Chamber size of forge, thoughts

V

vikingGoalie

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Aug 20, 2019
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So I'm starting on a forced air ribbon burner pid controlled forge.
I scored a 20 gallon 5hp air compressor for dirt cheap. (40 bucks)
So once the ends are cut off I'm left with a pipe that is 25" long and 14" interior diameter.
I am going to use a 8" concrete form, 2" of kaowool, and then kast o lite 30 around the tube. Where the tube I'll distort so the floor is flat and the width of a fire brick. The burner will come in from the top/side hit the arch and swirl.

The real issue is I have this lovely huge pipe now and I'm thinking I should cut it down to 18" long.
I kinda hate to but feels like that should be plenty. Also I was going for more height then width as this forge will be doing a lot of Damascus stacks and though flame over head and swirling would work well.

Thoughts?
 
You DO NOT want concrete. You want refractory cement. Mizzou or Kast-o-lite 30 are good choices
You said 8" of refractory (Thats a LOT and 2" of wool ... that gives a 4" chamber if the ID is 14". I would do 2" othick cast refractory and a layer of 2" wool. That gives a 6" chamber.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
You DO NOT want concrete. You want refractory cement. Mizzou or Kast-o-lite 30 are good choices
You said 8" of refractory (Thats a LOT and 2" of wool ... that gives a 4" chamber if the ID is 14". I would do 2" othick cast refractory and a layer of 2" wool. That gives a 6" chamber.
Click to expand...
Sorry I was not explaining very well.
An 8" sonotube in the center will make the cavity. A concrete form, but no concrete.
Between that and the metal from sonotube tube out is kast o lite, then 2" of kaowool.

But I feel like 25" is way to long so probably gonna cut it down to 18" long. (Two fire bricks long).

As far as the ribbon burner goes, I haven't made it yet. I figure it should be about 12" long for an 18" forge. Sound about right?
 
vikingGoalie said:
Sorry I was not explaining very well.
An 8" sonotube in the center will make the cavity. A concrete form, but no concrete.
Between that and the metal from sonotube tube out is kast o lite, then 2" of kaowool.

But I feel like 25" is way to long so probably gonna cut it down to 18" long. (Two fire bricks long).

As far as the ribbon burner goes, I haven't made it yet. I figure it should be about 12" long for an 18" forge. Sound about right?
Click to expand...
Sono tube may be hard to remove unless it’s scored almost all the way through- I’d suggest a light sheet metal form than can be rolled in on itself in order to pull the form .
 
What are you forging, and are you using this for heat treatment?
Also how long is your burner?

Sounds excessively long for forging blades, i find you need the length more if you're using it for heat treating
 
the main 2x goals for this forge will be forge welding billets and heat treating.
i'm sure i'll use it for general forging as well. but i want better control of my temp for HT and a kiln isn't in the cards just yet.

i'm in the market to either buy or build a press but i need a proper forge to weld in, my one burner mr volcano is pretty awesome for what it is is but not suited for that. ;)
 
That would make one helluva vertical forge. Cool thing about vertical forges is that the heat stays very consistent at the door level once it stabilizes. And, you can't beat it for making billets. PlainOlBill took a pipe about that size, scrunched it into an oval, and built one helluva welding forge.
Just some thoughts to whet your imagination...
 
Last edited:
Alex Topfer said:
What are you forging, and are you using this for heat treatment?
Also how long is your burner?

Sounds excessively long for forging blades, i find you need the length more if you're using it for heat treating
Click to expand...
what i'm going with is 13" using a 3x3 square tube for the manifold. so 3"x13" 2" pipe feeding this. the actual forging chamber will be 18" long formed from an 8" diameter sonotube though once i'm done it won't be a circle or exactly that dimension as i am making (for illusration purposes) a chamber that is shaped like a rectangle with a D on top, burner enters on oneside of the "D" the billet is down at the bottom of the rectangle so I don't have flame directly hitting the billet.
 
It is called a Dome Forge.

Here is most all the info you need. Eric Fleming has postnominals MRB - Master of the Ribbon Burner.
efleming

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