Mikey98118

Go-to tool for burner construction I may very some of the tools employed to build very different burner types, but a rotary tool is used on every one of them; a separate rotary accessories kit is highly recommended. If it comes down to a choice between buying a drill motor, or a rotary tool, go with the rotary tool. The cheap tool kit that comes with many rotary tool offers, will barely be able to successfully complete the work on one little burner, and those cheap accessories will not be pleasant to deal with. Much better accessories kits are offered through Amazon.com. I suggest the Populo 305 accessories kit, which has decent quality, and is only $15.90. Or, you could invest about the same amount of money on a Dremel EZ406-02, EZ-Lock Starter Kit, which includes their EZ–Lock mandrel, and four 1-1/2” cutting discs; this will do the best job of cutting pipe and tubing, which is where cheap accessories included with most rotary tool offers fail badly. So which choice is better? If you are a novice with rotary tools, I suggest going with the Dremel option, as you will need far more help with cutting than any other task (and their special mandrel is serious help). Note: Some people have found that the sheet metal hub on one or more of their EZ-Lock cutting discs separated; if this happens, stop immediately and remove the disc. Use hardening thread-locker to glue the hub back onto the disc, and clamp it; then wait twenty-four hours for the glue to set hard, before using the disc again.

What you should know about speed controls (1) The first rule for speed control, is do not attempt to adjust speed while a tool is engaged; move it away from the work surface first. (2) It is a popular marketing ploy to include inbuilt speed control circuits on compact equipment, such as rotary tools; avoid their use like the plague. If you end up with a variable speed tool, just leave its inbuilt controls on high (in effect, not engaged), and employ a separate router or fan speed controller (for brushed motors), or a brushless speed controller (for motors without carbon brushes). Plug the right type of speed controller onto your tool’s power cord; it will do the job, without any risk of overheating the equipment’s delicate speed circuit, and shutting down the tool, until the burned-out circuit can be bypassed. Speed control circuits on the very cheapest power tools just use potentiometers (variable resistors); as in heavily power robbing. A modern variable frequency drive slows the number of pulses per second in the right kind of DC motor (which is found on most hand-held equipment these days), but not the amount of power in each pulse, so it’s drop in torque is comparatively minor, as motor speed slows. Many of the cheaper inbuilt speed controls are erratic, and give poor control in their bottom range (or none in some settings), long before they fry. Dremel mounted the first speed controls on rotary tools; they were cross-slide types. This was and still is a hardier design then the tiny inbuilt circuits on other tools. Dremel has kept these controls low priced, easily available, and plug-in on their oldest rotary tool models; none of which is true of the speed control circuits on their new models. The Dremel #100 has a sliding on/off switch. The #200 model uses a sliding combination on/off switch and speed control; these switches are interchangeable. You can use an external speed control on a #100 because it’s sliding switch only turns the tool on and off. But don’t use a separate speed control on the #200, because they warn that it will mess up that model’s own speed control circuit. (3) Even with external speed controllers, do not run motors below half-speed for very long, to avoid overheating their windings (ex. just long enough to drill a single micro hole in pipe or tube). (4) You can still overheat the motor by bogging it down under a heavy load; even on full speed (and faster on reduced speeds), but it happens slowly enough for the heating motor housing to give warning, in time to let the armature windings cool off. But, overheating an inbuilt control circuit happens suddenly. Your first warning is usually a dead tool, and then you may notice a little smoke…or not. (5) The faster you race a gasoline engine the hotter it gets; it’s natural to expect that about electric motors too; but the opposite is true. As you slow an electric motor down, it heats up. (6) Flex-drives complicate motor heating problems, because the faster you run them, the hotter they get. Foredom Tool’s top of the line KTXH440 is set up to run between 500 and 15,000 RPM; these are, by definition, the best of the best. How can we expect a Chinese import freebie to last at 35,000 RPM? So, you have competing needs with a flex-drive mounted on a rotary tool. What to do? Run the tool at half speed, in short bursts to let both drive and motor cool down; use it no more than you must. Does this sound inconvenient? What part of flex-drives don’t belong on rotary tools didn’t you get? If you blow a control circuit, do you have to throw away your tool and buy another? That depends; if you are into electronics, it is simple to de-solder the circuit and replace it with a short length of wire. If not, it is still simple, but you will have to buy a soldering tool, some rosin core solder, and some electric wire of the same gauge (size) or larger than what was used in the circuit; the cost will be about equal to replacing the tool, but you’ll end up with a repair tool out of the deal. Your “fixed” tool will only run at full speed, unless you use a separate speed controller, but that is what you should have been doing in the first place. The separate speed controller can also be used on many other tools. Speed controllers for brushless motors: Most speed controllers are designed for motors with carbon brushes (brushed motors). Brushless motors (BLDC) need brushless speed controllers; they aren’t hard to come by, or expensive. But there are no plug and play versions available for hand tools; at present they’re only available as kits. The easiest kits to deal with have all the electronics contained in a perforated metal control box, to which you must add electric cords and/or wires; one set incoming from your power source, another outgoing to the tool; wire a receptacle to it (if you want to plug in two different brushless tools at once), or use the last few inches of the extension cord you probably just cut off to make a lead to the power source. The RioRand 7-70V PWM DC Motor Speed Controller Switch 30A is available through Amazon.com; it has four terminals for wires to mount on; negative and positive “input” terminals from the power source, along with negative and positive terminals “to motor”; they are all plainly marked; there is a speed control dial on the side of its perforated metal body. Why metal, and why perforated? For heat dissipation. Black wires go to negative and red wires go to positive on this brushless motor speed controller. When the armature fries: If you see smoke and electrical sparks coming from a tool’s air vents, you just overheated its armature for the last time. If replacement parts are available for your tool, you will easily find them online. Just input the product name and add “parts list.” You will need another armature assembly, and a new set of brushes. These parts are available for the Dremel #100 & #200, along with sites showing installation instructions; not that that any hand-holding is needed, since all you require is a little screwdriver.

