This is the first actual furnace I have ever purchased, and I have to say that it has exceeded expectations to an astounding degree. Within an hour of first setting it up, I was casting aluminum with minimal effort. My next attempt involved making brass, specifically Prince Rupert's Brass, which is used as imitation gold. Due to the comparatively high temperature brass melts at, I had never achieved it before. However, after about thirty minutes in the furnace, the brass flowed like water, and I managed to get a bar with a total mass of 440 grams.
Overall, the furnace and all of its included accessories are fantastic. I can say with near complete certainty that it will reach temperatures hot enough to melt and cast gold, silver, tin, aluminum, copper, zinc, lead, and nickel, as well as many alloys made from them.
If you are going to buy this furnace, I have a few tips for you.
1. Please, please, please buy safety gear. Speaking from firsthand experience from when I was just starting metalworking, liquid metal is not something that skin should ever come in contact with. TRUST ME. As a purchase alongside this furnace, some leather welding gear and a plastic face shield can save you a lot of grief and pain in the unlikely event of accident.
2. Check the propane connections thoroughly. This is essential to make sure that you are safe.
3. When you are finished with smelting, and you go to turn off your propane, turn it off at the source (the tank) first, and then wait before closing the other valves on the pipe. This will prevent flares, which are dangerous and not a fun thing to have to explain to your neighbors while the yard is burning.
4. SMELT OUTSIDE, IN A PLACE WITH VENTILATION. Depending on what you work with, gases ranging from the moderately irritating aluminum oxide to toxic silver oxide may be created as a byproduct of smelting. Be sure that you don't breathe that in. It hurts a lot, and you will not get the taste of metal out of your mouth for weeks. It sucks. So please, smelt outside, somewhere safe.
I hope you enjoy smelting with this furnace as much as I do!
The furnace works great, and I've used it to melt aluminum and copper so far. Picture 4 is just after pouring some copper. It's easy to set up, heats up very quickly, and comes with everything you need to get started melting (except a mold to pour the metal into). The burner attachment is awesome and allows for fine adjustment of temperature. I have many of the same issues as other reviewers have posted, though. All are fairly minor, but would help improve this product greatly if these changes were made.
The setup video linked in the description was very helpful, but it did not come with written instructions. That would be very handy for people with intermittent internet access, and would help people like me who had to watch a minute, pause, go outside to hook up that piece, go back inside, watch a minute, etc.
The included crucible is good, but for some reason does not have a pour spout. This can be fixed with a file, since it's graphite, but would be nice if it was already there.
The way the box is packaged, the crucible is placed inside the furnace. This is not ideal because it bounces around a lot in transit, and some of the insulation came squished in some places (meaning insulation is less in certain areas and the exterior is subject to excessive heating). See picture 2.
Finally, the hole in the insulation where the burner is supposed to come through was cut in the wrong place. The burner hole was just underneath the insulation hole. It did not look like the insulation shifted or rotated in the furnace. I had to cut out the insulation in the proper spot, and I used this piece to stuff into the previously-cut hole. Seems to work so far, but I don't know how well it will hold up. See picture 1 - the hole in the insulation is right above the hole in the metal..
Overall I definitely recommend this item, since it's reasonably priced and you get basically everything you need right out of the box. Could use a few improvements, but overall a good product.
This little furnace works great! Just got to test it out today. Heats up fast. Easy to setup. Has everything you except for propane and ppe. The video for setup was nice to have. Watched it twice, then setup furnace. Had setup in couple of minutes. Handling the furnace and crucible took a minute to find a good way to use tongs but now that I learned a good way it’s pretty easy. Crucible stuck to fire brick once, not sure if that was just from being new but it did eventually fall off. Started with some cans then threw in some piece of aluminum valves. They melted down in couple of minutes. I will have to work on pouring the liquid metal without the slag falling out of the crucible too. I just used some cheap muffin tins as molds. It worked but wasn’t easy getting them out. Will have to find a real mold. But for the test runs the tins did work. All in all worked better than I expected. I’m looking forward to more work with the furnace and hopefully doing some copper and brass too.
