Desktop Foundry - Cookee's Ancestor

The Cookee idea germinated from an earlier product invention by Prof. Dipankar, called the Desktop Foundry or Melt-IT.

The Melt-IT family are  desktop-PC sized metal-melting furnaces, that consume relatively much less power as compared to known foundry methods. One needs to melt metals for use in casting for example. The Desktop Foundry, has won professional admiration of many prominent individuals and renowned experts in the industry, internationally.

Temperatures in excess of 1500 deg C could be achieved inside a crucible, allowing melting of various metals and alloys including steel. This could be achieved with various energy efficient techniques. The result : A smart metal-melting furnace with clean bottom pouring casting facility right on the desktop. A mere 5A single phase household mains socket is used to power up this furnace (consuming less than 1kW). In foundry business this level of efficiency is deemed a very significant invention.

A range of techniques are used to prevent energy losses in high-tech equipment like Melt-IT. These  have been now borrowed and applied to make cooking appliances in the kitchen. This gave birth to the Cookee. This is a good example of how high-tech research can lead to important and basic solutions for the common person and homes.

Melt-IT is a class of clean bottom-pouring metal melting furnaces that are very energy efficient in their operation. Developed by TREELabs, it is being deployed and used by various clients around India at present.

Melt-IT-500 melts 500g of aluminium (or up to 1.5kg silver or gold) and is the ideal tool for creating desktop foundries. Not requiring any special and heavy duty electrical connection, it can be connected to normal 230V/5A mains socket only. In principle, Melt-IT can be made to work with relatively small alternate energy sources also, say by using solar PV panels in off-grid and remote places. This is again unprecedented in modern foundry practices.

Desktop Foundry also won the first prize in the academic pavilion at the prestigious annual expo of the Indian Machine Tools Manufacturing Association (IMTMA), called IMTEX-2014.

Melt-IT is available commercially for academia, industry and research institutions. Download brochure of Melt-IT-500 by clicking links below:

Melt-IT-500 Brochure

IMTEX Certificate

Paper in Indian Foundry Journal