Homemade propane forge questions???

You don't need to use bblack pipe. Like I said above, take a lot of what he says with a grain of salt. Use the welder fitting as a jet. I bought a handful and tried each until I found the best size. You can get either 1/4 or 1/8 at Lowes in Brass and I think they have 1/4 in Galvanized. Works just as well. It doesn't get hot enough to melt it back there. On the first one I didn't have any set screws handy so I drilled 3 holes in the coupling, took three long 10-24 screws, cut off the heads and bent the ends to form a J bolt. The J held the pipe with the jet in it and in fact allowed me to adjust the angle of it.
There are a lot of ways to change the design. I have one that I used a threaded T instead of the coupling. I use it to blow air instead of having a venturi.
The mini mongo design is really a good basis for experiment.:rolleyes:
 
Thanks Peter
Hey I`m old sometimes it takes
me a spell to get a hold of
something:rolleyes:

I guess it`s the old fabricator
in me. When the drawing calls
for a certain part that`s what
was used:)
 
I stopped by someone's shop, can't remember who right now, who had both blower and naturally asperiated burners. He was emphatic that the natural ones used lots more gas than the blown ones. Anyone else think so?
One thing he did was put a piece of flat steel with a long twist down the entrance pipe. He said it helped with mixing. Sounds good to me.
Senior moment, Lynn
 
No question in mind Lynn. They do use more gas for the same heat output. Only reason to not use a blower is that you don't have one. There are further advantages over non powered burners. The natural ones will chimney. Some burners quite often. I have never had this happen with a ppowered one. The non blown burners are also sensitive to back pressure as Chuuck is finding out. It makes using a closed forge almost impossible.

Sylvester, I may well be older than you, I just act childish!:D
 
I don't think that you've got a burner problem. With your kind of forge you can put in a burner that is hot enough to melt the walls and you still won't get enough heat to get the steel hot.
The problem is in the function principle of a gas forge. It does NOT rely on direct heat like a coal forge. It's indirect heat. This means that the gas flame heats the insulation and the infrared radiation of the insulation heats your steel. Well, what you need to do so is a perfect white insulation. Yours is NOT. It won't work. Sorry.

Cover the inside with either kaowool or a thin layer of white titanium oxide or white refractory cement and it WILL work.

Achim
 
Chuck, I have the exact Harbor Freight burner that Robert was referring to. I use it in a freon tank forge lined with Kaowool and coated with ITC-100. I'm sure this burner is not as efficient as some of the home-built ones referenced in this thread, but it DOES work. Mine will heat a 1/8 in. piece of 1095 to non-magnetic in just a few minutes. Your mileage may vary when using a different forge lining. I just hooked it up as-is, no other pressure regulator. It has a simple valve to adjust the gas flow and it works great for my needs. HF puts these on sale for around $15 pretty often. Cheap and simple, just how I like it! :D

I think that adding a coating as Achim suggested would greatly benefit you as well. The ITC-100 coating in mine probably helps make up for the inefficient burner I am using.

Dan
 
You all have already given alot of info and for that, Thank you.
I have built a small forge using the burnzimatic torch and it works great.
Now I'm trying to build a two burner propane, and have run into a small
problem. My question is how much air flow does a burner need to get a
good blue flame? the burners I've built have an open yellow flame, and I
have to assume that air flow is the problem. I'm using 3/4 pipe with 4-
#3 holes drilled above the orface... Any help would be apprieciated...

Thank you
 
I am building two forges.
1- is 24 inches in length, about 8 inches in diameter. It is lined with 2 inch think inswool which is slightly compressed ginving me 5 inches in diameter on the inside. I capped off the end and placed about 3-4 inches of inswool in the bottom to seal it off. I have placed a very thin lining of Satanite in it (mixed it way way toooo thin). I will put another coating or two on and then cover with ITC-100.
I have not figured out what I will use for a burner.

2- 14 inch tube in length and about 8 inches in diameter. Also lined with 2 inch thick inswool, Satanite (need a couple of layers) and will have ITC-100 over the Satanite once the Satanite has cured. I capped off the end and placed about 3 inches of inswool in the bottom. I am using a torch from Harbor Freight with the Piezo start which all I did was cut a large hole in the forge wall and tac weld it on. I'm not sure if this is the best way but I'm new at this!!

Any suggestions for improving these???
I will post some pictures in the future!

Stefan
 
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