Solar forging? (was Re: [TheForge] crackpottery)

[Ries Niemi]

On Dec 13, 2005, at 10:13 AM, schade at acegroup.cc wrote:

>
> Induction heaters are pretty common for industrial forging.
>
> Bob
>

Grant Sarver, of Off Center Tool, has done a lot of forging using 
induction heating. When he was doing production of chipping hammer 
bits, he used induction forges for that, as they parts were always the 
same size and shape.
He recently picked up another induction power supply cheap- something 
like 5% of retail price- those things can easily run 50 grand or more 
new.
As I understand it, initial cost of equipment, electrical costs, and 
the fact that you need to optimise the coil for the workpiece make them 
best suited to production runs, as opposed to general forging. They 
work, though, and are very quick, heating blanks in 10-40 seconds, 
without scale.

Ries Niemi
Industrial Artist

http://www.RiesNiemi.com