Marc Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 (edited) You've started describing my forge, in different posts. Here's my description of it:Building the new forge Basically, it's mailbox shaped, with a raise-able roof. Two burners are mounted about 2/3 towards the side and angled to hit the floor near center. They are also angled slightly towards each other to keep as much flame inside. I like having the hot spots, myself. But they do angle a little to perform some swirling. I have a movable wall inside to reduce the interior dimensions. I used a couple insulating firebricks glued together and shaped to fit the inside. It's not gasket-tight so that I can slide it in and out easily enough. And I carved a "mousehole" in the bottom of the movable wall to let long items pass through. I have a loose brick in the back to deflect gasses coming out from there. Dragon's breath is bad enough, but the dragon's fart was aiming towards a walking path, and I didn't need anyone getting an unexpected tan just to cross from one side of the garage to the other. I have another loose half-brick in the front for a door. The two burners are set up where the rear burner gets its propane from the front burner's plumbing, through a needle valve. The main needle valve controls both. And since those pictures were taken, I've moved to a new house and am using the 5psi house propane. That required me to put in a blower. That complicated the two-burner setup, since I usually close in the movable wall and use one burner. I currently have a duct tee to drive two dryer vent hoses, one to each burner. For now I just remove the rear hose from the tee and plug the tee up with a rag when I run one burner. I may get more sophisticated some day, but probably not. I used insulating castable refractory for the roof, but would go with wool if I did it again. Edited March 24, 2009 by Marc Forgot to mention stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I have nothing to add at this point. . . (go ahead, say it. ) I've been thinking about the burner placement in your old forge. It looks like they're aimed almost directly into the far corners. I think if you'd put both on the same side and aimed them parallel with the roof aimed at the sloped far wall you would've gotten good circulation. I see nothing inherently wrong with the half octagon shape. Good info CourtIron, thanks. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtiron Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Short answer... in your 400 odd cubic inch furnace if you burn 1.5 pounds of propane properly you will be able to achieve 3000 degrees or so. Sorry for the science...http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 I love this place!!! CI, No problem on the "science" Somebody will benefit fom it I'm sure LOL. Really, I should take the time to learn more about the mathmatics of this hobby but for me, its just that, a hobby. Too much thought and its not fun anymore LOL. Kind'a like blades. I know theres a lot of words that end in "site" and "tite" and such, and maybe I should know what they mean, but, I just "do it". If it fails, I try to remember what I did and try not to do that again!! Frosty, I'm sure I could have done a lot of different things to make that forge work better but at the time of the build (2002?), I had next to no knowledge about forges (not much different now ) Hence the reason for the rebuild, but trying to fix what was wrong on that "brick", would be counter productive. Plus, with all the s(cr*p) I have acumulated over 30 years, I probably have enough to make 2 forges, and may in the end. The old forge is going to the dump BTW, so unless someone wants it and will pay shipping (About 90 #) its history. Actually the burners entered at 90 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I wasn't suggesting you try to salvage your old forge, just ruminating about a better burner angle. Don't apologize for posting hard data CourtIron, it's good info. Just because most of us don't go to quite that degree when building these things doesn't mean someone else will. You've said what I've tried to on may occasions but less articulately and way less data. Thanks. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted April 19, 2009 Author Share Posted April 19, 2009 Well. in the end, I went with a blown 1.25" with a flame holder like this one http://www.abana.org/downloads/pipeforge_plans.pdf only smaller I'm still playing with orifice size, but it runs good with a #57 drilled MIG tip and runs GREAT with a 5/64 or about .047" hole. With the fan I'm running, I get a fuller choke curve with the larger hole. I haven't welded yet but I'm sure it will and seems to have a good even heat throughout judging by the color inside. With my regulator set at about 4 PSI it will reach a decent forge heat in about 5 minutes. If I twist it up to 5 PSI, it gets near yellow within another minute. I plan to try a weld this week and I will post the results, but in the mean time, here's a shot of it during first forge session. I forged a couple leaves for the Aussie Tree Project :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fe-Wood Posted April 19, 2009 Share Posted April 19, 2009 Dang, Thats pretty Hope the basket ball goes in the hoop and not in the hole:o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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