I think you laid things out too well; perhaps they have nothing left to say? I especially liked the tin can needle scoop.

So, how did things go, Pigsticker?

Sealing and high-missive coatings for ceramic fibers and other surfaces Even rigidized ceramic fiber products still need to be sealed for safety. Furthermore, many of the coatings used for sealing provide a tough surface layer that holds high-emission coatings from peeling away from the fiber’s surface; an irritating problem that results from spreading some high-emission coatings directly on fiber blanket (especially when it is not rigidized first). Just as not all sealants are rated as high-emissive, not all high-emissive coatings are effective sealants, so you need to review the better-known products. There are also products, such as one shell coating for mold castings (consisting of zirconium silicate and fumed silica) which works quite well for surface sealing, and for heat reflection. I recommend this for those who don’t want to include a flame face layer of Kast-O-lite 30. ITC-100: This is strictly a high-emissive coating (not suitable for sealing); Twenty years ago, I found that deliberately separating it by adding more water to a small amount in a water glass, caused the non-colloidal particles to separate out, refining the coating, and greatly increasing its emission of radiant energy. My forge went from orange incandescence (when coated by the original product) to lemon-yellow, with just this change. I am not sure ITC 100 has the same ingredients today. You can make a more re-emissive formula, for less money than this product now costs. 100% colloidal zirconium flour can be purchased from various online sources, and mixed with phosphoric acid from your grocery store, to make a high-emissive coating, rated above (rather than “up to”) 90% “reflective” of radiant heat. Un-stabilized zirconium dioxide (ZrO2; AKA zirconia) has three phases: Monoclinic at less than 2138 °F (1170 °C), tetragonal between 2138 °F and 4298 °F (2370 °C). The transition between the first and second phase creates enough expansion to prevent it being used in hard refractory products, unless it is stabilized in the cubic form, or in its more useful partially stabilized tetragonal form. A small percent of calcium, yttrium, or magnesium oxides can be used to partially stabilize zirconia; cerium oxide can also be used, but is too expensive for this home-built equipment. Further high temperature manipulation can form fully stabilized zirconia, but adds further expense. Zirconia has very low thermal conductivity, yet very high luminosity when incandescent temperatures are reached. These two facts combine to make it a preeminent heat barrier. Because of the high luminosity, it can be used as an effective method of heat transference on high temperature casting crucibles, when applied in very thin coatings (.040” or less), and yet thicker coatings can be used to “reflect” heat through re-emission, while providing insulation that only improves as heat levels rise. When it comes to various heat barrier coatings, very fine particles of zirconium are desired, because the finer the particles the higher re-emission percentages go. Government sponsored experiments in the nineteen-sixties showed that phosphoric acid was able to hold stabilized zirconia onto heating surfaces despite phase change resizing; it was an important find—back then. But stabilized zirconia is much cheaper than it was in the past, and so this more expensive product is the better choice for tough heat barriers, and nowadays for some castable refractory crucibles. When used as a refractory; clumps of it are also used as insulation between crucibles and wire windings in induction furnaces. Zirconia based refractories, and alumina ceramics with stabilized zirconia included are well known for thermal shock resistance and resistance to erosion from incandescent liquid metals. Note: Drying can produce up to 4% shrinkage in slip cast zirconia refractories, and firing at 3452 °F (1900 °C) will produces up 15% further contraction; factors to be considered when planning structures made of it. Zirconia is available for use as grog, and is an effective loose insulation for very high heat environments (think of it as like Perlite on steroids). Zirconia also comes as stabilized ultra-high temperature porous insulating brick. Zirconium silicate: Many hobbyists concoct a tough sealant coating that is also a high-emissive product; they purchase zirconium silicate flour from a pottery supplies store, and mix it with bentonite clay powder; this is practical, because it does not go through phase shifts. Zirconium silicate, while very tough is only rated at about 70% heat reflection; it is also very resistant to borax, and an economical choice. Zirconium silicate can be either a coating or a hard refractory layer, depending on the amount of bentonite clay, etc. it is mixed with. One of the hobby blacksmiths on IFI makes a slurry of Zircopax (a brand of zirconium silicate) mixed into to colloidal silica (AKA fumed silica) and a little water; he also uses this mix for shell casting; he suggests mixing it to about the consistency of latex paint, in a clear lidded jar. The Zircopax will settle out, once you stop stirring every few minutes, and cake on the bottom of the jar, with the silica and water remaining in solution over it; until it is broken up with a butter knife, and thoroughly remixed back into solution. When combined with silica as a binder, I believe the overall performance of Zircopax in thicker layers will prove to be considerably higher than 70% heat reflective, since the other part of its molecular structure is clear natural silicate, which will pass light rays with very little interference, and since its re-emissive mechanism is radiance, I believe its overall performance in thicker layers will prove to be much higher than it is rated for. Remember that each layer must be fired before the next layer is painted on. Tony Hansen, of Digital Fire fame, uses Zircopax as both a coating and a solid refractory, very like clay, but good to very high temperatures, and highly insulating; two qualities that mere clay lacks. Mr. Hansen mixes it with Veegum T (a smectite clay) as a binder and plasticizer. A mixture of 97% Zircopax and 3% Veegum can be molded into structures, as easily as potters clay. A mixture of 95% Zircopax and 5% Veegum provides a hard tough heat reflective coating for other refractory structures. Mr. Hansen has also created his own 5mm thick (just over 3/16”) kiln shelf, which he states “will perform at any temperature that my test kiln can do, and far in excess of that.” It consists of 80% Zircopax Plus, with 16.5% #60 to #80 grit Molochite grog, and 3.5% Veegum T; he states that the mixture is plastic and easy to roll out, with 4.2% shrinkage, with 15.3% water added, but suggests that you dry your forms between sheets of plasterboard, to prevent warping. Firing to cone 4 produced 1% shrinkage, and left his shelf only cinder bonded. Firing to yellow heat will produce further shrinkage, but strengthen the final product; this has about the same thermal shock resistance as high-alumina cast refractories. Avoid uneven heating by setting your forge or kiln up to work as a radiant oven. Read about Zircopax at: https://digitalfire.com/material/zircopax Read about Veegum at: https://digitalfire.com/material/1672 Plistix 900 F: Plistix is a 94% corundum aggregate and matrix, with a phosphate bond; it can be either a coating or cast refractory, depending on the amount of water used; it is use rated to 3400 °F. This product can also be used as a firebrick mortar. Matrikote 90 AC Ceramic Coating (one of the product line from Allied Minerals) is a very tough hard fine grained high alumina refractory coating containing 90.4% alumina, 1.5 silicon dioxide as a vitreous(glass-like) binder, and 2.7 % phosphorus oxide as a polymerizing binder. Matrikote is good to 3000 °F, and would prove useful as an inner layer between outer coatings of higher use temperatures and rigidized ceramic fiber products. Satanite is probably the best-known refractory mortar that is also used as a hard coating/sealant over ceramic fiber board; it is use rated at 3200 °F, and is easily purchased in small quantities through knife making suppliers. But refractory mortars are not recommended as flame faces, so plan on using a different finish coating on interior surfaces; It is excellent on exterior surfaces. Sodium silicate is a white powder that dissolves in water; it is usually sold in bottles, with the water already added; it is commonly used to glue the little bits of Perlite together into a solid layer of secondary refractory insulation, as both products melt at about 1900 °F. Sodium silicate is also used to glue refractory fiber products unto other surfaces, like the inside of forge shells (containers). However, when used this way, ceramic blanket should be rigidized completely through all layers, to keep it from de-laminating, and falling away from the glued surface over time. So, why use it at all then? Sodium silicate hardens through contact in the carbon dioxide in air; it doesn’t need firing to work; fumed silica must be fired. What are you doing awake this early in the morning? I just can't sleep all night; been up since three.

