monstermetal Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 I thought I would share some pictures of my ribber burner forge I just built. This is the first blown forge I have built. I am quite happy so for.. It is not meant to be my primary forge but for big stuff... (its huge by most forge standards) Check out the pictures and let me know if you have questions.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianinsa Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 Interesting switch from 2" round to rectangular tube and back? Any specific reason? Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike-hr Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 John at Gearhartiron turned us on to ribbon burners a few years back, there's a pocket of us in south Orygun and north Cali that are plumb sold on them.. Go ahead, stick a bunch of 1-1/4 inch stock in there, work it for 4 hrs, and tell me if you had time for lunch between heats... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted October 29, 2010 Author Share Posted October 29, 2010 Interesting switch from 2" round to rectangular tube and back? Any specific reason? Ian Actually its only 2" at the blower.. the fuel train is all 1 1/2" pipe which has the same volume as the 1" X 3" rec tube... the only reason for the change is it was handy to make the riser and because its flat makes it a bit more compact... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted October 29, 2010 Author Share Posted October 29, 2010 John at Gearhartiron turned us on to ribbon burners a few years back, there's a pocket of us in south Orygun and north Cali that are plumb sold on them.. Go ahead, stick a bunch of 1-1/4 inch stock in there, work it for 4 hrs, and tell me if you had time for lunch between heats... Yep John was my inspiration for building one. I used one at Terry Carsons house a couple years ago and then saw Johns just a few months ago... I had been wanting to build a bigger forge and it seemed like just the thing.... So far I am very impressed.. A big forge 17" long X 13" wide by 9" tall inside..... but gets to 2400 deg in 10 min and Ive had it to 2700 deg in less than 20.... And that was before I had the castable door done and was just using a pile of bricks to close it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 Nice looking set up; we built a bunch of ribbon burners in our ABANA affiliate workshop and I still need to get the forge for mine finished. I want to barrel stave soft fire brick and then cast an inner shell for a welding forge. As to huge---I have a friend who sent me pics of them working 40" diameter Ti using tongs that you *drive*---I just went to my corner and whimpered... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted October 29, 2010 Author Share Posted October 29, 2010 Yeah I should have qualified that... Its huge for a small forge. I feel this is about as big as a single 100lb tank will feed. I built it with the whole floor being fire brick so I can shape the end to an odd bit by stacking bricks around the end... the burner is good to about 2 cubic feet of forge area which is pretty darn big for a single burner forge.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal Dave Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 I'm interested in these ribber/ribbon burners. I saw them about two years ago at a spring conference, but not much since. Where can I get some detailed information on them? Any youtube videos where I can see them in action? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evfreek Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 Hi monstermetal. That is a great thermometer. It goes higher than the typical thermocouple K probes that I am familiar with. Is it an optical pyrometer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fe-Wood Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 hay Larry- Darn nice looking forge!!! and stand. I like the adjustability of everything. I have a couple questions comments- When going from round to rectangle you are causing what looks to be major turbulence (good for air/fuel mixing) but I'm wondering what the CFM loss is? Is it noticeable? How did you make the burner? Is it cast or fabricated with small pipes? What is the valve for before the gas inlet? Hydrogen boost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillon Sculpture Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 When do you sleep? I wish I had some time for tool production. Killer forge thanks for adding more to my list. Interesting knuckle press, manufacturer, capacity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted October 29, 2010 Author Share Posted October 29, 2010 hay Larry- Darn nice looking forge!!! and stand. I like the adjustability of everything. I have a couple questions comments- When going from round to rectangle you are causing what looks to be major turbulence (good for air/fuel mixing) but I'm wondering what the CFM loss is? Is it noticeable? How did you make the burner? Is it cast or fabricated with small pipes? What is the valve for before the gas inlet? Hydrogen boost? As far as loss from the rectangle.. I considered that and was not sure what affect it would have. But I have way more air than I can use. with the 168CFM blower from Blacksmith Depot (the ones Grant imports) I can choke the blower all the way and still not reduce the pressure to noticeable affect.. Which leads to the next thing... the valve after the blower is a wastegate to tune the forge... The pressure is pretty important for tuning and choking the blower is not the same as reliving pressure.. I only have a 1" ID ball valve in there and I need to cut it out and put like a 1 1/4" pipe gate valve because I still cant reduce the pressure enough... At this point that is my biggest fear... that I'll melt the refractory out of the thing... Im pretty sure I could get to 3000-3100 deg F without much trouble ( I got to 2700 in less than 20 min with a big open hole on one end) The burner is purchased from Pine Ridge burner.... its there LP190 which is probably the biggest burner you could use in a efficient small-ish forge. One thing that I have picked up from research is forge volume is critical for a ribbon burner to work effectively... you can not put a big burner in a small forge and get it to run well... the size of the forge needs to be tuned to the size of the burner. There is info out there about building your own ribbon burner but my feeling is these guys have been doing it for the glass industry for 20 years.. they use stainless inner tubes and have the dimensions down to a science... I am doing this for a living and for what the burner cost the only way I would consider building one is if I thought I could make it better... and I dont... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted October 29, 2010 Author Share Posted October 29, 2010 Hi monstermetal. That is a great thermometer. It goes higher than the typical thermocouple K probes that I am familiar with. Is it an optical pyrometer? Yep.... Not cheap but getting cheaper... the first one I bought was like $2500... this last one was down to about $350... Before long they will be $100 I bet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted October 29, 2010 Author Share Posted October 29, 2010 When do you sleep? I wish I had some time for tool production. Killer forge thanks for adding more to my list. Interesting knuckle press, manufacturer, capacity? That thing in the background is a 100 ton 5' press brake made my Iroquois Ironworks... I think for an inexpensive alternative to a "real" press brake its great... for a small shop like mine there is no way I could afford 80K for a C frame press brake. It will bend 5' of 1/4" and does a nice job And be careful what you wish for..... There was a time when I wished for more time to work on my own projects... well I got it... Now I am wishing for more work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 Bending 5 feet of 1/4 inch is not real? Fine looking forge. Those wires are going to burn out quick though, unless they are some super tolerant alloy like stretched out heating elements, then it will take longer. Have you considered a relatively thin castable or ramable inner layer for durability, support, and temperature tolerance? Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted October 29, 2010 Author Share Posted October 29, 2010 The wire is 3000deg inconel. They really are not doing anything now though. Just there to keep things in place till the rigidizer set up. My other forges are all castable and I am worried about tearing this up. I don't know anything about ramable refractory and the roof is so big I was worried about a one chunk cast liner but haven't figured it out I put some 1" thick brick down the inner sides for the moment but would like something better Really compaired to castable it was so fast to do the kaowool that if I had to replace it once a year I don't think it would be bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hammer Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 MonsterMetal... What is the brand, model and source for the optical pyrometer you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fe-Wood Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 Pine ridge makes some nice burners. I have seen them at CBA events....Someday..... If you look at Graingers, they have a blower that is about 75CFM for around $50.00. Might be just the ticket... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted October 30, 2010 Author Share Posted October 30, 2010 MonsterMetal... What is the brand, model and source for the optical pyrometer you have? Here is what mine is... I bought it online... I dont remember where... I do remember Grainger had the same one but it was more expensive there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironstein Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 the lp190 burner is priced reasonably at $145! this would be a great brick pile forge burner. i am leaning towards making a castable forge similar to this with adjustable height, like the mankels and using the lp190 ribbon burner. anyone have a blown mankel and have info on fuel consumption? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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