Steve Stadelman Glassworks; Moly melt furnaces.

[Steve Stadelman]

Hi all, after the interest that I got after my presentation at the G.A.S. conference in June I have decided to enter into manufacturing my own version.

After finding out about the technology over seven years ago I built my own 100lb invested Moly pot. I have learned alot since then and am able to share those lessons with all. Incidently, that first furnace is pictured on this site and still runs.

I am offering two standard sizes of furnace-up to 100lb and 150-300lb. I am currently working with Pete Vanderlaan to develop a color pot system and will work with any customer to develop any melter configuration and power level that suits their needs.

I also have higher power versions of my 300lb unit as well as 400 and 600lb furnaces.

Over the past six years I have helped several members of this board with their moly projects and have had great success with those projects.


I can be reached through this site or on my cellphone at 503-709-9922.

Thank you all very much for all that I have learned at this site and the camaraderie that you have all offered. Steve.

[Douglas Terry]

Gee I see some of “THEM” are trainable !!!!! ;-)

[Matt Bezark]

in the spring of 2001, i started a large casting commission that required a furnace that would hold 4 40lb crucibles.

for various reasons (primarily noise, and because an electric furnace can easily be left unattended), i decided to build an electric furnace.

during my research phase, i was introduced to Steve Stadleman. his power system design help is the reason that i now have a moly based furnace. although i have an engineering and electronics background, the power requirements and system design for moly elements is very involved. Steve was patient, informative, knowlegable, and reachable.

i would not hesitate to buy a moly furnace from Steve in the future.

good luck with your new venture.

Matt Bezark

(steve, you can publish this on your website)

[Steve Stadelman]

Here is a photo of a 100lb casting set and my 8 year old for scale.

This casing set is complete and with six heating elements and consulting fees goes for $4000.00. The electronics are about $1350.00 additional. You supply steel, fiberfrax some old transformer and elbow grease.

The casings are Mizzou and Morcolite 95 and weigh less than 600lb dry.

This is designed for either the 80 or 100lb E.C. pot.

The gathering port is 10"high and 10"wide with a 1/2 slope back into the furnace.

[Steve Stadelman]

Until now I have been a little hesitant to post any firm pricing until I got a couple units built but here goes.

My 150-300lb unit, turnkey, F.O.B. Sherwood 97140 is $17.500.00

My 80-100lb unit for the first 3 complete units will be at an introductory price of $9500.00 so I can get a couple out there running, this is built with the casting set that is pictured above with my son Colbey that I have sold some of as kits.

I am now offering a finance/lease deal.

[Ben Rosenfield]

Image posted at Steve's request.

[Steve Stadelman]

I have a new design that will be a freestanding potfurnace holding four cubic feet of glass (540-600lb depending on what you use as a number for a cubic foot of glass).

This unit will be 62" in diameter with a swingaway front for easy potchanges, will draw 40 kilowatts and will run on any phase, or voltage combination needed, provided you have enough available.

Projected operating costs are being based on doubling the power use of my current 300lb furnaces but in actuality should be much lower. 8000kwh per month is the figure I am throwing out for now.

The first one of these is being built for a studio in Portland and I am anticipating a March startup with some real numbers to follow.

[Pete VanderLaan]

[i]
The "Mission Orange" label is off of a fruit crate the owner had and covers up the cleanout. [/B]

I used to have one that said "Coke, It's the real thing". I also have one that says "Pepsi, The five cent drink worth a dime"

:dog:

[Ben Rosenfield]

Make Mine Moxie.

[Nancy Becker]

I have a Steve-moly furnace that has been on a couple of months now. It is an excellent piece of equipment -quiet and efficient. As a former gas system user I am thrilled with my power bill. My second month's bill was $433 for 6345 kwh. This reflects 4 melt cycles (it's the 300# size) and all the other power consumption for a 1400 square foot shop. I'll be selling off all my gas system and enjoying the quiet in the shop.

I also asked Steve to build a glory hole with a ribbon burner. I had several blowers around but was basically underpowered and running cold for a couple of weeks. Cold bad. Steve turned me on to this blower for $200 which is great! That thing is powerful and the glory can get as hot as you want with alot more air to spare. Excellent! And it's fairly quiet! Call him up! He knows what he's talking about!

[Pete VanderLaan]

OK Steve, admit it. Nancy is actually your mom, right?

[Brian Wong Shui]

This is a photo of Steve's furnace in action during the initial furnace heat up.

We purchased this furnace from Steve for our new studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a 300lb freestanding crucible furnace with a 30kW element set. It has been running for about a month and a half and has not given us any trouble whatsoever.

