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I Forge Iron

kcrucible

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  1. Yes, you should be bringing the mold up to heat... ideally much higher than the boiling point, so that the pewter doesn't cool down instantly and not fill your mold fully. A borax glaze on the molten metal will help prevent slag.
  2. Haven't done any iron forging and/or fluxing yet, but if I remember correctly silversmiths make a borax spray. The water evaporates on hitting the hot item, depositing a coat of fine borax over the surface. Not sure why that wouldn't work here. this technique is called "pripp's flux" http://users.lmi.net/~drewid/PWR_Pripps.html
  3. Well, here's what I have listed... http://kcrucible.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/the-propane-burner/ Regarding Ellis, when I purchased my stuff summer/fall of last year I had decent shipping times. Don't know if yours was before (and things are resolved now) or after. List ---- http://shop.clay-planet.com/inswool-ceramic-fiber-blanket---by-the-square-foot.aspx http://stores.ebay.com/hightemprefractorystore http://budgetcastingsupply.com/ http://elliscustomknifeworks.hightemptools.com/supplies-mainpage.html
  4. An alternative suggestion to turning down the heat would be to make it tolerate heat better. If you skinned at least that area with the 3000 degree castable it should stand up to it better.
  5. I won't claim to be a definitive source, but here's what I made after reading a lot of sites, sorting through the info, and trying to make sense of it all. It wasn't a slam dunk out of the gate, and you can see what I saw, what I did to correct it, etc. A good site if you're interested in theory as much as simply having a burner. Many external links and pictures. http://kcrucible.wordpress.com/the-kcrucible-furnace/
  6. If it puts you at ease, your reduction can be exactly 0 and the burner will still work just fine. In my opinion, it's an unneccessary extravagence, primarily designed to "open up" more surface area to bring air in. The propane jet is going to be sprayed into the small shaft either way, creating X bars of suction/pressure in the smaller tube. That will dictate how much air gets pulled in and the same speed as the propane jet, basically. As far as I can tell the only thing that changes is the velocity of the air at the intakes. That may reduce some friction, and be a good thing, but not something I'd sweat greatly over. All this is to say, it's pretty much impossible to mess that part up. ;)
  7. Clay, by itself, has virtually no insulative value. Mix in sawdust, cotton fibres, styrafoam beads, etc, that can burn out and leave air pockets, and you'll have rudimentary insulative firebrick.
  8. Hi bubba. I've been involved in very small-scale casting for years (mostly jewelry.) At my blog I have some links to some free books, web sites with info, etc, ytou may want to try. here's 3 that will get you started i think. http://www.scribd.com/doc/33997274/METAL-CASTING-Appropriate-technology-in-the-small-foundry-STEVE-HURST http://www.rotblattsculpture.com/Articles/lostwaxcastingpr.html http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/brasscasting02.html http://kcrucible.wordpress.com/
  9. Based on the video, I don't think you're getting enough air mixed with the propane initially, which is why the flame is predominantly yellow (propane mixing/burning with the air later.) In my experiance, moving the tip much further into the slots helps a lot with this. Somewhere between 1/4" and 1/2" shy of the slot's end. Basically, you'll get better vaccume, which pulls more air into the tube, letting it burn a bit hotter. In my opinion, the "mixing chamber" is primarily just an air inlet. Mixing happens in the tube proper. As long as you have a surface area of the slots as big as the cross sectional area of the pipe you've got plenty of capacity. A larger diameter mixing chamber, just allows you to grow the slot area, really. I think you're fine as far as that goes. Push the tip forward 2-3" and see what happens. I think you'll be surprised at the difference. At least, it helped my design signifigantly.
  10. I put a hole through a rounded end cap by using a dremal first to flatten, then make a concavity. After that, I could clamp the cap in place and drill in.
  11. Oh, I misunderstood the question. Orientation of the burner really shouldn't matter much. You're just trying to deposit heat into the cavity. Most point down so that nothing can fall into the burner tube I expect. So the answer to the original question would be "just different." I thought the question was about a lazy flame that just drifted up from end ends of the burner tube (when held horizontally.)
  12. It should be a jet out of the tube. Probably you have insufficient gas pressure. If you're cranked up as far as you can go, then it may be a low pressure gas regulator. You want one that is adjustable between 0 and 20/30 psi (and high pressure hose to match... don't take chances.) I list my parts with some links here: http://kcrucible.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/firing-up-the-burner/ Similar kits can be found elsewhere.
  13. I've heard that this "prov" burner is very similar to a T-rex. Go to http://kcrucible.wordpress.com/gallery-of-fire/ and click the pro-v link for a pdf. I think all measurements are in metric units.
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