This was my first furnace, so keep that in mind as you read this review. I've been "learning as I go". I ordered this furnace to smelt gold from black sands, as the gold in my area is scarce, and what is available is mostly microscopic. But I also figured I would use it to cast various kinds of scrap metal. Anyway, on to the review.
The package was shipped very quickly, and arrived without any damage or other delivery issues. Everything unpacked quickly, and I was on to assembly. Now, there aren't many parts, and I'm somewhat mechanically inclined, but there were no directions. Everything went together pretty easily anyway, but it would have been nice to have something to double check my work against. I am playing with fire, after all.
I did have some issues with the hose connections leaking. The hose clamps they give you have little plastic handles on them, which is very handy, but I felt like I couldn't torque them down quite as much as with standard slotted/hex heads. I used some of the teflon tape (not included) I had used to connect the burner/hose connection and wrapped it around the hose fittings, then slid the hose over the fittings and clamped it down. The leak is solved, though I don't know how permanent or safe that connection is. But it works.
After completing the relatively simple assembly, I lit the furnace. Now, I have no idea how hot or large to make this flame. I know that I want it to burn with a blue (not blue-green) core. I also know that I don't want to crank the heat up too high right away and crack my crucible. I adjusted it to where I thought it seemed right, and let it heat up. As the crucible began turning red, I noticed that the case of the furnace began to get red as well. Soon, there were two spots on either side of the burner where the paint burned off and the normally black steel case was now cherry red. Being new to this, and not wanting to destroy my investment on the first trial, I shut it down and contacted the seller for advice.
The seller was quick to respond and help me get on track. They provided a link to a short demo on Youtube, which was very much appreciated. If nothing else, it assured me that I hadn't missed some important step in my assembly. They also told me that it was normal for the paint to burn off. With that reassurance, I decided to fire it up again and attempt to recycle some aluminum cans I had been saving up.
My first melt went pretty well. At least, for a beginner, I suppose. The furnace did what it was designed to do. However, this time, the entire side of the furnace case where the burner enters turned bright orange, including the end of the inlet pipe itself. I may be making a big deal out of nothing, but this concerns me for two reasons: 1) continual heating and cooling of the steel case can lead to oxidation and weakness, and I really don't want this thing to get holes in it and fall apart. It wasn't inexpensive. 2) I have seen this same furnace (or one seemingly identical to it) used by other Youtubers to heat steel to glowing orange hot, and the furnace case still retains its protective black paint - without burning off. I'm beginning to think there may be inadequate or frayed insulation material on the particular unit I received. But again, I'm new at this and not an expert.
The 5 kg crucible provided seems to be the perfect size for melting down aluminum cans, as they fit very easily and you can really get a lot of them in there before you need to start filling molds. I did have an issue with the crucible sticking to the fire brick pedestal, but I assume that is more due to operator error than design shortcomings. The tongs included are functional, but with the weight of a semi-full crucible, and only being able to get a grip on the lip of it, you will probably want to upgrade before long. Trying to pour molten metal with a dubious grasp on the crucible feels a little unnerving.
Anyway, I have contacted the seller again and provided a new picture of the case under operating temperature. With the speed of their previous response, I am sure I will be hearing back from them soon with either advice or reassurance that everything is ok. I'm happy with my first furnace purchase. And, if the paint-burning issue is normal and doesn't cause the case to fail prematurely, I'm sure I will get plenty of use out of this one for years. If not, it will still last quite a while, and I'll have learned plenty about smelting before I need to replace it.
Update: 2-14-2019. Replacement works like it should. The jet was off center so mixture was never right with original. I do however suggest not using the recommended setting of between 1-2 on the regulator. I have the best heat and fuel consumption with the Burner adjustment plate all the way open and the fuel set to barely move off the zero position. It may just be the regulator but,, the original worked the same so take it into consideration.
Easy to set up, However I suggest you read the questions section as well as watch the video. I didn't realize they place 2 layers of wool in the bottom until I was scanning through the questions and noticed a reply from the seller stating that you need to remove one layer? I'm not sure why they don't provide the same instructions printed out that they took the time to type out in the questions section? The packing was a little rough considering they place the crucible and the gauge in the furnace with no bubble wrap. My crucible was chipped around the edges and the gauge cover had been knocked off. I'm pretty sure the gauge is not accurate since it went thru a 20lb tank in about 2hrs at the recommended settings. I'm familiar with how torches and such work so I adjusted the heat using my experience and all is well. Overall the product does as it should. Make sure you adjust the insulation to cover well and you can eliminate the scorching of the furnace that others I see mention. Properly insulated the outside reaches 600F while the inside is at 2000F according to my temp gun. Also be sure to season the crucible with borax to help it last..