The furnace recovers quickly when gathering and rips through batch with no problem. The glass quality has been excellent with a long pot life.

The furnace easily maintains temperatures and idles at 1900F while consuming 5.7kW

Build quality is excellent and the aftercare service from Steve has been above and beyond the call of duty. The design of the furnace has embraced the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle and while it has no bells and whistles, it excels in melting glass.

The components used in the furnace are first rate. Watlow 981, Power Series SCR and a custom wound transformer all contribute to the stability of the system. No 20% duty cycle stuff in this furnace.

Radio has not been a problem with this system. This has to do with site prep. All the wires were put in EMT conduit instead of plastic and the system was properly grounded.

This is one bad-ass furnace.

My only disappointment is that I didn't order the 400lb config.

[Michael Evans]

Our experience has been the same as Brian's and Nancy, only we went with the 100 lb unit. Steve has been great to work with. He actually stamps his name on the furnace... invoking the words "Pride of Craftsmanship". I can't see anything second rate about this furnace!

[Dan Buchacher]

Gorgeous furnace, congratulations, but isn't that awful close to the old wood studs - maybe the picture makes it look closer than it is or are you going to shield the wall?

[Steve Stadelman]

It's actually a couple feet from the walls that are getting sheetrock.

[Michael Evans]

We plan to install fire rated drywall.

[Allan Gott]

Steve, can you tell us how the pot changeouts are accomplished?

[Steve Stadelman]

Either by removing the front on all but the 100lb or going through the top, I prefer going through the top as it is less work.

[Allan Gott]

.....and the changeover time Steve, from cleanout/shutdown back to charging temperature?

[Steve Stadelman]

Wellllllllllllll, 4-5 days? less if you are really devoted to "Hotwork".

You could have the elements out (through the top method) and the insulation off in an hour, then somehow rig a chain through the element holes as the unit passes through 1900f and give it a yank. Go to the trauma center to get the burns looked after for 5-6 hours come back, hammer the old pot out, drop the new one on with a chainfall hoist, put the now cooled crown on with the well-annealed chain, insulate, re-install the heaters, two days to warm back up.

[Roger Gandelman]

How often do you have to shut down (excluding crucible change)?..How long do the elements last?

[Steve Stadelman]

The elements can last a decade easily, the pot should be changed every 80 charges with batch, longer with cullet.

Other than that, there is no reason to shut down as long as you want to make glass.

[Steve Stadelman]

I am no longer offering anything but complete furnaces.

[William Kurylo]

We're in the process of building our 200# Stadleman furnace.
Looks like we're the last ones to get a "kit"... So far so good.

We do have a few questions for you Stadleman furnace folks out there...
Do any of you have side view photographs of the door assembly?
Dimensions would be great too! i.e.
What is the distance from the front of the top ring to the rail the door wheels sit on?
How long are the members that go between the wheels and the "arms" that suspend the door?
When the door is closed, is it slightly open at the top or is it flush with the gathering port?
We noticed in some of the photos the door mechanism telescopes.
What is the diameter of the threaded rod?

Thanks in advance.

willi

[Andrew Boatman]

We are the latest recipiant of the Steve Stadelman Glassworks furnace. If you are in OKC feel free to drop by and check it out. I will be working up a webpage soon dedicated to the new furnace. Many thanks to Steve for coming in and making it happen.

[Brent Hickenbotham]

Our new Stadelman furnace is exsqusite. The installation on Steves part was awesome, rental and shipping companies are not so good sometimes. All went great. This is a superbly built piece of equipment. We will get to batch on Saturday, as the furnace is only at 900f right now. Thanks again Steve. Here are some pics of our new 300lb free standing pot furnace.

[Brent Hickenbotham]

retrying picture

[Brent Hickenbotham]

p.s. this thing is quieter than our old denver electric.

[Scott Dunahee]

I finally got to take a few dips out of one of Steve's furnaces this weekend in Racine, WI at the studio owned in part by Doug Chausee. I loved it. Excellent build quality. I stood next to the furnace for a while talking and there is no appreciable heat radiation that I noticed. The door had a nice tight fit and the sill was at an excellent ergonomic height for me.

Doug is using SP87 and had a fresh full pot there for me to try. The quality of his crystal was incredible. VERY clean and seed free. Also, the SP87 he pulls out of his furnace is SOFT. Much softer than the same glass out of the gas furnace I work out of every day.

The studio is very clean and bright and friendly. It looks like they are starting to build a nice little community there. A lot of doug's students stopped by my booth and said hi. If you're looking to rent or take classes in southeastern Wisconsin, give Doug a call!

