Anyone ever convert a LowBoy 3-burner to a 1 or 2?

A

Allan Molstad

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Although I have had some conversations that cast doubt on my dream of converting my Whisper LowBoy 3-burner forge to use fewer burners, I have never asked the whole membership of the forum if anyone has pulled off this trick

So, the question.
I own a LowBoy 3-burner forge and I wish to have a way to turn off one or more of the burners to better control how much gas I use.
Has anyone ever been able to do this to my brand of forge?
 
Alan, I have the Lowboy also. I just use the gas regulator to use more/less gas. Makes more sense to me to build a simple one burner forge than to attempt to screw with something that was meant to have three burners, and potentially render it useless. Just my humble opinion, for what it's worth. -Matt-
 
On your forge,,,,do you have the gas enter a square tube that runs across the top?

On mine the gas line enters the square tube at a spot between the 1st and 2nd burners..
It just seems that it should be so easy to just cut the square tube, and slide in place a few checkvalves....
There may not be room to add a valve between the 1st and 2nd burner, but there is a wide open spot between the 2nd and 3rd

It just seems that it could be a Whisper lowBoy design addition that the Whisper company might offer for sale on the forge
 
I have the same forge. I usually run the regulator at 3 psi. I have the valve up at the top where yours is, and I usually have it throttled back to about half open to cut down on gas usage. This setup seems to keep my forge plenty hot enough. I sometimes wish I had purchased the smaller two or one burner model, but live and learn.
 
Allan Molstad said:
On your forge,,,,do you have the gas enter a square tube that runs across the top?

On mine the gas line enters the square tube at a spot between the 1st and 2nd burners..
It just seems that it should be so easy to just cut the square tube, and slide in place a few checkvalves....
There may not be room to add a valve between the 1st and 2nd burner, but there is a wide open spot between the 2nd and 3rd

It just seems that it could be a Whisper lowBoy design addition that the Whisper company might offer for sale on the forge
Click to expand...



Yep, my forge is set up that exact way. If you are confident that you could pull off something like that, I wish you the best of luck! If it were me, I would leave well enough alone and try to build a one burner forge that fit the requirements of what I needed it for. Again, best of luck! -Matt-
 
No one ever heard if this is something that the Whisper company sells something for?

Seems to me all we need is a different square tube with built-in check valves....
 
I would not recommend attempting to modify a gas manifold unless you are qualified to do the work (experienced pressure welder). A gas leak in the manifold is a disaster waiting to happen (possible fire/explosion). This is probably just a misunderstanding of terms - but a check-valve is a one-way flow valve (will only allow flow in one direction - meant to "check" backpressure), what you need is a ball-valve. The easiest way to do this would be to replace the existing manifold with one made of screwed pipe and fittings (no welding). Or, you could leave this forge alone for the heavy work and build another for lower-temp operation (probably the best idea). Check out Ron Reil's website (www.ronreil.abana.org) if you want some ideas.
 
Hi Allan, If you try it, keep an eye out for the burner or burners that you shut off. They might act like chimney's and get surprisingly hot.
Good luck, Craig
 
I did this with my Whisper Momma. It's a two burner. I removed the square manifold, and replaced one of the nozzels with a blank nozzle (not drilled). I figured I needed to compensate a little with exhaust issues, so I covered one of the windows, about 1/2 way up with that kaowool hardboard the Darrel Ellis sells. It's now ok, but it takes longer to heat the same amount of steel as I have heated before. I really doubt that I gained anything at all, and in fact, probably failed somewhere I haven't thought of. I'd advise not doing it.
 
cden said:
Hi Allan, If you try it, keep an eye out for the burner or burners that you shut off. They might act like chimney's and get surprisingly hot.
Good luck, Craig
Click to expand...
I think the same, Im not sure, but when you would design a 1 or 2 burner you would NEVER drill extra holes in the forge and then run a pipe up from there a foot then plug it...it would seem to be asking for trouble.

But I do think it is a bit odd that the Whisper company has not come up with a way to sell some type of kit that we could get that would allow us to control how many burners fire up...

My thinking was that: "Hey I just spent $300 for the forge and now Im still not happy?"...so I felt I should try to make better use of the current forge...
The reason Im not always happy with burning all 3 burners at once all the time is that I forge 1&1/2 - 2" ball bearings. There is really no need to stick the bearing into the forge past the first burner.
Infact sticking the bearing in past the first burner is asking for trouble because I will end up heating the mild steel support rod I have welded onto the bearing for grip and bending it.
 
