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Dillon Sculpture

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250 gal. tank, I just hope gasification will happen quick enough, if need be a second tank should do the trick! I do like the idea of an air curtain, I am working on moving all my forges outside undercover which will help. If the test run goes well I will build a larger platform to stack wider and taller. I'm sure more combustion space for the big stuff will help and it will be nice to have a configurable forge. Trying to figure what I can forge with a limited crew is the problem at hand, anybody want to run a steam hammer! 

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Mike, you should pm Alan Evans in the UK and get him to send you a pic of his adjustable large forge(better yet ask him to post a pic), I can't remember his setup exactly(I blame age/craft) but I remember thinking that his concept was really simple and clever!

Once you stick the 6" in how does it affect the top to bottom 'swirl' for want of a better term?

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Uh, I'm not sure what to say, that's one serious gas appliance.

 

Johnsons were (are?) famous for coming to not quite welding heat on natural gas and exceeding it on propane. I'd have to take a tape to my Johnson 122a but I think 6" would fit easily. Being gun burners you can close the lid all the way, the leakage around the lid is all the exhaust it needs.

 

It's been a long time since I've been around a Johnson trench forge in operation, I've never lit mine. I got it as part of an all or nothing buy and have no need for something that size. I wish I could come over and watch that puppy in action, I'd stay out of the way, honest.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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I would love to see Mr. Evans set up along with all the other stuff he does! I used the Johnson 133 (big one) to forge parts of my sculpture Aileron, 3" x 8" x 20" plate never felt like it could reach a good forging temp. I also forge 5" round in my 6 burner with little room around the material, it was not practical either. I think this will have the extra BTUs needed to get the 6" hot in 45-60 minutes. I'm pretty surprised I didn't get any offers to run the big hammer!  :P

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Howdy Mr.Dillon,

                           Alan Evans has posted about his gas forge. I believe if you look through his posts on coal forges he goes into depth about his large gas setup. Also methinks you need some doors on that thing, I suppose that wouldnt be so much of an issue once you have that billet of six inch stock in there, but it sure would come up to temp faster. I'm looking forward to what you have planned with that thing. I'd love to run an 800lb hammer, I sure wish I had the time for a field trip. Are you gonna get a chance to get to this years conference? Take care, Matt

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  • 2 weeks later...

It will defiantly suck! I was pleasantly surprised to get a special fill rate of $2.50 a gal. last time before I think it was close to 4 bucks! If I were to use the whole tank you know I would done some work  :D

 

I had a sculptor over the other day and we had been discussing the new sculpture, he asked why I just wouldn't hollow form it? I had been asked this before, about Aileron. Considering the amount of time to cut, weld and finish all the pieces in a sculpture like this I can see no way to come out ahead. Also the longevity of the work would be severely diminished, plus I just like to beat on stuff!

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The number of burners is not the whole story. To heat big stuff in a slot forge you want to have thermal mass- i.e. refractory cement/brick. When I did big work out of slot forges we would often come in early to start the forges and get them hot- and I mean HOT before putting work in. Then the next key was to keep them sealed up as well as possible, Use firebricks or ceramic fiber blankets to keep the heat in.

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