bmazingo

I had some free time at work yesterday, making the small burner helped the day go by a little faster. I am on my way out the door to go play with the blown forge now. thanks

Hey guys, I didn't get to fire it up today. Will try again tomorrow. I did manage to find enough spare/scrap parts and time at work to make my first venturi burner. I have a small helium tank in m shop and I thought I might make a mini-forge if I have enough material left over from the big one. I know it is probably not exactly right but it seems to be very efficient. I used a #1 victor heating tip for my jet. I probably should have went smaller, but it is the same size as a .045 mig tip (or very close). The rest is pipe and old iron fitting that I smoothed on the inside. The tip is adjustable with set screws. I made the tip out of a larger piece ofr pipe that I belled with a torch. Pictures were at 5 psi. It works okay for free.

Thank for the info. I am trying to find some u-bolts around my shop to mount my burners. I made the opening in the body large enough to allow me to pack wool around them, but also allow me to adjust the angle of the tips either up or down. I am hoping to fire it up tonight with just the shell. Want to see it on fire plus I am going to get some BBQ grille paint and heating the shell will help set the paint. Just a few pictures, nothing is fastened yet. I made the mso I could take it off the cart and set it on a table or bench while I work on the lining. The mount also slides front to back on the cart. I still have to put my work surfaces on the cart. I also told you all the wrong measurement for the length. Main body is only 14" long, the two caps are about 2" (not counting what overlaps the body). So my total chamber length will be more like 18" instead of 20".

After reading your reply I am skipping the bypass scheme and I am going to concentrate on getting everything mounted. I have go to get this thing running because I want to be able to use it soon. I have got to get some blanket, does any one know the cheapest place to get it? I have found several places but the prices vary. What brands are best? Can I get by with a 6lb instead of 8lb? Also can I just use furnace mortar (3000F+) for my inner coating until I find someting better? Has any one ever heard of a chrome mag fire brick? I may be getting a bunch of them (crossed fingures) for cheap (free). Don't know what I'll do with them if I do. But hey I like free stuff. thanks guys, now I am off to work.

This is a pretty big flame Probably overkill. I tried my smaller tips and they were too small for my blower. It was too much velocity, kept blowing out the flame. I believe my blower is putting putting out too much pressure with just the 2 nozzles. I am going to add a third nozzle. I believe this will even out the pressure some. I am also going to add another tee at the bootom (with some type of adjusable flap) to use as a pressure relief. It will be set and left alone, the adjustment after that will be done with the ball valve. I am going to try to get the burner mounted night so I can see how it performs inside the shell. Hey I froze up my tank last night, but it was pretty cold outside. My solution was/is a halogen lamp, seem to help.

I talked to him tonight, he said the last they cast were for local people and they were $2 per pound. As far the machining I don't know but the alloy and the heat treating would be right, ESCO specializes in hard alloys from start to finish.

Oh yeah while I was at the scrap yard to day, I found this old burner. Can any one of you tell me for sure what this for? I am thinking it came out of an old heater. Looks like it will still work. Needs a valve and regulator. Man they just don't make thing like this any more. I was thinking about using it in a heater for my shop, cost me a whole $1.

I have a BURNER!!!! And it is hard to keep it lit in open air especially with 15mph gusts. But when the wind is down it is great. 1/2-1 psi works good. Blower is a little over kill. I think a third tip would work good. I will try to get a few pics after dark. What type of flame am I looking for. The flame when I get it adjusted just right alomost completely blue, no orange or yellow. I am excited!!!!! Now to get some insulation for ths thing.

I think I got about $1.25 for the brass and $2.80 per # for the copper, something like that. Some of the copper went as #2 because of the guage. As far as the new anvil, I am hoping he can pull a few strings and slip it in on a production run. Probably take about 200-225# to cast once you allow for your risers and waste. A drop in the bucket compared to what they pour a day, close to 100 tons. But this is all wishfull thinking. He has some pull, depends on wether he really wants to use it. He is a good fellow so it may actually happen I may ask him about a larger quantity an see if the mill "higher-ups" might be interested. Could be a good venture. Oh yeah, I did find a nice set of forklift forks 3" thick x 8" wide but he wouldn't let them go either, maybe because they actually went to his lift, LOL.

I was at the scrap yard this morning selling my copper and brass collection. I was walking around the yard and I look in the bed of and old truck and BEHOLD an anvil just setting there. I got really excited, granted this thing was a total piece of crap but it was an anvil all the same. felt like about 50 or so pounds. Got to the scale house to pay for it and the owner said "oh no, we don't sell those!". I ask him why not, it was on the yard. He said he keeps them, he has 7 or 8. I thought to my self "yep you probably take them to the flea market and jack the price up. Dang!!!!!!!!![sorry for the original word] I tried to talk him out of it to no avail. But he put me on the "I want one list". It was really ragged, looked like it had been beat on every square it of it even the sides and bottom. No marks or numbers probably old cast iron but who knows. Had a hardy hole and the round hole on the rear about 1" from each other. But all is not lost. I talked to my father in law, who just happens to work at ESCO in Newton,MS. He said he thought they cast some 175# once, heat treated and all....and.....he would look and see if the still had the stuff to make the molds. If so he may could pull some strings. But no promises.

