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I Forge Iron

Fishgod

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Posts posted by Fishgod

  1. A little background. I built my forge last spring following the the info I gathered here along with a lot of helpful input. However internal volume was to large for my single venture burner. So I went to a 1in forced air burner. I have a gate valve on the air supplied from a 2in blower. I also have a needle valve to control gas volume along with a gas shutoff valve. I have my air gate valve set and don’t usually touch it. My startup procedure is as follows.

    1. Turn fan on

    2. With gas shut off valve and needle valve closed, turn on the tank and adjust the regulator at 4 psi.

    3. Light my handy dandy torch

    4. Torch in forge, open shut off valve. Start opening needle valve until I see green hints in the flame. Then close the needle valve slightly until I get into a blue flame

    The forge gets hot, bright yellow/white yellow. 

    For a rookie does that look to be a sound startup procedure?

    Always open to learning.

  2. Frosty, I have not made it to any of the meetings.  I did attend one of the classes earlier this year.  Would love to get together.  I am fully vaccinated for COVID-19.  When ever you would like to get together let me know.  

  3. I think that nowadays people want the quick answer that will fix all their issues (Easy Button). Being a newbie myself to forging I quickly learned that with forge designs there is no such thing.

    Last year after finding this site and reading through the treads for Burners 101 and the forges thread I started asking questions. 

    With the help from the members here I know have a forge that is pretty xxxxxxx amazing. I know it is properly insulated and my burner can be turned up enough to melt steel. After a short warm up the entire interior of the forge gets the same color and will heat steel the entire length of the interior of the forge. Following the info here you will end up with a solid performing forge.

    PS I belong to a few Facebook groups and watch a bunch of YouTube. It is shocking to me what I see posted as fact. With my limited knowledge I know that a good portion of it bunk.

  4. Frosty,

    I'm not believing youtube and facebook.  I see posts/videos and because of this site I say to myself that not right or that's a scary design.  I wanted to make sure my limited knowledge was correct from what I have absorbed from this forum. 

  5. I know I'm not the sharpest knife in the block but I'm just trying to make sure I understand "Burner, Forge Design, Fuel".  I see a ton of what I believe are misconceptions and or flat our wrong statements on the internet. There are a bunch of statements that forced air burners "ribbon or standard" use way less gas as compaired to venturi burners.  The only way that would be correct is that the forced air burner is better tuned than the venturi burner. Propane only produces X amount of BTU's per X volume of gas. 

    1. The forge design and burner have to be thought of as one.  So burner A may bring forge A up to working temp but burner A may not do the same thing in forge B.  Even though the forges have the same internal volume.

    2. Burner A "Venturi with .035 mig tip" properly tuned will produce X btu's for X amount of propane.  Burner B "Forced Air with .125  Venturi" properly tuned will produce X btu's for X amount of propane even though it is running at a lower PSI.  Wouldn't both burns have to burn the same amount of propane to produce the same BTU's? 

  6. Well, I worked on adjusting the position of the jet last night.  I moved it back a little at a time.  It seems to have made it better but I feel like the flame still has a green hue.  I realize now when typing this that without pictures/video there isnt much  help that can be given.  I have the air intake pointed straight up.  I could feel the forge exhaust near the opening.  Could the intake of exhaust be compounding the rich flame?  I am going to try the theory this evening when it gets dark.  I am going to rotate the burner intake down and away from the front of the forge.

  7. Thanks everyone for so much help.  I really appreciate all the help.  

    How do I tell if I'm going the right direction.  What indicator do I use.?

    4 minutes ago, Buzzkill said:

    For me it was the blue-green tint to the flame that was the main indicator of burning rich.

    Ahhh,  I saw that as well.  So I will have to tune it while the forge is relativly cold because it all disappears once it gets hot and I cant see it.

  8. Mike,

    Thanks for the comment on the forge build.  That is thanks to this site (Forges 101). Its a Z Burner from Larry Zoeller.  There is a set screw that allows the propane injector to be moved in and out.  Was the rich burning coming evidence comming from the dragon breath? Just trying to figure out what clued you into oxygen starvation for future reference.

  9. So if I move the mig tip away from the throat of the mixing tube I should be able to introduce more oxygen correct. I noticed that after warming up a short bit it was orange.  Wasn't sure if that was coming from the burner, the kastolite and or plistx.

  10. Well the forge has been lined with Kastolite ( ended up using 7 lbs) then after curing coated with plistix 900.  Below is a picture just after lighting.  Running 8 psi.  The first video is the forge running at 10 psi for about 4-5 min.  Looks like the flame is really swilling.  The second video is running at 15 psi.  I put a piece of 1/8 x 3/4 angle iron in and it heated rather quickly.  Just a couple minutes.  Lots of dragons breath.  Let me know what you think.

    IMG_0037.jpg

     

    Forge running for a couple minutes: 8 psi

     

    Forge running at 15 PSI

     

  11. Thanks all.  I commited the cardinal sin.  I didnt butter the wool so i could only complete about half of the forge. The side walls and floor are covered along with part of the door and pass through.  Lesson learned.  I did 2.75 ounces per pound.  I have the forge in a plastic bag with a wet towell.  I wont touch it until Friday. I will hopefully finish off the rest of the forge then.  I did get everything welded up tonight.  I was quckly reminded that I really dont know how to weld.  But hey thats what an angle grinder is for :). 

