looper567

Out of curiosity, what makes them "equal"? The other guy's unmachined burners? The turkey fryer orifices? The cheap import no name regulators? The hit or miss fit and finish? Or, depending on the model... The exposed shell at the end openings (no insulation)? The uninsulated doors? Just what makes them equal? Considerable study? Please share your conclusions... We don't use the same backyard hack and weld fabrication techniques here. Our burner assemblies are machined in-house, we out-source our CNC Plasma work and all of our components are professionally fabricated and welded. I hate to even sell on ebay, because of the comparisons that seem to always get drawn between the HM stuff and ours. This (HM) is the same guy who claimed for years that Dense (hard) Firebrick was a better performing insulator for forges than blanket or ceramic board, but when his sales started slipping after we began selling on ebay, he began using the ceraboard... Now he is claiming his firebrick isn't even firebrick... It's "Dense high silicanized Ladle Brick" (sic) or in his firebrick forge auctions "The liner is hard ceramic, the same liner the large steel mills use to line their steel furnaces. ( This is not fire brick) These liners outlast and outperform wool liners.". Anything for a buck! The truth is, the material Steel Mills use to line "hardfacing" their vessels is, you guessed it, Dense Firebrick. It may outlast a Kaowool liner, but out perform? Not on this planet.

Larry Zoeller makes a manifold kit to hook up 2 20lb tanks together (like RV use), this supposedly eliminates the freezing problems. It's a cheaper alternative to purchasing the larger tanks.

Nevermind, I just checked my PM, Sorry. I will get those in the mail ASAP!

Have you called? I didn't have anything in my voicemail.

What is your forge insulated with?

I hope the phone call answered your questions. If you need anything else, just call me at 704-948-7676.

I would be the guy in NC... PM me your address or call the shop at 7049487676 and I will send you some ceramic board that you can cut to make end panels for that Metal Artist Forge. I will also send you a set of choke plates for the burners. The Metal Artist is handy, but because of it's wide open design, it loses heat quickly. That's the trade off for the kind of access the forge allows. With good insulating end panels, you should see a nice increase in efficiency, and you can remove them when you need more access to the heating chamber. I have seen the red oxide before, but in my case it was from taking a low heat on HR mild steel for bending, it was the mill scale on the material that turned red in my case.

Apply the rigidizer without diluting it. A good spray bottle works well to give you an even coat. The wool will absorb it quickly, and how much you use depends on how deep you want the material hardened. Heck, you can even completely soak the wool prior to installation if you'd like. It will air dry and harden on it own or you can fire the forge to speed it up. The rigidizer will not work as an adhesive.

I've been a member for awhile, just not very active. Seems my motorcycle "problem" keeps me awful busy when I'm not in the shop, so I don't spend alot of time online.... But I appreciate the welcome John!:p

No problem, feel free to call with any questions you may have. Dennis

jjinatx, Call me at 7049487676.

Frosty is dead on the money, excellent post! Here is a photo of my 1 Burner at 13 PSI (.040 orifice), about 5 mins. after firing from a cold start. It's reading 2500.6 deg F, which is the temp limit on the thermocouple being used here. This thermocouple is, for lack of a better word, red-lined, the actual temp here may be higher. I Am currently looking for some K type thermocouples that will read above 2500 deg. F, so I can verify the actual top end temps. This atmospheric forge WILL melt steel...

What I mean by PSI meaning nothing is how it relates to fuel use and efficiency. So many people assume a blown burner running at 2 PSI is more economical than a Venturi burner running at 7 PSI, when the fact is, the Venturi burner may be only using half the propane of the blown burner. How many "well designed" blown burners have you seen while looking through many of the homemade forge building sites? I surly haven't seen many. When the forced air pressure drops, the flame no longer wants to burn at the mouth of the burner opening. Sometimes the chamber will fill with gas and then ignite, shooting a fireball from the forge openings, and other times the flame will burn back into the burners mixer, I've seen both with a commercial unit (Mankel). So the point I was making was PSI has absolutely NO bearing on fuel use and efficiency, as so many imply. A blown burner with a large enough orifice can run off of a BBQ regulator with only 11 Water Column Inches, but still flow a huge amount of LP, it is dependent on the Forced air and Mixing chamber design to create the proper fuel mixture. A Venturi burner depends on pressure in the Bell to create the Venturi effect (high pressure in the bell results in low pressure above the bell). But even with that, PSI still has no bearing WHATSOEVER on efficiency and economy.

Forced air burners commonly have larger orifices than Atmospheric burners. A Forced air burner with a 1/16" (0.0625) orifice will use a little over 3lbs. of propane an hour at 2 PSI. An Atmospheric burner with a .040 orifice needs to run at a pressure of 12 PSI to flow that much propane. From most of the designs I've seen, forced air burner orifices are even larger than a 1/16", I've seen some as large as 1/8" (0.125). PSI means NOTHING, you need to know what the flow rate of the gas is to make any kind of reasonable determination. Forced air systems have their place, when you want very precise control of the fuel/air mixture, but for any Blacksmithing/Bladesmithing, Atmospheric burners with a good choke are all anyone really needs. You never need to worry about the danger of explosions when the blower quits either!

