Foundry Furnace Cart & Lifting Mechanism

Project:
Create a cart to wheel around the foundry furnace

Process:
For the longest time the foundry furnace was just sitting on the floor but whenever I had to move it, it was a pain in the butt because it was so heavy so I finally decided to build a cart for the furnace. There are two main components that were designed to make my life a bit easier: The cart itself and the lifting mechanism.

The cart was welded with regular 1" square steel tubing, all starting with the base of a isosceles triangle. I then expanded on it until the base was somewhat trapezoidal-ish looking. The wheels are about 25 or 30 bucks each so I figured if i can make the cart so it will take the wheels from my scaffolding unit which I don't use very often I can have some decent wheels without the cost.

I cut three 4" long pieces of 1-1/2" square steel tubing planning to weld them perpendicular to the base but the problem was that the square ends of the wheels from the scaffolding units were just a bit too big to easily slide into the tubing so I used my propane burner (I didn't want to waste the acetylene gas) to heat up the tubing red hot, then I hammered the square end of the wheels into the tubing to expand them. Afterwards I did some good old fashioned blacksmithing to fit it perfectly, then welded them to the base.

The third point of the base triangle (two received a wheel) got a simple removable leg with a pin so if I need to take off the wheels for the scaffolding unit I can take the leg off as well and have the furnace sit flat on the ground.

Next came the lifting mechanism. I took two pipes (2" diameter and 1-3/4" diameter) one fitting into the other and welded the larger pipe to the base of the cart. Then I drilled a hole through the smaller pipe large enough to stick a 3/4" square steel tubing through it, attach the custom cast oblong lifting mechanisms (my neighbor cut the MDF patterns on his cnc machine for me), added a handle to turn the square tubing by 90 degrees and then swing the lid over and away from the furnace body.

Pictures:

Lifting Mechanism of foundry furnace cart

Casting the parts for the lifting mechanism (and the bed of my gingery lathe)

The cart after its base was built

The two oblong lifting mechanisms with a built in set screw

Ring that sits on the larger vertical pipe that lets the above parts slide on them

After the lifting mechanism parts were pulled out of the sand

After the round sliding mechanism was pulled out of the sand

Tools:
Grinder, foundry furnace & molds for casting parts, drill press, hammer, mig welder, bench grinder, tap & die set, drill, socket set, screw drivers, propane torch, acetylene torch, measuring tape, markers

Materials:
Probably about 10 feet of 3/4" square steel tubing, 1 foot of 1-1/2" tubing, 2 feet of 1-1/4" tubing, 2 feet of the 2-1/4" round schedule 40 pipe, 2 feet of the 1-3/4" schedule 40 pipe, half a pound of aluminum for the lifting mechanisms, a couple of bolts

Cost:
$30.00

Time:
10hrs

Conclusion:
Working so far