GAS Forge Finally finshed , well almost!

[hammerkid]

Hey y`all,
I `am going to be firing the gas forge up tonight to get the mostiure out o fthe lining. I`ll post pics. I bought a reg. from darren ellis for it. All i gotta do is Fire it up slowly to heat so it don`t craCK(the lining) and may even forge something. Also gotta paint it ! here is pics of it being poured. More pics tom come.
Chris

[Dave M]

Hammerkid did you use castable refractory as the liner? I am building a new gasser and wanted to try lining it with something different then ceramic blanket. What ever you are using it looks great.

[hammerkid]

Yes I did dave. My cousin`s work was replacing some stuff at a place they melt x-rays and it so happens they were re lining stuff , he got us 2 bags.

[Frosty]

Looks good Chris.

Make sure it's air dried properly before firing it up, even a little. Follow the directions on the bag rather than anything I or anyone unfamiliar with the product says.

Taking that into consideration, remove the PVC inner form soonest or shrinkage will crack the liner. Then if it's slow curing you can hang a light bulb inside.

I like Sonotube for forms, once the refractory is set it's easy to peel off for even curing.

Send some pics of it all glowy yellow!

Frosty

[m_brothers]

Hey chris, did you get that forge finished this wednesday???

[Aeneas]

Nice job hammerkid.
Are you making more than one? - looks like several "forge-like" objects in thoce pictures.

sam

[ChrisB]

Very nice. A general question...What does the advantages does castable have over ceramic blanket?

[Frosty]

Castable or rammable refractories are a LOT tougher than ceramic blanket. You can also get high phosphate or phosphate bonded hard refractories that are unaffected by fluxes.

They aren't as economical as they don't insulate and have a much higher specific heat. They require more BTUs to bring to heat. Insulating castables are better but generally can't take as much heat as hard refractories and aren't as good insulators as blanket refractories. Bubble alumina is an exception but it's darned spendy.

You can use them in combination of course though it complicates construction and results are a compromise.

If you don't weld and are easy on the liner there's no reason to go with hard refractory and there's every reason to enjoy the fuel and time savings you'll get from a blanket refractory.

There is a potential health risk involved in using ceramic blanket and that's the particles they shed. There is a potential for lung damage from prolonged exposure. However this is easy enough to prevent with a good stabalizer like Satanite or ITC-100.

ITC-100 is a good economy move regardless of the liner. I have split 3,000f hard fire brick for the floor of my variable volume forge and the coating of ITC-100 has really improved their performance. They come to heat in about 1/5 the time and even after hours of high temp they aren't even red past the coating.

ITC-100 will also provide some protection from flux so that's another plus.

Frosty

[hammerkid]

One is mine, My cousuin`s and rag tag`s . I found I gotta change some stuff. Will post pics. Soon. I Hope I get that NC Tool give away one cause mine has still got LOTS of work (mods) .
Chris

[Bentiron1946]

I sure hope you a release agent on the PVC. Could be fun if you didn't. Been there, done that.