KENR2600

I hadn't cranked it up to it's max yet. As it got to temp to get my metal orange, I backed it down to 6-7 on the pressure. It runs good on both burners up to 20-23. On the primary alone 25+ …. I yet to know how hot this thing can get- especially if I choke down that hole....

SO, I made some tongs.... things seem to be working fine. So, for lack of an actual job to do - and to learn my equipment and materials, I decided my big deal for the day will be to see how hot I get stuff, and straighten a piece of coil spring. From fire up to flame out, about 20 minutes. Everything seems to be up to snuff. I chucked the piece in, and lit it up. The last 3 photos - working temp at 20 minutes. Then, the afterglow after shutting it down and closing all the valves - and the no longer coiled spring. I think working out tooling, and just learning how the metal works and moves will be my initial "fun".

So, I made a forge. Finally fired for the first time today to full heat. SO, now what? I need tongs. I had a pair of old fireplace tongs - scissor style with bad rivets - pretty chintzy. So, I separated the parts, flattened the ends out a bit, and rolled the noses over to get a bit of grab and bite. Voila!! 15 minutes later, a pair of serviceable tongs with a springy grip handle to them. Nothing pretty, nothing fancy, but perfectly useful.... kinda like me....

I started tall. It seems more comfortable. But, I wasn't sure how I'd like it, so I went with tall. It'll be easier to shrink it, if desired, than to stretch it.

I'd rather the flames hit the wall up higher, but my "hard coat" got too close on the entry ports, and restricts my ability to turn them up further.... still. not bad for a first shot - in my "newbie" opinion....

… not sure what your coating is - looks to be a matrikote or some such painted right on a 2" blanket wrap. As it goes through heat cycles - it WILL shrink and expand a bit - a good chance through use- the blanket will stabilize, and successive recoats may hold without cracking out down the road. Be sure it is super dry - and then cure the finish coat at moderate heat for short bursts, and it may help. ANY moisture left in the coating or sucked into the insulation will make the problem worse... not that it appears actually problematic - yet... Everything needs time to settle itself into "normal" from cold to super hot cycles.

After just over a year's layover - from health, wealth, and time issues - I finally got my insulations, liners, and the like. Finally, the forge gets to spit some fire. A bit of trouble with the primary burner spitting at low pressure - idle basically. Once it turns up 4-5 psi, it seems fine. A whiff of a breeze over the intake cup solves it. Everything else looks nice. Can't help but wonder if I have a small leak at the junction of the mig nozzle.... The photos show 8-10 psi - the shorter video is my "dragon's breath" with the pressure maxed up at about 25 psi, and the back hole blocked completely. The unit had been running about 5 minutes on the front burner 2-3 on the back. The finished space is about 5-1/2" wide by 14" deep. P1030221.avi P1030225.avi

same as Mikey pointed out on your other set-up... the t should be a reducer type with larger intake ends than the output. From there, getting your jet size and distance will make the difference.

...having had a similar issue on a different design... I ground down the tops of my reducer intakes to an angle into the cup...instead of the flat tops. That alone , I went from barely enough air to more than I need, and need to choke it down. Having it draw air in from the very edge instead of across the flat surface and then down into the obstruction of your gas jets, it should greatly improve the draw past the jets. The smaller tip with a greater velocity of fuel should increase the suction and mix.....

It is going to get much smaller on the inside along the way. I expect when done, it will be whisper quiet, cool as a cucumber, practically feed itself infinitely on a whiff of fuel, and even start shaping metal before it even comes out.

Well, I found an item for use as an end cap to this forge. What better use for an old dish? And I have 2 - so I will be able to cut out a slider type door in the one, with the proper concave and angles to match. It will take some more tinkering about, but - that's what I can do for now. I added the porch - and did some plumbing - all leak tested and tweaked up. Still no dough for refractories - so playing with the rest of the project - caps, doors, the cart - plenty to fidget with yet!