I was thinking about a cart also. My space it limited in the shop because we also work on our cars in it. It would be nice to be able to roll the forge out of the way when not in use. I have a tool cart I made for work but never finished (lack of materials). I could convert it pretty easy. If I put it on cart I could mount my regulator to it and hard line from there to the forge. I have some hose to use from the tank to the regulator. Got to go get parts, later.

Good info, I will try to find one around the house if not I will get one in town. I also have to get a line to run from the regulator to the fuel valve. All I have is 1/4", not big enough right?. May get a piece of 1/2" copper. I also have some metal flex-condiut to protect my fuel line and power cord. I can test the flow with out fuel, should be able to tell if the flow is the same to an extent.

I seem to recall reading that somewhere. I know the hoter the forge gets the more completely the fuel is burned. Unfortunately both my boys have the flu. So I am watching them while the wife is at work. Did not get to test it today maybe in the morning. Did get some more pics. The 2" tips are much larger than the 1".

Finished up my burner tonight. I loose fitted all the pipe and joints. Use 2" for the new tips and for all the metal piping. Have a 2" ball valve to control the air and a 1/2" ball valve to control fuel. I also aquired a blower. It is the type used on the smaller inflatable slides, designed for contined use. Draws 5.5 amps of 120v. This thing puts out some air and has pretty decent pressure. Only down side is it has a plastic housing. I will just pipe it further away and maybe protect it with some sheet metal. I am going to try to do an open air test of the burner tomorrow. Man I hope this thing cooks.

Here is my burner, it turned out pretty good, still have to test fire it. I may extend it to a 3 tip design by adding another tee on the end where the plug is. I really lucked up on my fitting arrangement, I can change the tip sizes from 1"-1 1/2"-2" depending on what I need or how they work. Here is the 1" tip with 0.100" opening.

Hey!!!!! That's a pretty nice anvil. I like it!!!!!

My brother lives in VA and said, if I understood him correctly, he saw this one in person and the man wanted $1200 for it. It was not in quite as good of shape as he was led to believe so he passed it by.

Thanks guys, I have looked at many designs on this site. I wish I could find a forklift tine, but they don't just break that often. I hit our's at work with a ball peen hammer and it barely left a mark. If I could find one that would be ideal. The 1-1/2 plate is about 20x20 but their are some holes close to the edges. The center is nice and hole-free, I could use that for the face by welding it to the existing face. Maybe put a a couple of peices under the edges for supporting the face. Thing would probably weight about 200lbs since the 1-1/2 plate is about 150lb by itself. Anyway thanks for the help. I am still looking.

I think we are thinking of two different things??? I want to use a brick that will slide up and down on the outside of the forge to change the size of the opening through which the work will pass. Much like the metal doors shown in your last picture, but instead of swinging the brick will slide in a track. I can put holes say 1/2" apart (vertically) allowing me to increase to hieght of the opening base on the size of the piece being worked. (more over engineering) Could I just use blanket and then coat the chamber with the mortar? How big do you think the chamber should be? If I wanted to put a brick inside to lay stuff on couldn't I coat it in mortar to increase the temp range?

was him and I gave him a hard time about it too. I agree with you about the single piece of steel webbing in the center. I wish I would have boxed it in when I built it. I am afraid it will warp with continued use, right now it is still pretty flat aside from the dings. I spoke with a couple of gentlemen that sell steel, they said AR400 would be a good surface. It has a hardness of brin.400. I have also located a 1-1/2 piece of plate (mild steel) if nothing else I will beef up this one. I did look at a 75lb anvil today. Man wanted $175 for it. It was in usable condition, just not the condition I wanted to use. Most of the edges were missing, the horn was pretty worn and the face was very uneven.

I am trying to find out what is the best steel to use for an anvil face. I am new to the smithing trade and do not have many of the tools I need ,so I have to improvise. Oh, did I mention I am broke $$$$$. Anyway, I need to do some work on my anvil. I built it out of 1" plate welded together. Only real problem is the steel I used is pretty soft and seems to pick up stray hammer marks really easy(thank you my bad aim brother). I had thought about facing it with some hard rods (welding), but I would really rather put another plate on top. I think a piece of something harder and about 1" thick would work. I could have it cut over sized and weld it around the bottom edges. Also I need to add some supports for the outer edges. They aren't warped yet but If I try to forge with a big hammer I am afraid they my bend. I am still looking for an anvil locally, but for now I have to use what I have. So if any of you know which steel would work best "please" tell me. Thanks

Here are a few more pictures The end caps will be to the bolted to the shell, but they will be removable to make repairing the forge easier. Still have to build my doors and burners, then I can start adding the insides. Slowly but surely getting there. What do you think about having a fire brick that can be slide up or down the change the size of the forge openings?

The pipe is the shell, the sheet matal tube will be the ends. The sheet metal tube has been cut in to two seperate rings and I am going to weld plate on the rings to form removable caps for the shell. The caps will be filled with either refractory cement or ceramic blanket. I will leave an opening in both front and rear cap to work through. I have been working on the plans for making a sliding fire brick door for both the front and rear openings. But they are still in the very early stages. I May be over engineering this thing but I think it will work. I will post a few more pictures later.

I've been looking too, they seem to run about $2 per pound average. My brother lives in VA and says he found a 500# for $1200 What we will do with a 500# anvil beats me but it'll look cool if he gets it. Too much $$$$ for me to spend. I wish I could find a 150# in good shape.