SamT

I have an old shop press that my grandfather gave me when he shut down his shop. The only markings I can see are on a tag on the top crossbeam that says Red Arrow Towbar mfg. U-20590. It's one of the smaller presses that takes a bottle jack for power. I just want to find out if it will handle a 20T air/hyd. It has channel iron uprights and channel crossbeams. I can get measurements if it will help with an estimation.

Thanks Dan. I'm going to get the forge built and see whether it needs it or not. Right now I can't get to a yellow flame idle before it flashes back in the tube unless I partially choke the intake, so maybe a chokeplate will let me find a medium - so it'll idle down and still go full blast with good mix. Idle with open intake may be better in the forge, going to test on that.

My burner is complete! A 3/4-1 1/4 bell reducer works beautifully as a flare on this one. It holds the flame right to the top end of my 60 psi regulator. I'll repeat that duct tape anywhere on a 150k+ btu anything is dumb! I was corrected before anything catastrophic happened, you may not be so lucky. For those interested, my 3/4 tube is a 10" nipple, screwed into the reducer on the tee on one end, and screwed into the 3/4-1 1/4 bell on the other, no cutting required. I think maybe the internal threads on the reducer help to create tubulence, so it works even though its much more than a 1:12 taper. A 3/4-1 reducer may work, but hey, mines working now so I don't wanna mess with it. My forge will have a 2" burner socket, so the size is no biggie for me.

Thanks Thomas! That's a great idea. My cousin just bought my grandmother a new grill, may still have the old one.

What do you guys use for forge stands? I have some 5 1/2" pipe, probably 1/4 wall. I was thinking of welding this to a truck brake drum (think kenworth, not chevy) for a stand if my dad can get me one. If not then I'll weld three feet onto it, possibly with wheels on two. What is a good height for the forge floor? I'll basically be copying zoeller's brick forge. Just want some input so I can start on the stand while I wait for brick.

Hmm, well my chamber will be 162, so I may get huffing too. Should have no problems welding though! Lol.

I hope I can do half as well! Lol, may find out next weekend if brick comes in.

I imagine both would have been quite grizzly. The hand slides on the handle of an axe though, so more abrasion?

I wonder how a long, thin ribbon burner spanning the entire length of the forge would work. Should heat about as evenly as possible. Refractory cement is expensive to ship though if you can't find it locally.

I bet, they look nice. Too bad there's that note on his site about not being able to fill orders till august or I would have ordered one. Heck, I probably would have ordered the sidearm kit and bricks from him as well! Ok on the info being in the thread, nice resource for anyone building a burner. I may try one of those as well, looks like it takes about $20 worth of fittings, less without the brass, that stuff is $$$

Gwen, I didn't see it mentioned, but if that tank held any kind of pressurized fuel ie: propane or butane, make sure to fill it to the brim with water before cutting. I would leave it full of water while cutting it too. Can't be too careful with that cutting into a closed vessel that held fuel. Even an old oil barrel can explode due to fumes still in the container. If you cant get the valve off of the tank drill into the end with a holesaw and fill it that way, but be sure there is no pressure inside when you start to drill. Edit: Or is that what you were doing with the pump up sprayer? If so, carry on. :P

Check out zoeller's site, Sidearm Burner. I built a sidearm burner, but I couldn't find the ward tee, so I used a normal 1 1/4 tee and a 1 1/4 - 3/4 reducer fitting, still burns good, check my post "Hillbilly Sidearm" for a couple pics. Phil, I'm getting an error when I click on any of the links in the first post on your link.

10-4 Phil, devinately don't want silicosis. Scratch the kiln shelf, found some 3k fire brick on evilbay. Auction says only one available, but he says he has more, trying to figure out how to order more than one, ebay wont let me.

Ok, sorry about that. The duct tape is off of the burner now, and I wont re-light it until I can get a proper flare worked out. I understand someone may see what I did and think that duct tape is a suitable hith-temp material... That could turn out bad. Just to be clear to everyone - DUCT TAPE IS NOT ACCEPTABLE, THIS BURNED JUST LONG ENOUGH TO TAKE PICS AND I SHUT IT DOWN!

