New Forge Doors

[macbruce]

Well, the old frankenforge has needed new doors forever and the new sculpture project I'm planing would have been a real pain with the old ones so..........

I had a Sandia forge long ago and the one thing I really liked about it was the doors swung in an upward arc and left the top of the forge CLOSED when doing so. These were only open at one end (at least mine was) and had a notch cut into the door so they couldn't be closed 100%. I figure I can trust myself to leave at least one door cracked at all times so both doors fully close and there are little gaps at the bottom of each door anyhow. So far the 'clutch' system workes pretty good keeping the doors where I set them, we'll see....The doors can open/close 0-100%.

There may still be some fine tuning still to come but I sure ain't gonna miss the old ones....

[Frosty]

I only see one problem Bruce. when opened all the way the HOT face of the door will be pointed right at your propane supply hoses. They'll need either shielding or replacement with copper line.

 

Once tweaked a bit those are going to be just the ticket. I do so like seeing quality fabrication.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[macbruce]

I only see one problem Bruce. when opened all the way the HOT face of the door will be pointed right at your propane supply hoses.

Thought I smelled somethin' funny..... :unsure: Yep, you're right, that could be a problem......Another thing....Those 5/8'' steel lifting handles are going to get wood dowels for handles right soon.

 

I did a shakedown after my post and the difference is night and day performance wise, might even try a forge weld in the thing now....... B)

[Frosty]

That's what test runs are for. How you going to take care of it? I didn't think of the handles, wood's probably better than those coiled up springy looking iron handles eh? <grin> Anything's better than grabbing hot steel, I've managed to need the alo gel four times in two days. <sigh>

 

Nothing beats a good hot forge. I have no doubts it'll weld, it looks like a sweet piece of hardware.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[knots]

My small forge has a swing up door with a hinge designed with cam out action to keep the refractory from rubbing against the forge case as it swings up.  The door cams out about 1/8Th inck just above the closed position.  This gives a good seal when closed but provides opening clearance immediately when opening.

 

My door handle is a thin wide bar that provides a large surface area for radiating heat to cool the handle.  I tried other options before settling on this as a permanent solution .

 

My other two forges are are larger  pipe forges with flip up doors.   I do find the cam hinged door to the the most convenient in use.  Although these doors are used on the smaller forge I see no reason that the cam hinge could not be scaled up to a larger forge if desired.