BTW, those where all very good points, AFB

The British thermal unit (Btu) is a well-known unit of potential energy, which has long been used to compare fuels, and burner heating potentials; it is less legitimate for judging burner types. On top of this, you very rarely see it tied to burner turn down ranges, leaving us to ask questions like 140,000 Btu at what gas pressure; so far over a reasonable top pressure that that the burner's flame had long since started running rich? The problem is that actual heating potential is a slippery fish, even in a saint’s hands, let alone an ad manager’s. Even if you do all the figuring for yourself, what does 140,000 Btu actually mean to YOU; at best it gives you a general impression of what a burner should be able to do; and that’s where you were when you came in! For instance, if two different burners are running the same gas pressure from the same gas orifice diameter, but one only puts out 2400 F flames, but the other one puts out 2800 F flames, their BTU consumption matches, but nothing else well.

Sealing and high-emissive coatings for ceramic fibers and other surfaces Rigidized ceramic fiber products still need to be sealed for safety. Furthermore the various coatings used for sealing tend to create a tough surface layer that holds high-emissive coatings from peeling away from the fiber’s surface; an irritating tendency that results from spreading high-emissive coatings directly on fiber products (especially those that aren’t even rigidized). Just as not all sealants are rated as high-emissive, not all high-emissive coating are sealants, so we need to review the better known products: ITC-100 is strictly a high-emissive coating; I have found that deliberately separating it by adding more water to small amounts in a water glass, causes the non-colloidal particles to separate out, refining the coating, and greatly increasing its emission of radiant energy. For less money than this product now costs, 100% colloidal zirconium can be purchased from various lab suppliers, and mixed with phosphoric acid from your groceries store, to make a high-emissive coating rated above 90% “reflective” of radiant heat. Frosty and others on this group concoct a tough sealant coating that is also a high-emissive product; you get the zirconium silicate flour for it from Seattle Pottery Supply (or other pottery suppliers), and mix it down with clay powder; ask them for particulars. Zirconium silicate, while very tough is only rated at about 70% “heat reflective,” but I think this figure is misleading; since the other part of its structure is clear natural crystal, which will pass light rays with very little interference, and since the actual mechanism for its “heat reflection” is re-radiance, I believe its overall performance in thicker layers will prove to be considerably higher than 70%; it is also very resistant to borax, and an economical choice. Plistix 900 has 70% heat reflection, and makes a tough smooth sealing coat rated for use at 3400°F. Matrikote 90 AC Ceramic Coating (one of the product line from Allied Minerals) is a very tough hard coating containing 90.4% alumina, 1.5 silicon dioxide as a vitreous(glass-like) binder, and 2.7 % phosphorus oxide as a polymerizing binder. Matrikote is good to 3000°F, and would prove especially useful as an inner layer between outer coatings of higher use temperatures and rigidized ceramic fiber products. There are other bonding mortars and high temp coatings. Probably the best known refractory mortar for use for hard coating ceramic fiber blanket is Satanite; it is use rated at 3200 F, and easily purchased in small quantities through knife making suppliers on the Net.

One of the things I noticed about tungsten carbide rotary files, is that the larger their diameters are the further they fling those needles. Over time, I came to stick with 1/8" diameter files, whenever possible.

Caution: Tungsten carbide rotary files fling tiny needle-sharp slivers. You need to wear goggles, or at least glasses, for eye protection. You are also advised to wear long rubber dish-washing gloves, or a rain coat with latex gloves, to keep them out of your skin and clothing. Immediately after use, remove and shake out dish-washing gloves and rain coat. Discard latex gloves. Sweep away the slivers from parts and equipment surfaces, with a brush.

