intrex Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I have been trying to put together my first very rudimentary smithy and am stuck on one last piece. I got a homeade forge from a guy in town. It is basically a 1.5-2 foot diameter iron bowl with a hole in the center and a welded angle iron stand. I was thinking that I would build a tube very similar to the 55 gallon down tube example with two round stock criss-crossed for the drain. The problem is that the drain is 3" in diameter and I can't find anything close to that size in any of the hardware stores. Should I try to reduce the size of the hole by attaching a steel plate or something else? Is a 3" diameter blower hole overkill for a small forge? The guy I bought the forge from was saying to buy a box fan for the blower. I was hoping an old hand crank fan would pop up on craigslist that I could mount to it but no luck so far. Thanks for any guidance, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intrex Posted December 28, 2012 Author Share Posted December 28, 2012 I have pretty much figured out what I am going to do for the blower tube and tuyere. Now I just need to figure out how to attach some type of blower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 So you need some sort of a grate? take a piece of 3/8" stock and cold bend it into an S shape and place over the hole will get you started. Or take a piece of expanded steel and dish it slightly to fit---what I use. Have to replace them on a regular basis (I get about 20 hours of forging per) but I get the material for free of pennies a pound at the scrap yard. As for a blower check with your local HVAC company. Ultra Efficient furnaces have a blower as part of their burner systems (not the big squirrel cage that pushed air through the vents) and when a heat exchanger fails the blower is usually still good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 You can use a plate to cover the 3 inch hole. Put a hole in the plate to then use a piece of auto exhaust pipe, or black iron pipe for an air tube. You could just cover the 3 inch hole with steel or mud or what ever and put a piece of black iron pipe horizontally into the forge at the top and use it as side blast. The opening on the end of the pipe should be reduced to 3/4 to 1 inch in diameter. I found squirrel cage fans in machinery as cooling fans. These work well, or go with Thomas's suggestion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstar.esq Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 I copied an idea posted elsewhere on this forum. I put the air pipe up from the bottom of the bowl about 2" with a threaded cap on the end. I used iron pipe from the hardware store. The cap has a 1" hole in the center. What this does is put the air inlet ABOVE the bottom of the bowl allowing dust and slag to fall UNDER the fire. Clinkers form like a donut below the heat. It's much, much, cleaner running than a grate or a clinker breaker. I don't think I'd ever go back. The only down side is that it's harder to get the dust out of the bottom since it won't go down the "drain". I you used plumbing parts you can buy a floor flange to weld in from below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batesblacksmithshop Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 lots of blacksmiths,all over could help,hard to deal with 007. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netman Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 intrex did you get your problem figured out. Funny that I am reading this.....my neighbor is a H and A man. He has his shop behind his home just down the road from me. I just called him a few minutes ago and asked about a 4" squirrel cage type blower. He thought for a minute and is looking right now for what ThomasPowers suggested. While I am waiting for the return call I thought I would get on IFI and read some post. I too am in the process of building my coal fired forge. Hopefully he will call me with a free blower of some type. Might cost me a bag or two of catfish filets. I will let you know what I come up with. Netman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netman Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Ring....I got one for you. I will pull it off tomorrow and put it out for you to pick up. What do I owe you? Not a thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intrex Posted December 31, 2012 Author Share Posted December 31, 2012 Hey Everyone, Thanks for the responses. I ordered all of the pipes off of amazon and a floor flange that already has a grate welded into it from a guy off of Ebay. As soon as I get it all setup and running I will post a picture of how it all turns out and how it works. I also bought a Fasco 7021-8735 1708-607 draft inducer for furnaces off of ebay. It is probably a little bit overkill. I am planning to put a potentiometer on it to control the speed. I got a 125lb swedish sisco superior in great condition from a guy on craigslist all setup on a large log stand ready to go as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netman Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Intrex I walked over to the neighbors today and picked up the blower. Its a Fasco too. I bet its the same one you bought..I will be welding my forge up this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intrex Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 Hey Netman, Let me know how it works out. I probably have a week before everything gets delivered to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale M. Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Something nobody really seems to be thinking of is some cars have small compact blower that run on 12 volt DC and with a reduced output if run on 6 volts (simple battery charger will power it directly) ....http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/31104-forge-101-or-first-time-forge-build/Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intrex Posted January 17, 2013 Author Share Posted January 17, 2013 Hey Everyone, I finally got everything setup and working nicely. I have only lit it up 3 times but it has worked out great. I ended up getting a furnace fan speed controler (basically a a hand dial with 1-10 speed setttings on it) and a foot pedal on/off switch. Both of them were from Ebay for a total price of around $50 shipped. Next time I fire it up this weekend I will take some pictures of the setup. The furnace fan on a 2 inch pipe input has more than enough power (actually too much) to run the forge. If I put it on full power it will start blowing molten pieces of coal up in the air out of the forge, which is why I got the speed controller. After experiment with this I think a much smaller fan would probably work out fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intrex Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 Here are the pictures of the forge that I planned to post last month but never got around to it. The first time I fired it up there was a loud high pitched noise which was the bowl cracking. I lined the entire forge with refractory cement and haven't had any problems with it since. The only other thin I plan to do it weld a very small shelf onto the side where I can set the speed controller and maybe weld a bar where I can hang tongs. Bending down every time I want to change the air flow is getting a little annoying. http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36891-forge-freshly-lined-with-refractory-cement/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36892-forge-freshly-lined-with-refractory-cement/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36897-rivet-forge-with-letter-opener-in-it/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36896-rivet-forge-with-furnace-fan/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36895-forge-controls/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36894-forge-fan-speed-controller/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36893-forge-foot-pedal/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale M. Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Umm... Nice job in adapting blower to to forge... But what gives me queasy feeling is exposed wiring at speed controller.... Think all the connecters (even though properly wire nutted) and speed controller should be in a enclosure securely mounted on forge stand....... With wiring exposed this way I sure hope you are plugged into a GFI outlet.... Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intrex Posted March 15, 2013 Author Share Posted March 15, 2013 Hey Dale, This was the very first time I fired it up and was dieing to get it going so I definitely cut some corners. Those have all been soldered and shrink wrapped now. I am building some attachments onto the forge and am going to eventually mount the controller there as well. I ended up modifying my welder which put the forge project on hold. In a few more weeks I will probably have it all wrapped up and will post the final results (right side up this time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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