Feukair Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 Hello all, i haven't posted in a while, but i have managed to make a trip to my forge once a week for at least a half a day. I've still found a little time every night to check in and at least see what others are talking about. Anyway I mentioned a while ago that I would post pictures of the new forge my dad and I built. It's make of 1/4" plate steel welded together in a traditional firepot design. One of the pics i've overlayed dimensions on. This forge works good for me, i've forge welded in a a couple times, don't know how much forge welding it could handle cuz it's only 1/4" plate (if i was gonna do it again it would be 3/8") but it's good enough for my one day a week forging. Sometimes when i know i'm gonna run the fire hot i line the two bigger sides with firebrick, thats where it seems to get the hottest. The only place I can see that the steel isn't taking the heat too good is in the bottom of the pot. Someday i think i might cut that off and replace it with a piece of 4X4 stainless plate. The ash tube that comes of the bottom is 4" square tube with a 2 1/2" pipe welded on the side for air inlet. Traditional dump gate on the bottom with a counter weight. The clinker breaker was made out of three pieces of steel (leaf spring steel) that i welded together like alternating teeth. Drilled a 3/8" hole through the middle of them and put a long lag bolt through. Rotating the clinker breaker makes the teeth rotate through 3 slits cut in the bottom of the firepot. Here are the pics... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feukair Posted August 28, 2007 Author Share Posted August 28, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feukair Posted August 28, 2007 Author Share Posted August 28, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feukair Posted August 28, 2007 Author Share Posted August 28, 2007 Here's a couple videos, one of the forge burning and the other the klinker breaker rotating...http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/data/681/klinker_rotating_2.wmvhttp://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/data/681/forge_drawing_video.wmv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryCarroll Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 Nice looking setup! Looks like you've done some research before you started. I'm sure you're going to enjoy using it. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feukair Posted August 28, 2007 Author Share Posted August 28, 2007 Thanks Jerry. Well, this is our 2nd forge, so it was build, get frustrated, then research, then build one that works good. That's kind of how I roll... LOL... If I didn't i might actually have more spare time in my life... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLMartin Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 thats on fancy clinker breaker you made, looks like a great forge, im in the middle of making a second forge for a family member, i think ill try that clinker breaker you made, i though that having a thin walled forge would be a problom when i made mine, most forges i had used had inch thick cast iron pots, mines 1/2 inch plate and 3/8's. round clinker breaker, after some work ive seen that this is a good thickness, and 1/4 sould be fine to, if it dose seem to get to hot you could put a thin lining of clay in it, or strap on some aluminum plates to the outside of the pot to sink heat too, or if you realy want to go all out you might try welding fins onto the outside of the firepot and running some kind of air flow(fan) across it, just like a good old air cooled motorcycle. sadly i havent fired mine up yet, still no hood or legs for the table, workin on the hood right now, need to buy steel for legs been running my gas forge for about 3 years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feukair Posted August 28, 2007 Author Share Posted August 28, 2007 I do put firebriks in side the forge when i need to run it hot. But they take up alot of space and i want to find something smaller (thinner). If in can find some good refractory cement I could line it with a 1/2" layer or so. What about ceramic tile? I thought about getting a couple big pieces of tile and putting them in the forge to line it with... Can ceramic tile take much heat? Thanks for the heat sink idea, next time i have it apart i think i might weld some fins on, that would be easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLMartin Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 there are ceramic tiles that will take the heat, they use tiles to sheald heat from the spaceship intering orbit, but i have no idea what kind of tile that would be, or if it could take coal dust and clinker, haha i had another idea, even crazyer, some welders use watercooled tables, you could wrap copper pipe around the firepot and pump water though, haha there is a million ways to ceep cool, being a welder myself i tend to come across alot of Good ones, and even more Bad ones, good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feukair Posted August 28, 2007 Author Share Posted August 28, 2007 Ha! I don't think i could afford space shuttle tiles... LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J W Bennett Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 Nice setup, How do you control your air blast? Didn't see an air gate are you using a rheostat? Just Curious. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 That is one of the nicest looking home made forges I've seen in a long time. Check Google, the people who bring you ITC-100 make a product designed to shiled steel and other metals in high heat environments. Another more complicated method would be to build a plenum around the firepot so incoming air from the blower cools the sides of the firepot. Personally, I'd just rough up the sides of the firepot and clay it lightly. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Ravizza Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 That hood sure draws well. Nice job! How is the chimney set up? Does it rise vertically after going out the window? Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feukair Posted August 29, 2007 Author Share Posted August 29, 2007 Hey all, thx for the comments... JB, i use a rheostat, its kind of touchy adjust, you can see it laying on the forge in the corner closest to you in the pic called forge_progress (2nd picture in the first post). I tried gating this blower but doing that or choking it's intake cause it to vacuum and spin out of control and vibrate too much. Frosty, do u acutally mean clay like pottery clay or do you mean satanite or some like refractory mortar? Here's a pic of the chimney after it leaves the window, it's 10" pipe. I think it would draw better if i put a smoke shelf in it but i barely have time to use it so i don't want to tear it apart just yet to put one in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 Hey all, thx for the comments... Frosty, do u acutally mean clay like pottery clay or do you mean satanite or some like refractory mortar? Fire clay. Mix about 1pt in 8 portland cement and 1pt in 4 sharp silica sand. Cement: 1pt. Fire clay: 8 pts. Sharp silica sand: 2pts. Elmer's glue: 2-3 drops per quart of water for the mix. Add only enough water so it'll make a clean breaking lump when squeezed in your fist. If it's crumbly add a LITTLE more water, it it's sticky add a LITTLE more clay mix. If you've ever done green sand casting you know what properly tempered sand is like, that's what you're looking for. Once you have the correct (or close, this isn't rocket surgery ) ram it in place with a wood mallet or similar. Burnish the surface smooth with wood, burlap or such. The smoother the surface the better; clinker won't stick as easily and sharp irons won't mar it as easily, checking will be easier to control. In short the smoother the better. Lastly use a butter knife, etc. and score the surface to control shrink checking 1/8" deep is plenty. It is going to shrink no matter what you do but it can be held to a minimum. Only using as much water as absolutely necessary to bind it is #1. Scoring the refractory is #2. It WILL shrink check, (crack) but it will do it along the lines of least resistance which are the score marks. You'll need to prep the firepot so the refractory will stick. Probably the easiest and fastest would be to tack weld some expanded metal to the pot so the clay can grab it. (This is how metal lath was invented) Another method is to just rough it up good, using a ginder or welding chicken tracks on it. A more time consuming method would be to drill lots of holes and run screws in from outside or maybe from inside and leave the heads showing. Heck, tack weld nail heads to the inside. Anything as long as it doesn't protrude through the liner. You get the idea, the refractory will last longer if it's stuck well and good to the inside of the pot. Mixing Elmer's and water at about 1 : 20 and painting it on the firepot will REALLY improve it's sticktion. Don't let it dry completely, it works better when a little sticky damp. So, in short: Give it a good surface to grip, use as little water as possible, ram it as hard as possible, burnish it and score it and it'll last a long time. Of course it's pretty simple to replace in any case so don't get too carried away trying to get it perfect. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R W Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 A great forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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