Ross_E

Talked to Rex once, before I actually fired it. Pretty cool guy.

At 10psi, I could literally grill hot dogs 6 feet away from the forge.

It was a little scary actually.

I will check on the jet tip location, the website is somewhat vague.

Here are a few images and a description of the intial firing of my gas forge.

If you can't tell, that's a T-Rex 3/4" burner. It is working well, but I do not know if I have it tuned properly. My flame pulsates from time to time, and the flame jumps back to the jet tip from time to time when I am adjusting the PSI and vent slide. The closest I have gotten to the description on the T-Rex website still has quit a bit of orange. Any ideas?

Also, with gas pressure nearing 10 PSI, the flare heats to a bright glow very quickly, and flames leaping from the mouth would make it impossible to actually work with.

The test burn lasted about 5 minutes, 2 of which was warm up.
Note: I will add pictures once I scale them down to fit.

I see.

Well, the 2nd cast is done. It's not as nice as the first one but it's one piece!

Now about the burner placement. I see it is recommended to be placed at an angle.

Question, should the burner be near the middle or closer to one end?

You can de plate the chrome with a simple bath setup, but the chrome will not plate on whatever you use as the cathode so you'll need to use a big one. PM me if you want more info.

Aeneas, thanks for the diagram, that looks like a good idea. I actually thought about doing this and using a soft brink as the floor. My concern was welding temp, from what I understood it might not be a god idea to go that high with wool lining the interior.

Frosty, I just used a mix 3/1 mix of cast refractory/gy[sum cement. The gypsum should be okay if I fire it properly.

Would steel bands be an option?

Any other ideas on how this can be repaired?

I have found an ITC repair kit, it sounds promising, has anyone used it?

What are you making??????? If it's a gas forge, why not just use a piece of 8-10" pipe?

I have always been interested in metal work, forging is my third attempt.

First I bought a mill in hopes of making 1911 frames before I realized it was too expensive, the mill now sits with a hogger and no power.
I then tried casting before I realized the furnace in my company's lab would only melt aluminum. I also figured out that nothing useful comes from casting!

I'm not building a forge, and I've realized it's the least expensive form of metal work, and also the most rewarding!!

I've had a set back, hopefully I can re connect it so I won't have to begin all over.

As you can see, my cast broke into two pieces as I removed the plastic container. I basically pressed the container to try and separate the suction between it and the mold, instead it split it in half.

Here are my ideas.

-Use gypsum cement in small amount to re connect the pieces.
-Use steel bands to re connect them.
-Both
-Do nothing, just set one on top of the other.

Any other ideas?

Frosty, I noticed you mentioned this before about the best time to put the holes in it. Will it not be able to be drilled once it's totally set?

BTW, I didn't find any sonotube in my area, I had to go the stove pipe route.

Space heater it is then, set to medium ~ 80F.

Thanks man!

Hey guys,

I cast my forge exactly 48 hours ago, and it's still mushy. It's just soft enough that I would not be able to remove it from the mold.

The mix is Ultra Express 70, and I used a somewhat high slump, but nothing extreme. The cast is a 10" tall cylinder with a 6" inside diameter and walls of 1" (making it 8" from side to side).

According to the data sheet, set up can take up to 48 hours, but I would expect something much harder by now. It has been cool outside, around 42F at night (I live in Florida).

Is this an issue? Should I take a heat gun to it or set up a space heater near it? I wish I could take it out of the mold but I think it's too soft.

That's about 15 less then a factory sealed jar. I just don't know why there would be liquid, mine was like hard paste.

Still, newspaper and flimsy containers are not the way to ship stuff.

After looking at the pictures of the ITC half point containers, that is not the way they should ship such material. I wouldn't except it.

That's what your wonton soup comes in, not ITC-100.

Newspaper, garbage bags and wonton soup containers, not what you would expect to receive your refractory in, huh?

This is what a pint of ITC-100 should look like. ITC-100. Mine actually had a layer of wax paper around the lid to protect from leak.

I would compare what you paid with what a factory sealed pint from other websites charge to see if they actually "kept the price down" by dipping into their bulk supply. If you paid what would get you a factory sealed package, I would have an issue. If you paid less, then it's expected that they would package it themselves.

