Hello I was just recently playing around we my new brake drum forge (homemade) and I suddenly saw blue fire coming from the middle what caused this?

Wot were you using for fuel?

Greetings Kyotie,

 

Sounds like by this thread you have been a busy boy...  Looking at your forge... Do you have an ash gate???   Looks like you are pumping a lot of air into your forge.....  You will also need a better system for the air inlet.. It looks like your coal could fall down the tube.....   What kind of coal are you using ???

 

Best take a look at other brake drum forges on this sight...

 

Keep going....     Jim

Charcoal

lump not briquettes, correct?

No worries, the blue flame is just combustible gas released by the fuel that isn't burning till it hits open air. Don't sweat it, it's okay.

 

Frosty the Lucky.

better question: is there a coating of some sort (chrome?) on that which looks like a computer fan grate/screen in that pic? did that piece make it into the final build?

Good call Chinobi! Hadn't considered the coating on the grate!! This begs the question; Does the blue flame go away after the plating/coating burns off.

Yes that was probably it but will it go away?

when it is done finding a new home in your lungs, perhaps :)

Is it dangerous?

Coatings burning off are probably dangerous. I'm pretty leery of coatings when I forge or weld.

 

Might be worth clarifying why fire looks like it does: carbon burns blue. Hence the blue flame for your propane torch. However, soot (little pieces of carbon - and other junk - that didn't burn) glows from incandescence. So, that's where the yellow to white colors come in. Carbon burns blue and heats up soot which glows yellow to white.

 

So, saying you have a blue flame is kinda normal. If you had some vapors well mixed with oxygen you could get a flame much like a torch (which is well mixed O2 and hydrocarbon compounds).

 

Eric

how would like a canning lid work? or maybe one of those aluminum can lids?

Aluminum would likely melt.  The canning lids I'm familiar with would burn through in short order.  Steel or cast iron would work.  Drilling holes if something like a piece of 16 gauge sheet metal would work better (heavier gauge would be better).  Uncoated cast iron grate would work.

I have taken out the canning lid and the chrome thing and I have replaced them with a mesh screen (metal mesh screen) and a stainless steel drain cover with some stainless steel bolts for air control.