Induction heater tool

[Bellaireroad]

Anyone have one of these? What’s a good, reliable brand?


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[noid]

+1 also interested. Currently see the nut buster and mini ductor II.

 

[Kaane]

I have the mini ductor venom. It works pretty good. Little pricy, but when you can't use a torch it's a life saver.

 

[Rubiman14]

I have the mini ductor 2. Probably one of my most valuable tools living up here in Michigan. Right along with the flame wrench, plasma cutter, and welder lol. Haven’t used a different brand, but know quite a few with mine. They all swear by it!

After owning it a few years, I now find I reach for this far more often than my torches.

 

[Bellaireroad]

I have the mini ductor venom. It works pretty good. Little pricy, but when you can't use a torch it's a life saver.

It looks like those are made in USA... when you say it works pretty good, are there some limitations to it?


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[Kaane]

No limitations. Just need to be careful not to overheat the coils if you hold it too long.

 

[dalehsc]

An absolute must have in the rust belt for the professional.The drawbacks are few; slower than a torch & the heat doesn't penetrate very deep if you're trying to heat a bolt in a bushing. I've tried it on stuck rear toe link adjusting bolts on Dodge Journeys...just won't work. No worries about open flame around your work area....no unexpected melting/burning/scorching of any wiring/plastic tubing/plastic shields,etc

Oh...I have the Mini Ductor II

 

[Kenskip1]

Here is a video on one.Ken

 

[hoyt]

The Mini-Ductor II is on sale now in the Ford Pavilion for slightly less that what it sells for on Amazon ($432). There is also the Bolt-Buster BB2-ACC at $409. I've spoken with some pros who swear by the tool. The Venom is the same inside, just adding some ergonomics and LEDs, which means the Mini-Ductor II should be discounted to clear out inventory.

I want one.

 

[dogdog]

what are you going to use it for? and how much $$$ do you have ? some specialize ones or just generic rusty bolt and nut heating.

I have the mini ductor when I was working on exhaust on my car... it is "OK" works if you can wrap the coil around the nut... would be the same thing with bolt buster.

or are you looking for some metal melting induction heaters ?

or some other brazing ones.?

or for PDR inductor heaters ?

Plenty of threads here past two year at least about 4 or 5.
There are plenty of DIY and KIT version from Ebay as well...

the good brand
https://www.millerwelds.com/products/induction-heating-systems

the off brand but very popular.
http://fluxeon.com/heaters.html

 

[matt01073]

I have te mini ductor also , use it quite a bit several things I can say , first and foremost if you are looking to get something red hot the coils need to be wrapped around the bolt or whatever you are heating as tight as you can . 2 the time that they tell you to hold the button on is a joke you need to turn it on and hold it on for a while to get te heat you need . that said when you do that expect to burn up coils quickly . This is by no means a replacement for heating with a torch however when you cant use a torch safely this thing is awesome . We bought it mainly for ex manifold studs on applications where you would start a fire trying to get a torch in and if it saves 1 fire its worth its weight in gold

 

[Jbullfrog]

I have a Mini Ductor II and it paid for itself in 3 jobs. Check eBay, I got mine with the full set of extra coils for the price of just the bare tool. The Venom looks to be a bit better for size and ergonomics, as the II is the size of a bowling pin.

 

[stillsteamn]

I'm a shade-tree mechanic and I have a couple questions regarding heating up stuck or rusted nuts or bolts, and why this works to free them. The questions apply to heating with either an induction heater or a torch. (a) Does the heat work because the parts expand at a different rate which breaks the bond/rust? (b) Or the nut expands thereby becoming looser on the bolt? (c) Would this take the temper out of the metal so that the part is now softer for the rest of its life? Or does the temper only change if you cool the part down fast with water or oil?

 

[dogdog]

I think for your question A & B it's no different than heating with torch... heat metal expands, and it breaks loose the seized bolts... the difference is that magnetic induction heating is using induced eddy current... only the metal object that is inside the induction coil gets heated so if you can't wrap your coil around the object to be heated, it probably won't get heated or efficient at all... (like the nut in very tight quarters)..... you can read it in Wikipedia on the principle of this thing...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_heating

question C ==> yes it takes the temper out of any metal, just like heating it cherry hot with any O/A torch... If you read any fine prints that comes with the miniductor it mentions it and suggest you to replace your bolt or nut that you use heat to remove...

Not sure part b of your question C.... Some blacksmith also use larger size induction heaters as well to temper metal... It all dependents on your metal, there were few on youtube as well.... You should separate those questions and ask a blacksmith what metal is good for oil quenching and water quench or air hardening. Those had nothing to do with induction heating... it just heats the metal to cherry hot... via magnetic induction by the Eddy current it created.....

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

Red hot metal is soft, and can conform to irregularities in threading, hence a glowing hot fastener will spin right off regardless of any expansion.

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

I have a mini-ductor kit. I find it works well for stuff up to about 5/8 sized hardware, but the larger the item, the longer it takes to heat. The very long flexible heating element barely gets things warm when you go that large diameter, especially if the item is thick / large mass of metal. I like that it's more precise than a torch - no worry about setting other stuff on fire with the flame blowing past the item you intend to heat.

As with most specialty tools, it can't do everything, but there's cases where it will save your **** and you'll be glad you have it. I had one instance where an old engine had been outside in the woods so long the oil filter would not come off at all. The main can of it began shredding / tearing and the base was still seized to the engine block. I wrapped that flexible element around the base and heated a few cycles until things began smoking and then spun it right off with filter pliers.