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I Forge Iron

Will this work???


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Hello to all- I have a question about building an oil-fired forge. I have looked at the posts about this, and it looks like everyone is scratch building the burners. Will a comercially built oil burner from an oil furnace work? What I have is a Becket AF2 Burner. Modern design with a pressure switch, flame retention style head. I also have fire brick I saved from another job. the burner has it's own pump, so I don't need to worry about gravity feed- just need to wire up a 120v switch to turn it on and off. Any thoughts? I was going to use some scrap 304 SS to build the forge body out of, because it is an outside project right now. (No current shop)Let me know if this will work for small work (5/8" and smaller) or if I'm just wasting my time.

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It should work, depending on the size of the forge. I know of a guy who has a casting furnace that runs on a household furnace oil burner. Do you plan to run waste oil, or commercial heating oil/diesel?

Just Diesel/ #2 oil. I'm currently using oxy/acety, and it is costing about $50.00 every time I make something. 10 gallons of diesel is much cheaper! In the morning I'm going to build the box to fire into. I'm thinking of using Firebrick to cover the top, leaving only a small hole for the flame to come out of. this will also support the work somewhat. I have been waiting to remove a heating system with an oil burner, so now that i've got one, I'd like to start experimenting! Once I get everything put together, I'll put up some pics of the set up.
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jw, that will work, it is what I use for most forging. The bricks will take a little while to heat up. I just laid a floor of bricks up to the height of the burner tube and then made walls around the tube. imagine a T shaped chamber with the burner blowing in the bottom of the T and the top ends of the T have brick size openings that can be closed off or opened for long pieces. I have also reshaped the bricks into a long tube with the burner in one end and the door at the other for getting 24"-30" heats on pickets. The chamber needs to be large enough so that the flame does not hit the walls. Your tip will determine that. I am using 1.35 GPH and it is much better than the .85 that came in the burner. I do not get anything better than a orange heat.
Rob

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Thanks Rob- I built the fire box today out of 1/4" Stainless sheet. I still need to cut the hole for the burner to mount into. I have a nice assorment of nozzles to experiment with, since oil service is one of my day job duties. Once this thing is finally put together, I'll put up some pics. I already guessed it would never make welding temps, but I'm hoping it will get me by until I can get a coal forge. What kind of tank are you hooked to? (Small container, or large tank?)
JW

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jw, I have the burner pump sucking out of a 2 or 3 gallon tank. I have a larger one to put on it about 15 gal or so.
Matt, I have not put any effort into trying to get welding heat. I would guess that the large chamber size and the inefficient fire bricks are most of it. Maybe I could adjust the input air on it. Next time I fire it up I will try to adjust the air to get more heat. I use it mostly for long heats for texturing on powerhammer.
Rob

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well, this is what I came up with. I realize the obvious design flaws now, but it does the job for right now. Once the bricks heated up, things heated much faster. I limit in length I can heat is about 12" in length. I still have some tweaking to do with the upper bricks, just trying to come up with a way to help contain the heat. It was a pretty fun project though,and the best part is I only have $21.00 invested (diesel fuel)!

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post-7628-0-43681500-1290484249_thumb.jp

post-7628-0-52279700-1290484262_thumb.jp

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Well, this is what I came up with. I realize the obvious design flaws now, but it does the job for right now. Once the bricks heated up, things heated much faster. I limit in length I can heat is about 12" in length. I still have some tweaking to do with the upper bricks, just trying to come up with a way to help contain the heat. It was a pretty fun project though,and the best part is I only have $21.00 invested (diesel fuel)!



Ive got a unit like that one I've been wanting to set up a vertcal forge with using a mixture of waste oil waste cooking oil and just enough diesel to thin it some, screened before the feed pump I think welding temps should be no problem...my thoughts dont always work but I always learn something from the experiences be it good or bad ;)
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