Another FrankenBurner

First thing, Buzzkill's question, forced air or NA needs to be answered. NA requires higher pressures to operate than standard house pressure in natural gas or propane. I would be really surprised if you actually have 12 psi propane to the house. International fuel gas code dictates max supply pressures to different applications. Usually I see around 10 - 14 inches of water column (1/2 PSI ish) for houses and commercial applications where I am. I have seen 2 psi end use supply only in industrial applications. I see 2 psi natural gas in commercial applications but it is always stepped down to the lower 8 inches water column before end use. As florida man stated, it allows more btu's to be pushed through small pipes, saving the expense of large plumbing for long runs. Convincing the gas company to up the pressure is a good luck situation. Code and liability. Forced air might could work with those pressures, but as previously stated, only if the regulator (and plumbing) can handle the volume required, probably not. Even then, if you have a burner designed for 5 psi, major things might have to be changed to get it to work.

Don’t listen to any Internet advice. Especially this Frosty character. If that is his real name. What could he possibly know about a NARB? It’s a good looking burner. Thank you for sharing.

Multi-lame retention nozzles… I think that was a YouTube invention. They do seem to be dominating. Just look at most eBay and Amazon burners. I cheated. I used stepped tapered nozzles. A hybrid nozzle. Now we just need to park a hybrid nozzle on a hybrid burner, just to say we did.

0.364” actual ID is a ¼” nominal burner. Sounds like we had similar results. While I haven’t found a practical use for it, I have built an 1/8” pipe version of my burner. Cute angry little flame. The burner has the intake funnel so I suppose that puts it in the linear category.

I imagine you are meaning standard nominal size? Like 3/8 or ½ inch schedule 40 pipe. Nominal size has different OD and ID than that call out size. There are charts if you want to know that data. I built an actual ID 0.364” Mikey, it was tricky to build and finicky to run.

I don’t use propane torches as forge burners but I do use propane torches. Flame king makes refillable 1lb cylinders. They make them in both shapes. You have to buy the refill adapter. They are awesome. Easy to fill. DOT compliant. Actually meant to be refilled unlike refilling the disposable cylinders. If you go through a lot of disposable tanks, they will save you money and are worth the initial cost.

I imagine he would like that. Helping correct “his” burners that are built incorrectly even though the plans are free. I know Ron sure was a big fan of that.

I can’t speak to pneumatic grinders, no experience there. I know there’s an RPM difference between the 4½” and 6” grinders. I imagine there is for those 9”. I know that is the case with the 2 stroke hot saws. I think I am more likely to run into danger with a 4½” than the hot saw. The RPM being lower and maybe the extra weight buffering rapid jumps or movements. Though, I have much less time on the hot saw than the electric small grinders. I suspect a lot of injuries are people who don’t have a lot of experience using them. People using the tool in ways that will cause problems. The big scary one for me being a skinny cutting wheel shattering. I have had the experience of having the nut spin off, the wheel coming off and rolling rapidly with the DeWalt 20 volt 4½”. Though, it was at shut off. The DeWalt has a brake and I think the inertia of the disc was enough to unthread the nut. I’m not sure, just what I thought might have happened. I never tried the flap disc upside down and would not have thought about it spinning the wrong direction. I bet that was an exciting moment. I also have an “eye magnet” which I purchased on Amazon. It has a magnet at one end, the monofilament look at the other end, and covers to keep them clean. I think it was less than $20. I definitely second the grinder spray causing lots of issues. At first, people don’t think it will cause a problem so they tend not to pay attention to where it will go or where it is going. Luckily for me that mostly meant holes burned in clothing or covering something in dust and having to clean it. I regularly have to tell the new guys to watch their rooster tails.

Small forge, who wants that? I did the math, a 55 gallon drum forge with two inches of blanket would only need a dozen one inch burners if we are going with 700 in³ per burner. As tempting as 8400 cubic inches sounds, I’m going to stick with the smallest forge that will do the job.

The best is multigenerational clones. Someone sees the sort of clone on YouTube and makes his own sort of clone of the YouTube sort of clone with his own video. Then comes the next guy. Maybe that is what my burner is. A 50th generation sort of clone.

I did search Simond Store. Thank you for the information.

I searched Amazon for Simone Store and found a couple of blacksmith forges with the sand burner design. Any chance you can get pictures in lower light? Also, a picture down the intake so we can see what they are doing with the orifice. Looks like a cross tube design from the outside. Any specific reason you aimed the burner for direct impingement on the crucible as opposed to the swirl around it that most use/recommend? Is the top hat solid refectory? How is it attached to the wire skin? I was plotting something similar with my next furnace but I like your idea better.

What did the Math book say to the English book? ”I’ve got problems.” Oh wait, you said good joke. Apologies.

Just rethought about that math, because math is awesome. You also have to subtract the volume of the split brick (another 50 in³). I get approximately 80 in³ if another layer is added, and the brick is included. The fit of the brick would be interesting too. Might have to cut it down or chamfer the edges. Would be even less volume if refractory is applied.

I use ¼ inch OD stainless brake line with my orifices. Used to be mig tips, now I use 3D printer nozzles. I turn the threads off and silver braze them in. Also, as usual, my math mostly agrees with Frosty’s.

The older I get, the dumber I was.

I don’t know about the bad luck. As my granddad always said “Getting old sucks but the alternative is worse.”

They are great until there is just one, it has infiltrated your place, and it’s two in the morning. They chirp away until you finally get up, get the flashlight out and then they quiet down. You get back into bed, after failing to find them, just start to drift and boom, cricket. They know what they are doing.

Did we break it? I hear crickets.

New to forging. I saw a guy on a video and thought, I can make one of those flame units. I made it. Now it doesn’t work. I connected the round thingy to the tube piece. And added the gas part. Why won’t it work? Also, I got a grain silo to use as my hot container body. I wanted it to be big enough to forge anything I could ever want to. Do you think I need to build a second fire maker?

I like your math, mine agrees with you. Isn’t math great? That is a much healthier ratio than I use. How much do you think you need? Do you manufacture forges and need a lot or is this just for a one off?

You can also TIG braze with silicon bronze rod. Sometimes very handy. I usually use it to repair/build up cast iron. I’ve read you can use it to stick something galvanized to a dissimilar without compromising the coating but haven’t needed to test that yet.

I weld metal in all the ways that I can afford and know about. I enjoy each of them for their own reasons. TIG is one of my favorites to do. Mostly for the reasons Frosty stated. It’s clean, and requires skill/practice. You can really get in the zone. The modern welders with all the settings make them very capable and controllable. AC balance/frequency, and pulse frequency/duty cycle along with remote current control (pedal, trigger, roller) have really changed the game. I use MIG a lot too. The hot glue gun for metal. Soldering/brazing also makes the list of fun to do. I like to manipulate metal. Forge it, cast it, machine it, turn it, weld it. I do weld my forges together. Tacks and stitches. No need to full length weld. Easier to rework. If I anticipate the need to access a structure, I design fastened panels in the mix. Not to oppose anything said. If you have the means/skill to build it and works for you when it’s done, it was done the right way. Whatever way that was. That goes for arc welding forgings as well. I don’t consider it cheating. (I too enjoy forge welding) I recently watched a video of a guy talking about never lowering himself to electric welding a forged piece. No real blacksmith ever would. He was using an induction forge. Good for a laugh. Forget about the angle grinder, band saw, drill press, electric lights, automobile to acquire these things, and so on. Real blacksmiths are ok to use those things, but that arc welding, no sir, that is crossing a line.

I have cleaned the orifice in the main forge twice in 3 years because of this.