It will give you all of that. More to the point, it will awaken your appetite for gas forging; this is why you want to hold on to the other forge parts. Yet, no matter what other forges you buy or build, that first small forge will remain you preferred tool, because it costs the least to run, and doesn't over heat your shop in "the good old summer time."

At this point, I can only suggest that you drill two of three 1/8" diameter holes in the bottom of the forge shell, and slowly heat the forge for a few minutes at a time, to turn all that water trapped under the hard refractory layer safely to steam; otherwise, there will be cracking or worse (steam explosion), during the forced drying of the Kast-O-lite.

Mounting a homemade side handle: Rotary tools and die grinders can be braced for straight travel (like surface cutting with angle grinders), rather than the typical swinging arm motion (tendency to curve, binding the disc, resulting in kickback), by mounting a side handle near to the tool’s spindle; this provides greatly improved control. Twenty years ago, 2” angle grinders like Proxxon’s Long Neck Angle Grinder, or the Merlin 2 from King Arthur Tools, were the only electric tools that could easily make straight line cuts in small burner parts; they were designed for inline motion, and had steel safety guards. A rotary tool with a safety handle mounted can now do a better job, more safely, for a small fraction of their prices. What has changed, to make this possible? See-through safety guards couldn’t be purchased back then; they can be now. When cutting along an ink or scribe line, it is tempting to bend over the tool, to provide an adequate view; a very bad habit, unless the tool has a safety guard; it’s also frustrating to try to see the cut line by peering around steel guards. But you can place your disc right beside the cut line, and work in safety and comfort, when you see the line by looking through the guard. Some rotary tools already have a removable plastic handle, but they are set up at about seventy-degrees for increased comfort during buffing, grinding, and drilling work; not at right angles, for better control during a surface cut. Most hand-held rotary tools have a threaded plastic neck area around the base of the spindle. This threaded neck is 17mm diameter protruding from the plastic housing’s shoulder; this is the area that a sheet metal side handle can set in, trapped between a plastic shield, or just the original plastic threaded colloar, and the tool housing’s shoulder. Dremel popularized those same threads to securely mount attachments, such as their flexible drive shaft. Then, other manufacturers copied Dremel. The threads on safety shields are 17mm (0.670”). It is easy to buy a 3/4” flat washer. A flattened tube end can be welded, or brazed to the washer, creating a similar kind of handle as the ones that provide ergonomic stability to angle grinders. Or, you can layout a washer and handle shape on a piece of sheet metal, and employ your rotary tool to fashion a side handle; this allows the use of aluminum, stainless-steel, or brass sheet metal, which will never rust or need painting. A plastic rotary shield, or original threaded collar, securely traps it in place, when needed; or it can be quickly removed, when it would be in the way (during drilling, and some grinding tasks). It should prove very helpful during beveling with tungsten carbide rotary files. Why bother? Because a swinging wrist movement can’t be braced anywhere near as effectively as inline movement (which only becomes practical with the aid of this side handle). Where the handle is positioned has nothing to do with whether you are right or left-handed, and everything to do with moving the cut-off disc opposite to the direction that the disc is trying to force the tool to travel along part surfaces. You need the handle to help tow—never push—a cutoff disc forward along the cut line, once it starts to break through the kerf. A side handle helps the disc to grind a straight line through the material from the formation of a groove through to the end of the cut, greatly reducing kickbacks; especially when dealing with the last fraction of an inch at the end of a line. Best procedure is to run the disc back and forth on the part’s surface, while a groove forms and gradually deepens, cutting through the part only at the very end of the process; this means that increased control of your arm movement, becomes more essential—not less. Warning: The main point of a side handle is to help in surface cutting with cutoff discs, or when beveling with a tungsten carbide rotary file. But cutting and beveling with an electric die grinder must be done much more carefully, than with a rotary tool. (1) Cutting safety also requires a power switch with the right location and type. The switch must be easy to shut off, without jiggling the tool, in the slightest degree. Movement while turning the tool on doesn’t matter, since that is always to be done before touching the work. (2) A full-power die grinder (400 to 550 watts) must be run at half speed during surface cuts. A medium-power die grinder (220 to 280 watts) can be run at full speed. (3) The cutoff disc should not be larger than 1-1/2” diameter; smaller is safer. Take your time working up to the fastest speed, and largest disk, that you personally can safely use. (4) The disc must be breakable; a resin-based friction disc; and thinner is safer than thicker; it is not less likely to break of course, but will be that much less likely to fling the grinder about while doing so. Do not employ a grit coated steel disc, or a toothed circular saw blade, even in a medium-power electric die grinder. When kickback occurs, it is necessary that the accessory be destroyed, rather than the grinder being savagely flung about near your body. Do not kid yourself that you will always avoid kickback; that is not in the cards. (5) A die grinder should not be used for surface cutting in confined spaces, or with your body unable to be properly braced, with or without a handle installed. If you must cut in a confined space, use a 15/16” friction disc, on a rotary tool (nothing with more torque); better safe than sorry. Safety, is seldom an absolute, except in the negative sense. “don’t ever do that” is clear and simple advice. To suggest that someone “do that safely,” is absurd. Whenever you attempt to do anything, some risk is involved. Using an electric die grinder, can never be perfectly safe; cutting with one can involve substantial risk; especially if safety procedures are not observed. Why not use one of the new mini-saws, instead; isn’t that what they’re for? If you are cutting on flat surfaces, yes. If you are cutting off the ends of angles or pipes, the saw still maintains an advantage, so long as you pay close attention. When cutting into pipe or tubing, no. If you are cutting into curved surfaces on cylinder ends, to create equipment shells, no. When grinding, sanding, or wire brushing with a die grinder, there are safer choices too. A brush shape is generally safer than a cup shape, which is usually safer than a wire wheel, because with every change of shape the accessory’s diameter tends to increase. A diamond coated burr is the least likely accessory to generate kickback, followed by a stone burr. Solid tungsten carbide burrs are most likely to create kickback; of these, double cut burrs will create stronger kickback than single cut burrs (of the kind meant for steel work; not the large grooved burs used on aluminum, brass, and wood. And of course, the larger a brush, burr, stone, or sanding drum’s diameter the harder any kickback will be. The stronger the tool’s torque the harder its kickback. The higher the RPM the harder the kickback.

