New forge..old project help

[Txcwboy]

I started making this a long time ago. I dont recall why I stopped but maybe someone said design was wrong or something ? I want to finish it so I can have a nice easy to use and start forge for Oil steel. Its an air tank, I will look for the original plans online. Any comments or suggestions ? Does it look ok ??? What else do I need ? I bought the burner tip from one of yall on here

Thanks

Dave

[Ray Rogers]

I made my forge out of a similar tank. That's a pretty large diameter tank so you'll probably need several layers of wool to reduce the interior volume if you plan to get it hot enough to be useful with one atmospheric burner. You could start with one layer and see how it goes, then add additional layers until you find what works with the burner you have. As you add layers you'd need to change the angle of entry for the burner tube so that it can pass through the extra thickness.

Frankly, I don't understand that burner you have there. I guess the tube should attach to that and be inserted into the forge and maybe another tube on the other side to get the propane into it? Beats me. Always seemed to me that those atmospheric things were too complicated, I like forced air better. I know, people will say 'but forced air needs electricity and has so many more parts, how can you call it simpler?'. Yes, forced air has more parts but they are simple parts - just put them together and they work. There's no worrying about what size orifice to use, how to shape the venturi, how to shape the flare or even if you need a flare, no twiddling with it because today is very humid but yesterday was dry, etc, etc, etc. And, forced air produces a lot of heat. Anyway, it's worth thinking about.

In a nutshell, if you're asking what else you need you haven't done enough homework yet. Read up on some of those plans you were talking about until you really understand what you're building. In the BIG picture, forges have only two parts: the forge body and the burner. The body is simple, almost anything will work but some things work better than others. The burners are usually more complex than they have to be, especially the venturis, they look like magic sometimes, the theory behind them is more arcane than with forced air. You've probably looked at my website for forge and burner ideas and you should go look again. You could put together one of my Dirt Simple atmospheric burners for a few dollars just to get the forge going and see what you have. Changing burners is easy.

BTW, you will need a good propane regulator variable between 0 (or 3 is common and acceptable) psi and about 30 psi. You'll need the regulator, hose, and fittings no matter which burner you use ....

[Txcwboy]

I guess I should have gave more info I have one already working. Its a smaller 6 inch pipe with koalwool. It uses the Ron type burner. This is going to be forced air. I just found the site I was copying. I can pretty much follow his guide now I found it. I was thinking it was pretty big myself. Start off with 1.5 inch maybe and see how it fills up. I was going to put a floor on it too. Firebrick.
this is pretty much what I was following.

http://www.indiangeorgesknives.com/b...g_a_forge.html

thanks

Dave

[Ray Rogers]

Ya, a floor is a good idea, I have firebrick plus 25 pounds of castable in the bottom of mine.

If this is going to be forced air then you won't need that burner tip you pictured at all......

[B.Finnigan]

I made that burner tip and it's the same design I use on my forge. With a short run into the tank the gas gets sprayed out in an asterisk pattern allowing for better mixing. On a longer pipe length it would not be needed. It welds and smelts iron just fine as well as throttles way back for nice rich atmosphere.

[Ray Rogers]

Finnigan,

Are you saying that tip is used on a forced air blower?

[B.Finnigan]

Yes, I use a dual 90cfm squirrel cage.

[Ray Rogers]

Hmmmm. Never heard of using any type of orifice with forced air. Have you been able to do any kind of comparison between that type of gas feed and the usual open connector gas feed? Were you able to detect a quantifiable advantage for either one?

[B.Finnigan]

With the short pipe distance it did not mix very well with and open 1/8 NPT gas orifice. It does work just as well as my previous forced air forge. I just needed bigger forge.

Along with the multi directional gas orifices I also have fins that swirl the air to further mix the gas and air.

It works fine for me so I have not monkeyed around with it any further.

[Geno]

I tinkered with design until I found what I wanted, then built it bigger.
Mine use 2 burners for a larger area, some use 3 and 4 burners.
Forced air is the way to go.
What kind of diffuser is that on the gas tip? I use MIG welding tips, they are cheap and replacable, plus you can change sizes as needed.
Let us know when you get it fired up.
God bless, Geno

[B.Finnigan]

I machined the tip for him from 1/4 NPT pipe cap. The orifices are 1/32. The caps are also cheap and easy to modify. The blades I use are attached tot he tip and touch the sides of the pipe on each side. They're like a fixed propeller.

[Geno]

Hadn't seen that design, kewl.

[B.Finnigan]

The fins swirl and mix the gas air mixture real well. The flames are swirling when they exit the burner tube. Not much use but cool to see.