So duct tape where the burner stays cool requires EMS on hand? Like I said, I just wanted to see if the burner made fire, and it does, so it won't be lit again till it has the permanent flare. Probably won't be lit again till I have the injector remade straight. Has anyone tried putting a grill ignitor or spark plug in the 3/4 tube? Would the flame catch and blow out to the flare?

Just noticed the pictures arent clickable. At least to me, so I'll try a attatching files.

As promised, pictures of the nighttime burn. Somewhat less than max pressure. On up there, not quite sure how high but i think the regulator had just a little of its 60psi left in reserve, need to get the guage on. Yellow flame at the tip of blue is dad playing with a stick. Thing just roars when its running this high! Quite surprising that it runs like this with my drunken mig tip, sloppy injector tube fit and BO-BO (technical term) flare. happy camper. B)

Thanks Phil. I'll go ahead and order the kiln shelf then. Don't worry, it will be backed up by the 2600* firebrick base.

Got my burner burning! Could not find a Ward reducer tee, or any reducer tee for that matter, so I used a straight 1 1/4 tee with a 3/4 reducer. Yes... That is duct tape... I'm good like that. Tried a 3/4 coupler screwed on the end, but it wouldn't hold the flame, thats 1 1/4" DOM scrap just slid on. Lit it and slid it till it smoothed out, then sealed the back with duct tape. THIS IS ONLY A TEST, I PROMISE! I'll likely try a 3/4 - 1 1/4 bell, easy to replace if it works! Another problem is that my mig tip isn't straight. Didn't wanna bother with the lathe, so I used the hand drill. Only off by about 10* Still roars like a jet though! Will fix that as well as soon as I can buy another plug... will use lathe next time. This is my regulator, $20 at tractor supply. It's a Mr Heater 0-60psi. The Ghetto flameholder in the first picture will hold the flame with this little guy cranked wide open! Will take fire pics tonight, only thing visible now is heat monkeys and boards that burst into flame within a second of being put 2' from the end of the burner.

Got an email from Clay Planet. My hard firebrick is out of stock, he offered a refund on them, so I took it. Now, will a 1" thick kiln shelf be a sufficient floor for a welding capable forge? The site says Cone 10, and the chart says thats a final temp of 2381*F at 270*F/Hour surely they'll take more faster than this... I hope... 11"x 22" will give me some overhang on the 9"x 18" forge base, but I doubt it would be a problem as long as I dont hammer on it I could call one of the momument companies around here and see if they could cut it, or is there a way to cut it myself? Dry masonry abrasive blade?

Thomas, I ordered soft and hard brick, and 3k* mortar, going to follow the design on zoeller's site. Only difference is my hard brick is 1.25" thick instead of .75". About to head out now to get a regulator and some parts for a sidearm burner. I may want to try welding in it, so I'm going to go ahead with the 3k* brick floor. Bought it from www.clay-planet.com if anyone needs a source.

Thanks phil. I'll take a look at the link in a second. I wonder how much more efficient a T-Rex or the 1/2" variant would be, as in how long would it take to recoup its higher price in gas savings. Probably not enough difference to justify the $125-$150 spent.

http://www.jamesriser.com/Machinery/GasForge/PropaneForge.html This looks like a nice little forge to copy. Any comments before I order the brick tonight? Should I coat the inside with itc-100? Should I get a kiln shelf for the floor? An inch of kitty litter? Stainless pan? The reil burner looks simple enough, but isn't the mini-mongo more efficient? Sorry for all the questions. I do have a 7x12 lathe, if it matters on burner building.

WHOOPS! I lied, the bricks at BCS are 2.5" thick. Can't edit posts with my phone...

BCS brick is soft 2300*F brick, 9 x 4.5 x 1.25. 12 bricks for $74, shipping included. Not sure if that's a good price, but I'm in a pretty rural part of MS, so closest pottery place will probably be in oxford, about 70 miles away. I have to admit that I have No idea about a pottery supply anywhere in MS, can't find any info. Round trip would cost me about $35 in my truck to oxford, so they'd have to be a good bit cheaper. You think regular old red clay would work for a floor? Or better to go with soft brick topped with kiln shelf or hard brick?