Copula!

[lucky13dave]

Heres a few pics of a project my lady's working on:

[lucky13dave]

They're building a new copula at her school. One of the prof's is leading a project, and part of that project involves casting a large bell. The copula they have doesn't have the capacity to melt enough iron for the bell (needs to be cast in 1 shot) and is in need of overhaul. So they're building a new one. My GF did the design, materials purchasing, and much of the organization for the copula. She worked on the templates and cutting the metal, most of the welding was done by another student who is very proficient. the next steps are to line the thing with refractory, and eventually fire it. More pics to come!

[J.R.B.]

I've always wanted to build a cupola but didn't because I can't get my cousin to help me run the thing. These things can be dangerous and you don't want to do it alone. I guess he's still too young and cares about his health too much yet.

[boneheaddoctor]

Cool.....only ever saw that stuff done on TV. Wish I knew how ot do it.

[chopprs]

......ooh, she is cute!

I can't have one of those. The wife will have a place to kik me to........

[J.R.B.]

Originally Posted by boneheaddoctor

Cool.....only ever saw that stuff done on TV. Wish I knew how ot do it.

Go to www.lindsaybks.com and you will find the books on how to build a cupola as well as books on how to pound up sand moulds etc.

[HenrySchuman]

Mine will cook a hell of lot more Briskets than that .

[J.R.B.]

I'm afraid Henry that if you threw a brisket in that thing the end result would be a burnt offering.

[lucky13dave]

I'm sure that over the course of a 5 hour burn she could get a LOT of brisket through that; wouldn't be any left to eat though The previous copula had a well that could tap 75 lbs of iron per pour; this one has a well that has slag holes at 3 levels, and can be stopped up so you can choose a well capacity of 50, 100 or 250 lbs per tap.

there are plenty more pix throughout the process, from templates to cutting to welding & grinding, and she's getting lined soon. I'll post em as I get 'em!

[lucky13dave]

They finished her up and did the first test run yesterday.

They poured a 45 lb test bell, in resin bonded sand, as well as some student work. In the process they burned through several ladle liners and ladles. some numbers:

time from burn in of the bed coke to the first tap was under 30 minutes.

After that she was an absolute beast! they melted and tapped 150 lbs of iron in 7 minutes. Thats 7 minutes from the first charge to the last bit of iron coming out!

I'll get some more pics tonite; some interesting points:

the bore is cylindrical, and the iron shell is a pentagram. this introduced some challenges, especially in the wind belt.

There are 5 tuyeres- the holes through the refractory from the wind belt to the bore. there are also holes on the outer wind belt to allow operators to observe the conditions in the melt zone.

The tuyere covers are custom cast bronze pieces, cast in two parts, and assembled with a piece of high temperature glass.

This furnace was constructed in sections for greater portability. This also allows the top stack to be exchanged for a cover to make it a cupolette, for those times when they don't need to melt that much iron so quickly.