newbladesmith Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 ok, so i am using a pipe hooked to the exaust of an old vacume cleaner rite now, and i have an old clothes dryer that i'd like to use. my two problems are that i don't know how to rig the clothes dryer and i don't really know how to pipe the air in. i've been just putting the end of the pipe i'm using in from the top, but i can't get a very even heat that way. any advice? if you think that you can help please email me. i have trouble finding threads once i've posted them. had the problem on other forums in the past. i'll take advice, or blueprints, or instructions. just remember that i literally only have access to five or ten dollars a week rite now so i need to do it mostly with scrap. i hope i someone can help me. PM me thanks and i'm sorry about my terrible spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 (edited) To find your posts: - Look at the upper right hand corner of your screen where it says: "Welcome newbladesmith". - Click on "newbladesmith" - then click on "statistics" for newbladesmith - then click on "find all threads by newbladesmith" - then choose the thread that you wish to read. Edited October 9, 2009 by UnicornForge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fisher_norris Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 well newbladesmith we are in the same boat. clean up a metal shop to get 'drops' of steel. they will be a good size for you. i clean up truck and machince shops for springs and other drops. i work my shop on only the cost of elctricity, and in the summer coal (wood in the winter will keep you warm). have fun and get a hair dryer for an air supply. they work and are really quiet. i use an old tail pipe for an air supply. shove the hair dryer in one end and this will easily (with a forge) melt copper and i can burn (sometimes melt if i try) steel. search the '55 forge' in the blueprints section it works well (from what i hear). brake rotors and brake drums can be got from a car or truck shop that does brakes. they are good and cheap fire pots. the 55 forge explains this way better than i can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBower Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 I went ahead and PM'ed those instructions to him -- in case he can't find this thread! newbladesmith, it'd help if you could describe your forge. It's a little hard to figure out what your current setup is. As far as piping in the air, have you looked at some of the other forge building threads here? I'd link to some, but as of right now all the photos have disappeared from the forum. So here's a simple one on another site: Air tank Forge Build Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aral Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Hey, welcome to the boards. I like you am just a beginner, unfortunately I don't have access to my forge at the moment, so I'm just reading a lot of theory I made a blower from an old vacuum cleaner, I disassembled it, took the motor and i put it in a 110 mm diameter, 30ish cm long "sewer plastic tube", something like the one on the picture (the top right corner, sorry couldn't find any better pictures .) and fixed it in firmly, I then "reduced" it to 75 mm tube with another part, and put all that on a metal tube that leads to my forge. Sorry if this hasn't been helpful, English is not my mother tongue, so I have trouble describing what I mean, these plumbing terms are really not my specialty. What I was trying to say, you can really do a lot with improvisation, i can get a proper working temperature with my small brake drum forge i made in 30 minutes, it might not be optimal, but your second attempt will surely fix most things that were wrong with your first one. So try a lot of options, and i am sure it would work .) pic of the "tube" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbladesmith Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 rite now my forge is an old barbicue grill. i use coal and like i said i just stick the end of my blower pipe into the coal and hold it there by hand while my metal heats. i have gotten it hot enough that i have accidentally melted through pieces of steel that i was working on. i was hoping that there was some way to pipe the air in to make it heat more evenly because i can only heat one spot of steel at a time and it's a pain to try to get the spot i need to work on in the spot of heat. i'm also trying to set up a larger forge from a steel 55 gallon drum. my wife also likes working on it so i want to make a second blower from an old clothes dryer i have so we can both work at once without getting in each others way. i've tried to get onto the blueprint section but all i get is an address not found message. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisaw Posted October 10, 2009 Share Posted October 10, 2009 (edited) Welcome newbladesmith I’ll throw this in. If you'll click "User CP" at the top of the page and edit your profile to show your location it can make a big difference. IFI is represented by members in more than 50 countries. You never know who might be just around the corner that is willing to help out. Edited October 10, 2009 by thisaw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Browne Posted October 10, 2009 Share Posted October 10, 2009 (edited) An old BBQ grill and coal will work really well for you but you either need to make a hole in the bottom to create a bottom blast or bury a bit of old black pipe in ashes to the side of your fire pit to create a side blast. Have a cruize through the Blueprints for ideas on forge design. Cheers Edited October 11, 2009 by rmcpb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbladesmith Posted October 10, 2009 Author Share Posted October 10, 2009 i recently got a comission for a knife. its a design that i came up with and the buyer really liked it. it's about fifteen or sixteen inches long, and my forged worked for it but not well. i doubt that i could do anything longer in it. based on the half finished product i have two more potential projects one of which is at least thirty inches. i'll take the advice on the hole in the bottom for the grill. i was thinking about a duel interior pipe system for the longer one i'm making. two pipes, one on either side of the bottom with air holes drilled at an angle so it would blow from either side shooting the air in a sort of upside down v. i'd connect the two pipes to one Y shaped pipe leading out the back and to the air supply. i was woundering if that was a good idea. i was also woundering weather or not i should take the 55 gallon drum and cut it in half to make two longer forges or just keep it whole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cool Hand Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 Multi speed hair dryer....2 bucks at the local flea market....works like a champ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevan Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 thanks and i'm sorry about my terrible spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Just because no one else mentioned it: bellows. Firefox has a spell check in it too. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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