Mikey98118

I looked at your drawing of a proposed gas jet, and it looks quite good to me; how it actually turns out is up to experiment. Larry Zoeller first changed out my original schedule #40 1/8" gas pipe for a schedule #80 pipe. It worked so much better that he no longer needed 1-1/2" bores from long MIG tips. For the first time short MIG tips worked fine; the difference was in the heavier pipe's smaller inside diameter, which provided a much smoother gas flow at the transition from gas pipe to gas jet. So, I feel confident that you are on the right track. As to tuning your burner's flame, you need to pay attention to how much overhang you allow between the end of the mixing tube and the end of the flame nozzle. The longer the distance the softer the flame. The shorter the distance the harder the flame. Photo one is a hard flame. You only need to shorten the overhang until the flames becomes unstable, and then add a little distance to come up with a stable hard flame

Justin, It would probably be easier to use a hole saw to make your own washer, although there are specialty washers that would do; the problem is time lost in trying to search them out. Once you have washers you need to keep them in place at the optimal height above the forge top, which can be done with spacers, or the washers can be held in place with a brazed nut and screw. Or you can leave the burners against the forge top, and add holes until just enough secondary air is allowed into the forge to completely combust the flame. Ceramic fiber should only be considered for testing, because it provides a source of toxic dust you don't want, and has to be handled every time you work on a burner.

3"Bosch angle grinder Here is another choice in 3" angle grinders; it is also overpriced compared to the Chinese imports, but is at least is a manufacturer well known for top quality. One of its advantages is that its motor is in line with the cutting and grinding discs it swings. Thus no power is lost to gearing, and no high-speed gear whine is created either: Mod note: Ebay link removed

Let me know before coming and I will make a real effort to come to one.

I can't see anything wrong with the flame.

The red streaks are probably from the nozzle material being oxidized away. The flame in the first photo is totally excellent. The flame in the second photo is typical of a burner that isn't properly tuned; even this flame would melt brass. The first flame in this large a burner will melt iron easily. If you take the time to properly bevel the forward and aft sides of the rectangular air openings, it will improve the burner still more. But congratulations on how well you've done already.

Now you need to at least double the hight of your forge.

You are mistaken; BK he used a layer of Plistex as a stiff seal coat and heat reflector on the hot-face side of his forge's ceramic fiber insulation. He showed me one of his forges with the Plistex layer at the ABANA conference in 2004. I found it to make a nice stiff coating. Nevertheless, rigidizing the insulation first will only help it to support a Plistex (or Matrikoat) layer.

there are two ways to end up with a good burner: follow the instructions of a well known successful design EXACTLY; Or design your own burner according to well-established design principles, after finding out what they are. Mix-and-match burners end up with the builder stuck between the dock and the boat; into the drink, you'll go. For instance, flame nozzles made from cast pipe reducers seldom work out well; this is because they can never be made to the best diameter for the mixing tube, and have no ability to be pushed forward or back, thus changing their width to length ratio, in order to be tuned to best match up with incoming gas and air flow. Nevertheless, I have seen perfect flames coming out of burners with pipe reducers used for flame nozzles; I've seen it twice in the last eighteen years--pretty poor odds.

Why do people keep coming up with the" bright idea" of replacing castable refractory with refractory cement (AKA flue mortar, furnace cement, etc.)? I believe it is because it can be easily and cheaply be bought at local hardware stores, and online with minor shipping charges. The desire to come up with an easy answer to their perceived problems overrules our repeated warnings that it doesn't produce an answer; only a mess. The comically sad fact of the matter is that Wayne, a member in good standing here, can supply real refractory in small amounts and reasonable prices. So the substitution is not only unworkable but totally unneeded.

Fiber blanket is the quick and easy fix for too much secondary air being induced by burner flames, BUT, washers on the mixing tubes can be moved toward and away from the forge top, allowing some secondary air, which is needed for all but the best burner designs, in order to completely combust fuel gas within the forge. Variable is always the best measure on both burners and the forges they heat. One of the reasons that threaded pipe parts are still so popular with many burner builders is that a mistake can so easily be changed out; they also allow people to see flame improvement one step at a time. Seeing is believing.

You may need to replace your burners with smaller ones. Every burner has a minimum stable fuel pressure; the larger the burners the greater the pressure. It's not like your present burners will be wasted; you will simply use them in another project.

The burner flame will create enough light to throw a shadow play on a smooth surface like cardboard, which is held a foot or so away; this will show the spent gasses as wavy lines on its surface. You can then move the burner's position until the clear but heated gas enters the burner; thus satisfying your self of exactly what is going on.

Any naturally aspirated burner will stall out if run in the vertical down position in your hand. How sharp an angle it can stand depends on how long the mixing tube is. At some point spent gasses from the flame will be driven by buoyancy into the burner entrance, replacing needed oxygenated air. This process can also happen to burners in forges if you don't prevent it, as has been suggested. There is no mystery here.

Also, the burners aren't constructed properly; their reducers are too small and their mixing tubes are too short. Reil's burner notes are still available on the Web. You can also find all the whys and hows of burners on the Burners 101 thread. Forges 101 will show you how to change your forge to do a better job.

Reduce that flame as much as you can, by reducing input gas pressure. Your goal should be an outcome you can work with; not perfection.

Industrial equipment is subject to the "gorilla factor"; that is to say, stupid, lazy, and malicious employees. If the equipment is being used by someone who cares about it, making an occasional fast patch should not present a problem.

I believe someone already pointed out that asbestos used to be well known as being "safe". What they can claim presently, without being liable in the courts, is one thing, and the truth of the matter may be quite another. So, what the purchaser must decide is how much the chance that their claim is true is worth its high price; recent history would indicate not.

Overwhelmingly rich.

No.

When you get down to using the same safety procedures to ensure handling this product with due regard, how will it be better than Kaowool?

They make workable flame nozzles at least as often as a stopped clock is right; whether or not someone finds that acceptable is a personal problem--er, I mean decision

It doesn't increase it in proportion to the same amount of fiber product in a lower density (in other words in proportion to the same amount in a much greater area). The bargain is actually more fiber traded for more toughness in the finish product; not more insulation.

Hi John, There is nothing wrong with both together; it would mostly boil down to convenience. What does matter is how much the total increased difference in area is; not how you arrive there.

Folding squares of Kaowool in half and deliberately compressing them in layers around curved surfaces in heating equipment has been a standard construction technique for decades. The pros and cons may be debated, but some pretty smart people have been doing it for quite a while.