Lmb_usa Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 This may be the stupidist question ever but I'm gonna risk it. my Idea is to make a coffe can forge and attach it to a set of swivleing arms so I can have a larger project (armouring primarily) heated in small parts by placing the open face against the section of metal I wish to heat. Because heating an entire breastplate is nither economical nor neccisary to shape it. If anyone has any Ideas relating to how to accomplish this idea or things to make sure to avoid or some other idea that could accomplish the same thing please let me know. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Eric Thing has been a professional armourer for years. Anvilfire has published his forge plans, and has a tour of his shop. http://www.anvilfire.com/21centbs/planfile/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lmb_usa Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 yes I think your right his setup is very good in fact I found a very similar one on ebay for an amazing price. It would need to have the cone installed though on this model it would be a rectangle. http://cgi.ebay.com/Forge-Freestanding-Armor-Artist-Farrier-Blacksmith-gas-/190485528412?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c59d27f5c if the auction runs out just search for a "freestanding armor forge" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddog Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 With that design the exhaust is forced out sideways and will heat up the edge of the shell. I don't think a coffee can will last long if its exposed to hot combustion gases. Perhaps if the refractory protruded 1/2"- 3/4". But IMO, unless you are forging for doll houses, the coffee can forge is a gimmick. It's cool that it works but its not the way I would make a serious tool. Eric uses 14ga steel. I wouldnt go any lighter for this kind of thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ab Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 This may be the stupidist question ever but I'm gonna risk it. my Idea is to make a coffe can forge and attach it to a set of swivleing arms so I can have a larger project (armouring primarily) heated in small parts by placing the open face against the section of metal I wish to heat. Because heating an entire breastplate is nither economical nor neccisary to shape it. If anyone has any Ideas relating to how to accomplish this idea or things to make sure to avoid or some other idea that could accomplish the same thing please let me know. I've never done what you want to do, so take this with a grain of salt, but what comes to my mind is to make a "clam-shell" sort of forge, where there's a bottom half and a top half, and in between them is enough space for you to get any particular part of the armor in there to heat it. Or maybe even an open-top forge, where when you put the armor over the top of the open-topped forge and the armor itself holds in and focuses the heat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey98118 Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 This may be the stupidist question ever but I'm gonna risk it. my Idea is to make a coffe can forge and attach it to a set of swivleing arms so I can have a larger project (armouring primarily) heated in small parts by placing the open face against the section of metal I wish to heat. Because heating an entire breastplate is nither economical nor neccisary to shape it. If anyone has any Ideas relating to how to accomplish this idea or things to make sure to avoid or some other idea that could accomplish the same thing please let me know. I see no reason it wouldn't work pretty well, so long as the forge is mounted on a semi-lockable "elbow" arm (motion resistant only) that can be raised and lowered by attaching the arm to a vertical pipe within a lockable clamp for horizonal positioning. Of course it will only work in the horizontal position or facing vertical-up. Larry Zoller has some nice insights into building coffee-can forges on his web site, but for the kind of heavy duty use you're likely to put it through, you should check out Coffee-can furnaces on Castinghobby (go too the oldest posts and work you way forward), or look up Genes' files on HomeFoundry (both Yahoo news groups). Also, forget any advice you'll find in these places about using 1/4" or 3/8" burners to power them. Use the 1/2" burner design of your choice, instead. Why such advice? Becuase the way you want to use this "forge" is neither as a gas forge (parts heated internally) nor as a casting furnace (charge held within a crucible and heated internally). You are actually going to be making and using a sort of gigantic torch head, and using the exhaust blast out of it to do your heating. You want to employ high temperature castable refractory instead of refractory fiber because fiber won't last long the way you must use this device. Also heat loss through its walls isn't a major consideration, as you are deliberatly using a strong exit flame to do the work. Michael Porter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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