TOAUTO 3KG Gold Melting Furnace TGF3000,1400W 2000F Digital Electric Melting Furnace with Graphite Crucible for Melt Scrap, Silver, Gold, Copper, Aluminum 110V Refining Casting Furnace

I bought one of these about 2 weeks ago and used it a couple of times. After two uses, the unit I had broken (the lid cracked and fell apart). I was a bit disappointed as I was worried about the quality of the item, however I figured sometimes a faulty unit can slip through quality control, so I reached out to the company and explained the situation.They immediately sent me out a replacement unit at no cost. I have used the replacement unit several times now, and it works great!Takes about 20 minutes to heat up (hot enough to melt copper), and once it is at temperature, it holds it just fine. I have melted copper, aluminum, brass, and nordic gold - all with great results.For the price, this is definitely worth it for beginners like myself.

Delivered fast, easy to set up and operate. I have melted a couple kilograms of copper and while it took longer than expected to melt it is convenient to just plug in and flip the power switch.

Over 2 years of ownership I have done a couple dozen smelts of small gold flakes and nuggets into either bars or coins. The electrical cord finally broke (or better said "fused" with my outdoor extension cord) on my last smelt thus rendering the system useless presently. Also it appears the internal casing has cracked in half.The Good: Easy to set-up, power up, set temp. A beginner can start melting metals within half an hour.The Bad: A beginner can start melting metals within half an hour. Doing pours for beginners is hairy. Graphite cylinders cool quickly giving you about 3 seconds to pour into small molds (that should be heated themselves btw.) After several uses system itself shows severe signs of internal wear, especially on heating element, interior casing and exterior of system...handle, bulb, and cap.Ideas: Consider making custom molds that can be inserted into furnace chamber directly to avoid pours. Consider including smelt "recipes" for flux...ie "50% volume of material in Chapman flux per full unit of material volume." The instruction booklet could do with a full revamp.Overall good deal in terms of price and utility, but beginners should think about ventilation, safety, and quality of furnace at all times. Full face protection and full length welding shirts have served me well. Two years of use might be the safe operational limit for this furnace. Noticeable decline in utility after each smelt until failure was reached on last smelt.If quality of furnace was improved and availability of replacement parts on Amazon was implemented this system as the potential to own the beginner niche and earn a 5-Star rating.

UPDATE:I purchased this furnace, and it stopped working after just 60 days: 30 days after the Amazon return window. Other than that, it was an excellent melting furnace.I was angry and wrote the original review, below. This was the wrong of me as I never gave TOAUTO a chance to rectify the situation. So, after I calmed down, I contacted them to complain. TOAUTO immediately sent out a new unit. I haven't set-up the new furnace but intend to this weekend.The point is, TOAUTO stood behind their product and replaced it even after the Amazon replacement period had expired. The furnace is an excellent piece of equipment for its intended use and TOAUTO is an excellent company to work with. (And I was too quick and judgmental: shame on me for that.) This is a great company that sells a great piece of equipment at a great price. BUY WITH CONFIDENCE!ORIGINAL REVIEW:Worked fine until it decided to stop after only 2 months. Coincidentally, one month past the Amazon money-back guarantee. Absolute GARBAGE!

I really liked how this kit came with everything I needed to get started melting aluminum. I've been wanting to try metal casting for awhile but was unsure of the learning curve and equipment required. I decided go give this kit a go as it looked like it had what I needed to get started.It came very well packaged. Operating it was as simple as taking it out and plugging it in. It automatically started heating to the set temperature. As advertised it takes about 30 to 40 minutes for it reach the highest temp but once it gets there it maintains it well even as I added room temperature aluminum. I melted down a bunch of cans that I was saving for recycle. The crucible is a smaller diameter than the cans so I had to cut and crush the cans to make them fit. It was easy to pour the molten metal with the supplied tongs. I never felt like I was going to lose control of the crucible or drop it. A full crucible fills about 2 of the included graphite molds. Once the mold cools the metal ingot easily falls right out. If you are just starting out in metal casting or want an easy to use furnace that doesn't use propane than I definitely recommend this one. It'll be great for smaller projects such as coins.

I was only able to use this twice before it stopped working. The heating element must have gone bad. Metal smelting is a hobby, so I don't do this every day so by the time I got around to using the item for the first time, the return window was already closed. The cost of this item was $279 which is steep for something that I was able to use 2 times before it broke. The website has lots of instructions on checking this, and that and replacing this part and that, but this is a hobby for me. I was able to replace all of these parts, I would have just built a furnace myself. I cannot recommend this product and hope no one else wastes their hard earned $$$ on this piece of junk,.