There are future plans for a real backer - with door, or cap dome, or some such. But in the meantime, I built space enough on the back of the cart to build the brick wall in a frame to serve the need... I'll keep it minimal at cost for now, while waiting to see what great ideas or adaptations I would like to add along the way... I even have a vague notion of using the other 1/2 of the tank this was made from, building another similar - and if needed for a long project - could potentially back to back them, making a nearly 4 foot forge...

So, forgive the color schemes..as all the parts (except propane valves). none of it is planned, and all stuff on hand. In fact, the shell is Honda - Tahitian green, mixed in a color match from 2004, a few years on the shelf - but paints just fine. The burner bracket - Dodge "prowler yellow" - also an old mix. some craft paints while building the burners just for fun.... So far, it has been an interesting build, but put on hold. I haven't come across a dime to invest in insulating, and found no one around with freebies - or mostly no clue what I'm talking about.... Plenty of tinkering to do yet anyhow, so - we will be patient and see what the universe brings...

found this one at a last chance shop before scrap-it. I figuring 130# don't know what the v3 is for - and not sure what that side casting is supposed to be.... 50 bucks... I'll take it. Actually, I had to get the wife to go get it , since they were kind enough to load it for her...

I was thinking of a wide bowl type floor raised up. I wasn't sure the best way to support the floor. I figure to invest in a kiln shelf floor - and saw a recommendation to use some segments as wall sides out at an angle. Then using other material to make a curved floor up. The perlite lift, some rigidized blanket, and a shelf floor? Would shelf posts work under that to keep it lifted, while it sets on the blanket/perlite? Or will they not like the environment - or conduct heat through...??? I was thinking to bring the floor up to the bottom of the door area, about 3" up. I like the idea of a fairly wide floor for odd objects...or multiple pieces... or...... Plus, I thought a wide pan with rounded up sides would really help promote some good flame swirl in the forge and armor up the sides a bit too. I had considered just bracketing in a steel floor, and then just do the blanketing and such over that. But that will create an empty air space underneath. I don't know what that would do to the overall environment inside.

I figure they are about forge ready... I've tinkered the jets, nozzles, tubes, and just about everything else to overcome their known shortcomings. They seem to be suitable - nearly satisfactory (which for a fiddly nit-picker is hard to obtain). Now they need a forge atmosphere to work in....the next hurdle. Of all the odds and ends I've got around - refractories aren't among them. I've got a 15" round shell. I want to take the bottom 3" up and level-ish floor it. I'm not sure what to do with that null space at the bottom... but that's a whole different discussion, tangentally associated with the burners...Should I bring that over to Forges101 - or start it as my own New Topic? BTW... I will show my burner construction, but DON'T recommend anyone try to follow it. The instructions on how to build one properly will be MUCH easier to get right. These are pretty much made on a question of - Can I do it with what I've got? Which took way more work tinkering and modifying than just following the Reil plan as drawn. Nevertheless, I love a challenge, and you HAVE to learn the whys of the hows to see what's going on.

Photos - the white is no flash, the secondary flame shows more longer than the eye sees - the color is shifted more to blue/purple than the eye sees. The darker photo is flash on. The primary flame becomes more red/blue and the secondary flame nearly disappears. The closer cut, I edited the photo to bring the primary flame as close to true color as I could get it. The secondary flame becomes more visible, yet more translucent than seen by the eye. The video is super bright and blue/red compared to the naked eye, the secondary flame is much more purple on video - but the extent of it can be seen - plus some you can't. These were a few minutes after lighting, on a lower pressure showing about 6 psi on the gauge. P1020935.avi

Photography and video of what the eye sees is pretty tricky it seems. I can get good color of the primary - if I hit the flash. The secondary flame disappears mostly... without flash, the exposure seems too long, and whites and brights show up more so than by the eye. This is especially true it seems of video. There is no white to be seen by the naked eye when shooting the attached video. You can see white and blue, and watch the blue change. What I was seeing, was green off blue primary, and the blue changing to purple as the air was choked out. The only white I could actually see was to come around and look up into the flame nozzle, and it was nearly white there. It is much brighter on video exposure. P1020931.avi

As I have been tinkering and tuning my burners, I noticed the complete change of colors the camera picks up - but most interestingly, when I was looking at the display screen, and canted it a little so I couldn't see the picture, I COULD see the spectrum of light the screen was picking up. It looked like the flame was at least twice as long as what you could see directly on the screen, which also is a little more than what comes out in the picture. This also applied to total dark. I could see the "heat" rising off the flame end. It was easily picking up things the eye could not. I thought it nifty when I saw it...

