New Product Idea question - blown gas burner...

Overmountain

Overmountain

Joined
May 2, 2013
Messages
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The night of questions for me I guess...

I just need a simple take on the possible marketability of a self contained blown forge burner not much bigger than the common venturi burners out there needing only a gas line hooked up and 110 power... Sorry, not into questions about 'how' or the like ATM for maybe obvious reasons.

Thanks.
 
Well think it may sell pretty good. Atleast for anyone new getting into it. Maybe a suggestion but have one base model and another with a PID controller setup and standby burner for the guys that dont want to go thru trying to build all that together. Just thinking.
 
Was thinking of the new guys. I just know how much propane I wasted before I knew any better... And how much easier it was to get a whole lot hotter... Normally I would assume those that have gotten to the point of PID control would have gotten very specific about their setup and probably beyond this burner. But, anything is possible I guess. I may wheel this thing out soon enough... lol. It works... now lets see how long it lasts... :)
 
Blown burners, both in finished form and in parts kits, are sold by several suppliers.


I see the problem with trying to market them as being - They are pretty simple, and most folks just make a burner from scratch when making a forge.
 
I guess what I'm shooting for is the same bunch who buy the premade venturi burners basically. It takes up no more space than a decent venturi burner, and is so simple its ridiculous. Its 10x the efficiency in the same size package.

Short of it is that I have no inkling of it being a 'gold teeth' or 'pet rock' sort of idea, but just a couple of them here and there to put a few dollars in the shop account...

I will finish fabbing this one up this week and post it... May just be a colossal waste of time... But I like to tinker so even that is fun.
 
If it works well and saves the end user a bunch of time then it should be a great product. Then comes the price. If you van buy components at very good pricing then you will be able to offer the unit a very good pricing. If the components are priced at the prices that everyone can get and your markup is too steep, then folks will likely make their own. I am a firm believer that time is money and at some point chose to not make my grinder, file guide, small wheels etc because it would likely take me considerably longer that I thought. It always seems to be like that for me at least. I like the idea of a higher end product option.
 
It would be something I would be interested in. I'm currently about to build a modular forge for gas using a ribbon burner. Something I can break down the size depending on what I am doing and needing. I bought a simple venturi forge for the simplicity. I still have my old blower forge from uncle al's that I only use for Damascus and san mai. When your first starting out you usually don't have the equipment to build your own forge. Some guys do, but a lot of them don't.
 
If the price was right, I'd buy one. I'd much rather buy from someone that has the tools and knowledge to make the product right, than try to be a jack of all trades and produce a substandard burner on my own. I could probably do it just as well as anyone else, but it wouldn't be any cheaper if you account for time spent.

The key will be building something that's good, but also within the price point that new smiths are angling for. Including the blower so it's a plug-n-play system would make it pricey.... and you'd need to have some good marketing to explain why going blown is better than venturi.
 
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