Show Me Your Induction Heater

Jonathans

Jonathans

Joined
Jan 9, 2008
Messages
588
I’ve always been enamored with induction heaters ever since I used one at Dave Lisch’s shop.
Amazing piece of technology IMO. Not being retired, time has become a most valued asset and I’m lookong forward to being able to work on small projects quickly and easily.

Recently, prices on these machines have dropped alot and I was able to pick up a 20kw unit at a reasonable cost. Picked up a used welding water cooler to go with it and am working on getting a 50 amp circuit run.

I was sent a few different sized coils to work with and I have some ideas for a couple custom ones.

I would like to hear from other users of induction heaters and hopefully they could post pictures of their coils and how they utilize their heaters for their bladesmithing and blacksmithing. Any tips passed on would be most welcome.
 
I don't think you're gonna get a lot of response here, not many makers I know of actually have them. I wanted one for a while, but a blacksmith buddy of mine got one from Larry Langdon, which started selling the ones Grant Sarver was selling before he died, and has had nothing but problems with it.

It also strikes me as the sort of thing, you could spend just as much time fiddling with, as you would using any other method. Yeah, they seem awesome, but as you're already aware, coil configuration is critical, and each one is limited in the efficiency of what shape work piece it'll heat. To me, these are much more of a "production" tool, when tuned correctly, than a general "time saver", but maybe you'll figure out something I haven't.


What are you planning to use this for, general forging?
 
My first motivation was getting one to use for guards and bolsters, especially when they have sections that are easily burnt.
I have seen these used very efficiently for differential heat treating.
Time will tell as to whether it is effective for forging out a complete blade.
I think these might be more useful for someone who is a hobbiest and who may only have an hour or two to spend in the shop at a time.
A pro would probably stick with his main forge.

I also do some blacksmithing which could easily be done on an induction forge. Hopefully it runs as its supposed to and the tech side isn’t out of reach for me. I’m still curious as to how many folk here might be using one.
 
your coils heat best when their close to the size of the iron ! so it all depends what your doing
- they heat the out skin of the metal, so keep that in mind when forge welding
-you can forgeweld in them very fast, also burn steel if your not watching
-they don't heat up your shop and are great to run in the summer
- it does cut your time down, as your not sitting around waiting and waiting for bars to come up to temp ... heating is quick

after awhile, you get so usto it ... you won't want to go without

it is electronic... so sometimes a relay or a sensor takes a crap ( just have to figure it out and getter runnin )
 
Sorry to hijack this thread, but I need to send Gregory a message.

Good to see you here Greg.
I don't seem to have your email, so I will pass this on to you here.

I bought a large wootz billet from you a long time ago. It took almost 10 years to make what I was finally happy with. It took the best fixed blade award last year at The Shenandoah Valley Custom Knife Show.
Here is a thread with the info and some rather poor photos. I'll look for some of the close-up shots tonight.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/excellent-show.1482952/
 
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thank you for posting, this certainly has made my day !
impressive work !!
I'm glad it placed well
 
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