Testing the Performance of a Traditional Furnace Melting Process on Bronze as the Material of Gamelan

摘要

Gamelan is traditional musical instrument that evolves especially in Bali, its function is to accompany the religious and cultural ceremonies of Hindus. The making process of gamelan, smelting bronze alloys, is done by using traditional furnaces. The use of charcoal as fuel in smelting process causes melting furnace performance is difficult to determine. That condition impacts the effectiveness of the smelting process especially in determining the needs of fuel and the processing time. Therefore, it influences the productivity of crafters. This research was conducted to test the performance of the furnace in accordance with a design that is commonly used by artisans. The observation was done at the temperature of melting, melting time, data retrieval was conducted repeatedly three times on different days. Based on the analysis and observation in accordance with the experimental design made whereby in the smelting process to achieve the casting temperature indicated as follows. The average temperature of smelting is 730,8 °C, fuel use is 23 kg, melting time is 39.76 minutes as well as the efficiency of the furnace 36.80%. Based on the analysis conducted, low efficiency is due to the surface of the furnace which is designed open, so that during the energy generated in the process of burning a lot of fuel wasted into the environment.