The limit on turn-down range for that burner is just above 4 pounds per square inch gauge pressure. At 4 P.S.I. it begins to huff, as the flame starts burning back into the mixing chamber. If allowed to continue, the mixing chamber begins overheating and the huffs become bangs; finally, the flame is blown out.

As good as brick pile forges have become, thanks to tremendous steps forward in the tougher insulating bricks available now, and advances in flame coatings to protect their surfaces, and also in available burners, I wouldn't be surprised if brick pile forges become the standard forge for novice builders. I will probably have to build one, just to keep from being utterly left behind by progress Don't worry, Frosty. You can depend on me to complicate it to the max. Lets see... we can start with an elongated hexagon...

You have it right. There is precious little worth knowing, that comes aside from experience. And probably first on the list, is knowing what you want.

Good morning Frosty

Why does a little alarm bell ring in my head, while reading this? Because it fits the facts. So, how do they check for this, and what can they do to fix it? By hooking up the burner intake to a water hose, and then turning on the faucet, a jet of water should spurt out of the burner's end; it is supposed to be dead center I expect that it will be canted well off center, showing that the gas orifice is badly misaligned. If this is what is shown, than only being able to align the gas orifice in the cross pipe will sold the burner's problems.

Aside from some blade-smiths, or jewelers looking to forge tools in them, just about everyone who starts out with a small gas forge, ends up wanting (not necessarily needing) a larger gas forge. So, my advice would be to hold unto this good-beginning-of-a-forge, for when your ambition grows. Go ahead and buy that small gas forge, so long as it is a Mr. Volcano forge; the rest of them can always be used for parts, but not necessarily used "as is." Why would that be a good idea? What you said about buying a gas forge for small bucks only holds true for very small gas forges, and only then if you make the right choice. Larger forges come at premium prices; there are no bargains in that market!

I believe that they have changed their burners over the last few years. When we give people advice on this group, it is only about how to get the best performance from their equipment, versus what they are able to do. Manufacturers must balance other factors, like sales appeal, and production costs. If you need better performance than you are getting, spend time looking over burner design... Or, if you're looking for a practical solution, replace that burner with a Mr. Volcano burner; they only cost $25. You couldn't even buy the materials they are made from for that price

Where you are, and with your background, I would advise that you simply build two of Frosty's "T" burners, and continue on with turning that good beginning into a completed gas forge; you will never turn back, and your coal forge will end up collecting dust in a corner.

So, if he ran a piece of sheet metal across the front and back openings at the same height as the bricks, and a sheet across the bottom, he could merge both ideas, and fill in the pan thus created. That still leaves him needing to mount a burner or burners...

You have a good start on a forge there, but it needs some finishing touches. The arched top half of a "D" forge is present, and seems to be well made, but its insulation needs to be protected with a flame face, after it is rigidized. From the photo, it appears that there is a gap between two insulating bricks, which will need to be filled in, unless that is where the burner is supposed to go. About the burner...it's just junk. You need to replace it with a $25 3/4" burner from Mister volcano, before they come to their senses and raise prices. I purchased one of them a couple months back, and they are a fabulous deal. The gas regulator looks to be pretty good quality, so keep that. Finally, you should look around to find, or build a steel or stainless steel rectangular pan to set the top half of that forge on. Somthing deep enough to allow most of its area to be filled up with Perlite secondary insulation from the garden department of your local hardware store. Use Morgan K26 insulating bricks, or ceramic fiber board over the Perlite, and spread a 1/2" layer of Kast-O-lite 30 over that for a flame face. Use bricks-even plain old hard firebricks- to stack as a movable wall against the back opening of the forge. And use bricks stacked 1" away from the front opening, as a movable baffle wall to push parts through. Of course, following all this advice takes time and money, but you can limp along with the forge, as is, while you make these improvements. Changing out the burner will pay for itself in about 16 hours run time.

