Hello everyone , Im Scott and Im new to blacksmithing. Thought it would be a fun way to spend time in the backyard. I found a place to pick up a blower for the coal forge I made , it's called www.Surpluscenter.com they have a bunch of blowers and odds and ends. I found the pricing on E-Bay restrictive for a used blower and this place had stuff right in my budget . I dont work for them and have no attachment to the company.( thought other might want to know about it) Ill post some pictures as soon as I can . By for now

I did a search there for forge blowers and came up with no hits. I thought maybe it was gonna give me something. Really, for my charcoal forge I just use an old Electrolux vaccuum that I found in my grandfather's basement with the hose rigged up to the outlet. Puts out more air than I need so I had to choke it down, but hey, it was free. Once I get around to building my blown air propane forge I've got a fan from a furnace that my uncle got for me (he works for a heating and cooling company). Can't beat free and since you don't need a lot of air to burn a hot fire, you should be able to find something cheap anywhere. Plenty of hairdryer forges out there.

Joe Nelson

The Blueprints section has

How to make a blower from an old clothes dryer
BP0128 Forge Blower

How to build a bellows
BP0127 Bellows Construction
BP0141 Building a Bellows

You can find a squirrel cage blower in many junk yards. They are used to cool copiers, and many other machines.

My forge blower is from an inflatable, kids play structure. It kicks out a lot of air!

They don't sell them as "forge blowers" but as fans. Did you check under that catagory?

I motorized my buffalo forge using an old washing machine motor I had lying around. Very simple, made a base out of angle iron and flatbar, welded it to a heavy plate and welded hinges on for belt tensioning.Motor is held in place by a u bolt I made out of threaded bar.Busy painting ran out of primer.If you checked out your local scrapyard you might find a car fan-they are good for making blowers if attached to a small motor.
Bb

The one i am using right now is a blower from an old gas water heater. The one I just picked up along with a big by huge fire pot clinker breaker and Tuyre is the housing of an old champion 400 with an older than dirt GE washing machine motor. For five bucks I think I did ok.
Finnr

i'm using a car air con fan. its got 4 speeds which comes in handy, and it was free too.

my electric blower on the shop forge is from an oil furnace--air control is on the side of the blower that goes from nothing to blow the coal up off the grate! I used the blower/auger from a coal stocker on another before. Look around--be inventive, you'll be surprised what can be used.

I built a blown propane forge using a upright vacuum cleaner as a blower. The thing puts out waaaaay more air than I need so I had to choke it down. I disassembled the vacuum and just mounted the motor and blower. The thing even has an on off switch built right in. The biggest problem I have is the noise.

sorry I did not make it more clear , they have them listed under AC Blowers and fans , sorry.

I found them under this link...
Surplus Center - Electric Motors, Gearmotors, Relays, Toggle Switches

I am using a discontinued in line furnace duct blower purchased from Home Depot. Cost even less than these. These look nice though.

Mark

I scrounged mine out of the dumpster behind a heating/cooling place.

Mines a large blower with an integral 3ph motor. Not having 3ph, I stripped the coils, rotor etc from the shaft, turned it down and fit a pulley. Cut out a slot in the 2ph case for the belt to come out & drove it with an old pump motor from the dumpster of a pool place nearby.

I'm not really sure where my blower came off of, but it was in the back of one of the barns (along with the rest of the collective collection of stuff). Universal motor, 3 speed switch, about 8 inch diameter. Wide open, it will get the firepot on my coal forge glowing a nice red hot. All I did was add a gate to choke it down, and a regular on/off switch (99 cents on sale at menards) in line on the power cord so as not to wear out the 3 way switch.
-Aaron @ the SCF

I use a shop vac with a 2 inch PVC ball valve for air control. Works ok.

Funny story. One night I was running it wide open to quickly bring something up to heat so I could finish up and go in.

At that point it was all coked up. I turned my back for a second and when I turned back the blast had blown out all the burning coke into the air and my forge had turned into a volcano. White hot embers of burning coke were going everywhere, like popcorn.

It was exciting. Now I never run the air at full blast anymore.