Tom’s Winch Furnace

I good idea utilizing a winch to lift the body with a flip lid.

 

 

 

I had considered a similar design and liked the idea for several reasons:

 

-It does not require a carriage with rollers to offset the lift points.  This saves time and money.

-Since the lift is directly up a fraction of the bending moment is produced on the vertical rails, which allows for smaller members.

 

 

I think this system would work very well with a minimum amount of construction effort especially for a smaller furnace and possibly a larger one.  I decided against having the rails centered on mine since mine was designed for a #20 crucible with iron.  With the #20 that gives almost 60 lbs of the white hot stuff.  This required a two person pouring shank.  At least for me it does.  My two person pouring shank has handles 180 degrees apart and would interfere with the vertical rails, thus I vouched for the offset rails which would give a little more clearance around the crucible.  Offset rails complicated the construction a lot though.  If you only plan to use a one person pouring shank, then this method, or a modification of such would be a good way to go.

 

 

 

It basically has unlimited vertical travel distance with minimal effort, unlike Gingery’s furnace.  I think it is much less complicated and easier to construct as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It appears that the winch travels with the body.  One could probably route it and make it stationary as well.