chris freeman

Well if I want to have forge welding heat at my altitude then that’s kind of what I have to have. Trust me I’ve tried xxxx near every kind of burner. You have a naturally aspirated ribbon burner? How does that work? Do you have any pictures? Because that sounds very interesting?

I was happily forging away in my new ribbon burner forge and as I was working all the sudden my forge went POOF! I need to say it scared the xxxx out of me. I tried to adjust a little bit and it did it again a couple more times almost back to back. I should everything down immediately and got on this forum to find out what that could be. I know one thing I do not want to get blown up. Here is a picture of my set up. Chris

I'm happy...Welding heat achieved easily. Thanks for that idea Neil. I put tabs on by burner body and it does relive alot of stress on the mold. Thans, again for that.

Like I said< Oops!

Ya know, between me and you, I broke the burner because of the bolts. As I was trying to put the plumbing together I thought I had the set screws tight ( I did) and the burner wouldn't move. I'm pretty sure it did push on the side cracking the bond. It just fell right out of the burner body. Thanks for the advice. I will do that. Hopefully the tabs that I have on there will be good but I know that the metal should absolutely not protrude into the forge body.

Frosty, It is basically Mizzou 3000. The Blacksmith and Farrier supply shop that I get alot of my supplies fro sells 55lb bags. I have experience using this refractory as I've had great results in the past. I'm just basically wanting to know if I would crack my burner if I didn't let it cure for the 3 days recommended in the plans for the ribbon burner plans that I printed up from Pine Ridge Burners. Honestly , I don't think I want to go off from the directions. They are written as such for a reason and I don't want any issues with this burner. I was just being impatient. The thing is, The refractory used for the burner is 3" thick so curing time is critical. Here are a few pics of my progress. That burner broke though. I dropped it. Oops Number 2. Lets not brake this one Chris...

So I built a new forge from scratch. It's a ribbon burner forge and everything has gone smooth. Except the fact that I broke my burner as I was assembling the last tube and just about to fire up. Anyway, I have been firing the kao-wool & refractory floor, walls and ceiling every night after letting sit for 6- 8 hours in my oven starting at 195 degrees for 3 hours and then 300 for 3 hours. Of course that has only been 1/2" of cement too. I am curious to know if anyone has fired a ribbon burner after letting sit for less than 3 days. Yes I'm impatient. Especially after almost being done once. I was wondering how long it would actually take for 3 inches to set up and be ready for firing. I'm assuming 24 hours per inch, but has anyone done it sooner? Chris

Honestly It seems that I’ve tried every variation and modification and nothing seems to work. It’s seriously throwing me for a loop. I’m gonna go over everything one more time and like you said take notes and see if I can figure it out. Very frustrating. I’ll get it though.

It’s wool with refractory I apologize for sounding and acting to clueless about all of this. This is the first time I’ve built, ran or even owned an NA forge. It seems to me that I’ve tried everything but obviously I haven’t. Obviously I keep changing everything up all at once. Thanks for the help. Merry Christmas Chris

If that bad? That’s at 7.5 psi. I’ve said before like on my last post that yes I know my forge does not hold in heat worth a darn. I’m wondering if I should close those holes that the nipples are going into off completely.

OK I have a feeling that my Forge is losing way too much heat and that’s why I cannot get up to welding temperature because my forge will not hold in heat. Also I finally got my Venturi burners working and I think their tune pretty OK. Again I still wish I had somebody here that can help me in person but it is what it is. I am using .025 tips cut down about 1/16” so that the Meg tip is about halfway through the T. Whenever I run it on about 8 to 10 psi flames shoot up through the holes that the nipples are in but they’re not going up into the tease at least. They are trying to sputter every great once in a while though. I am still thinking about usingWhenever I run it on about 8 to 10 psi flames shoot up to the holes that the nipples are in but they’re not going up into the tease at least. They are trying to sputter every great once in a while though. I am still thinking about using trying the .030 tips just to see. Monday I will be going to the blacksmith Monday I will be going to the blacksmith and farrier shop to get Either more wall either more kao wool or some bricks or both. I’m thinking about squaring off the inside of the forge. Anyways, more to come and more to forge. Chris

OK I have a feeling that my Forge is losing way too much heat and that’s why I cannot get up to welding temperature because my forge will not hold in heat. Also I finally got my Venturi burners working and I think their tune pretty OK. Again I still wish I had somebody here that can help me in person but it is what it is. I am using .025 tips cut down about 1/16” so that the Meg tip is about halfway through the T. Whenever I run it on about 8 to 10 psi flames shoot up through the holes that the nipples are in but they’re not going up into the tease at least. They are trying to sputter every great once in a while though. I am still thinking about usingWhenever I run it on about 8 to 10 psi flames shoot up to the holes that the nipples are in but they’re not going up into the tease at least. They are trying to sputter every great once in a while though. I am still thinking about using trying the .030 tips just to see. Monday I will be going to the blacksmith Monday I will be going to the blacksmith and farrier shop to get Either more wall either more kao wool or some bricks or both. I’m thinking about squaring off the inside of the forge. Anyways, more to come and more to forge. Chris

I didn’t change the length of the length of the mix tubes to a different length than from the plans I actually cut them down to the length in the plans. 8” to 6”. I’ll send some pics. Basically one of the flare tubes that go into T and receive the mig tips is stripped out. So it not being tight is messing things up. That particular burner is burning way too rich. I switched back out to a.025 and it was worse that with .030. I’m thinking I should try a.035 trimmed down tomorrow after I get a new T and flare. I’m hoping the actual T is not stripped out but I think I threaded it too deep and it made the whole too big since the tap is tapered.

