Rob Garner

Thanks for the comments. I just remembered that I have about half a bag of Mizzou castable plus 3000 degree refractory left over from my smelter project (if it's still usable and not a solid chunk). If it is still good I'll just build a form and cast some replacement floor inserts. Stay tuned.

Update: The good It definitely gets to welding temp. Had a job come in to bend some 1" diameter 303 stainless at 90 degrees. Wasn't sure I could do it with the bender I have so I tested it with some 4140. Cut three pieces to 13" long and put them in the forge then lit it up. Took about 15-20 minutes to bring them to what I call bright orange. When I went to pull the first piece out it was stuck to the mild steel rack that I use to keep the stock off the forge floor. After getting it unstuck and out of the forge I noticed that it was sparking just a little bit, which I believe is one of the ways to tell when steel is hot enough to forge weld. The bad This was the third time the forge has been run for an extended amount of time. It has destroyed (burned through, melted etc.) the stainless insert and the 2600˚ fire brick floor has a good size hole melted about half way through under each burner. The brick is a little over 1" thick. So, do I drop the coin on some higher temp rated bricks or just keep a few of the 2600 on hand and just replace them as needed? Anyway, the job was completed and the customer was more than happy with the pieces.

Thanks. Yes it could. But the material just breaks because it's a medium carbon steel.

Well, I must say that it works better than I had expected. I made a small rack to heat 5 pieces at a time and it had no trouble keeping up. The job was hot bending the previously mentioned 1044 blanks. I managed to get 69 pieces formed in 2.5 hours. The forge was set at 15 psi. at the start and took approx. 25 minutes to heat up with 5 pieces in it. I left it set that way because of how often the door was being opened. Started with a 100 pound bottle that was about 3/4 full and probably used about 20 or so pounds. Also need to get a better thermocouple. The one I had for my digital multimeter was good for 1800 degrees was melted at some point. Was to busy to really pay attn. to it.

xxxx xxxx It's been awhile since I started this. Well it's update time finally. Almost forgot about this thread. The forge has been completed and is functional. Made some modifications since the last pictures were posted. Starting with the burners, decided to make custom ones based on some made by David Hammer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxzdqcPzXj8 The concept is the same except mine have stainless flares machined from solid round that also locate them in the forge body. The mig tip adapters are machined for a slip fit in the burner tubes assuring they fire straight down the center of the burner. The tubes are 1.25" od x .25" wall dom tube. The air inlet holes were given a large chamfer and then polished along with the inside of the tube to smooth out the airflow. Plumbing changes consist of swapping the needle valve for a much better hydraulic one (the burners remain stable down to 1/2 psi in idle mode). Also changed all the compression fittings over to flares. The copper tubing is 3/8". The insulation consists of two layers of 1" blanket. The first is a full wrap and the second is fit around the ifb 2600 firebrick floor. I also formed a 16 gauge stainless sheet insert for if/when I try welding. The paint is just high temp header flat black. This was the first fire up. (Sorry my camera sucks anymore.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPIhPe4gDfQ Doing some testing with it at work today gave these results. Material: 3/8" x 2 1/2" x 12 3/16" 1044 blanks. I lit the forge and let it run for about 2 minutes at 15 psi. then put a piece of stock in. It took 3 minutes flat to get the entire piece to a bright orange color. Still have more testing to do but so far I am pleased with the results. If everything goes right I'll be using it on a job at work next week and will try and get more pictures and some video for you guys.

Thanks for asking. Unfortunately no. Between last summers ungodly hot and humid weather and :Homer voice: stupid family issues :homer voice: it has been languishing in storage. With the weather getting better I am hoping to get it finished here soon. I have everything on hand already, just need to get to it.

Thank you. [Dr. Evil voice] for one million dollars... [Dr. Evil voice] Thanks. No, they are just pieces of 1" gas pipe that were sand blasted after forming. Sorry can't help you with the stainless flares. Thank you

Thanks for the compliments folks. They are appreciated. It's still in the mock up phase. Once everything is finalized it will get finish welded and then sand blasted before painting. Thanks for the response. I'll start with a pint and go from there. I don't anticipate using it much at first, it's more for the occasional weekend project.

First, I would like to say thanks for a great site. For my first question (and definately not the last), can anyone give me a rough estimate on how much ITC-100 it will take to cover an area that is 16" long by 9 1/2" in diameter? I am still working my way through old threads but have not found an answer yet. After looking at what seemed like hundreds of pictures, I chose to start with an 11 gallon air tank from Harbor Freight. Mainly because I couldn't find a suitable piece of pipe locally. Started out by cutting off the front end cap (the rear is identical), drilling the burner holes and bending up a front mounting foot. Then rolled a reinforcing ring out of 1/8"x1 1/2" flat stock. Next up was a hinge for the door. Then the mounts for the propane manifold and the door latches. Still need to make the handles. The plumbing and burners. The door work openings. Front is 3" x 4" and the rear is a piece of 2 1/2" i.d tube. How it sits as of now. Still have a little ways to go but I am happy with the way it is turning out. The insulation. Thinking about adding a 2" wide x 1/8" thick ring around both ends of the body and the doors to hold/protect the insulation and to provide a place to put a rope seal of some kind. Something like this: When the stand gets built I will add a long work rest to it as well as channels to hold the soft firebrick in case the doors need to be removed. For the removable floor I am thinking of forming/casting it out of mizzou castable plus mixed 3 to 1 with foam micro beads (bean bag fill). Have about 2/3rds of a bag left over from my smelter project.