Gas Assemblies for Free-flow Burners It has been well established that the gas tube, and whatever MIG contact tip, or 3D printer nozzle is used as a gas orifice, should be centered with, and aimed parallel to the axis of a linear burner’s conical air entrance; and that this funnel shape must be centered on, and kept parallel to the mixing tube’s axis, by whatever means is convenient. But how you choose to mount the gas tube, is your first and best chance, to create an intense burner flame; do not waste it! Why such emphases on a “minor” detail? Your burner has an energy budget; it is limited to the air induction that the fuel gas jet creates via Bernoulli’s Principle; this is a naturally aspirated burner's engine. The least obstruction to incoming air, will subtract the least energy from your gas jet’s small output; this is an important factor to consider. As with the whirlpool in your bathtub drain, nearly all air is going to be induced near the conical opening’s periphery. No significant air will move down the center of the entrance. So what? So, this tells you just where obstruction impedes air most—and where it does not. The smaller your burner’s air intake diameter the more this factor matters. Finally, it takes energy to get incoming air moving, or to change that air’s direction, to create swirl. Any blade structure at the air funnel’s opening, starts incoming air moving laterally, instead that starting within the funnel, where it costs more energy. Mounting a gas assembly has two aspects; what is easiest and what works best. There will be no "perfect” method of balancing these factors, because aside from tooling and skill levels, we all have task preferences; mine is for maximum control of the parts being assembled, having found that the best results for the least work is attained, if Murphy’s law never gets the chance to muck anything up. Gas assemblies for free-flow burners are best mounted by suspending them in mounting plates made from fender washers, of up to 2” diameter; keeping your labor at a minimum, by requiring only part of the work needed, to create a mounting plate from scratch. For larger openings than 2” you must lay out the plate with dividers, on sheet metal. So, why start with sheet metal, or a fender washer to make a mounting plate? Why not braze, or weld the separate parts together instead? When you begin with a flat surface; all you need do, is avoid bending it, to assure that the gas assembly mounted to it will remain in line with the axis of the conical shaped air opening Fender washers come in various thicknesses, over which you have little control; because they all have 2” or smaller diameters, that is okay. But the larger mounting plates that you make from sheet metal need a minimum thickness, to ensure that they stay flat during construction, and installation. A 0.079” thickness in stainless-steel sheet is strong enough to remain straight, while being screwed or silver brazed to a funnel’s flange, but not so thick that it is difficult to drill holes and cut air openings in. How thick aluminum sheet should be is more dependent on what alloy is used, rather than funnel diameter. Choose 1/8” thick 6061 (AKA T651) aluminum plate; it is the most rigid aluminum alloy available, but is no more work to drill, thread, or cut, than a soft aluminum alloy. Use dividers, and a prick punch, to lay out a disc of the same size as the outside diameter of the funnel’s flange, or ink a line on the sheet metal, using the flange as a model, and use a cheap plastic center finder to mark a place to drill a center hole in it. Note: Small metric (ex. M2) cap screws and matching nuts are the inexpensive and simple way to screw mounting plates to smaller funnel flanges; they allow you to drill matching holes through both parts and use nuts to hold them together, while avoiding the use of tiny taps (which are inclined to break off in the hole). You can find them in kits for under ten dollars online. Drill an oversize hole through both parts (use 1/8” M35 high speed steel drill bits for M2 size screws). If the flange has room enough, using 10-32 cap screws will save on tool costs. Drill a hole in the middle of the disc for a Rivnut (a threaded rivet nut); this holds an externally threaded gas pipe, which can be moved back and forth in the funnel, as part of the tuning process. The rivet nut is pushed into the washer, for silver brazing, silver soldering, or for setting in place (physically trapping by deformation). Mark out three equal spaces for air openings, between three ribs, using a divider (or just use the points of a hex bolt and plastic center finder to indicate where they should be). Drill holes between the the ribs, comfortably outside the area of the nut, and cut between them. Remember that there is no significant air flow in this central part of the opening, so do not shortchange yourself on rib width in this area. The ribs would be too weak, if you kept their lines parallel; that is not desirable. You want the three ribs narrower at their outer ends, and becoming wider toward the center of your disc, to balance maximum air induction with sufficient inflexibility. If you use a silver braze alloy with as high a melting range as you can find, along with black flux (which is rated for stainless-steel), it will provide a high temperature bond that requires less care to keep a brazed rivet nut in place, while brazing the ends of the mounting plate’s three ribs onto a funnel flange, with easy flow silver brazing wire and a lower temperature rated white flux (but still rated for stainless steel). Water-soaked rags, or blocking putty (ex. Wetrag) around the rivet nut, but kept away from the second area being joined, is another way to help protect existing silver brazed joints. Anti-flux can be placed around a joined area that is too close to the new joint for blocking putty to be used effectively; by resisting fluid flow out of the area of an existing joint, it will help you to protect it, when brazing a second joint, if you waste no time. Drilling and threading brass gas tubes: Most brass tubes and pipe fittings that you will buy and turn into burner parts are half-hard brass; this can be drilled and threaded more easily than stainless-steel alloys; however, it can be tricky to tap threads into, or run a die down; it tends to gum up tool edges on dies and taps. Half-hard brass alloys are inclined to compress during threading; this is a form of work hardening. Tapping fluid should be employed during threading; it can be purchased in amounts smaller than a pint). Even cooking oil is better than dry threading. Internal thread: Always tap the internal thread for whatever part you employ as a gas orifice first. Cut the external thread second. Tubing sizes may be a little small inside; in that case use the recommended drill size to enlarge it before running internal thread with a tap. If the tube is a few thousandths oversize, that is okay. Many novices lack a drill press, and see no use for one; they will be tempted to drill and thread by hand. However, a cheap drill press vice is only about ten dollars, and by placing your parts in the vice before you try hand drilling or threading with a tap, you will stay parallel with the tubing axis, far more easily (trapping your tube in the vice will also help you to correctly start a die down its exterior). Start