I don't know if this is really even necessary, but it occurred to me today to wonder if burners made from stainless steel would be better for durability. I also wonder if it would just take the nipple at the front to be stainless to get the benefits too.

Has anybody here built their burners from stainless steel and if so, how have they done?

Regards,
Tim

I think the nozzle of flair is where you want the stainless, it is expendable. The rest of the burner is protected from the high temperature of the chamber so just about any material will work that will not melt. Stainless would be overkill unless you were going to polish it and make a nice show forge
Rob

I don't know if this is really even necessary, but it occurred to me today to wonder if burners made from stainless steel would be better for durability. I also wonder if it would just take the nipple at the front to be stainless to get the benefits too.

Has anybody here built their burners from stainless steel and if so, how have they done?

Regards,
Tim

I have a fair amount of SS tubing. I make my burner tubes out of 3/4" SS. Sometimes flares out of 1". If they get hot enough they rot away just like MS only somewhat slower. My take is that there is only a small range of temps in which SS really does better than MS. Perhaps black heat to red heat.

These days I make my burner ends out of mizzou. The 3/4" nipple sits back about 3" from the opening into the forge. I still use SS because I have it but I dont think it matters much.


If you want a few inches to try for yourself, PM me.

how do you flare it the 12 degrees?  I have the tubing, wondering what the best way to do it is? thanks

They make special dies and blocks for mechanical and hand forming. The satandard tubing flare tool for brake lines is a perfect exampl. It uses a clamping lower die that holds the tubing, wile the uper die is forced in place by a screw. Depending on the aplication "double flares" are recomended, in this case the tubing is folded in on its self, so the mechanical sealing serface is twice as thick (stronger) this is a bit of a trick. How large is the tubing?

I built my first set of flairs out of 17-4 PH HH1150 ss.

After 2 years the ends were burnt up and even more flared out. so flared that the would not come out thru the hole I put them in thru.  I don't know what the life expectancy is on a flair so take it for what its worth.

Two years; even two years part time is doing well for stainless steel. Also how long  flame nozzles last depends on what series you use; #316 outlasts $304 by about one-third; the really variable factor comes from the operator; do you love your equipment like a pet and baby it? Or are you rock and rolling with it? My buddy Dan typically burns through a flame nozzle in six months part time; I've never burned through one of them.

Probably, cast iron lasts best, and for most burners I would recommend Frosty's installation as the most practical option for multiple reasons

I routinely build burners completely from stainless steel, and simply do it for show. The only place SS is needed is on the flame nozzle, and even there we are talking preference; not necessity.

Maddog states: "These days I make my burner ends out of Mizzou. The 3/4" nipple sits back about 3" from the opening into the forge. I still use SS because I have it but I don't think it matters much."

Now, here's a subject I'd like to hear a lot more on. Could you go into detail a little more?

Aha necessity, I 'need' zippy looking burners and have access to lots of s/s offcuts so s/s it is the trick however is to use 310 for the flare .

My excuse was that my garage is unheated most of the time, and I hate seeing a rusty piece of equipment, but the truth is, they're just pretty, and " I've always wanted a sparkly of my very own."

I've never used #310 SS. What's the advantage?

310 is 'furnace grade' just don't try to hand forge it, it's fairly common in the petrochemical and pulp industries just get shed 80 and stick it in the lathe to cut a flare.

Yeah: I looked it up, and It does sound down right formidable; trying to get it locally in tube or pipe form doesn't look easy, though...Guess I'll try through McMaster-Carr; love those people when my tail's caught in a crack...

Mikey, I don't know where you are( USA obviously) but the country is riddled with oil and trees so there must be refineries and paper pulp plants all over? You only need to find one crowd that does maintenance! That sounds so easy doesn't it!   even the recycling of paper?
P.S. if you get some it works a bit like 304 and it's not free cutting like 303 so deep cuts as it likes to work harden.

Mikey's part of the country is covered with trees finding a pulp mill shouldn't bee too terribly hard. I can still remember the "Tacoma Aroma" but the Everett ambiance (It had a catchy nick name too but I don't recall.) had it beat by a large margin. Boeing should have usable stock in the surplus sales, maybe jet engine SS or TI. Ooooh, space age shiny!

Frosty The Lucky.

I am amazed at the short life span you are getting from your burners, I hope their frequent replacement is worth it. 

The fan blown burners I make are very simple compared to your atmospheric ones, they have a stainless restrictor section which feeds into the burning cup drilled/ formed out of the furnace wall...I have never replaced one through heat deterioration, the original one I made in the early nineties is still going strong after a fair few tens of tonnes of steel have been heated by it.

Alan

Frosty,

Tacoma's aroma is long gone, along with the pulp mills, and Boeing Surplus was closed many years back. the shipyards are history,, and there isn't a single scrap yard left here; I might as well be living in Southern Cal., now...

The taxes are getting comparable too but S. Cal is drier. I like dry but it's plain crazy dry here on a cold day, makes me wish for an Oregon Missed. Oh yeah, no scrap yards here either, none that will let you in the gate even.

Before the accident when I was noodling with spinning burners I checked with exhaust shops for SS pipe and they had a pretty good range of diameters. I don't think there was any much under 3/4" though but I didn't ask for the full range. Maybe online?

Frosty The Lucky.

On 6/15/2015 at 11:39 AM, Cary Brief said:

how do you flare it the 12 degrees?  I have the tubing, wondering what the best way to do it is? thanks

You could use a ball bearing and a press to flare the tube

On 1/16/2016 at 10:45 AM, Mikey98118 said:

Maddog states: "These days I make my burner ends out of Mizzou. The 3/4" nipple sits back about 3" from the opening into the forge. I still use SS because I have it but I don't think it matters much."

Now, here's a subject I'd like to hear a lot more on. Could you go into detail a little more?

Me too - how do you cast a nozzle?

I found a tapered bull pin that has a 10 to 1 taper which works out to a 11.5' angle. I figured that was close enough. Heated the end of a piece of stainless of the correct I.D. and pressed it down over the pin till I had the desired flare outlet size. 

Took a few heats to perform but came out ok.

 

10:1 is fine, 12:1 (12*) is max change of diameter to maintain a laminar flow. A bull pin eh" I have one of those. I could simply wrap it in a sheet of paper to make it smooth and use it to mold the taper in refractory. Hmmmm.

Frosty The Lucky.