A Surprisingly Affordable 2000 Watt Induction Heater for Your Workshop

An induction heater is a multiuse tool that can be used to heat metallic objects quickly and locally. It relies on induction, in which a coil can induce eddy currents within conductive material that is placed inside of the coil. This requires a very quickly-oscillating alternating current in order to induce the eddy currents that heat the metal. Induction heaters have many practical industrial applications, and they can also come in handy for hobbyists who don’t want to work with open flames or other heat sources. If you have a need for one, you can follow DIY KING 00’s tutorial to build your own affordable 2000 watt induction heater.

Induction heaters are actually pretty simple devices and they don’t require expensive components to build. It is, therefore, pretty easy to find basic induction heaters for very little money — often less than $20. But those are usually low-power units. If you want to build your own device that packs more of a punch, this guide will walk you through how to do it. If it isn’t obvious, you should be careful with this. You are, after all, building a device that is meant to make a bit of metal become red hot — and that’s when it’s working correctly.

To at least eliminate one potential hazard, this build does utilize LiPo batteries for power. You are also only working with relatively low voltages — nothing over 36V. All of the components you’ll need are readily-available, but you will need to order the custom PCB to solder them to. Those will take the DC voltage from the batteries and switch it very quickly to create an AC current that will pass through the large heating coil. A fan is used to keep the MOSFETs cool as they switch rapidly. The finished device should allow you to easily heat up metal in your workshop!