Squirell cage blower for knife forge

B

boilermaker

Joined
Aug 26, 2005
Messages
110
G'day,
just wondering if anyone could give me some advice about the size (CFM)squirell cage blower needed for a forge i am building. I am using 2" plumbing parts with a 2" gate valve to control air flow. I have found a 160CFM blower advertised on the Surplus Center web site but am not sure if this will be powerfull enough to cope with the gate valve controlling the flow and also the constriction that steping the blower fom 2.5" x 2.5" square to 2" round will create. Blowers etc are nearly impossible to find in Australia and the only site i have been able to find on the web has been surplus center who has only a very limited supply of 240 volt blowers the largest in the squirrell cage type being 160CFM
any help anyone could give would be much appreciated

cheers mates! :thumbup:
 
Yeah, anybody got some ideas?

I too have a big squirell cage blower sitting around and will either use it for a fan to blow air on the person forging, or will try to use it for a coal forge blower. I was thinking that all you would need is to make some kind of housing to channel all the blowers air into a 3" pipe( could be 2" 4" whatever), and then use that to connect to the forge. Put a ball valve in there, near the working area to control the airflow, and I think it would work well.

But I have not ever seen this done, doesn't mean it can't be done!

Any one out there done it? got pics?

|M|
 
I bought a stock no. 4C443 blower from Graingers. I have it and a 2" ball valve to regulate the air. A 2" gate valve would work just as well. Regardless, a valve to regulate the air is a must. The old louve over the intake of the air really doesn't work out too well.

My forge is nothing more than a piece of 10" pipe, 18" long. The inside has two layers of kaowool coated with satanite. The burner is in the center, slightly angled up for an intended "swirling flame". I have a 1/4" nipple for the gas inlet controlled by a needle valve. Going into the forge is a 2" to 1" reducer.

I can run for hours on end with a small 20 lb. bottle of propane and it never ices up. This forge doesn't use any gas to speak of.

I have been to a hammer-in at Bruce Fuller's place where a forge of this same design was used and a 100 lb bottle lasted for 3 days, running over 12 hours a day.

If you go to Kevin Cashen's website you will see a forge of similar design.

Craig
 
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