  12. Just want to say sorry for the picture heavy post.  I got my insulation in today.  I have have 2 inches total insulation in the entire forge except for the floor.  As was suggested by I believe Frosty I added an additional piece to the floor.  I trimed the edges so that it feathered into the sides of the forge.  I have applied the remaining rigidizer I have on hand.  There again Frosty turned me onto a local supplier that carries fumed silica.  Hopefully I can get down there in the next day or two.  My burner will hit the first 3rd of the floor which should cause it to swirl around the forge.  I have roughly calculated the internal volume right now without the Kastolite or plistix to be at approx 350 cu inches.  I plan on making a sacrifical floor tile/brick by making my own that contours the floor out of Kastolite.  Not planning on forge welding but you never know.  Critic is always welcome. Currently the forge front is held on with tape.  I will be tack welding here maybe tomorrow.

    Here in the first picture you can see the two tier entry for the burner holder and burner.  It shold put the burner flare approx. 1 inch inside the insulation. The second picture is looking through the front of the forge and you can see the pass-through in the back.  Third picture is the pass-through door.  The last picture is me attempting to possison the burner holder in the correct place.

     

    IMG_0029.jpg

    IMG_0026.jpg

    IMG_0028.jpg

    IMG_0031.jpg

  13. Well, the propane tank forge is moving forward.  Snapped a quick picture of the insulation.  Im not done with all the layers, i'm waiting on some more that should be here tomorrow or the next day.  Entry hole and pass through cut out along with the burner hole have been put in.  I got all the paint removed.  Picked up my welder from my father-inlaws so Im all ready to go.  Nice thing was along with my welder I had a bunch of scrap steal from building my smoker.  Planning on using it to make a free standing 3 leg forge stand.

    I will get some more detailed pictures. but here is one I have available.

     

    IMG_0022.jpg

  14. Frosty

    That's good to know.  I want to pick up a few bricks to have around.  

    Glenn reached out to me and we had a great phone conversation. We talked for about a half hour.   I have a couple feet more of insulation headed my way.  Excited to start the build.

  15. 35 minutes ago, Frosty said:

    Rather than pouring a flat floor use a strip of Insulwool, feathering the edges so it's flat to the contact point with the sides.  Making a wider floor is generally  better use of materials than lowering the roof, it makes more usable floor while reducing the height the same amount. 

    Frosty The Lucky.

    Got it Frosty,  I will go with that.

  16. Thanks all,  I'm going to go with the propane tank.  I will pour a levelish floor in it after the 2 inch of Insowool.  I might have to pick up 2 more feet of insulation.  I will look at anding an additional layer to the ceiling.  if the volume is over 300ish SQ inches.  What is a good source for the kiln shelves?

  17. On 4/3/2020 at 7:16 PM, Another FrankenBurner said:

    I have built and used forges with both sizes of cylinders you are talking about.  If you are doing 2 inches of blanket with 1/2 inch of kast o lite, remember you are subtracting 5 inches from the diameter of the shell.  The smaller helium cylinder finishes at about 4 inch diameter by 12 inch length.  The larger propane cylinder finishes about 7 inch diameter by 12 inch.  While this doesn't sound like a significant difference, the volume of the latter is three times the former. 

    FrankenBurner,

    Thanks for the input.  I think I will go with the propane cylinder and pick up a second burner.  This way I have a good balance of size and use. 

    I get you on the the larger hammer.  I would like to make a few different sizes.  first off though are a heck of a lot of punches, chisels, and fullers. I picked up 6ft of 1045.  I was also sent a large USPS priority box of sucker rod from a really nice gentleman off of one of the the facebook groups I'm in.  

    I m planning on making a few hammers later in the year after I get a bunch more practice.  One nice thing is my 20 year old son is home since Covid-19 closed his college and he is now doing on-line classes from home.  With that said,  I will have a striker that's strong and ambitious :).  

  18. I get where you are coming from Frosty.  My guess is that after everything is said and done the interior of the forge will be 5x8.  After saying it it sounds a bit small.  Im planning on concentrating on on tool making this year.  With the biggest thing is trying to make my own rounding hammer. Starting to wonder if I should switch to a propane cylinder.  I have been having a hard time finding something for a shell.

  19. 3 hours ago, Another FrankenBurner said:

    I believe he is meaning something like this.  This prevents the back pressure Frosty was talking about while also not impinging directly on the wall.  

    forge.png.4fa9ec4af6f2460ac8647fdc5230a284.png

    Thanks Frankenburner

    1 hour ago, Frosty said:

    Not that close to the top Michael but that's the basic idea. It's old school but it works. 

    Mikey has spent a lot of time doing more specific studies of this stuff than I and if you have to choose, choose his opinion over mine. 

    Propane flame is very chemically active at forge temperature and tends to cause chemical erosion to many refractories. KOL and Plistex 900 are both pretty resistant to propane flame and flux erosion making a kiln shelf an extra cherry on the sunday. 

    When we get to specifics about your plans we can discuss various ratios, I'm taking your drawings as concept sketches. If they're actually scale drawings then you're going to want a number of small diameter burners if you want even heat. 

    Your graphic make it look like a really skinny chamber which changes things.

    Frosty The Lucky.

     

    Frosty,

    I kind of mispoke.  I have everything in my list.  I dont mind building some a pair of smaller burners even though I have an new Z burner.  I would like it to do it right the first time.  

    Would it be better to switch to a propane tank with 2 burners?  I have experience flushing and cutting cylinders.  A couple years back I taught myself to weld so I could build a Reverse flow smoker.  I used an old propane tank with that.

    Michael

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