DennisL

Glenn, I had an idea... Have you ever tried dropping in the rotor with the rotor vents still in place (not butchering them like I did), and welding an additional "doughnut" of steel (say, the lid cut off another drum) from the top outside edge of the rotor extending to the drum edge. You weld the whole mess solid so you have effectively created a double layer drum top with a gap the depth of your rotor. Then you put your forced air inlet directly into the space you created, which will blow on the coal through the rotor vents... Think 360 degree side blast with the center hole in the rotor for ash and clinker only... Thoughts?

1 hour ago, NoName said:

Hey DL,

   Any hints with cutting the vents on the disk.

  N.N.F.           Beautiful.               Manchester.         Michigan.           USA  

An oxy/act torch and a six pack of your favorite beer. I started with my 4 1/2" grinder with a cutting wheel but it wouldn't reach the middle with the guard on and was taking forever anyway. I also torched the ring off the hub that had the lug bolts. I then placed my black iron flange on the bottom of the rotor, put the ring in place, welded it to the rotor and laid a butt load of weld on the inside of the hub ring, thereby sandwitching the flange in place and filling the holes in the rotor all at once! Attached is a picture of the backside of the rotor. (Please cut me some slack on the "hammered owl xxxx" welds as I haven't picked up a welder since high school! It will hold, that's all I care about.)

That is the plan eventually. I also thought I read somewhere on this forum that I should pack some clay into the space between the rotor and the outside edge of the barrel. It would only be about 1/2" deep with clay... Not sure what the reason is for doing that though?

Almost done! All that is left is to plumb in the ventilation. You can see from the second photo the height of the hood next to the window I'm going to vent it out of. I'm thinking about just cutting a 12" hole just below the top of the hood and running the pipe out the window far enough out to clear the eve of the roof, then going up about 12'. I have a metal rack that I can put against the building and tie the pipe to, thereby making it temporary and eliminating any need to meet code, all the while NOT tieing into my existing duct work for my heater, violating every building code and potentially burning my shop down! Thanks for the advise guys. Tell me your thoughts please.

Okay, so I made it back over to my shop today. I haven't mounted my railroad rail to anything yet but it's my understanding that it's supposed to be right at knuckle height. The top of my 55 is just slightly above that (like an inch), so I'm scratching the idea of cutting it down for now.

I've got another 55 that I've cut the top off of. I'm going to invert it, cut an arch into it, leaving 2" or so on the bottom, which I will then stack onto my forge and weld at the seem.

I'm going to move the whole mess over next to my shop WINDOW where I can run ventilation out and up without issue. I'm thinking I'll just punch a 12" hole in the side of the hood right next to the top. I can then run the pipe at a slight declining angle out the window, put a drain hole in it right where I'll tie it into two 45 degree angles, then straight up the back of the shop and a few feet passed the top of the roof.

Okay... So... Will this work? (Fingers crossed...)

As far as height, I was going to torch the drum off at the height I want, spilt the edges of the bottom section in a few spots and collar the top with the forge back on and down to the bottom section. I figure that will add to the structural integrity of the entire setup.

I have another 55 drum that I am going to cut a large arch out of the front of and stack on to what is pictured as a hood/flu, which up until now was going to be tied in to existing ventilation. What about piping it out a window? Is there no good way to have a coal forge inside without having to run all new, independent ventilation? I'm new at this and am not real keen on punching holes in my roof for a hobby I haven't ever tried out! I'm in Wyoming where it is freezing with strong winds over half the year, so putting the forge outside is not really appealing...? I'm about to scratch the whole top ventilation and just crack the door open!

7 hours ago, Glenn said:

Any photos of the coal forge and set up?

The quick answer is YES, a bad idea.

Is it a bad idea to tie my ventilation system for my 55 coal forge into the pre-existing ventilation I have in my shop for my gas heater?

I am almost done with the forge and am going to follow up with an additional 55 drum stacked on top with a large arch cut into the face and notches in the back for longer pieces. The location of my forge is almost directly under one of the two gas furnace heaters I have in my shop, which uses a 6" pipe. I'm going to run 6" off the top off the forge and tee into furnace exhaust. Everything I've read says to use 10 to 12", but that is not an option. I am going to put an electric inline blower fan just after the tee but before the pipe goes into the roof, as well as two dampers on each inlet (one on the forge exhaust pipe, one on the heater pipe) so I can open the dampener for which ever component I'm using and close what I'm not.

Any thoughts or suggestions on this matter would be much appreciated.