BWAHAHAAA!!!! I am heady with Propanic Power!!!

Kalindras

Kalindras

Joined
Aug 24, 1999
Messages
933
Well, yesterday I finally fired up "The Frankenforge," as I lovingly (*TWITCH*) call it...I call it an unqualified success!!

This, of course stems from the fact that I'm unqualified, and (since fire came out of the flamey-bits and didn't come out of the non-flamey-bits, and it didn't blow me straight to Hell) it was a success.

Now, if I can just figure out why my redhead regulator isn't quite doing anything (I crack open the propane at the tank, and it flows right on through the regulator and to the forge, like the reg wasn't there), get my flame tuned, and that sucker on a cart of some sort (micro-forge, my A$$...it must weigh about eighty pounds, without the tank!!), I'll be cookin' with GAS!!!

Here pretty soon, I'll throw some pics of it working up!!

:D :D :D

Kal
 
Thanks, Peter!

I tried to convince the wife of that, but she's still a little jittery over the whole thing. Something about my having basically created an unlicensed jet engine/blowtorch/micronuke in the driveway has really got her schizy... :rolleyes: :p

I just CAN'T think why?

Kal
 
unlicensed jet engine/blowtorch/micronuke
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I love that description, fits my freon bottle hairdryer asembly of loose parts exactly!:D LOL.

Congrats on not blowing yourself up and comeing up with a forge. Have you tried ajusting the regulator screw?
 
Glad to hear it worked out for you, Kal. I still laugh when I remember how I looked with half my beard gone, and my eyebrows singed off!!:D
 
Randy! Don't get that gas can any closer!!! :)

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C Wilkins
 
Couple of us have had to send regulators back, but the replacements seem to work fine. It's nice to know how much fuel your throwing at a piece. Go melt stuff! Terry
 
Okay, I did more test burns this afternoon, and found out the following...

1) I think I've got a good, neutral flame...it's blue, and pretty steady (looks like the pics on Ron's page)--is that right?

2) I let it blow at 5 psi for about fifteen minutes, but it didn't get that nice glow that I see in other guy's forges (I had a bit of orange on the wall across from the nozzle, but not much else). I know it was hot (I tossed a 1"x2"x.5" wood chip into the mouth, and it immediately caught and burned quickly...besides, I could barely stand to hold the tongs in it), but I had to hold steel directly in the flame (which comes in about five or six inches from the back at about a 45-degree angle, slightly kicked up and toward the front to try and get a swirl to the flame (ain't workin' much)) to achieve red heat. Of course, in that flame, I could go from cold to red heat in about 30 seconds, but I had to get down and stare into the forge to find that flame. What gives?

3) I shut it down after about 20 minutes, because I looked in, and the nozzle of the burner was glowing red. Is that SUPPOSED to happen? I was worried that the nozzle might deform.

So, is my forge underpowered? The actual chamber, after all is said and done (I even added a layer of Durablanket, just to be on the safe side!) is about 16" long, by roughly 5"-6" in diameter. I'm using one of Rex Price's T-Rex Burners, which I'd hoped would be enough. Do I NEED another burner, or am I missing something else? Do I need to let it burn longer to warm up? Up the pressure? Kill a chicken over it? Feed it a virgin? WHAT?!?

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated! Oh, and C.L.--what IS that?!? It looks like a giant toaster!! Is it a top-loading forge, or am I just not seeing it right? Inquiring minds wanna know!

Kal

:D :confused: :D
 
Kal, from your description the flame from your burner sounds right but I can't imagine any thing else from one of the T-Rex burners that
Rex machines (at least from what I've read of other peoples experiences with them.)

Without seeing your forge I really can't comment too well on why the chamber isn't heating up the way it should. My freon tank mini forge with a chamber of about 6"-7" in diameter and about 12" long gets fairly evenly hot just using one of Ron Reil's EZ burners but I do have a 5" or so hot spot right in the middlle of the floor because of my burner injection angle. The T-Rex should make your 16" chamber smoking hot regardless of the angle of injection especially at 5 psi for 15 minutes!

About the nozzle, usually you want to engineer your forge so that the nozzle is protected by the kaowool/insuwool or whatever brand of blanket insulation you are using. The actual metal of the nozzle should not project beyond the blanket and preferable should be about an inch back from the inside surface of the chamber. You have to shape the interior of the insertion hole through the blanket so that it doesn't constrict the flame of burning gas from the nozzle. Ron Reil describes this better on his web site than I have. And yes, you may eventually burn up the nozzle flare on this burner due to it's increased efficiency regardless (I think this is discussed on Reil's site, at least I remember reading something to that effect recently when I was researching burners for a crucible furnace I'd like to build.)

If you can get some pictures up of your forge construction that might help. If you were experimenting during the day you may just be fooled by the amount of light about whether visually you think your chamber is getting as hot as you think it is. Have you tried laying a length of steel inside rather than holding a piece in the visible flame?

Well let us know more!
 
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