I hear you. Not sure where you're located - but I can tell you it's been pretty chilly here in NH lately. Throwing some flame around helps a bit...briefly.

I see now, the shoulder it bumps into at the bottom end is basically at wide open for air, also a prime reason for your purple flames - too much air oxidizing(?) the flame... too little it will run green - just right in blue... definitely play with your tuning the tip in and out to the throat to find that sweet spot. Mine, I have to cut and clean a new tip to length to change it. Unfortunately, my computer can't handle the mp4 - it'll come up but only play a frame every 3-4 seconds....

I'll agree with Buzkill - if in fact that choke plate is up all the way, you should be sucking way too much wind to light. My 1/2" pairs were starving for air, a few mods - put the .06 tip down to the throat and blammo... they started sucking wind hard enough I couldn't begin to light them without putting my choke caps nearly closed - even with the extra long flame nozzle... shut that down, lower the psi in, and you should be able to easily light a flame off the end. I think Mike is right - this SHOULD be a wild child burner. The only reason to not be able to light propane is too much velocity to keep it lit. Holding your flame to the end could be tricky with just the screw on reducer, but it SHOULD get you going anyways. Get her lit, then bump up the gas, and whirl your choke around. That .06 may be a bit small - and will INCREASE the VELOCITY of your gas output.

I made some adjustments, and can now turn down and run through a range. I put green thru purple - with the corresponding shot of the flame in pitch black also. The last one shows the twins - with a massive mixing tube and little air to lazy it up and show the balance between the lazy rich flame and the hard blue one on the "tuned" burner. This is around 7-9 psi on the gauge. I had concerns with flame blow off with a shorter flame holder at 15 psi - but went back to check troubleshooting Reil burners on the ABANA site, and was reminded he runs these - 7 psi or so... in a forge... so, I'm not too concerned with that. Besides, my new nozzles hold up thru 30 anyhow.....

Air in seemed to be a major issue...assuming having PLENTY of air is an easy remedy - I went hog wild in some tweaks: -changed the throat to mix tube angle in, beveled the tops of the bells inward- sand smoothed and painted, while increasing the ID by 1/4" overall, and extended the tips closer to the throat of the mixing tube. Now, I've got more air than I can handle. Burner 2 won't even take a light without the choke cap tight, and whistles the air in as soon as I crack it. And of course, my flame nozzles are looking to be just short of holding the flame on. BUT, I think I need to drag the jets back just a little more yet. I've got a handful of them, and will be trying to hunt down that "sweet spot". I also have a mixing tube an inch longer than my current ones to try swapping in and out. Definitely some tweak tuning to do, but even now in decent pressures, I can adjust air and gas to go from greenish, to pale, to purple, while holding a decent flame. Open the air too much too quick, or hit the pressure to high, and it blows itself out right quick. Once I get the balance to what I figure is best, I'll notate and update accordingly. Thank You for the right pathway!

Using 1/2" pipe , I went with 8xdia. +/- with a 4 1/2"tube. It's supply is a .023 tip - cut back to 1/4" back from the 1/2" throat of the mixing tube. I had originally thought to put the tips closer to the tube - thinking the velocity at the entrance may increase the "siphon" effect drawing more air in around it. But most burners I've seen here needed tuning by backing off the fuel tip some... Frosty had mentioned, and a couple other places, backing that tip up, or it will be too rich. I've also seen .023 and 1/2" just may not be the ideal mix... It also occurs to me, my test may be somewhat flawed... If air in is an issue, laying one side flat on the table, may not be giving me the best picture of what it can do....... I'm VERY encouraged that my first shot is an "almost right" set.... I suppose the severity of the "almost" determines the ultimate wrongness however....