Hi Catherine,
We are an authorized Ney/Neytech/Degusa Ney repair
center/distributor. So I thought I might be able to help.
The simple answer is no don’t do it.
First, it would be best to simply return the flasks and get a size
that fits into your Ney oven. If for some reason you are unable to
return them or don’t want to. Then a new larger oven is the way to go.
If you can’t return them I suggest using a different vendor from here
on out. In business price is always a consideration but so are many
other factors. The cheapest price is not always the best solution.
Setting your oven on its side will create some very costly problems
for you. First, the heating element (the actual wire) is imbedded in
the two sides and the back of the muffle (chamber). This wire is very
susceptible to corrosion and break down from the acids in the wax when
being burned out. If you do wax injection and have ever had your
injector temperature get too hot and when you open the lid you smell
a very strong odor that burns your nose, this is the acid forming from
the wax beginning to burn. There are no elements on the bottom portion
of the muffle because the wax can leak down into the muffle fiber and
would attack the element. This is another reason the element is
embedded in the muffle on the sides. The muffle fiber helps to
insulate the element from the acids formed during burnout. By the way
if your oven does get some wax melted into the bottom of the muffle it
is a good idea to run an empty oven through a burnout or bring it to
1300 Deg F for a couple of hours to burn it out of the muffle. This
wax will not completely burn out when the wax tray is shielding it
form the heat during a burnout. This wax in the muffle will also
eventually wick it’s way up to the element if it is not eliminated.
It flows like solder, toward the source of heat.
The element is one long wire. So when it is broken the whole muffle
needs to be replaced. The suggested list for a new muffle is anywhere
from about $200 to $400 depending on the type of oven you have. Let me
also clarify that the acid from the burnout does not instantly destroy
the element wire nor does it by itself break the wire. What happens is
the acid starts to eat away at the wire. This creates thin spots on
the element that then have a greater resistance than the wire should
have, which when power is applied will create a hot spot on the wire.
As this hot spot gets hotter it will eventually get to the point of
melting the wire. There is one other possibility with the hot spot.
Every time it is heated and cooled it will harden and become more
brittle. If it doesn’t melt first it will become so brittle that it
breaks.
Another problem you will have is as you mentioned the venting. Proper
air circulation inside the oven during a burnout is needed for the wax
to burn. Anything that can burn needs an oxidizer. Without it, it
cannot burn. That’s why your torch has to have oxygen and the space
shuttle needs to have oxygen tanks for it’s engines, there are no
oxidizers in space. You may say but I can light my torch with just the
gas on. Sure, because you have oxygen in the air that is allowing it
to burn. So back to the oven ventilation. Initially the oven will have
some oxygen in it when the burnout starts. But as the oxygen is used
up in the burning of the organics (Wax, Plastic, …) there needs to
be more fresh air flowing into the oven. So the ovens are purposely
not air tight. They have been designed to allow sufficient amount of
air into them for the burnout but not too much so the oven is unable
to reach and maintain the desired temp.
By placing the oven on it’s side you will be defeating the
ventilation that has been designed into the oven. Remember that hot
air rises. That’s why the air vent is always on the top. This allows
the heat to rise and escape and colder air to enter. Then you might
say well let’s just add another hole in the side which would become
the new top. This won’t work because remember the heating element is
in that side. In addition you would need to make sure that the air
flow you are trying to create would come in and reach all areas of the
oven. Without it there will be pockets of oxygen poor air that will
not allow a complete burnout.
Now we get back to the fact that the element would be on the new
bottom of the furnace. This would create a very hot spot on your
flask. Which could and more than likely will cause the investment to
crack. One of the reasons for a burnout cycle taking so many hours is
that the investment being full of moisture cannot handle being heated
rapidly without cracking and breaking apart. The other problem is
what I stated earlier with the fact that the element can’t withstand
the acids created from the burnout. You could not put a tray down on
the bottom to catch the wax because the tray would block enough of the
heat being generated from the element and would overheat it which
would melt the element and you would need a new muffle.
Then we get into the heating of the flasks. For a good burnout the
flask(s) need to be heated evenly. If the flasks are not heated evenly
there will be cold areas where the wax will not burnout completely. If
you were to get the wax to burn out completely you would still have
cold spots and hot spots on the flasks. This would create metal flow
problems. The reason you don’t just burnout the wax and let the flask
cool then pour the metal in is that the metal would chill too fast
when coming in contact with the cold investment. This is what would
happen with your flasks. Although you would get some areas to fill
that were the proper temp the cold areas would not fill because the
metal would chill. Remember that we are melting the metal but not
heating it too much more than the solidification point. If you were
to heat the metal way over the solidification point you would create
other problems with your metal. Such as losing some of the ingredients
of the alloy (which changes the quality and karat value), firescale
and many more.
There are other reasons why these ovens and for that matter all
equipment should be used as the manufacturer designed them. Sometimes
equipment can be used a little different from the designed use but as
a rule any major differences would result in very expensive lessons.
– Ken Kotoski MPG Repair www.mpgrepair.com
We repair the tools jewelers use.