threading with your tap as perpendicular as possible, and only turn the tap until you can feel resistance suddenly increase (the “quarter- turn and reverse tool to break burr” rule of thumb is not adequate for half-hard brass; instead, you must back off the tap as soon as you feel a sudden increase in resistance to movement. It does not matter how little progress you make before breaking the burr away from the thread end, and starting another twist; have the patience to follow this advice. You are going to be using small (and therefore easily broken) taps of M6x1 or ¼-27 and in size. Also back off the tap every full turn forward, and run it back over the thread you just made to clear burrs, and smooth up the new thread; otherwise, after a few extra twists, so much pressure will be needed to do this, that small taps will break off in the hole, as you attempt to back them out. Be liberal with your tapping oil. Dealing with a broken tap is no fun. Should you break a tap off in the tube, gently tap back and forth on its protruding point, to loosen it in the hole; then, try to back it out with pliers; if that does not work, cut away that section of tube, and try again with a new tap. You should have no need to use a drill bit inside 5/16”x3/16” brass tubing, unless your tubing isn’t actually 3/16” inside diameter; that is not very likely, but these are usually imported parts; you are probably going to be dealing with an ignorant drop- shipper (meaning they “don’t know or care” about actual sizes). External thread: Use the same care when threading with dies as with taps. Dies usually have their description written on the opposite side that is meant to face the work. Be careful to mount the die facing correctly, and grind a bevel on the tube’s end, to help get it started threading at true right angles; if you start the die threading close enough to perpendicular to the tube, it will finish truing itself up, within a twist or two. If the tube is a few thousandths small on the outside, that is okay. If the tube is the slightest amount oversize, your die will have far more work to do; spin the tube in a drill motor, and sand that extra diameter down to size; especially when running coarse thread, like 5/16-18. The coarser the thread the harder it is to run. But the courser the thread the less of it that needs to make contact. 75% contact may be needed in a fine thread, while 50% contact will work just as well in a coarse thread. Even the same outside diameter as the die can be hard to work with. If the first half-inch of thread is difficult to run, consider deliberately sanding the rest of the tube’s length a few thousandths of an inch undersize. Full contact in the first half-inch (at the tube’s end) helps to secure a gas tight joint with a hose fitting, but it is not needed (or especially desirable) on the rest of the gas tube. So why work that hard? After cutting the external thread, chase it thoroughly. Run the die back and forth over the new thread, until it moves easily. Otherwise, this part of your burner will be difficult to adjust for fine tuning. 5/16-18 screw-on flat mounting T-nuts can be reshaped and silver brazed, or silver soldered directly onto small funnel flanges; or they can be screwed onto large diameter metal plates, which are soldered, brazed, or screwed onto large funnel flanges. Rivet nuts (AKA Rivnuts) are internally threaded hollow rivets; they come in several different types, including round splined rivet nuts, which are your best choice for attaching externally threaded gas tubes onto metal mounting plates; they are press fit in place, through deformation, like solid rivets. The main difference is that they are designed to distort easily enough that they can be trapped in place with wrenches. A rivet nut gun is not needed, for mounting a few of these rivets; they will reshape and be trapped into place, centered and perpendicular, on thin sheet metal flat washers, or on cut out sheet metal. This creates a very strong joint that is always perfectly positioned on the mounting plate; they can also be silver brazed or silver soldered into position, if you prefer. Rivet nuts come in zinc plated mild steel, which is best for silver soldering unto mild steel mounting plates; stainless steel, which is best for silver brazing unto stainless steel mounting plates; and aluminum, which forms far more easily than stainless or mild steel, easing mechanical strain on a rivet nut setting tool’s bolt; aluminum is barely strong enough for use as rivet nuts. Materials needed to make your own rivet nut setting tool: (A) One grade #8 (SAE standard) steel socket head cap screw or bolt, of the same thread size as the rivet nut, and at least long enough to accommodate every part on the tool, and still engage all the threads on the rivet nut. The reason to use a high strength cap screw or bolt, is that it is much tougher than a low carbon mild steel cap screw; extra tensile strength is needed when using a small diameter cap screw or bolt as part of your rivet nut setting tool. Mild steel screws and bolts have about one-fourth the strength of high-grade screws and bolts, which are made of medium carbon content alloy steel, that has been quenched and tempered for maximum tensile strength. (B) A minimum of two brass flat washers, to sit next to the flange screw at the head of the bolt (and provide bearing surfaces). Some people even grease these washers. More washers will simply help the bolt to turn more easily. C) Two flange nuts; one is screwed up tight against the bolt head, and a second flange nut that is drilled out or a larger size, to freely slide over the bolt’s thread (it is there to provide a bearing surface between the rivet nut and the turning bolt, with its locking surface on the side facing the rivet head (you do not want the rivet nut to turn in the hole, while being crushed into shape). (D) An open end wrench for the bolt or cap screw’s head, and a small crescent wrench for the flange nut. Drill a hole in the mounting plate that is as close to the rivet nut’s outside diameter as is feasible. A light friction fit would be ideal. The more gap there is between the rivet nut and the hole, the harder your job of riveting will become. The less gap there is between the rivet nut’s body and the hole it gets pushed into, the sooner it starts becoming trapped in place (and no longer able to turn under your tool). Screw the first flange nut tightly against the bolt head. Slide two or more flat washers onto the bolt, beside the first flange nut. Slide the drilled-out flange nut onto the bolt, with its locking side facing the rivet nut. Screw this assembly unto the rivet nut, just finger tight. Push the rivet nut into the hole in the mounting plate. Place the crescent wrench on the flange nut, and the open-end wrench on the bolt or cap screw head. Turn the bolt head until the rivet nut is securely fastened onto the mounting plate, using the wrench on the drilled-out flange nut to keep it from turning, too. You can find several videos of this process on the Net, with variations in nut and flat washer choices. Fender washers come in a limited number of center hole sizes, but it is not much work to drill or grind out a smaller hole to fit a 1/16” larger rivet nut diameter. This trick is even easier, when you need to increase a hole in a sheet metal mounting