Forge building update

JTknives

JTknives

Joined
Jun 11, 2006
Messages
8,651
here are the updated pictures of my forge process so far, i did most of the cutting and welding yesterday and today. this forge started as a compressed air tank. right now I'm waiting on the lining material then i will get her done.
I'm using a varac to control the voltage to a vacuum blower that is air supply for my forced air set up. i am going to shorten the burner tube quite a bit as it is to long. i used the lath at work to turn down a connecting joiner, it fits the 1" black gas pipe very snugly. also its set at an angle so the hot gases will swill to the fount I will explain what the bolts are for when i get back from dinner.

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Good start ,JT. I see that you have read Kevin's site about making a mixing chamber. It will improve the performance greatly.
Stacy
 
Looks good! The long burner tube may not be bad in the long run. You will slowly burn up the end and you can just keep pushing it in :)

I actually have a LOT more pipe than that on my burner, but most of it is before the reducer bell. I added an extra 2 feet of 2" pipe in a "snake" before the reducer as a mixture chamber. Added about 400* of temp I didn't have before. I got the idea from J. Neilson, who got it by way of Ed Caffery. Works like a charm :)

-d
 
Im thinking about packing the mixing chamber with copper wire scruched up. so as the gas flowes through it it will mix beter.

I like the snake idea. what would i use 4 90s and a nipple between them. that would drop the air input down so i could lay the blower on its side.

I had to test it out so i took a thin strip of cloth that was about a foot long and connected one end to the burner mouth and then slid the burner into the joiner and pulled the other end of the cloth strip into the forge body. i then started up the air and could watch the swirling air current effect the cloth.

some how the joiner coupler did not end up going straight out. it is on a slight angle up but it should be OK i think. its still better then the forges that have the burners shooting straight down. I can wate to get this thing up and running :D its been to long for me to not beat some hot iron.

Now on to the bolts. I am not to much for doors as they never seam to work for me. so i decided to try something a little different. the forge body is just a touch over 13" long. im going to use 12" wool blanket on the inside @ 1" thick. so that leaves .5" on each end of the shell that does not have insulation. i will then cut out 2 8" disks from 1" thick fiber board and notch the sides so that they will go in and seal up the ends. then i will cut out the size of openings i want in the fiber board. then i will make a metal strip that will span the bolts and will be locked into place with nuts on the bolts. this metal strip will have a little rest area the extends into the forge opening about an 1" to protect the fiber board from where. it will also hold the end caps in place. so when i want a different opening configuration i use cut it out from a new 8" circle of fiber board.

My last forge had doors that where just 1/8" thick disks with fiber blanket glued to it. and it had a bolt welded to it that went into a metal tube that was welded to the body. this tube hand a bolt to lock the door in place. it did not open like a normal door but would move up or down. it kept tearing up the wool and the heat would cause the disk to warp and then the gap would get bigger letting out more heat causing more warping. i did not build the forge but bought it from some one that built them. cost me 600 bucks and i was not very happy with the doors at all. you can see the forge in the pictures i posted about the first Damascus i forged.

Its funny you comment about my welding because i think i did a crapy job on it. i normally do much better. but o well
 
JT,
One other thing.
The vac-blower and variac will work OK, but a proper forge blower, or a blower made for about 100-150 CFM would be better ( and can be controlled by a simple $5 fan controller).
The set up you have now will lower the air volume as well as the pressure. A forge blower should have fairly constant pressure and vary the volume. That is why an air gate on the output is much better than a gate on the intake (as many wrongly do with a piece of sheet metal on the side of the blower). A variac/fan controller on a lower volume fan will keep the air flow pressure better than greatly reducing the RPM of a big blower like you have..... Unless you are planning on using it with 30 PSI gas and making a jet engine with the blower at full blast!
Remember ,the purpose of a GOOD forge is to properly mix the air/gas completely in a controlled system that provides the exact amount of heat and the desired atmosphere. Anything else is just a nicer looking version of a propane space heater.

As to the thermo-board ends, that is what I am doing now. The best way to hold them in place and keep them strong is to make a metal end plate that fits the forge body and have it on the outside of the thermo-board ( with the cut outs already made). When installing the TB ends,mortar them in with satanite, to get a good seal with the insuwool. I put a piece of saran wrap over the TB ends, and put them in place when doing the satanite on the lining,. Then I remove them when the satanite is dry. After all the final inside work (ITC-100,etc.) (Apply ITC-100 to the TB,too,BTW). When all is ready to seal up, I put a little satanite on the joint area and install the TB and metal end plates. They can still be easily removed.

Stacy
 
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so i would have metal disks that would cap off the ends. that blower does sound like a jet motor when runing full speed. any ideas on where to get a good blower from. i dont want it to be loud. i know its not going to be silent but i dont want to have to use ear plugs. also what size holes should i put in the ends. i was maybe thinking 3"x3" but that might be to small.
 
I work swords and cutlasses with 3X3" ports.
A real forge blower can be purchased from Centaur Forge or Blacksmith Depot ( and others). They are often on Ebay.
A 100-150 CFM blower ( not specifically a forge blower, but they usually work well) can be had on ebay for about $20-30. A blower control on ebay is $5
I'll check and see if the guy who sells the medical blowers still has any on ebay. They are great.
Stacy
 
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