Peppie

Want to fab up a surface grinder for my 2 X 72. Looking for ideas, info, plans,and links. TY

TY guys, I have a tarp that covers the side were the bench and the leg vise or located. I pull it down when I work out there. I have some bypass door hardware to be mounted for two sides away from the forge. Just haven't got to hanging it yet. I will use the same metal siding for the door panels. That should block the weather and keep most the heat in during winter forging.

TY Thomas, yes I have access to a machine shop, and a heat treating co. These dies are for a hydraulic forging press rated at 24 tons. They will be used to form, flatten, and shape hot carbon steel. The run time of the press will be approximately 8-20 hours per week. Dont mind paying for quality material. IMO it is cheaper in the long run.

Thomas powers, What Information or details is needed?

TY Frosty, Going to keep this first attempt simple, drill some holes in it for a rain drop. Need to work on building some dies for the press. Now that I have really used it, I have a much better understanding of what I need, for what I want to do

Was wondering if I could fit a semi- well tooled forge in a small space... so far so good.

Proof is in the pudding.

Which alloy is best used for forging press dies? What hardness? Also what product is recommended to coat the dies to help prevent the hot metal from sticking to the dies?

Paragon, thanks again. I will get some perforated metal and do a bit of tweaking once it arrives

TY Paragon, Where did you come across the perforated sheet metal?

Paragon I am in the habit of leaving on the blower after I have shut down the gas. (Previous forge was forced air) The air gas mix enters the system about 4" prior to a 90 degree bend. Then it is a straight 16" to the entrance of the plenum. Do you think that 16" and the 90 degree elbow is enough to get a sufficient air gas mix? Or should I fashion some type of mixing spiral and insert it into a section of the 16" straight run?

I did notice yesterday after about an hour of it running, the flame had settled down lower to the burner. TY for the input. This is my first RB. The more ya know the better.

Paragon, Yes I can control the gas with the regulator, a long with a needle valve. The air is adjustable via a gate valve. My understanding is the flame should not touch the burner head. Keeping the casting cooler. Am I out in left feild?

Mikey, I believe so. Today I welded up a 4"x2"x2", 12 layer Damascus billet. All went well.

After a number of heat cycles, I brought this forge up to full temp today. OMG!! I am very pleased with how it came out, and more so on how it work. I waited until darkness fell to film this to get a better view of the fuel rich swirl. Tuning is a breeze with the gate valve, and the needle valve. This thing ROARS! 20190526_213117.mp4

TY JHCC Got her all plumbed in, and setting on its permanent home. Been doing some short low temp burns, after I baked the burner in the wife's oven for a few hours. Shhhhhhhh. Going to slowly increase the temp and burn time for two more day before turn the inside a nice orange ish white. I will post up a video of the swirl soon. How far off the burner block should the flame be? 1/4"? 1/2"? 1" ? Looking for that sweet spot. 20190524_185226.mp4

Pulled the burner out of the mold today. Looks great. I used Bic Pen Blanks for the ports.I used toilet bowl wax ring on the form for a easy release agent. I thought it best to angle the ports a bit so the flame wasn't pointing directly on the side of the forge. Got some heat cycling to do next.

This is how I held the wool and refactory in place on my shell

Frosty, It will be a few weeks before I can lite it up. Wife has me boxed into to a honey-do list. She bought new furniture, and I have a crap load of painting to do just so the color of the new pillows dont clash with the walls.. Go figure??

I have a 100lb tank, with a 40lb back up. One of the advantages of a ribbon burner is the ability to run the burner at a lower psi in turn using less fuel.

Got the base bricked, and refractory spread. Fabbed the ribbon burner. Coated the door and the back of the forge body, before I ran out of gas for the day

No one has gone down this path? I just bought 60 Bic ink pens. The cap to these is about 1/32 larger in diameter of the pens body. Wonder how deep the pen lid should be set into the burner? 1/8" ? 1/4" ?

Had some time to work on the new forge. Has a few coats of high temp paint. Installed 2 , 1" layers of wool. Fabbed up the floor/stand. Next will be the insulation for the floor

TY both for taking time to educate me on this subject. The working pressure will be 2500psi . The single stage pump ( preferably) between 3 to 4 gpm. The ram is 4" bore. Looking to get (fingers crossed but not holding my breath) a minimum 1" per second speed. I would even consider a 3" bore if it would yield me 12-16 tons. And increase the ram speed. It seems that most all the 3hp or larger motors are 3ph. In that case I would need to purchase a converter. That would increase the price to the point were it would work better for me to piece together a power pack with a single phase motor.

Thanks for offering up some reasonable options Frost. It is much appreciated. On my last press build I used a 2 stage 11gpm pump powered by a 3450 rpm 5hp single phase motor. The second stage pushes the 5" bore at 3 gpm. Giving the ram speed .59 " per second. I found that comfortable while using this 24 ton press. For the new press I am designing, I will be using a 4" bore x 6" stroke cylinder. I "assume" I will need a pump that will provide a minimum of 3gpm to achieve the same speed as the 24 ton press mentioned above. I am not so much worried about the total tonnage of this new build. Anywhere fro 12 to 18 tons would be acceptable. If I am able to increase the speed of the 4" ram for a reasonable price ,I would like to have it closer to 1 " per second, but doesn't need to be more than 1.5" per second. Not sure how to relate ( or calculate) psi into this scenario The units you mentioned in your reply were much more affordable for my build, as opposed to the units I thought I may need to pull this build off. You have given me new hope. Popeye needs a little brother. Peppie