house?
Thanks as always for sharing 👍
Thank you. Other shed has been used for larger projects I haven't shown yet. It's also waiting for the doors and new floor. It's also gotten filed with with junk that I don't know why I keep. Cheers J
Nicely done Joshua! That was very helpful.
Thank you. Cheers J
Well another advantage is that the induction heater can be used "green" so without CO2 or fine dust byproduct. Might be nice for marketing. "Green forging" 😉
Also komment on the wiring. It seems as if you used bare braded copper wire that you clamped inside of the inductionheater. My understanding is that bare copper wires are notorious for getting loose over time. I actually speak from experience here. So put some solder on the end or even better crimping might be a lot safer. But I am no expert here so take this with a grain of salt
Thank you. I didn't have a boot lace ferrule that fitted so I may get another set to upgrade it. Only problem with green energy is it's not currently green, we still rely on coal fired power plants and nuclear isn't much better. Even an off grid solar system has issues with rare earth elements which are in less supply than fossil fuels. I think the only real solution is sustainable charcoal. Cheers J
One cost associated with combustion forges that should be considered when choosing which to use is the health consequence. Combustion byproducts are terrible for your lungs, and over the course of decades even a relatively small reduction in use could save you a small fortune worth of health related costs and extend your quality of life significantly.
thanks for the review, it is now on my to get list
Thank you. Cheers J
Good review. The 45amps was probably a very short spike that the breakers would be able to tolerate.
Thank you Jason. I think you're right. Cheers J
Great video, to the point and welll presented.
The only drawback between the induction forge verses the coke forge is the comfort in winter in your tiny Ice box Shed, running an electric heater on full blast at -10c just isn't the same as a nice warm coke forge.
Great analysis and demonstration!
Thank you so much. Cheers J
Induction the way to go for smaller parts. You can change and use much much larger coli for induction.
Looks like a great review from a blacksmith's perspective - thankyou.
Thank you Mike. Cheers J
A word on the electrics (from an Ex-Spark)
Your house, you can do what you want! As an amateur (on electrics) you did not do too bad a job of it!
It is important to realise that this is not what the IEE Regs are about as it it portable equipment so while good working practices of general sparking apply they are not cast iron rules!
The existing connection was a death trap and the single best thing you did was to remove it!
You should not wire socket up relying on the earth from the metal bodywork, but put a separate green and yellow wire to it!
Your main earthing point to the bodywork was good (a proper crimped lug) ..... just use this stud to pick up your earth for your socket!
In an ideal situation you would then take your socket from the bottom (load side) of your breaker. This means that if someone switches the breaker off the cooler also goes off. The flip side is that you add your cooler load to your forge load and that might cause tripping. I could not tell what type of breaker you had but it should me a "M" type for magnetic devices (they have a different time / trip curve). You have a lot of bare copper showing on the top of the breaker. Most sparks would make it a point of pride not to have Any copper showing above the clamp of the breaker ... but definitely no insulation under it eather! Many would also use a crimped ferrule.
Running your main supply through the socket is not good practice, but I understand why you would want a downward facing gland. Again most sparks would also have a boot over the gland, especially in that environment.
When you choose your flex size two things are inportant the Length and the Size. For the length you need to look in a table to work out your volt drop per meter and see if your length of run will cause problems. The Size will give you the current carrying capacity of the flex. You need to make sure you are reading from the correct table as 6mm T+E (house wiring) will have a different capacity from 6mm Flex.
In your case I don't think the run length will not be a problem and you should also be OK with 6mm on a 32A breaker. The fact that it is not a constant load will also work in your favour.
As I said Not a bad job!
Thank you so much this is brilliant information and should help others to do a safer job also. All the very best. You input is much appreciated. Cheers J
Hi @@joshuadelislewhy use SY cable it is NOT armoured!!
SY is for machine interconnect control cable not supply!!
I have seen people come unstuck with SY thinking it is better protected but not the metal screening is to stop electrical noise especially with inverter drivers to motor's!!
