bhardy501 Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 Well I fired up the brake drum forge for the first time today. Had no idea what I was doing but I did it anyhow. It got hot, boy did it get hot. I had an old file that I was playing around with and it melted it clean off as well as melting away my 3/8 steel frate out of the bottom. Pics of the rake a made (not very impressive) melted off file, melted grate, whats left of the file out of the fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pug}{maN Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 LOL! That's grate man! You'll get it it's all just trial and error Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 Add more fuel, less air.Air is what makes the fire get hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 Yes, what Glenn said. Also, you don't need nearly so much air grate for general work, a couple inches square or dia. is generally good unless you're forging large or heavy stock. You can make more than one air grate simply by cutting a couple few disks of plate to fit the bottom of the drum and then cutting openings and putting grates in them. Make them different sizes so you can alter the size blast for different size stock. Looks like a good workable forge and a darned fine first attempt. Don't worry if you're like the rest of us you'll have made any number of solid fuel forges before finding the one you like best. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhardy501 Posted December 23, 2012 Author Share Posted December 23, 2012 I have looked at using a cast iron grate for a drain. I can get one that is about the right diameter but its only about 1/4" thick. Would this burn up as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 With a F5 hurricane force wind - YES.I use auto exhaust pipe and one piece of 1/4 inch mild steel rod for a twyere and grate. Run the forge at welding heat all day and have no signs of damage.Search the site for fire maintenance or control and read what others say. You need just enough air to produce the heat you need for the project in the fire.Look to see if you are getting hot coals below the grate. There ash should be WELL BELOW the air inlet to the twyere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhardy501 Posted December 23, 2012 Author Share Posted December 23, 2012 LOL, that thing got hot and then some. I think I know part of the problem, I ran the air source continously (learning curve) I also need to make a way to gate off some of the air and let it by pass. Also cut the air when not heating. As stated, serious learning curve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 You could take the same idea I did from Bryan on here... use a dimmer switch to vary the speed of your fan. I'm using one with the shop vac I have for a blower and it works great. At max speed I think I have more of a blast furnace than forge... lol. But at 3/4 earlier tonight, I had 3/16" round stock to yellow in less than a minute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhardy501 Posted December 23, 2012 Author Share Posted December 23, 2012 I had also thought of using that method. I have a Rigid shop vac that I will use if I go that way. I think one of the biggest problems I had was that I ran the air continuously with no way to tone it down. It was ran on low setting, high would almost launch stuff out of the forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 I also followed Glenn's example (basically) and removed my drilled tuyere and installed a single bar across the 3 1/4" opening in the bottom of my brake drum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 You fire should be of sufficient depth so the oxygen in the air burns out before it reaches the metal your trying to heat. ALL the fire should be ABOVE the grate so design the forge and twyere so the air comes into the air pipe well above the level of any ask. Keep the ash dump clean otherwise it will restrict the air flow to the fire, or is the coals build up to the level of the air pipe, it will become it's own forge below the grate and destroy the grate and maybe the twyere and forge. The attached photos are of 2 of my fire pots, the smaller one a 2-1/4 inch air pipe, the larger a 3 inch air pipe with 2 cross bars. The 2-1/4 inch auto exhaust pipe has 2 pieces of 1/4 inch round stock placed through holes, (later I just used one piece of 1/4 inch rod) and a photo of the pot after a fire. Hope it helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale M. Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 Glenn... I seem to have same brake drum as yours that I will be attempting to build forge with (play by play assembly to follow later)... And was wondering about your thoughts about removing outer rotor surfaces and keeping just the "pot" area... Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EGreen Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 Dale I junked out my old dodge pickup a while bac,it was an 84 modle half ton before I hauled it off I pulled the rear brake drum off,good and deep should work as good as a rotor.the forge I am building now I used an automobile torque convertor.these things are at least 3/16 thick should last as long as I will Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheftjcook Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 Good luck with it! Good pics too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Why try to over-engineer simple? If you cut the rotor disk off there is nothing left to hold it in or on the hole in the table. It will simply fall through or you will have to devise some method for holding it in place, like the lip you just cut off. You could lay the table on top of the rotor disk and weld it to the bottom of the table, but take the chance of it being too deep. You can use straps to hold it in place or all manner of other things. Simple works. Make the first one, use it a while, and then make a better one. Post photos of the progression of forges please as we would be interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale M. Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Why try to over-engineer simple? If you cut the rotor disk off there is nothing left to hold it in or on the hole in the table. It will simply fall through or you will have to devise some method for holding it in place, like the lip you just cut off. You could lay the table on top of the rotor disk and weld it to the bottom of the table, but take the chance of it being too deep. You can use straps to hold it in place or all manner of other things. Simple works. Make the first one, use it a while, and then make a better one. Post photos of the progression of forges please as we would be interested.Yeah... Was over think the part about the rim of disk brakes drum/rotor... Will do picture sequence of build soon... Only have old propane BBQ stand (framework) to support top and brake drum and blower/fan from Nissan 240z... Runs nice and slow on 6 volts so may not have to throttle it down to much (but will have to build damper for it anyway).... Need to scrounge "plate" for top(hearth) and materials for tuyere(sp?) .. Anyway do not want to highjack thread any longer... Need to spend the time scrounging parts....Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eco redneck Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Yes, what Glenn said. Also, you don't need nearly so much air grate for general work, a couple inches square or dia. is generally good unless you're forging large or heavy stock. You can make more than one air grate simply by cutting a couple few disks of plate to fit the bottom of the drum and then cutting openings and putting grates in them. Make them different sizes so you can alter the size blast for different size stock. Looks like a good workable forge and a darned fine first attempt. Don't worry if you're like the rest of us you'll have made any number of solid fuel forges before finding the one you like best. Frosty The Lucky. i have made a few and still haven't found "the one " yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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