plate, a little larger than the largest bit that can be chucked in your drill motor. If you cannot find a high-grade cap screw or bolt to use as part of a homemade rivet nut setting tool, then employ aluminum rivet nuts, because 6mm rivets require equally small bolts. Even though small rivet nuts are easier to compress into shape, the problem of breakage grows as the bolt diameter shrinks. Unless they are high strength steel, ¼” and smaller mild steel bolts are likely to break off while being stressed by use as part of this hand tool. Then, malleable aluminum becomes the obvious choice for small rivet nuts. The same factors are present in commercial rivet nut setting tools, and show up as broken mandrels. Why does this happen? Because properly tempering mandrels calls for good quality control, and that is usually absent with cheap tools. For larger rivet nuts (8mm or 5/16” and up) you should choose steel rivet nuts, because, in the larger sizes, many people complain of stripping weak aluminum threads, while the rivet nut is being reshaped. Larger mandrels on the commercial tools (and larger bolts on home-built tools) are much less inclined to break. Note: High grade bolts are easier to find than imported rivet nut tools with properly hardened mandrels; these homemade tools are also inexpensive, and take up little room in a toolbox. Flange nuts: Are special nuts with a flange protruding beyond the width of the hex nut portion its bottom side, which functions as a built-in washer. Most of them also have teeth on the face of that flange, to look it in position (like a locking washer), although some have a smooth faced flange (like a flat washer), and a nylon ring inset into their hex head portion. Smoothed faced locking flange nuts are the best choice to use as the locking washer on a gas tube. You will use two flange nuts as part of your homemade rivet tool, and a third flange nut to tighten the gas tube into axially true position on the gas assembly’s mounting plate. Alternatively, two flange nuts can be used to secure the gas tube on a mounting plate without use of a rivet nut, if need be. One flange nut is silver brazed, or silver soldered to the forward-facing side of the mounting plate. The second nut is snugged up against the opposite face of the plate, to tightly trap the gas tube in an perpendicular position. 5/16”x 3/16” brass tube is 0.3125” outside diameter by 0.1875” inside diameter. 8-millimeter tubing is 0.312” outside diameter. 5-millimeter inside diameter is 0.195”. So, both 8x5mm and 5/16”x 3/16” brass tubing can be threaded for either MIG contact tips, or 3D printer nozzles. The importance of these tube sizes is, that they provide sufficient wall thickness to run exterior thread safely past the interior thread needed for a gas orifice, so that the gas tube can simply be unscrewed from a mounting plate, its gas orifice cleaned, and then replaced, without removing that mounting plate. Both 5/16-18 and M8x1 rivet nuts and flange nuts are readily available online. Thus, mounting plates can be silver brazed in place on any funnel. Your choice of funnels is greatly increased, by not requiring a built-in flange. Mig contact tips are the preferred choice for ¾” (and larger) burner sizes; with the addition of a short section of 0.020” I.D. capillary tube included, they also make the hottest ½” size burners. 3D printer nozzles are far more convenient than MIG tips with capillary tubes, for ½” and smaller burner sizes. 5/16”x 3/16” brass tube, and 8-millimeter tube, can both be internally threaded for 3D printer nozzles with an M6x1 tap; they can also be threaded for Tweco, Lincoln, Forney, and most other 200–400-amp MIG contact tips, with a 1/4-27 tap (the most common thread found in MIG contact tips). Either choice results in a streamlined gas flow between tube and orifice, permitting 2” long gas tubes to function as efficiently as 3-1/2” long 1/8” schedule #40 pipe did, previously. The tube exterior will accept 5/16-18 dies to create external thread for 5-18 rivet nuts (for use on mounting plates). However, 5/16” is only 0.0025” larger diameter than 8-millimeter, allowing it to also be externally threaded to match 8M, or 5/16-18 rivet nuts. 5/16”-3/16” and 8x5mm tubing can both be used to create gas tubes, which are screwed directly into (drilled and threaded on a drill press) ¼” thick aluminum mounting plate, and then locked in position with a flange nut. If you chose a nylon inserted locknut for this, it will stay in the correct position, without need for brazing, soldering, or gluing it on the gas tube, after the optimal distance between gas orifice and mixing tube opening is found (during tuning). Hose barb sizes for 5/16” tube: Barbed hose coupling sizes match the outer diameter of the narrowest portion of the barb; this leaves no room for threads of those same diameter. Therefore, 5/16” barbed couplings can be threaded to match up with 5/16” tube, only through their thickest section. You want to choose a hose barb that has enough length in that section to work well for threading. I suggest cutting short one leg of a straight hose barb; this should provide ½” of thread to engage the external thread on the gas tube, after sealing with thread-locker. Thread-locker comes in hardening and non-hardening types; both kinds are resistant to vibration, and the hardening type makes a stronger bond, but is not designed with the same flexibility in mind. So, be sure that the metals you bond with hardening type thread-locker are metals with similar coefficiencies of expansion; such as stainless to mild steels, or copper to brass, or to aluminum. Not, stainless or mild steel to aluminum, copper, or brass. You want all the parts to expand and contract from temperature changes at close to the same rate. Note: An aluminum mounting plate on a stainless-steel funnel, or vice versa calls for screws and nuts in slightly oversize holes, so that some part movement can be tolerated. Thread-locker for fuel lines, is rated for use with petroleum products, so you can use it to seal parts of your gas line (just remember that the hardening type of thread-locker, which makes such a convenient glue, also prevents the MIG contact tip from being unscrewed for cleaning, without first being heated up with a lighter or match).

So, just what advantages are gained in a burner from increased vorticity (which can be defined as velocity curl) First and foremost is good mixing of the fuel gas with incoming air. Propane takes a fair amount of mixing to burn completely in a primary flame envelope. A swirling motion provides the most mixing for the least drag on your burner’s air-gas mixture flow. Secondly, it speeds-up mixture flow rate through the burner, because the exit speed of air from the conical shaped air entrance, into the burner’s mixing tube, is approximately one-half of its rotational speed. Finally, vortex motion reduces the air flow’s pressure. The primary limit on flame intensity in a burner is how much it can be turned up, before being blown off the burner’s flame retention nozzle. So, lower flow pressure increases how intensely the flame can be run. Of course, a flame retention nozzle decreases mixture pressure in that area; however, the nozzle is limited in its ability to do so. A lower flow pressure into the nozzle greatly reduces the work it must accomplish.