A big miss conception!!
Even Googling:
Low smoke cable variations should be installed for environments where safety is critical, to limit the danger to life or equipment. Under the IET Wiring Regulations (BS 7671), YY, SY and CY control cables are not recommended for use as part of a fixed installation.1 Mar 2023
Good video on the product well done, on the cable there normally a reason for 10mm cable you didn’t say how long it can be ? As there will be Voltage drop over a long length recommend max 2m long 10mm on your CCU there was no RCD or MCBO hear again recommend 30mil amp RCD this can be 100Amp format with TT earth Rod as you have a metal man den we don't won't you getting a electric shock do we.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you, I have RCD on the breaker and also on the one from the house. Earth rod is a good idea. cheers J
Hi Joshua,do you think I could use a a/c condenser coil and pump water through the condenser coil and through a induction heater? Cheers Shane
if you can make an argon chamer around the coil you could forge weld stainless damascus with zero problems. Might be tricky getting the item in and out without flooding it's atmosphere though. But in theory, make a box that is airtight at the bottom with access from the top (as argon is heavier)
That's great idea. Cheers J
@@joshuadelisle Thanks! Glad you like the idea! I've been using stainless steel foil filled with argon I pump into the bag before sealing, and then placing in a propane forge.
If somehow you could also have a hydraulic clamp around the stainless steel billet mix you could get it to forge weld temp, squash the welds tight, and do it all in a argon atmosphere. No scale. Perfect stainless damascus billets every time that you could flog for 60 quid a pop. Maybe add a argon pump at the top that constantly flows a small amount of argon down into the chamber and keep any aiflows away from the forge and.. yeah.. might work really well.
Only issue is that you cant use non magnetic stainless. But AEB-l stainless and 304 will work perfectly, and are often used together in stainless damascus. For other stainless steels it depends if your units is strong enough to heat up non-ferrous metals.
@@joshuadelisle Would love to see you make it. If you do can you give me attribution credit? The setup would be your coil facing sideways. a 6 inch billet of 2 AeB-L and 3 403 at 1.5mm And enclosed airtight "fishtank" lower part with a semi open top with a draft cover (with an access flap)
and in the airtight lower box, have a vice just below the coil you can power with a drill or by hydraulics that when it moves the clamp together it does not break the air seal on the lower part of the box. Has to be slow but hard squish so it does not jerk the argon out of the box. then you just move the steel billet up and down heating then moving down to clamp the hot section and repeat till it is all forge welded. Maybe some kind of drill press mechainism to move the billet up and down from the top.
By attribution I just mean just give me a shout out in the vid!
I have one complaint regarding your channel Joshua ...... Not enough content 😁 .Your presenting is second to none . How's the new workshop coming along ?
Thank you so much Sean. It's coming but I've gotten roped into other pressing priorities at the moment, could be a very busy year coming. Looking for slabs for the floor and will fit the doors soon.
@@joshuadelisle Excellent stuff
Seems like this could be a good setup for the hobbyist who doesn't want he faff of a coal forge or the noise and expense of a gas forge. Makes me think I could get back to forging again despite my urban environment...
I think that would be a good example of its convenience. You may still want an extraction system for the burning oils on the steel, but a well ventilated space would be fine for most people. Cheers J
Amazing video. Great insight into the process.
Thank you. Cheers J
@Joshua De Lisle you've made me think....do I want an induction forge...yes. Can I afford an induction forge...no. But I NEED one!!!
@@richardhazell2601 they are cool and very convenient. But given a choice of all the forge types I would still choose a side blast solid fuel forge. I now use home made charcoal mostly which is free to me less a bit of time. Cheers J
Hi! The video is very good! it has a lot of information! I also bought such a Vevor heater, but unfortunately the one that was delivered works with cs 30 - 80 Khz. Do you think you can forge and weld with this? The coil that was added is 75mm. Thank you for your answer!