I Know , gimme a bit to figure this computer thing out and I;ll re-send everything.

IMG_1440.MOV IMG_1440.MOV IMG_1444.MOV Ok I have video this time. I fired it upFor the first time and this is what I got. I’m using .030 tips instead of .025 which of what was recommended because of my altitude but I’m thinking more like.035 like the original plans say. I cut my nipples down to 6” instead of 8”. Pretty much everything is at original plans specs. IMG_1438.MOV IMG_1440.MOV

Thomas thanks for the explanation. And I would have to agree 100% about having a vented shop opposed to a warm and toasty death chamber. I'll be fine tuning today and I think I'll go with the 45 degree instead of on top. The forge body is round anyway. I'll keep you all posted. I sure wish there was someone that lived close to me for some one on one hands on advice while fine tuning. I need forge welding temp!! Chris One more question though. is it in fact better to use a .025 tip opposed to a .035 due to the altitude? I'm in Denver. Or maybe split the difference with a .030? Idk. Chris

Re-run meaning??? Do you mean blow-back or as in liquid terms, blow-by, as in coming back up through the burner or through the hole?

Frosty, I'm going directly by your plans but I got 8" 3/4" pipes instead of 6". Also does it really matter where the holes are placed? I was thinking of putting the new holes directly on top instead of at a 45. What is a torch file set? Chris

Questions, questions, questions. Ok, I built a Frosty T burner. In fact I'm building two. I live in Denver. it seems that I,m getting an oxidizing flame. Maybe not though. I've been playing around with it and here's what I've got. First I used a .025 mig tip because I've heard apparently it's better for higher altitudes, but the .035 seems to get a better flame. I did have to cut it off about half way though. How far down should the tip sit in the T? Should I use a 1 3/4" hole with set screws to mount the burners or is that going to cause blow back? or should I use a 1" hole? I wan't to be able to adjust the depth of my burners. I have about 2" of insulation in my forge. Also I think I need to install some air baffles. Idk, I still have alot of playing around to do tomorrow. Thanks, Chris

I guess what I’m trying to achieve is more heat. I’ve had this Forge Designed for about 10 years. It’s a propane bottle forge. It has one burner and it’s the same style burner that came with the original plans. It’s an old style and maybe Which has forced air. I live in Colorado so I was told 10 years ago when I made this forge that that’s what you had to have here. Well, things are different now. There are burner designs that work just fine here in Higher altitudes that are atmospheric. I’ll just go ahead and biuld me two nice T burners. Hopefully I can get up to welding temp pretty easy with that. I haven’t been able to get up to efficient welding temp in a long time and I’m about to just give up on my propane forge all the gather and go back to coal full time. I guess I’ll give this one more shot and build a new burner system. Wish me luck and thanks for everything, Chris Btw If anybody lives close to Englewood Colorado please let me know I could sure use some Forging buddies.

Frosty, I hope all is well. I have a quick question. If I run my single regulator and hose from my propane tank, T it off to two separate burners is that going to give me the same amount of pressure then just having one burner? Because it’s going to cut the pressure in half right? Another words what’s the point in having two burners if I’m running from one regulator and one tank?I’m actually out and in the process of picking up material to build me a dual t burner as we speak. I need to know if I need to go get me another regulator and hose to where I can run from two tanks or the ladder? As always I appreciate your help, Chris

Neil, As I did state in the first or second post, I did normalize. 3 heats. I truly think it decarbed because of too many heats. I guess from the way I worded it it sounds like that. I ment to say, I normalized 3x then brought it back up to temp and quenched. Thanks though.

yes I did normalize it. I brought it up to critical temp then reduced it to just under and quenched. I didn't think I over heated it. They weren't course crystals. they were actually very fine. I actually probably heated it too many times during the forging process. I bet I did get excessive decarb from that.

I've been using canola oil for years now. I've not had many problems except for recently. I have been trying to get a big bowie knife quenched. I forged it out of leaf spring. It would not harden. At least with a file check. The file seemed to dig in every time. I tried 3 or 4 times. Finally I tried water. The file seemed to dig even still but it warped my blade. I tried to straighten it and it broke. The broken ends were very crystallized. I guess it hardened. But why didn't the file skate off? Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Chris