Update: Works great for aluminum so far. I haven’t been able to get it hot enough for copper as you can see in the photos that there is a severe cold spot. I’ve adjusted the mix and flow every conceivable way and the max temp I can reach is 2050 at the hottest area and 1700 +/- where you see the cold spots in the photos. I’m returning this one and Amazon is sending another. There’s something preventing the gas to mix and not allowing to fuel to burn completely thus causing a yellow bellowing flame. Your furnace should burn with a clear blueish flame if the gas is burning correctly. If you have the yellow flame problem then you have a mix problem. The fix could be several things but in my case I’m leaning towards metal shavings in the jet and it is also 1/4” off center in a 1” hole. That will affect the mix ratio and cause problems but.. I’ll update the review when the replacement arrives but,, for now Im lowering it to 3 stars since it still melts aluminum and is being replaced. If the second foundry corrects the issue I’ll edit the rating.
Feature Product
- : Designed here at home in the USA. 100% USA customer support. Call us with any questions. We are here for YOU!
- :: Melts you PRECIOUS METALS like GOLD in less than 15 minutes.
- ::: GG Pro 2000 can heat up to 2700°F (1482°C).
- :::: Amazing 80,000 BTU Burner... WOW! 5kg CRUBILE, Tongs, & Connection kit IS INCLUDED.
- ::::: Requires Standard Propane Tank NOT INCLUDED.
Description
Watch this instructional video: https://youtu.be/SuNc5DGm-U8 //// Introducing our BRAND NEW - GG PRO 5000. This is our Efficient, Economical Light Duty 5 Kg Propane Smelting Furnace/Kiln that can melt up to 5 Kg (Brass). Please note that other materials and metals will vary due to their volume. Our GG Pro 5000 is designed for jewelers, metal-smiths, hobbyists and refiners. This high temperature, fast melting furnace is designed with a powerful DFP burner to heat up to 2700F (1482°C). This amazing kiln efficiently melts gold, silver, copper, aluminum, brass, bronze, cast iron, and other metals! Get this... There is absolutely NO electricity required! AMAZING!!! Designed with a heavy-duty steel exterior with refractory cement on the furnace floor and firebrick, therefore providing both superior strength and durability. Our furnace has an interior which fully lined with 1" of ceramic wool. The cover is lined with 2" to 3" of the ceramic wool as well. Melts in as little as 15 to 20 minutes! Our furnace is designed in the USA and we offer 100% USA customer support for all of your questions and concerns. WE ARE HERE FOR YOU! Simple and easy to use, our furnace easily hooks up to any standard propane tank. Furnace Body Constructed Of: Steel 16 gauge (1.5 mm) and a lightweight shell. Chamber Dimensions: 6" W x 7.6" H (150 mm x 190 mm). Maximum crucible size is 11 lbs (5 Kg). Outside Dimensions: 8" W x 12" H (200 mm x 300 mm). Weight: 16 lbs (7 Kg). Connection kit included: Gas pressure regulator, 1 - 90 PSI (0 - 6 bar) gauge with manometer, an 8" gas hose, and 2 clamps.
I purchased this about 2 weeks ago and have put about 15 hours on the foundry. I believe i got the temperature a bit too high because the lid will not close perfectly anymore. However, this foundry heats up copper and brass perfectly. I have already made quite a few awesome things. This was easy to use and had everything i needed to get going! The only thing that bugs me is the ceramic wool in the lid falls when the lid is closed, so i wrapped some steel wire around the lid and it holds it in place. Great product and i recommend to anyone just getting started.
