jcornell

Frosty, Do you perchance have a blueprint for this no-weld IFB forge?

the popcorn can is really thin steel, so mounting legs and a burner holder on such a thin shell means you've got a lot of engineering problems to solve. Once you solve those problems, you'll then have an odd shaped forge body that will not last very long, given the high internal temperatures in a propane forge. It will work, but it's not an optimal shape, not very sturdy. An empty helium cannister is the right size, and of sufficient gauge that you can build a reasonably durable forge.

Rigidizer can be applied with a spray bottle (easily available at the big box hardware store) or take a big sheet pan and soak the ceramic with rigidizer. I've used the popcorn cans for small forges - it works, but it's not particularly durable. I had two paint can forges with a 2" passthrough hole in the back. They worked quite well. My son made a 24" long knife using that pass-through hole, so yes, it works.

I've worked with Pandrol clips - it needs to be worked at a high heat - above 2000 degrees F. Tough spring steel, you can make decent tools with it. I've never seen any with a zinc coating as all of mine are nice and rusty.

Some further research from the WeldingCity website. If you click deeply into the specifications you'll find a parts diagram with measurements! The 11T-35 is a tapered mig tip for 0.035 - its thread is M6x1 (which oddly enough, screws nicely into a 1/4-20 threaded opening - who knew?) The 14T-35 is a tapered mig tip for 0.035 - its thread is 1/4-28, which will not screw into a hole threaded 1/4-20 (I tried this weekend, no dice - that's what got me asking this question). Both the 11T and 14T tips are supposed to be compatible with Lincoln. The Miller-Hobart tips listed on WeldingCity all appear to be threaded for 1/4-28. Both are tapered tips - the 11T-35 is just a little bit longer than an inch long. The 14T-35 is a little bit longer than 1.5" long.

I've been a hobby blacksmith since 2009, using propane at home. I've built maybe half a dozen burners (T-burner, Wye Burner, Porter style burner) in that time and I just got around to building a new burner in March. I've used Mig tips in the past, but only for forge burners, I've never done mig welding. I just discovered that some of the Mig tips in my stash are threaded 1/4"x 28, whilst the Mig tips I bought at the big box store are threaded 1/4"x20. The ones I bought at the big box store are Lincoln, whilst the ones in my stash are Tweco 14T-30. So, my question for the day - which brands typically are 1/4"x 20 thread versus 1/4"x28? I've never seen anything in the welding literature that would tell me that different mig brands use different thread size. Is this something that everyone already knows and I'm just now catching on?

I have a spray bottle filled with water and a bit of dish soap. I spray my gas line from bottle to burner on a somewhat regular basis, checking for bubbles. I hate surprises.

These are sometimes called "Haberman tongs" after the great Czech smith.

Please be advised that if you're going to forge outdoors, the Frosty burner is a bit iffy with strong breezes. What will really kink things up is when your exhaust coming from the front of the forge gets sucked into the burner intake - you'll have a sputtering and stuttering burner then. I've largely solved this by installing a sheet metal guard that keeps the exhaust out of the burner intakes. The current shield is made from a christmas popcorn tin (lid and bottom removed). the tin is wired to the top of the frosty burner.

The T-burner is particularly fussy about operating outside in the wind. I took one of the popcorn tins that are typically sold around Christmas time and made it into a wind screen to protect the air intake of my t-burner, as it's running on a forge outside, under a maple tree in my back yard,.

I'm going to take a guess and say you don't have a flare/flame holder on the end of your t-burner. I had the same jumping - I put on a bigger flare and it went away.

Regarding parts - depending on where you live, you may not have easy access to a store that will let you look at plumbing fittings - so if that's the case, McMaster-Carr or Grainger is the next alternative.

A soft firebrick for the floor is not a good idea if you plan on using flux. Get a piece of kiln shelf for your floor - reasonably cheap, tough (flux resistant) and not a lot of thermal mass. As your forge is round, use some plain, non-scented kitty litter on the bottom of your forge before you put the kiln shelf down - it'll act as a leveler.

You can make a one or two brick forge with a propane hand torch. It's not optimal, but it will work. You'll be using soft, insulting fire bricks - I'd recommend the ones rated for 2600 degrees F - you can buy them at Zoeller Forge or from Axner Pottery supply, or EBay. The soft brick can easily be carved out to make a small heating chamber. I'd recommend instead that you make a coffee-can forge and make a 1/2" frosty t-burner, you'll spend about as much money over the course of a year and have a lot more versatility. PM if you want to discuss further.

Acklands Grainger (which appears to be the Canadian version of Grainger Industrial Supply) should suffice, or McMasterCarr, which I believe will ship to Canada. Here in the USA if I order from Grainger but pick it up at their store, I don't pay shipping - excellent source for plumbing parts and hardware not carried at the big box store.