Dale M. Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Hi all ... This is my first attempt to build a forge... So I will call it Forge 101 I will start by saying I have just about exhausted YouTube all the videos on forge making and read quite a bit on how forges operate and decided first attempt will be a brake drum forge... Also by putting on a cart it becomes portable as I have not decided where to setup a permanent smithy… I acquired a brake drum off rear of a pickup truck and old propane BBQ which sacrificed its life for a cart/stand to build forge on... Pictures in this build series are as follows... 001 Salvaged propane BBQ stand. 002 Pickup truck rear brake drum. 003 Sort of first mockup to see how things fit (perspective). 004 12 volt Nissan heater blower. 005 10 gauge steel sheet for hearth floor. 006 3 x 1/8 inch hearth sides. 007 Everything tack welded together for initial fit. 008 Blower motor with draft gate. 009 Blower motor mounted to stand. 010 Weld in tank bung. 011 Bung and drum (one could say "all bunged up"). 012 2 inch plumbing parts to form tuyere. 013 One could say "it's all screwed up". 014 Everything fitted together. 015 Cut out from hearth floor repurposed as bottom of fire pot. 016 Grate fitted to fire pot. One real thing I found is people on Youtube make it sound so easy or cheap to buy the plumbing parts... Well after intense I-net search, it was determined that "black iron" (non galvanized steel) is cheaper then galvanized steel pipe and you just can not go to local hardware store and buy 2 inch stuff... I actually found local ranch/industrial supplier that beat the prices at Home Depot and Lowes and still the piping cost me about $45-50 ... Although they were out of the 2 inch floor flanges I was able to get weld in tank bung for two inch pipe in place of floor flange (and a couple of dollars cheaper than floor flange) The concept that $20 spent at local hardware store for the 2 inch plumbing is just a myth... Most of the hearth materials were chosen for cost and if they transmit too much heat, there is always the option to line hearth with clay.... The 12 volt DC heater motor run great on 6 volts (powered by battery charger) and transfers a lot of air with dampener full open.. I have fired forge off with charcoal (real wood) but was disappointed in the amount of heat it produced but in an hour it can consume a lot of charcoal if you have draft set to high.... Something I am considering is to put foot switch on fan motor to shut it off when I step away from forge so fire will die back some and reduce coal consumption, just like old time blacksmiths would quit the bellows (or centrifugal blower) to step to anvil and form the metal.... Thanks for looking... Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Foot switch would probably be a good idea. I would suggest going ahead and stepping up to a 12 VDC power supply and putting in a varistat to control the amount of voltage going to the fan and therefor it's speed. That way you can adjust the airspeed with what I think would be more accuracy than the gate gives. Like Gleen has said, the amount of heat your fire creates is controlled by the amount of air not the amount of fuel, so if you step up the voltage and thereby the speed of the fan, it will increase your aitflow. Added to the footswitch idea, you could increase your heat AND reduce fuel consumption, because a higher heat means less time heating the metal. Less time heating = less fuel burned. I use coal in the brake drum forge I built. It burns so much more efficiently than charcoal imho, that it overbalances the cost difference. And I got my 2" black iron pipe and fittings from a fire sprinkler company, from their nfs scrap (Not fit to sell). They were too rusted and slightly pitted to be installed, but cleaned up just fine for my forge. I work for the company so they were free for me, but I'm sure they would either have given them free or charged a pittance even to someone else. ***TIP TO DIY FORGE BUILDERS*** Check with your local fire sprinkler service and installation companies for black iron pipe and fittings, they very likely may have some scrap pieces from repairs or such they can't use in a life safety installation, but that would work just fine for forge construction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Trez Cole Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Great use of recycled stuff it is the way to go. Looks like you weld real well. in the future you get scrap you can weld together a deeper fire pot. My self I like a slide damper in the air line. I like to keep the motor running at full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgewayforge Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 That looks pretty good! Depending on how high that lip is around the edge, you may want to cut a small trapazoidal piece out of either side to run long rods through the sweet spot of the fire. Good work! Looks to be servicable and quite excellent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale M. Posted January 6, 2013 Author Share Posted January 6, 2013 Thanks for the positive comments....As for power to blower, there are many considerations, mostly it will depend on how forge perform when I get some decent coal to build a really good fire....As for blast/draft gate on fan output verses motor speed control, well its sort of same situation as above... I expect to do some tweaks as situation dictates....The lip of the table is about 1-1/2 inches above lip of fire pot(brake drum).... The thought of reducing lip height (for small section for better access angel to fire ball has crossed my mind..... Was actually considering using a section of 2 inch or 1 inch flat stock along one side, but it sort of got away from me in the heat of the build... Does not mean I can not come back and reduce height for a bit of the side section if necessary...Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale M. Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 Well my shipment of coal finally arrived and I fired off the forge today.... All I can is its way hotter than charcoal... Have learned some about fire management, and the blower powered on 6 volts with draft gate/dampener almost all the way open produced a great amount of heat.....So far I'm rather pleased with my build....Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Going with the automotive theam, ask your parts house for an old style starter switch, looks like an old style dimmer switch, but it is a momentary switch and not a laching one' and it's designed to be stepped on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale M. Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 Going with the automotive theam, ask your parts house for an old style starter switch, looks like an old style dimmer switch, but it is a momentary switch and not a laching one' and it's designed to be stepped on.It's a thought... But local parts house has to order everything.... Its a NAPA store "No Applicable Parts Available".... And all they ever tell me is they can order it and it will be here tomorrow, and I have to pay in advance.... And it's another 20 mile round trip into town to pick it up next day...I actually have a assortment of switches and relays and wiring and "stuff", as part of my other hobby I used to do dune buggy wiring for fun and profit (well not from my friends)....Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eco redneck Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 That looks pretty good! Depending on how high that lip is around the edge, you may want to cut a small trapazoidal piece out of either side to run long rods through the sweet spot of the fire. Good work! Looks to be servicable and quite excellent! that is a must you need to do that first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Nice looking forge build Dale. Bummer about using plumbing for a tuyere though. If you'd visited a muffler shop you could've picked everything you needed out of their drops for the price of a box of donuts. Then a flapper exhaust cap makes a near perfect ash dump. A foot switch is as easy as using the horn button out of a car and making a nifty cool floor mount for it and you're golden. Other wise, self centering switches in the 12v category are pretty common and inexpensive. I didn't notice, did you mount the air damper on the intake or outlet side of the blower? either will work fine for controlling the draft but if the motor relies on the blower flow for cooling you might run into overheating issues. All in all, Well done Dale. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eco redneck Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 that is a must you need to do that first it will help save a lot of wasted heating time your steel and it will help save coal/charcoal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale M. Posted June 9, 2013 Author Share Posted June 9, 2013 Nice looking forge build Dale. Bummer about using plumbing for a tuyere though. If you'd visited a muffler shop you could've picked everything you needed out of their drops for the price of a box of donuts. Then a flapper exhaust cap makes a near perfect ash dump. A foot switch is as easy as using the horn button out of a car and making a nifty cool floor mount for it and you're golden. Other wise, self centering switches in the 12v category are pretty common and inexpensive. I didn't notice, did you mount the air damper on the intake or outlet side of the blower? either will work fine for controlling the draft but if the motor relies on the blower flow for cooling you might run into overheating issues. All in all, Well done Dale. Frosty The Lucky. I realized later that It would have been a lot cheaper to simply manufacture the tyree from tubing, but was caught up in all the "brake drum" forges I had seen on Youtube and was sort of caught inside the box for the use of pipe, and thinking at the time heat was going to be issue (which it is not) and tyree had to be more robust, probably will manufacture next tyree from tubing for dimes on the dollars I spent in pipe for this one.... Since I am at least 40 miles from any muffler shops I sort of made a shopping list for parts needed and spent a day in the "city" shopping for forge parts and lots other things my back woods community does not have... The fan is a auxiliary blower fan from Datsun 240 Z and is sealed 12Volt DC permanent magnet motor so ventilation of motor is not needed ... And yes the damper is on inlet.... At the time it seemed simplest way to go... Can't see any reason to change it (yet) but have given it some thought... Already have foot switch for fan, just have not got around it installing a relay and the switch (and switch bypass)... Motivational issues I guess... OR maybe its if it is working, don't fix it... Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 Yeah, I know how it goes, on one hand you hear and say, "don't reinvent the wheel," or "If it ain't broke don't fix it." And on the other hand you run into situations where the way folks have been doing things for generations maybe can be improved: better,faster, easier, is a sort of code of operation for professional smiths. Has been for a couple thousand years at least. I also know what it's like to be a long way from supplies, I spent 20 years at a job that often took me to places that were many hours or even days from the nearest road. Is there a service station that does repairs closer than town? If they do repairs chances are they do mufflers and tail pipes that get knocked off, by offroaders. Very few stations are anything but fuel and convenience stores around town anymore. Heck, start carrying a hack saw or pipe cutter and shop abandoned vehicles. How about that 240 Z you salvaged the blower from? Heck, if the pipe isn't large enough where it connects to the fire pot using a tin can is fine old blacksmith tradition. Another alternative I've thought about trying but haven't is "muffler tape." The tape that is phenolic resin impregnated fiberglass fabric. It's heat cured, you simply wrap the sticky semi stiff tape around a hole or even broken tail pipe The heat of the exhaust cures it into one tough hard very heat resistant cast. Not only could a guy without welding capacity connect exhaust pipe in a "T" for a tuyere I'm betting a person could just form it into a tuyere with a little cardboard tubing and blacksmitherly improvisation. IMHO choking the intake on a blower is the better choice, it's how I do it. It's WAY easier than making a butterfly or gate valve for the outlet, it's plainly visible so a person can gauge the setting to start and the vacuum holds it in place. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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