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I Forge Iron

Hand Crank and Electric Blower


bsiler

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I have a Champion 400 that I'm using on my forge now. A couple of years ago I got an old Buffalo electric blower. Hooked it up to see how it work and it did very good. I just prefer the hand crank.
Been thinking lately about hooking them both up to the forge.

Has anyone done this and if so how would be the best way to go about it. Do I need some type of gate to block one off when using the other. I've seen a forge like this but didn't pay any attention to the hook up.

Billy

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I have a forge with hand and electric blowers, but I lent it to a freind many years ago. I never used it, and don't really remember how it was hooked up, but I think you would want two air gates, so you could isolate either blower. The unused blower air gate should also be able to dump excess air, I would think.

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I've used a forge with both types of blowers connected. The two blowers were connected to a 'Y' in the ductwork and there were air gates on both to keep air from escaping out the unused option. Remember, the more bends in your system the more of your air pressure is spent over coming the resistance in the ductwork, so keep it simple. :)

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Just thinking about it a little, never used a setup like that, but I can see the advantages. Seems like you need an air gate for the electric blower to control the output, but you don't need one for the hand crank as we can assume you know how to control the output of it. Then the problem is one blower blowing back on the other. If we assume the electric will be running all the time then we don't have to worry about pushing air backward through it. So that just leaves us with preventing air from being pushed backward through the hand crank blower. I think I would put a simple flap valve on it so air could only go one way.

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Robb Gunter had a VHS tape techniques demo that I watched maybe 12 years ago, and has somehow gotten away from me. He had both systems on his school forges, with a gentle breeze coming from the electric, just enough to keep the coke from going out when you were otherwise busy.

There was some sort of a "Y" with flapper valves, so when you turned the hand crank, the greater air pressure tripped the valve with a distinct clank, and you could apply the amount of blast you needed to properly heat the work. When you quit, the valve tripped back. I never saw a diagram, but maybe somebody has one somewhere.

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Grant and Robb

Thanks for the reply. The electric has a speed control and can be turn off with it.
Not sure but I don't think I would be using them both at the same time.
I don't call this a hobbie, just something to keep me from doing things that I need to get done.
I do like to as much as possile though. I have a good wife !!
Like you guys are saying some type of flap might work in a Y.
Now , If i can just figure how to do it!

Thanks for all from all of you
Billy

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