I knew this would not fit straight to Aussie gas bottles, but I didn't know how I would solve the issue. One reviewer suggest buy a new regulator and hose set - research indicated $80-100. I found a male to male brass adapter on Amazon for $20. The Australian bottle takes a POL fitting (left hand thread, requires a wrench or handle to tighten) and the regulator is QCC-1 ( right hand thread, less than 1 turn hand tighten). The instructions did not cover sealing the carcinogenic ceramic fibres - after a couple of hours of online research, I chose refactory cement - 2 kg should do it. I used the back of a plastic teaspoon to apply and a very wet mix - I tried a brush, but it pulled at the fibres and wouldn't coat them. The instructions did not mention tempering the crucible, but another hours inline research gave me an idea how to do it. I cured the refactory cement and tempered the crucible at the same time - i only used one burner, had the valve almost closed and the regulator set at less than 5 psi. It still reached 1100c in half an hour - I would have preferred to do it more slowly - and shut it off, left the lid on and let it cool to ambient temperature overnight. The refactory has set and the crucible has a nice finish - no glassy beads. If the burners had air chokes, I feel I would have been able to temper/cure more slowly. The tongs are really only suitable for placing stock in the crucible - place it, dont drop it in. I spent an additional $500aud on a lift/pour tong set, refactory and firebricks to sit the furnace, lid and crucible on, a 2.4kg cast iron ingot mould (aluminium is 1/4 weight of gold), gas bottle adapter, automotive drip trays to heat and pour on (I’m clumsy and aluminium can explode concrete) and a laser thermometer to 1880C (pizza ones only go to 550c). I am looking forward to my first melt and pouring some ingots. The furnace seems awesome and will get hot enough to melt in 15 mins. $289 well spent!
vs83fr 
