WIP.... building a new welding forge

[Doug Weaver]

Thanks Ed, slow and gentle is the true path, and fan, heat lamp, dehumidifier are all easy as it goes ways of helping it along. I have seen first had the hurry up problem in a different industry, I worked some years ago at a sugar factory and they did just what you said and damaged their lime kiln by heating it too fast too soon.

[BCROB]

Ed we were chatting about forced air forge with a variable fan speed control for the blower , care to elaborate on the wiring when the time comes......type of switch (not a dimmer) ?

[Ed Caffrey]

First, if you're going to use a blower on a forge, do yourself a favor and use a blower that is actually designed for a forge application. Although a lot of folks get away with "squirrel cage" blowers, its usually just asking for trouble. The blower I recommend is:

http://www.blacksmithsdepot.com/prod...e-blowers.html I know they are expensive, but if you go for the highest CFM model (164 CFM) you can always dial the blower and fuel back to fit your needs....BUT, if you try to use a blower that is too small, you only have some much blower to work with.

As to a controller for this type of blower.... personally I recommend using a Ceiling Fan speed controller. DO NOT use a light dimmer switch! The blower will last about 5 minutes before the windings burn out if a light dimmer switch is used!

The two look a lot alike (light dimmer switch and ceiling fan speed controller) but the ceiling fan speed controller is going to be about 2-3X the price of a light dimmer switch ($18-&25). It's built to actually work with a rotating motor. Wiring is super simple, and pretty much self-explanatory.... once you see the ceiling fan speed controller, it will be obvious.

I use the 164cfm blower that I posted the link to, and its been hooked up/used to a ceiling fan speed controllers for over a dozen years now, with zero problems.

[jimmontg]

Looking at the shape and the "channel" you put in there I would say it will work just fine. My brother and I built one (Themetalguy.com) not too different, just he used refractory bricks cut to fit into a circle 8" by 24". Took him two days just cutting the bricks. Owning a sheetmetal shop the outside housing wasn't a problem. Just be careful on how much air you put into the mix, but you know about that already. Also since I'm new here, what does WIP stand for?

[Ed Caffrey]

"WIP"........ Work In Progress

Welcome to the forums!!

[Daevos]

How progresses this project?

[Ed Caffrey]

I tried to copy/paste the rest of the results, but for some reason couldn't get it to work. The forge has been up and running great. Here's a link to the a thread on another forum where I was able to document the entire journey of building/testing the forge....

http://knifedogs.com/showthread.php?...ding-Forge-WIP