jayco Posted July 15, 2007 Share Posted July 15, 2007 Here's a trick I use that works for me. I found this little fan at the flea market(an eletronics cooling fan, I think). it's only 4 inches across and has a low air output. Not enough to power a large forge, but just right to give the fire a good boost. I hang it by some wire over the air intake of my little handcrank Champion and it gives some of the advantages of having an electric blower. It keeps the fire going when I'm at the anvil.....and if I need a larger fire or welding heat, I just crank the blower handle. Anyone else ever try something like this? Any suggestions for improvements are apprieciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keykeeper Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 A hybrid forge blower...awesome idea Jayco. If it works, it works. 'Nuff Said on the subject. I might have to try something like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheftjcook Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 Neat Idea Jayco! You've invented the Deluxe Combo Blower. Fine tune & Get it patented. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted T Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 Jayco, you are vary sneeky in a wounderful way. Cool idea. Consider the concept stolen by me before Sam (Apprentice Man) can steal it! You always help make blacksmithing effective and fun. Be safe! Old Rusty Ted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_sandy_creek_forge Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Now Ted, you know the only reason Sam hasn't commented is because he was already down to Radio Shack buying a fan while you were typing on the computer! I wonder if there would be a way to sit it on a low speed and have it turn off once you started manually cranking the blower. I don't have a problem with my big forge going out, in fact i can leave it sit for an hour and still have visible heat at the top of the fire. But my little riveters forge tends to put itself out everytime I turn my back on it. That would be great to choke the little fan back to just enough to keep it from going out on me. -Aaron @ the SCF (overcomplicating everything one step at a time) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Salvati Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 Call Him quick draw ted:D. GREAT idea, definately consider it stolen Jayco, thanks:D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayco Posted July 20, 2007 Author Share Posted July 20, 2007 Guys, I doubt that I invented anything with this lil' fan idea; My original idea was to use a hair dryer,but I could never get it mounted the way I wanted it. Maybe, a LOT of duct tape might have done the trick.A hair dryer would give you two or three speeds to chose from........ Aaron,the fan I use is a one speed deal.....I don't even have an on/off switch on mine.There are all kinds of possibilities for variable speeds; heat -sensitive switches to turn the fan on or off according to temperature and your needs. If you come up with an idea on this, please let us know. I'm always looking for new ideas myself. Ted,keeping the fire just a little hotter also gets rid of that wafting bit of smoke that appears when the fire gets low. I know you have to avoid as much smoke as possible,......hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Funk Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Great Idea! This would even be better for those who burn coke as it goes out quickly if the air flow is stopped. This should substain the fire. On a side note one of my elctric blowers for a coal forge is a forced draft fan from a high efficency residential gas furnace. I paid $0.50 for at a flea market. It is not big enough for 2" stock to forge hammers, but for small sections such as 1/2" or 3/8" stock it works great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pascalou Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 The idea is good!! Definitely I like much this forum where each one divides Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 I just came to this post to steel his idea, Great one Jayco, I dont want a full electric blower, I have used them, and switched back to my hand unit. I like my crank, BUT when using coke for damascus welding, it will help a lot. this is the perfect solution.:cool: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayco Posted December 20, 2007 Author Share Posted December 20, 2007 I've also been using a small cooling fan from an old refrigerator.......about the same size. It just hangs by a piece of coat hanger wire like the one in the picture. I wanted to try different fans to see if results were the same. This seems to work with any small cooling fan. Because of the housing design, the second fan didn't seal around the intake hole on the handcrank blower very well,........so I made a gasket from two old socks to stop the leaks. Very low tech! The air output from these little fans is low,(think hairdryer or your car heater fan on low), but it keeps the fire at 'fast idle'. I have worked on small stuff,something like leaf keyrings, for hours without ever touching the handle on the handcrank, The most noticeable improvement for me was finding how much easier it was to build a fire in the mornings. I found I could light my usual balled newspaper/woodshavings/small sticks kindling.........wait until the fire caught up a bit.....then plug in the electric fan. I'm not anchored to the handcrank anymore......I can use both hands to shovel coal around the firepot,rake coal into the fire,get my stock ready, choose hammers and tongs for the next forging......maybe even sip some coffee while the fire is getting hot. Even though the fans are small, small stock will in some cases burn if you're not watching closely enough. If you're used to handcrank, like I was for so many years,you just have to remember that the fire burns on....even when you're not looking. Of course that's what the electric blower guys have known all along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drogo Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 As for a Switch system try using a reed switch (security switch for windows) the kind that uses a magnet to activate. Put the magnet on the handel to the blower and the switch on the blower housing. when you want it "on", leave the handel in the right position and the electric fan stays on. You could also put the magnet on a swivel so the electric fan isn't going on and off with every turn of the blower handel. hope this is clear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayco Posted September 1, 2008 Author Share Posted September 1, 2008 I was putting this little forge and blower together (using one of those 4 in. computer fans as the air supply) and noticed a problem. Very little air into the forge! There was so little air that I thought I'd put the fan in backward! Well, I hadn't done that. First of all, this is a tiny forge....the vertical air pipe is a grease gun tube........the horizontal pipe is only 1 in. inside diameter. These little fans work on my regular forge as 'helpers' pretty well.....of course my regular forge has 3 in. air supply pipe. These little fans don't have enough power to be constricted to a small pipe....say.......1 in.! Oh well, live and learn......... James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Browne Posted September 30, 2008 Share Posted September 30, 2008 For their size they move a surprising amount of air BUT they are volume fans not pressure fans so they will not push through a constricted area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NateDJ Posted September 30, 2008 Share Posted September 30, 2008 To determine the presser that one of these fans put out we (computer modding guys) stack sheets of paper on top of them to see how many they will blow off. This is by NO means a scientific measurement but it gives us a good idea of which fan moves the most air pressure wise. For volume hang a sheet of paper and see how far away it will still move the paper. For a fan that will do what you are wanting you will likely spend $50.00-$100.00 and are looking for a fan that is built to go in a rack mount server. These fans are VERY loud compared to other computer fans but also move a lot more air. A different approach that seems to work is to stack 2 of the same fans on top of each other, this will increase the presser but not the volume of air. You can find a computer modding forum that has more info than you can ever care to read at bit-tech.net Forums If you are interest in a very strange computer I made for my wife...ThinkTank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted September 30, 2008 Share Posted September 30, 2008 Just as a 'think on'...... You need a cheap controlable source of air under enough pressure to run a forge yes? That means idealy something (fanwise) thats built to shift a lot of air through narrow ducting. If it has at least four speed settings all wired up even better yes? Chances are your about six feet away from one just like that everyday. Even better chance you can get hold of that one pretty cheap from an autowreckers. Running it from a 12V battery makes it portable and mains power independant and quite possibly capable of hours of service. (you can take two batteries if you can take one) For the workshop you could possibly run it from a cheap battery charger, cheap and cheerful. Make sense to anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggraham Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 As far as too much or too little air, you could use a damper plate on the inlet or outlet of what ever blower you happen to use. or something along the line of an air inlet on a bbq pit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howardz71 Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 (edited) the hair drier indeed works and you are right duct tape is your friend in this we still use one on our little washtub forge we got the drier from good will try to find one that has the cold air switch not the button 'it turns off the element' the button is hard to tape down so it stays in since ours is out side right now we have to untape and bring in we leave a roll of gorilla tape setting on the drier for next time us the gorilla tape it is better than duct tape brand Edited December 18, 2008 by howardz71 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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