I read all the reviews before I committed to this product and I have to say I am completely satisfied. It seems a lot of the issues others had have been corrected. Mine came with no packaging issues as others had described. Styrofoam and bubble wrap protected everything. Teflon tape came included, so assembly right out of the box was possible. I was finally able to fir it up yesterday for the first time and was melting scrap copper windings in less than 30 minutes. I was able to easily add copper to the crucible, as well as stir the mixture without opening and closing the lid via the hole in the top which preserved heat. I filed a notch in the crucible as well as others had to aid in pouring. The tongs worked OK but I can see the need for heavier duty ones for long term use. I broke a yellow tab on one of the hose clamps as well but they are just there for ease. A small wrench worked just fine to tighten. The only issue I ran into was not product related. I ran a 15lb propane tank for a solid 4 hours straight and my tank kept freezing up causing me to lose pressure, so I will have to research solutions for next time. I think I still have a 1/4 tank as well. I will also look for and recommend a thermocouple of some kind. It was trial and error as some other users experienced in getting the right fuel/air mix to get the most efficient use from the system. Overall, very happy with the purchase, and I will update should things change. I attached a photo of some of the best bars I made that day. There was a learning curve as I am new to the art.
Recieved the Cast Masters Furnace in the amount of time promised. Everthing was there, and in working order. Fired her up, and melted a couple buckets of cans for my first melt. The furnace worked awesome, took a little tweeking to figure it out, but overall a piece of cake. Oh, and a quick tip, there will be a lot of slag from the cans, I didn't know what this was at first. Now, I'm a can melting pro!!! THanks all at Cast Masters for a great product.
After extensive reviewing and searching, this is the first furnace I have ever purchased, and I have to say that it has exceeded expectations to an astounding degree. Within an hour of setup, I was casting aluminum with very little effort. Copper was next, again, with very little effort. However, I will say that on your "harder" metals, it is best to cut them down into smaller pieces rather than trying to melt big chunks or a 4 foot pipe all at once. Tested it out on some lead, but this thing is almost too powerful for melting lead, as it was actually boiling. But maybe that was just me...I haven't learned all the ins and outs yet. I haven't tried brass yet, though I have no doubt it will preform just as well, and I will NOT try iron, steel, or stainless steel and ruin a great furnace! It will definitely get hot enough to melt steel, but you'd be a fool to try since the furnace itself is made of steel and will very likely suffer catastrophic failure after a couple of uses. That said, you probably could get a piece of barstock steel hot enough to work in a pinch without causing the furnace any real harm.
Overall, the furnace and all of its included accessories are great! I can say with certainty that it will reach temperatures hot enough to melt and cast aluminum, brass, gold, silver, tin, copper, zinc, lead, and nickel, as well as many alloys made from them.
I would definitely recommend buying safety gear. You do not ever want liquid metal asking your skin out on a date. EVER. Your skin is that sweet naive girl who is looking at the world through rose colored glasses and liquid metal is that street tough guy who is only after one thing. It's a bad deal all the way around. Buy yourself some leather welding gear and a plastic face shield to save you a lot of grief and pain in case of an accident.
Due to the steel construction of this furnace, it may serve you well to buy a laser thermometer as well. it's not a necessity, but it sure makes it easier to monitor the temperatures and adjust the gas flow accordingly.
Overall, this is a really good furnace and I would highly recommend it to consumers interested in this sort of thing. I only have a couple of small faults that I think could be easily remedied by this company for future models:
1. Why not use ceramic wool treated with colloidal silica to stiffen the blanket, then a final coating of refractory? This would cost a little more for the consumer, but in the long run, the furnace would last for many more uses before having to replace it or the standard lining.
2. Not a huge deal, but I would have been happier, I think, if the side ceramic wool lining was 2 inches thick like the lid. Again, not a deal-breaker, but it does make for a better overall product in my opinion.
I purchased the furnace as a "used" unit but doesn't look like it's ever been fired up. It arrived promptly. The product appears to be well made. The gas regulator assembly has already been properly converted to the correct fitting for US propane tanks. So I am rating the furnace 5 stars. However, if there was a way to rate Amazon's repackaging separately, I would rate that a weak 2. Reason being they shipped the crucible INSIDE the furnace so that as the package was handled and jostled around the crucible squished the kaowool insulation so instead of being 1" thick, it is now maybe 1/2" thick and I will need to replace it before I can safely use the furnace.
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