my oil forge

[oof]

here are a few pics of my forge and burner builds. the burner started out as a torpedo heater.

i messed around with a few different configurations, trying to keep the igniter. i came up with this configuration.

it works, lights up with the igniter, but it's kind of big, made it out of a glass pack muffler. i still have it sitting on a shelf somewhere.
someone gave me another torpedo heater so i wasted no time in reducing it to more "useful" components. here's a pic of the nozzle adapter as it comes out of the heater.

and a pic after removing all the extra material and adding a "turbolator"

and a shot down the bore while it was still clean.

the pipe is threaded 1/4 20 and bolts hold the nozzle centered. in this pic i still have the rubber air and fuel lines running into the 2" pipe. this worked fine 'til i shut down once and forgot to pull the burner right away....melted.
so i added some iron fittings to get the lines a little farther away, and here it is in it's present configuration a little larger than a beer can.

and not so clean anymore.

the forge started out as a pressure tank i found out in the woods. i cut one end off and added some holes, tuyere, homemade hinge.

this is the insulating refractory in place.

and finished off with a 2800* plastic rammable called noxram. it saved me from having to come up with a form to pour dense castable around. plus it was kind of theraputic squishing it in place. i formed a groove for a door gasket but haven't put one in yet.

i mounted it on the post next to my 8' sliding back door so i can swing it out into the open doorway for ventilation.

my converted propane oil tank, and the air regulator.

and finally a shot of it running, and a shot inside. you can see the high temp fire brick starting to get gummy.

enjoy
mark

[dan_m]

That's looks great, thanks for sharing. Does the oil just drip into the airstream?

[oof]

no it uses air pressure to atomize the fuel. here is a shot of it running while it was still in the torpedo heater.

i normaly run it at 5-10 psi with a blower adding air. right now the oil tank is at the same level as the forge. the other day it was warm out, and i hung the tank from an 8' ladder. i was able to turn the air pressure low enough that it wouldn't register on the guage. i have a couple of gast air pumps, and two roots type vacuum pumps i want to experiment with to provide the pressure for the nozzle. i just can't seem to keep enough flat area open on a bench to play around yet.
mark

[macbruce]

This needs to be under a hood right?.....I don't see one but I assume CO is a factor..........

[pkrankow]

So you are pressurizing the whole oil tank, or you are using an air siphon of some type?

Very interesting.

Phil

[oof]

macbruce, i wouldn't use this thing in an enclosed shop without some design changes. i have an 8' sliding door on the back of the shop.it's set up so i can swing it out into the open doorway.
phil, sorry i guess i left out that part. yes it's a siphon nozzle. no pressurizing the tank. although if i can figure out how to raise the tank and still be able to fill it easily i will. that will add some pressure to the fuel and allow my compressor a break more often.
mark

[Allen Gaskill]

Hey Mark,

Are you still using your oil forge ? If so is it working like you wanted it to , if not what was the problems you found?

[oof]

Yessir, I was using it yesterday until the neighbor showed up with some frosty cold barley pops to ring in the new year. Other than the forge itself being too small to do much ornamental work, I haven't had any problems at all. There's not much that can go wrong with a siphon nozzle, unless you leave it in the forge when your done and melt the o ring in it. In the winter I add a pint of diesel to 5 gallons of wmo so it will light easier. one page of wadded up newspaper is all it usually takes to get it burning on it's own. In the summer it will light with a just propane torch.

 

 

Mark