Best Aspirated (Venturi) Burner?

J

John Frankl

Joined
Oct 16, 2001
Messages
1,917
I am comparing all the venturi burners out there and it seems the T-Rex series and the Tube Burners on Larry Zoeller's site are about the best. Does anyone have experience with one or both of these? Any comments about these burners, and other venturis would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

John Frankl
 
Do a search on T-Rex and look at the post that are in shoptalk. If you are just doing general forging and heat treating. The T-Rex burners are hard to beat. I've been using them for 4 years and love them. You have adjustability , they are Very cheap to run and are stable from less that 1 psi up to over 25 psi.

No knowledge of the Zoellers
 
What Mark said.

I have twin T-Rex burners in a 24" forge that I built last year. I only need one when general bladesmithing, but I like to fire up both burners when forge welding (faster, and more heat, more confidence of a good weld). The T-Rex's are very nice looking (not that it matters, but I liked the professional look to them), they are painted, plus have some anodized parts. Comes with a set of instructions, plus you'll have email access to the builder. They do cost some though.

Mark, I forge at about 10 psi, and forge weld at about 13+. How about you? I've never tried to take mine much above or below those settings, except when I'm running the bypass. Maybe I'm missing something. They'd really ROAR at 25! :eek:
 
I have welded with them , but mine just barely get there to welding heat. I was a diehard anti-blower guy before using a vertical forge with a blower. Absolutely no comparison. I didnt like the blower because of the oxidizing problem. But with the vertical forge it's manageable. I use a small freon size forge, a larger two burner forge and a vertical for welding.
 
It actually can be much simpler than that.
All it takes is a piece of 1/2" copper (for two burners) running horizontally thru a bell housing connected to a 16" - 18" length of iron pipe (for each burner). There is a pinhole in the copper where it passes thru the bell housing, centered and facing down into the 3/4" burner tube. The bell housing has a cover which serves as the choke. The burner tube is held in place in the forge by a bracket with a set screw, and the copper pipe is held in place in the bell housing by another bracket. The ceramic blanket liner of the forge is flared around the burner openings with Satanite, forming the flared burner nozzle.

I've got one designed like this and it operates at 4.5 psi (at sea level) and works like a champ.

[NOTE: This is just for informational purposes, in no way, shape or form am I responsible for someone who tries to build such a setup on such a cursory description and diagram.]
(The propane supply line should always come from the back of the forge ...otherwise it would most definitely go BOOM!.)

burner_design1.jpg
 
I have one 1-1/4 T-rex clone in my horizontal welding forge. The weld forge ID is 11" x 20" It welds real nice.

But it's probably going to be converted to a blower style just to save fuel.
 
Thanks Guys.

I too weld in a blown forge. I am interested in the venturi for lower temp applications.

Can anyone comment on low-end operating pressures and temps? Ron Reil makes it sounds like some of these things could run a pretty good tempering oven.

John
 
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