How to questions: Propane

[Frostfly]

I'm just getting started and I'm attempting to assemble my first forge. I've got my Forge body designed, my burner designed etc. My problem is don't really know anything about working with Propane and the apropriate fixtures.

My main question is this. What parts do I have to have to go from the tank to the burner so I don't blow myself up? I'm using a blown burner design

More questions. How do you "tune" a blown burner? I know you need to adjust the air/fuel mix but I haven't seen any blown burners with speed controls on the sites I've looked at.

Forge construction. Does a Blown burner Forge body differ from an atmospheric burner forge body?

My forge will be aprox 450 cubic inches inside, front and back doors, single blown burner. How much blower volume do I need?

I'm sure I'll cook up more later, thanks in advance!

[HWooldridge]

Safety first! You need at least a regulator and a valve between tank and forge. I have a simple setup which goes: tank > regulator > fuel hose > needle valve > intake and distribution manifold > forge.

The manifold is nothing but black pipe split to distribute the gas. I use a 60 cfm blower to push air and let it blow full speed while tuning with the needle valve. The interior of this forge is 1150 cu in.

This forge will weld up to about 3/4 material and forges anything you can get inside.

[Frostfly]

thanks for the reply. Do you use any kinda of Presure guage? or just do it all by eye? What should I look for in a regulator? Can you tell me a bit more about your burner?

I feel like a 4 year old
Why?
Why?
Why?

thanks in advance.

[HWooldridge]

I use a plain-jane, cheapo, 2-stage acetylene gauge. With the needle valve dumping into the manifold, I usually run 4 lbs on the secondary gage.

[LarryM]

HI Frostfly

Larry here Click on the link below and check out there propane burner page. They have some real simple burner to get you started. Also shows Regulator and fitting you need to hook it up.

melt metal, home metalcasting, backyard metalcasting


As Always Safety First

Good Luck.
Larry

[Larry Zoeller]

Frostfly.
Check out the following URL it should answer all of your questions, if not let me know. Zoeller Forge

Larry Zoeller

[Torin]

Hey Larry! Good to see you here!

The flares I bought from you 8 years ago are still in very good shape. I haven't used them for about 5 years of that, but I just re-tuned my forge.

[Frostfly]

Thanks for the link Larry, i've pretty much designed my forge from your site (someday i'll acutally get it finished). I built my own 5 gallon bucket tho. My problem with it wasn't the lack of information, it was that I was lacking in the basics of understanding how the plumbing works. Plumbing has long been the bane of my exsistance. I've found I can do anything, but plumbing.

I think I got it all worked out now, using information from prolly a dozen diffrent sources. Maybe I'll write up a dummies guide to gas forges someday (i've got the dummie part down pat)


I"m short a blower (maybe this weekend) and the lining for the forge and a place to put it (prolly gonna get a Harbor freight cart). I should be a pretty neat little forge if I can do everything i want with it. It's been quite a quest to build it as most of the skills required are ones I either didn't have to start with or have had to knock a decade of rust off of. Thanks to everyone for the help!