Hi, yes i've forge welded with mine. you want a coil that matches the material and possibly a better cooler than mine. cheers J
that should pay for its self.
you will be able to get projects done faster.
all my best simon
Thank you Simon. Hopefully your right. Cheers J
what was the punch you used?
Ohhhh…I neeed one of these!
Great video with lots of information, thanks for giving us a proper introduction! I wonder, does the induction forge work with stainless as well? I kinda remember something like an induction stove wouldn't work with a pan completely made out of stainless but it wouldn't be the first time my brain has fooled me ^^
Thank you Andy. Yes I can confirm it works with stainless and can melt copper and Aluminium too. Very good for soldering with an even heat. Cheers J
@@joshuadelisle very interesting! That makes this forge even more variable 😁
Thank you for grate video. Have you tried to melt stainless Steel and cast it in mold?
@@georgiepoulariani8074 not yet but will definitely have a go. Cheers J
Have you tried to melt stainless Steel?
Thank you for the quick response
The smaller the gap between the plates the better the heating will be.A
good example the gap between the plates of a car radiator.For fluids
Handy. What's the power bill like ?
plus its a lot cleaner than a coke fired forge... Im amazed at how fast it brings it up to temp...
Thank you. It oxidizes more though. Cheers J
Love it. Is making a shaped custom coil as simple as shaping a piece of copper pipe to what you want? Couple of fittings and you are good? would be cool to see you make a coil that would evenly heat up a long billet all at once.
I thought it would cost more to run, thanks for the video.
So here we are a year later - how do you feel about the unit? I'm pulling the trigger on one this week, but I don't know whether to go with the Chineese 15KW unit or the US Solid one at almost twice the price.
Hi. Mines still going strong as you can see in my latest videos where I make a table with a laser. I recommend a better cooler than what I use as it over heats on large projects. I would think the US version is still made with Chinese parts but I could be wrong. If it is locally made then fixing it if it breaks should be simple. The Chinese ones can be fixed as the parts are all modular. I'm a cheap Scape so I tend to go with the cheapest but I also like to support local businesses if the service is good. Cheers J
@@joshuadelisle I can't call it local - there's still an international border. I'll try the "half the price" version. Thanks for the feedback!
@@joshuadelisle I can't call it local - there's still an international border. I'll try the "half the price" version. Thanks for the feedback!
What is the fabric sheath for on the coil? It just seems to burn, and the copper is water cooled?
It's a ceramic fiber. Any time the hot steel touches it melts. It's there for insulation to stop the coil shorting itself. It's cooled with water yes. Cheers J
Hi Joshua, great video on the induction forge, I have been thinking about getting one. What do you think about oxy acetylene or Propane on a torch saver, I guess that’s what you call it it’s a valve on the stand but shuts the torch on and off, works excellent for me on small hits. Thanks for all your great information
Oxy fuel torches are great for bending work and rivets but very costly to rely on all forging operations. Torch savers are great so you don't have to constantly turn on and off the valves. When I made my forged stags and horses I used an oxy-propane set a lot. Oxy acetylene is great for cutting and welding with. Cheers J
Excellent explanation ferry good
Thank you. Cheers J
A rig that size in the 1950s would've been a pocket calculator. 😂😂😂 And no long division or multiplication. Just adding and subtracting.
Nice video, though. This is everything I'd ever wanted to know about these gizmos (everything that I could think of, at least) and what the pros and cons are if someone decided to get rid of their LP or coal-fired forge in favor of one.
Thank you so much. cheers J
Not sure how it's rated at 15kW (min 60A@250v) if you only have it on a 32A breaker (8kW@250v). There will be reactive power effects and heat output is related to Amps not Volts in that instance (P=I²R) so watch your power factor. I noticed a PF of 0.8 so that would enable you to get 32/0.8 A reactive current from your 32A breaker or 40A reactive. So still only 2/3 of full 60A needed for 15kW.
Interesting situation.
Very Good Set Up