Zacl79

Hi all, just an update. I put an inline pressure gauge in this weekend and also swapped out the mig tips to 0.04". Still haven't sourced anything shorter than the 12" mixing tube, but happy to see how things go at the moment. I fired it up today, started at 5 psi to see how things went. Was pleased that it was again up to temperature quickly and seemed to be holding a more stable temp. Had it running steady at around 1100C for hour and a half. The outside of the forge and burning tubes were much cooler this time round. Managed to beat down a knife good enough. Next thing, i will aim to give the inside a wash as mentioned above. Thanks everyone for the advice thus far. 20240121_143829.mp4

Thanks for the prompt replies already everyone. Much appreciated. Added my location into my profile, im waaaay down in the south pacific - New Zealand. Close to the forges of Middle Earth. George N MI run on a 9kg propane bottle with a high pressure regulator (up to 30psi). I did read somewhere, rightly or wrongly, the inline pressure gauges are a bit hit and miss. I do like the idea of figuring out what its all running at, even if its not hugely accurate - better than guessing i suppose! Frosty I built off these here. Artisan Supplies Gas Forge Dual Large Burner Set with Hose and Regulator 130mj/hr I couldn't justify spending up $600NZD for them. I got in contact with them and queried a few specs with them a while back and built off that. Based on my naivety, I though getting all the inlet/fuel lines another 4" (8" to 12") away from the hot area, things would be better at keeping things cooler. I do admit, I had some 0.03" tips lying around my shed and was too lazy/cheap to get something larger at the time I put my burners together. My rationale is that I could get everything working and fine tune things after. Ill pick up some 0.04" tips next week and swap em out. Getting parts like steel barrel nipples can be bloody tricky in NZ, I think I actually had to go to Australia to find some long barrel nipples. I'll see if i can track down some shorter 8" barrels. Irondragon Cool nice to hear. I'm still very cautious when firing up something really hot with propane, so do check all my joints with soapy water before each ignition. One day I'll get a little more comfortable working with hot things...but not too comfortable.

Hi all, long time lurker/reader of this forum. Some great information in here. It's been invaluable in my forge design/build. I have finally completed my forge build, dried it and fired it up to heat some steel. Inner forge dimensions 7"Wx16"Lx4.5"H - 500cub inches. Floor and roof have 3" kaowool (rigidized) and then 1/4" refractory cement. Sides are 2.5" insulation bricks. Have two 1" venturi burners, 0.03" mig tips. 12" burner tubes. Flare (Stainless) are set back into the roof by around 1". I dont known what pressure I'm running at, but it gets hot and fast.I had this up to around 1100C in about 4mins. And that was measuring with thermocouple at front of forge Likely some tuning needed for efficiency and playing around with establishing a stable temp. One question I do have is that I appreciate the shell will get hot (conduction and convection) as will the burner tubes, particularly when air flow is reduced. I have some gas pipe sealant (dope) connecting the lines at the top of the venturi. Aftert about 45mins operating I noticed the pipe dope was slightly browning and the ball valves and lines were hot to touch. Not burning hot, but noticeable. What do others use for pipe dope in areas where things may get hot? I know this is a consequence of a vertical burner, if I have my time again I might got with some inclined burners. I do suspect I had my forge running waaaay to hot, but don't want anything that's unsafe in the longer forging sessions. Any thoughts? 20240113_121142.mp4