NC used to sell burner assemblies as well as their forges. they had to stop due to liability issues, too many people were changing the burners without knowing how the burners actually worked. I have seen pictures of exploded lines and melted burners back When I sold the NC forges. I won't say that it cannot be done, but I will say that it is not worth it. when you drop the number of burners on a NC forge, the remaining ones still have to heat up the same volume in the forge. you will heat your steel slower, and you will probably go through more gas to do the same ammount of work. If you want a smaller forge, build or buy one, and try ot go with a tubular forge, not box. It will be more efficient.

Ken
 
yes, I dont want to start to forge my own parts*,,,thats why I had the hope that someone on the forum had heard if the company had a kit?...
It just seems to be a natural thing that the company would offer for sale. I have not looked that close at how the square tube works, but it seems at first glance to just bolt on with two bolts at each burner.

(* About 20 years ago I had a friend who did some underwater sea diving. I came over to his house one time and he had all the aqualung things all apart on the kitchen table and he was attempting to come up with a new way to connect everything...He had spare parts from the lunmber yard pluming section spilled out and was digging for a rubber washer that would fit....I just watched and shook my head, "You are going to die kid" is about all I said)
 
Allan, I would very much advise against modifying the NC forge burners /assembly. Propane forges are great, but they're very inflexible. If you are going to use propane for your fuel, be prepared to make yourself a new forge every year or so as a new type of project comes up which your existing ones wont handle. As a bladesmith it's easier to not need to make more and more forges, since usualy people are working with a long slender object 90% of the time, but in general every propane forge is pretty specific in what it can and can not handle.

This is a case where it seems you'd be best off using your forge as is, I dont think you're going to gain anything by closing off extra burners, ideally when a venturi forge is running properly and at the right temp it shouldnt matter if your piece of work is right under a burner or not, because the inside of the forge should be more or less a uniform temp anyways.
 
yes, but the position of the first burner near the door means that it's about the only one doing any work for me at all....
The other 2 are on, burning away to beat the band, and not helping me at all with the real work.
Their position in the middle of the forge box and at the far end are so far away from where the ball bearing is that they play a moot point ....I cant stick the bearing in to make use of the heat from the other two burners because that woulD mean Im heating the 1/2" support rod thats welded to the bearing that would be now sitting right underneath the first burner and it's going to bend like a noddle.

It would be nice to turn them off.

But if the NC company does not sell a valve kit, there is likely a good reason why they dont. why...

I really did not want to make a new forge, nor get another off Ebay...$300 bucks is a lot of money to me, I have already made this investment...
 
The only other suggestion that I will make is perhaps clean up the forge, put it up for sale, or re-list it on e-bay, and use the money toward a building or buying a forge to suit your specific needs. That way, you can re-coup some of the $300 bucks. You seem hell-bent on finding a way to modify this forge, bad idea or not, discarding the input that you asked for. When you do mod the forge, please try not to kill yourself or anyone else. -Matt-
 
Allan Molstad said:
yes, but the position of the first burner near the door means that it's about the only one doing any work for me at all....
The other 2 are on, burning away to beat the band, and not helping me at all with the real work.
Click to expand...

That is where your whole assumption is wrong. Every propane forge has the number of burners it has because it needs them in order to do the work. There is a certain amount of heat energy needed to maintain a useable temp inside a given space. If you take a space designed to be heated by 3 burners and remove 2 of the burners, you will not get enough heat be able to use that space. If you shut off burners, you would also have to insert a firebrick wall or the like to reduce the size of the fire box accordingly.

It may not 'seem' like you're getting 'work' out of the other 2 burners, however you most certainly are.
 
I believe NC won't make mod kits for the same reason they do not sell burners. Liability from people who do not know what they are doing.

A Whisper baby is a small inexpensive forge that new, would probably cost the same as a used low boy on ebay.

One other point, putting your steel directly in the flame of a burner is a bad idea. not only can you get hot spots, you will have more scale and decarb where the flame keeps hitting the steel, as the fuel and oxygen are still reacting. setting the steel to the side of a burner will give you a more even heat with less oxidation.

If you want an inexpensive modular forge, Go coal. with a coal (or coke, or charcoal) you can build the fire size that you need, you have much more control over temperature, heated area, and oxidation than a gas forge. they are cheap to build and cheap to run( I last bought 1 ton of coke for about $200, a 100lb propane tank is going for about $54 here)

and coal forges are safer than gas forges. no leaks to worry about, no explosion hazzards, and without an air blast, they will go out.

Ken
 
Hi Allan, If you're able to safely run just the front burner, maybe you can shorten the chamber with a fitted piece of soft fire brick. You could probably set up the fit to push it back a little or remove it easily when your bearing starts to draw out a bit.
Good luck, Craig
 
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