I spent a few hours this afternoon working on my brake drum forge. The hardest part was fabricating an ash dump [from stuff I had laying around] that is effective at dumping ash but only on command.

I originally made a 'counter weight style' ash dump cover but I couldn't get it to work exactly right so I decided to switch gears and go with this sliding style instead.



The forge itself is a brake drum off a 3/4 or 1 ton truck and the piping is all 2". The ash gate is reasonably thick (14ga. maybe?) sheet metal salvaged from an old lawn mower which pivots using a lever with a classy plastic ball at the end.

I still need to complete the grate to keep the coal from just falling down the piping and I need to make a stand of some sort bu I'm feeling pretty good about what I've put together so far.

Looks good. What do you have for an air supply?

Looks good. What do you have for an air supply?

Thanks.

Right now I've got a couple options on air supply. I have 2 old blow dryers available to me. I don't know why my wife keeps buying new blow dryers when her old ones still work but as long as it benefits me I won't ask too many questions. I also have the blower out of an "aero-bed" that I could use. It blows a startlingly large amount of air but only has one speed. Not sure what I'll use yet but open to suggestions.

I would probably use on one of the blow dryers if they have different speeds so you can control your fire and how munch heat you have.

Or use the aero-bed blower, and build a control valve for the tuyere.

I still need to complete the grate to keep the coal from just falling down the piping and I need to make a stand of some sort bu I'm feeling pretty good about what I've put together so far.

I use a cast iron drain grate from Mcmaster-Carr for a grate. It's cheap thick and ash falls through it. I still need to fish out a clinker once in a while but it's not a problem.
2413K2 Light Duty Cast Iron Round Drain Grate 5" Diameter http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/118/2115/=jrp7bt

I use a cast iron drain grate from Mcmaster-Carr for a grate. It's cheap thick and ash falls through it. I still need to fish out a clinker once in a while but it's not a problem.
2413K2 Light Duty Cast Iron Round Drain Grate 5" Diameter http://www.mcmaster....18/2115/=jrp7bt

Awesome! Thanks for the tip!

Seriously, Thanks for that site, i just ordered a strainer through them for an ash gate because i melted mine today. hahahaha

An option to building an air-gate is to somehow divert the air flow.  An added bonus to using a furnace blower like what I used is the speed is governed by the amount of resistance, the more resistance the harder it blows so when angled up high it blows less.  I now use a Christmas tree foot switch so I can leave the angle unchanged and just turn it on or off. 

 

I usually use a piece of expanded metal for a grate replacing them as they burn out but I wanted to test a theory so when I was forge welding last weekend I use a cast iron valve handle I picked up at the scrapyard for a quarter.  Worked great, and after I chipped the borax/clinker cicles from it didn't see any erosion worth mentioning.  (Making a trivit from some 1" by 1/4" strap: take 3 pieces and forge weld the ends together to make the legs---I usually make smaller ones out of lighter stock but I have a cowboy frypan I hope to use at the campout this weekend...)