Need help tuning in a forced air propane forge

Joe Cabaup

Joe Cabaup

Joined
Jun 13, 2004
Messages
216
Using the forge style that Indian George uses, I made and fired up my gas forge tonight.

I couldn't tell what psi I was running (no gauge on the regulator) but I had the forge hot enough to ... well ... forge.

The flame was yellow and I had a little scale forming on the 5160 steel. Not as much scale as charcoal though.

I also had flames creeping out from the intake pipe that heated up the pipe and gate valve assembly. This stopped as the forge got hotter. Still got hot enough to burn my fingers as I tried to tighten a thumbscrew. (damn things didn't LOOK hot....)

Any hints or suggestions to help fine tune this?

Joe
 
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "Flames creeping out of the intake pipe", But it sounds scarey.

Do you have a picture of your setup?

I can run my forced air forge all day long and the end of the pipe just barely gets warm. What are you using for a fan?

Also get a gauge. It helps to get into the ballpark for repeatable setup of air fuel mix.

The flame coming out of the burner should look blue when you first fire it up.

Look at the wall of the forge where the flame hits and look for shadows. If you have a dark spot, that indicated to lean of a mix. Bump up the gas or turn down the air.

Hope this helps.
 
I figured out one problem...

The regulator I have is rated from 0 to 60 psi, with a "preferred operating range" from 30 to 60 psi which is probably too much. I barely had the regulator open and the ball valve 2/3 shut when the forge was running.

IG: No needle valves used. The propane runs from the tank to the regulator to a ball valve to propane hose. Where would the needle valve go?

Mark: No shadows anywhere inside the forge once the setup got up to temperature (about 5 minutes). I am also using a normal hair dryer on high for the air supply.

I also found that either I missed cutting all the kaowool from around the burner inlet tube or the liner slipped down so some kaowool blocked the pipe. That could have accounted for the backflash around the pipe.
 
Put it right after the ball valve. You should be running the forge around 5 psi. Is it about the same size a my big forge????
 
My forge is 12" x 12" with two layers of kaowool so it's really 8" x 12"

I'll have pictures of it next week, hopefully. It seems that whenever I get rolling on a project at home, a big project at work pops up and steals my time again.

Hopefully this latest work project will pay out.

Joe
 
Mark, George, and all,

What are the best techniques for keeping the burner cool on a forge like this?

Thanks,

John
 
John, If your burner is to hot to touch it sounds to me like the gas is burning inside the pipe. It needs to burn at the tip of the pipe. Give it more air.
 
What fizo said and...You might have too much burner for that size forge. I'll post a picture of mine to give you an idea. You want enough room for the oxygen to burn and have a carborizing atmosphere. I like the vertical forges for this reason. If youve ever worked with one of the NC Forge models, you'll notive how much scale they produce from the oxygen rich gas blowing right on the steel. I have no problem getting this puppy up to welding heat.

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