10-18-07 Another picture of the furnace set-up after the first oil-fired heat. I had placed a small piece of aluminum in the furnace body, just to see if it would melt. I wasn't really trying to fire the furnace full blast, but was mostly testing the oil burner and trying to achieve a self sustaining oil burn. The furnace was lit with a small pine wood fire, and the oil seemed to have no trouble taking the flame.
10-18-07 Here is a picture of the piece of aluminum stock I dropped in the furnace about 1/2 way through the first oil-fired heat. It melted, but didn't puddle. This tells me that I definitely reached 1200F, but probably not much higher than 1250F. It should be no trouble to achieve a full melt, as I was really limiting the furnace heat to allow it to fire-in.
10-18-07 Here is a top view into the furnace after the oil had all burned out. Look how nice an unaffected the refractory wall is, it doesn't really show much evidence of scorching or over heating at all. The only discoloration is around the oil intake, where liquid oil dripped onto the furnace and stained it. There are several hairline cracks running around the outside of the furnace body, but they have been there ever since I demolded it, and don't seem to be spreading at all with the heat cycles.