Here is what the machine is capable of. Nice tight clean edges, with no clean up... Time saved versus Plasma and Drilling is HUGE!

Yeah, shouldn't be a problem with punch breakage since the heaviest material I will be working in this is 7ga. mild steel. I've been running these for 22 years and have never broke a punch except for a few 1/4" punches on the CNC Turrets while nibbling (before CNC Plasma and Waterjet became so popular). These machines are pretty tight, and my punch tolerances aren't excessive, so the burrs are minimized. As long as shear blades aren't abused and kept sharp, the edge burrs are minimal as well. If the rake is adjusted properly and you keep your punch oiled, there should be virtually zero deformation. Punch alignment should be checked EVERY time you change out a punch/die set, adjustment is as easy as loosening and tightening 2 bolts. Clean up is simply a matter of dragging a deburring blade across the edge quickly. I've used some clapped-out, abused units that left some nasty burrs, but these Unihydro Ironworkers are some of the nicest (cost/quality) machines I've used. The gloves are a good idea any time you work sheet metal, but I never wear them while punching.

Ordered this puppy 6 weeks ago, thought it would never get here! The electrician will be here Sat. AM to wire it up (I'd do it myself, but I want it to actually work). This will be a HUGE time saver.

A little less heat or a little more speed, keep the filler wire consistent. If you are hesitating while walking it makes the suck back worse. I have found the easiest way to walk the cup is to not think about it. The more I seem to concentrate on the torch movements, the stiffer I become, and my grip as well. Try to keep a loose grip and a free head. Just go with it instead of trying to control it, you'll find the sweet spot. I also prefer a larger cup, it will mean less hand movement to progress with your weld bead. Last round of G6 weld tests on 2" S.S. pipe went smooth as glass. Open root, argon purge, went perfect. Hadn't welded pipe in a while and only ran 2 practice root passes. The trick I've found is don't stress over it...

I bend 'em all the time! I have a 1/2" copper bar, I hold the tip of an electrode on the bar and use the TIG torch to strike and maintain an arc over the electrode where I need it bent. I keep a constant pressure on the electrode and it will begin to bend when it reaches a high enough heat. I have put bends up to 70 degrees in electrodes (2% Th.) like this. The biggest issue is gas coverage when using bent electrodes, but for some jobs, it's the only option. I've had many tell me it's not possible, but I've been at this for 22 years and hold Nuclear, Aerospace and ASME certs and the biggest thing I've learned is that there is A LOT left to learn! Pretty much anything is possible, necessity is the Mother of invention, and there are some pretty talented guys out there doing stuff that makes you go... huh? LOL Funny thing is, it always seems to be the Union guys who tell you this can't be done or that can't be done... I had one yelling at me, telling me you couldn't produce an X-ray quality weld in the flat position with a MIG, even though I had already certified in G2 (ASME Sec. 8) for Stainless, Carbon and Stainless to Carbon with the MIG. He walked away accusing me of being a liar and told me I was a scab welder with a #3 hat size...LMAO The Moral of the story is, never say never, and don't take union welders as seriously as they take themselves!

Metal mostly (Progressive and Thrash), and Southern Rock. Queensryche, DreamTheatre, Motorhead, Metallica, DragonForce... When I'm feeling mellow it's Skynyrd, Blackfoot, Marshall Tucker, Steve Earl's classic "Copperhead Road" album...

The Lincoln MIG and Miller TIG, along with the newest addition, the new ESAB. I also have a Lincoln SP-135 Plus 110V machine...

In order to get that to a 350 cubic inch per burner ratio, you will need to reduce the diameter to about 7.5 inches for a 24 inch long cylinder. Frosty is right on the money about the insulation and the hard brick floor. The insulation will stay in place if you follow his advice, without the use of any retainers (one of mine has survived 4 years... ), and the hard brick floors are durable. Use 1" insulation as it is more flexible and easy to form. Unless you are heat treating large blades or texturing long pickets, do you really need a 24" long forge? You can always make a "plug" to reduce the chambers length when you don't need all that space, that and the Idle Circuit will really save a ton on gas!

I'm guessing you have a 20lb. tank (BBQ size). You can get a manifold and link 2 tanks together to eliminate the freezing, or get one of the 80 or 100lb tanks from Lowe's or Home Depot. Larry Zoeller has the manifold kits for $15.

I've got the tongs down pretty well, I forge the jaws by hand and use the hammer to draw out the handles. This way I can keep everything simple, without having to weld a set of handles on to the jaws. I have done the jaws in the power hammer, but I prefer doing them the "old fashioned" way... The best tutorial I've seen for tongs was in an old issue of the "Blacksmiths Journal". Made my first pair one day on lunch with the issue opened up in front of me on the bench...