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I Forge Iron

blower for charcoal forge


bhanna

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Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm having the hardest time figuring this out. I'm currently using a shop-vac for my air supply held a couple feet from the pipe. This works great, but it's really noisy, and I'll be moving into a townhome with an HOA in about a month. So i need to find a nice and quiet air supply to not xxxx off the neighbors. Is there anything out there under $100 that is quiet and sufficient for blacksmithing. From what I can tell, i need a centrifugal blower, but I don't know how strong. Would anything on this page http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/oem-specialty-blowers/blowers/hvacr/ecatalog/N-d0x?Ns=List+Price|0&sort=DD work? If nothing there, could anyone give me a link or some ideas for something that would fit my description (quiet being very important).
Thanks in advance for any help. I really don't want to have to quit this just because I can't afford anything better than a xxxx townhome :)

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The $15 bathroom fan at Lowes and Home Depot will do a typical brake drum forge...Probably underpowered for anything larger.

There is a design for bellows that uses plywood. The square one that uses tire inner tube I estimated to be 16x16 plywood and about 16 inch displacement.

http://www.cd3wd.com/cd3wd_40/vita/bsforge/en/bsforge.htm

Phil

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The first blower that I used was a cenrifugal fan from an old oil furnace, with the fuel nozzles and sparker removed. It had plenty of ummph for charcoal.

I once also rigged up a blower from a cloths drier to be cranked by hand using the pullys that were in the drier and maybe a few others, I can't recall as of now.

One option is to get the Gingerly book on centrifugal fans, here is a link:

http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/found/index.html

Humm, aparently they are out, maybe a call would get you one, who knows.

As Phil said though, a bellows would work just as well and if you can scrounge some plywood then it can be made for real cheap.

Caleb Ramsby

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Thanks for the responses.

@Phil - Right now it's a brakedrum forge, but i plan to turn a grill into a forge so i can heat longer sections. I noticed the $15 fans are 50cfm. Would one of the 100cfm bathroom fans be sufficient for my new forge? I noticed on that grainger page i linked to there's a 134cfm blower in my price range. Do you know if that would be good enough and still be fairly quiet?

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Charcoal requires a rather light air blast at about 1/2 to 1 psi, coal requires a little more. This is substantial back pressure for a bathroom blower fan. The trick is these high blow motors put out plenty of air at no back pressure and little air with any back pressure.

I have only been investigating for a small brake drum forge, and lack knowledge for larger forges.

Google books has several references
http://books.google....ressure&f=false
on page 547 states that 1/2 -1 psi at 150-300 cfm is used for hearths at a commercial operation.

If the 100cfm bathroom blower was free of course I would try it and see if it worked.

I have not yet built my first solid fuel forge.

Phil

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Thanks for the responses.

@Phil - Right now it's a brakedrum forge, but i plan to turn a grill into a forge so i can heat longer sections. I noticed the $15 fans are 50cfm. Would one of the 100cfm bathroom fans be sufficient for my new forge? I noticed on that grainger page i linked to there's a 134cfm blower in my price range. Do you know if that would be good enough and still be fairly quiet?


The 134 will work. Rig an adjustment plate over the blower inlet to regulate flow.
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Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm having the hardest time figuring this out. I'm currently using a shop-vac for my air supply held a couple feet from the pipe. This works great, but it's really noisy, and I'll be moving into a townhome with an HOA in about a month. So i need to find a nice and quiet air supply to not piss off the neighbors. Is there anything out there under $100 that is quiet and sufficient for blacksmithing. From what I can tell, i need a centrifugal blower, but I don't know how strong. Would anything on this page http://www.grainger....Price|0&sort=DD work? If nothing there, could anyone give me a link or some ideas for something that would fit my description (quiet being very important).
Thanks in advance for any help. I really don't want to have to quit this just because I can't afford anything better than a xxxx townhome :)


A hairdryer set on low and cool will work just fine - and it's dirt cheap, especially a used one from the local sally-ann. Stick the end of the hairdryer into your tuyere, plug it in, no muss / no fuss it's as easy as that and your neighbours won't even hear it. If you get one with hi, med and low speeds then you have lots of options in your air-delivery that a bathroom fan won't give you, unless you know how to jury-rig a rheostat on it.
Trust me a hairdryer is all you need with charcoal ;)
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  • 3 weeks later...

My first forge was built in an air tank, like I think you are wanting to build in the grill, with a pipe tuyere and mine was huge. I used a thrift store hair dryer and never needed more than the lowest setting. I got one of those foot switch extension cords for easier turning it on and off.

Regards,
Tim

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I recommend a regular hairdryer also. I have been running my brake drum forge for a year now on a $10 hair dryer from Wal-Mart. I use coal if that makes any difference though. I also added a simple rheostat that was meant for use on a ceiling fan. It works very well and very quiet at low speeds.

Jeff

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