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I Forge Iron

Crazy Idea?


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Good afternoon , Jorge here in Tucson with my first post, let me know if I am at the right place. I have a question about making a Freon tank (or something similar) forge but with a carbon torch being the source for the heat. I have never used a torch but it seems that it puts out a lot of  heat. The torch would come from the bottom and be controlled with your foot. Do you guys think it could work? The tank will be lined and refractory applied. I do have a gas forge at this time but not using a lot. Thank you all for your input.

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Welcome aboard Jorge, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header we won't have to keep bugging you about where you are.

 

I don't have any idea about carbon torches. Are you talking about an arc torch? You have me on that one, I've never that kind of action so I'll be watching for whatever you learn.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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Welcome to the site, glad to see another Tucsonan join. As for you're question maybe you can try the torch as a side blast like when using charcoal, that way its out of the way of falling debris. Good luck.

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Carbon arc torches do NOT burn acetylene!  They do use carbon rods that are becoming difficult to source.  They make a rather intense heat in a rather small area.  I'd think it would be quite a lot more expensive to run than a well tuned propane forge.

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I made a carbon arc torch and played with it some, the heat is intense and difficult to control.  As you use it the carbon rods are doing to burn down which means you'll have to adjust the gap, not sure how often or how practical it is.  I saw on youtube where someone was using one as a furnace to melt tungsten. 

 

Another problem I thought of is monitoring the temperature of the metal.  When using a carbon arc torch you need the darkest shade of welding helmet you can get, the thing is bright!  When using an auto darkening welding helmet I ended up seeing spots after a short period and switched to a regular old style welding helmet, fully darkened.  I tried using the torch to heat some 1/4" round stock, but only resulted in melting it if held too long or not getting it hot enough.  I have been successful in using the arc torch to braze metal, but again it's hard to control.

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carbon arch torches are used for cutting metal. I don't see it as a practicle way to just heat metal. Most carbon arch torches use air to blast away the puddle of melted metal, so basically without the air you're just going to get a puddle of metal that isn't any good for forging. With Temp control really being out of the picture, and the fact that you'll have to adjust for the melting carbon rod you're probably not going to get anything that is worth your effort.

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I use mine for freeing rusted bolts and it does work well enough for brazing because you can tell when it's hot enough based on what the filler does.  That and it's fun to melt aluminum beer cans with.

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Cool, I'll be interested in how it turns out, though proceed with caution.  The light & heat is extremely intense, and it's also pretty loud.  Reminds me of a Frankenstein movie with the light & distinct hum of energy.  If you haven't already done so google 'carbon arc torch youtube'

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