And to Steve: Nice work, Bub.

BSD

[Paul Hayworth]

http://homepage.mac.com/publicglass/PhotoAlbum2.html
Public Glass

[Chris McCarthy]

I have been running one of Steve's furnaces for about 4 months now and I can't begin to say how happy I am with it.

We turned it on in June just before the conference, and I thought I'd post my Utility bills for the same time period for this year & last.


June 2005 June 2006
g- 695 e-180 g-154 e-493

July 2005 July 2006
g-736 e-176 g-88 e-534

Aug 2005 Aug 2006
g-648 e-155 g-105 e-548

Sep 2005 Sep 2006
g-612 e-141 g-225 e-335



I don't work alot during the summer, mostly if it cools off and I'm not on the road. I don't have my gas bill yet for Sep, but I don't expect it to be over 200. (I was wrong, but just barely)

The KWH for Aug 2006 was around 6000, (again, it is really hot here, so I didn't work as much during the summer) and Sep 2006 the KWH was 7113. The rates in MO drop after the prime cooling months, and I was charged .047$/KWH. The summer months had it closer to .09

The furnace and my main annealer run on a 480v 3 phase service, and I'm pretty sure the furnace is drawing just under 30 amps. Steve should be able to verify this. The new furnace is 300 lbs, the old one had a capacity of about 130.

mmmmm saving money is fun.........

(all numbers include all of the city & state taxes, etc)

[Chris McCarthy]

there were spaces in the above post to make it easier to read. I don't know what happened.

[Bruce Cobb]

I am so jealous! :( But, now I know what I'm asking Santa for this Christmas... :)

[Chris McCarthy]

Hmmm,

So I've had my furnace since June, and I've had two major power outages. The first was in July while I was in Ann Arbor. A storm came thru on a Wednesday nite and knocked out power to most of the St. Louis area. I didn't get home until Sunday, and the furnace was at 500 F when I got to the studio. So, in the 3.5 days that the power was off, it dropped from 1700 (I was gone for a total of 11 days and had emptied the furnace and turned it down ) to 500.

This week provided another chance for St. Louis to lose a huge chunk of electricity with the Ice storms. I lost my power in the shop at some point on thurs nite/fri morning and didn't get it back until today (sunday). The temp inside the studio was 33 F and the temp in the furnace when the power kicked back on was 768 F.

I don't know how this compares to other commercially built furnaces, but I know in both instances the EC pot held up due to the sturdiness of Steve's construction.

BTW. Oct's bills were 335 for Electricity, 180 for the Natural Gas. I'll post last years bills when I find them.

[Pete VanderLaan]

While I think the world of Steve and his furnace construction, E.C. Pots are quite capable of holding up in a variety of hostile conditions, regardless of the manufacturer of the furnace. Your logic is faulty.

[Chris McCarthy]

you're probably right. Both products are able to take alot of abuse.

[Pete VanderLaan]

Originally posted by Chris McCarthy
. Both products are able to take alot of abuse.

*********

Something I have in common with both products...

[Steve Stadelman]

On a happy note, I will have my "Project Inspection" by U.L. next week. I will then be able to sticker all my panels.

Good for many municipalities with skeptical inspectroids.

[katiemoe]

bump

[Brent Hickenbotham]

Now Stadelman Glassworks can also offer a field tested and stickered furnace. Yes the entire package can have complete certification anywhere in the US, Canada, Europe, and Japan.

We are a UL 508A Industrial control panel shop, so the controls are a listed product. Our transformers are UL listed "energy star", meeting some of the most stringent standards. We now have an independent testing company that performs field evaluations and stickers the actual furnace to UL 499 specs, and CSA specs.

We have some of the most tested, inspected and certified glass equipment out there to please just about any inspector.

Im losing hair through the process.

[Brent Hickenbotham]

I designed up a little 75# mini moly melter thats 5 KW and draws 22 amps. Its 32" in diameter and 51" tall. I tink its gonna run $7700 dollars for the total unit. It will be ready to plug in to a dryer outlet on 240 volt. I could make them 220 volt but that means changing the transformer configuration and a bit more money.

[Tom Marma]

Originally posted by Brent Hickenbotham
I designed up a little 75# mini moly melter thats 5 KW and draws 22 amps. Its 32" in diameter and 51" tall. I tink its gonna run $7700 dollars for the total unit. It will be ready to plug in to a dryer outlet on 240 volt. I could make them 220 volt but that means changing the transformer configuration and a bit more money.

This would be of interest to me. What is your email so I can get some more info?
thanks

[Steve Stadelman]

Click on the weblink in my signature line, my phone number is on my website.