Burner question

Hey Charles, that's the burner I made and it works great. The hole for the gas stream only penetrates one side of the 1/8" pipe nipple. That hole will be aligned so that the gas stream shoots right down the middle of the 3/4" burner tube. As the plans show you use numbered drill bits #57 thru #60. These bits are very tiny and you will have to order them from somewhere as the smallest your likely to find at any hardware store is 1/16" and that's way to big. Buy several of each size because they are very fragile and easy to break.

Guy Thomas
 
If you are going to build a forge for heat treating the freon tank forge will do great, but if you are planing on welding with it that one is too small. I have one sitting in the back room and I built one with a blower, 1 1/2" burner tube and 1/4" gas inlet and the air and gas flow are adjustable so the Temp. can be controlled, maybe you can spend you money on a bigger one now and not have to start over later like I did. Good Luck. Tim

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Tim Duncan
 
Just for kicks I'll give you another opinion.

I think you're better off to build that forge with a 2" bell reducer than a 1.5"

Also, instead of just drilling the 1/8" nipple with a #60 bit, I would suggest that you follow the advice of Michael porter and put in a TWECO 14T welding tip. You have to use a 14T (an 0.035 works best) to get the right air-flow. IMHO, it's easier to drill and tap the 1/8" nipple for the tip, than it is to try and drill it with those tiny bits. Once you do have it drilled and tapped, you can try different bore size in the tips to see what works best for you.

I have done this to my little forge, and it will far outperform the standard way most people have built this forge.

You can easily get to welding heat with this set-up.

I do agree that for welding I would build a bigger one though, with a floor out of clay so that when you put all that anhydrous borax into the forge it won't eat away at the alumina shelf and kao-wool.

This sounds opinionated, because it is. I have seen these forges built both ways, and the way mine is set-up now it will burn hotter and more efficiently to boot.

I'm not claiming to have the perfect forge or know it all (oh my God am I not saying that
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) But these very simple things will be of a big benefit.

Good luck, email me if you have questions
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Nick
 
Hey Charles, I bought my bits from Jantz just because I was ordering some other knifemaking supplies from them at the same time. They are about a buck each or so. I'm sure McMaster-Carr or Enco has them also. They all have online catalogs and ordering.
They had not come up with the Tweco tip modification when I first built my burner but by all the feedback on Ron's site and here it looks to be the superior burner. A two inch bell would allow more air to mix with the gas like Nick said. By all rights you should be able to weld using the origional burner like you are building and if you can't then something is wrong somewhere. Of course I can't speak because I haven't used my freon tank mini-forge for welding yet but it works great for forging and heat treating. I have heated metal to welding temps in it so I don't see why it won't weld also. I share Nick's feeling about ruining the high-alumina kiln shelf and kaowool of my little forge. I need to build a nasty forge for welding damascus and such and just let it get eaten up!

Guy Thomas
 
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