Now the poor packaging is a whole other issue, if I received something that had leaked due to what I thought was poor packaging, I would return it.

If you don't mind, how much did you pay for the ITC?

Ross

I'm having trouble finding an outer shell to house the refractory. I've been to ever hardware and paint store in my area and they have all said the same thing, no one sells metal anymore.

Here are my option if I want to use a cylindrical steel housing.
-Just buy the steel bucket with acetone or whatever in it.
-Find an old one.
-Go to a machine shop and just have something made.

I've also thought about building a rectangular housing and casting a rectangular refractory but still have the chamber as a cylinder. This would be easier then finding something to cast the chamber with (no luck finding Sonotube in my area)

Another issue I am having is deciding wheter to "float" the hard cast shell in the 2" wool, or to cast mounts on it. I'm just wondering "legs" on the shell would create a heat sink effect because the surface area would be greatly increased.

Any ideas?

You don't NEED both products, ITC-100 will do it's job without a rigidizer. However ITC-100 isn't a rigidizer and won't provide the protection to the Kaowool and it won't protect YOU from Kaowool's little airborne particles.

Of course you aren't likely to get silicosis till after a couple decades of regular exposure but why risk it at all?

So, I'd say use both. Rigidizer first (follow the directions) then the ITC-100.

Frosty

I see. I am familiar somewhat with those forms, but I am a little lost.

Are you saying you cast two shells, wrap the smaller shell with wool and lower it into the larger one? If so I understand completely.

Seeing how the inner shell will be floating, is it recommended to compress the wool?

Also, I notice you left out any mention of a outer steel housing. Is it recommended to use the large cast as the outer most layer?

Thanks a bunch!

Frosty:

I'm glad you mentioned this about the soft brick because I was thinking about applying my pint of ITC onto that brink, which would be a waste of the ITC. I actually cracked one of the bricks as I removed them from the box today.

What would be your ideal order of material?

I was thinking chamber > ITC > cast > wool> shell.

I have bought the soft brick, but after examining it, breaking it and speaking to people I'm wondering where it will fit into my forge as I am leaning towards a cylindrical.

UPDATE: I've acquired the materials to begin the forge.

Here is what I went with:

-Superwool - Rated for 2300F
-Soft fire brick
-ITC-100 HT

These are the two designs I am trying to decide between.
-Cylindrical Design
-Simple Brick Design

Of course I would not build these exact forges. If I went with the cylinder, I would look for something heavier then a metal bucket, and if I build the brick I would build a little but larger. I don't have any way to weld, so I am stuck using other methods.

Is there a preference amongst smiths when it comes to the shape of the chamber?

Note: Heat source with be a 3/4" TREX propane burner, volume of the chamber whichever it will be will be based on his websites data sheet.

Thanks!

Personal preference
your basic Insulated Firebrick
(precluding a cylinder unless you miter the bricks by hand)
and Plastech 85P as a hardface
(a high alumina phosphate bonded plastic, max temp 3100F, rated for direct metal contact, Thermal conductivity 2.12 W/m C, modulus of rupture after 650F 2000 lb/in2
after 2550F 2700 lb/in2, at 2550F 500 lb/in2) Runs $80 per 55lb bag


get the best of both worlds, a highly insulative barrier with low thermal mass and a thin strong and chemically resistant hardface with a high thermal mass. that will withstand considerable abuse. But then my experience is architectural where the forges where beat on daily by the stock in them. It would have an acceptable thermal inertia, and excellent durability.

But it wouldnt be cheap, and youd have enough hardface for a few forges
Given its shelf life hard to not see some of it go to waste. Upside its resistance to flux should be good.

Frosty, believe it or not, the image you are looking at is of the other axis. I know it's kind of hard to make out as it's done using MS Paint. The overlap of the wall would be to allow a secondary blower to create a an atmosphere that would allow what you probably call reducing without fire outside the door.

I now know that this is not a typical design, and whether it would work efficiently or not, I am going to just basically lean on others experience and go with a proven idea.

No advice on even brand names????

bttt


Thanks