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Controlling hair dryer


ChiefCodeX

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Ok so currently I'm using a hair dryer as my bellows. It's hook up to a brake drum forge by some steel piping. My problem is since I use charcoal it sparks up so much that I can't get near the fire when the hair dryer is on. This means I can't see the heat color of the metal or if its burning. Is there any way to control the hair dryer or should I find/buold a different bellow.

Here's i video i took of it. Please excuse it's shortness I was trying to take a picture. Also is there is a picture of my set up.

trim.csXuOL.MOV

post-40625-0-32701000-1384824059_thumb.j

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Greetings Chief,

 

Not so hard...  If you removed the heating coils from the dryer you can make a inline box with a simple rheostat ...   ORRR you could simply make a bleed off by pass in your pipe... I hope this helps..  I hope you have a fire extinguisher.

 

Forge on and make beautiful things

Jim

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Greetings again Chief,

 

I know I sound like an overprotective old boy BUTTTT  .. I looked at your profile and I might suggest you get some help rigging electrical switches and such..

You are doing fine and will progress with time... 

 

Forge on and make beautiful things  

Jim

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id go mechanical personally, build yourself a sliding gate/choke.  I think if you search for 'air gate' or something like that (you will need to use "air gate site:iforgeiron.com" in the search bar of google minus the quotation marks, as the in house forum search will not accept 3 letter words) you can find any one of several very interesting threads regarding multiple different methods of choking, restricting, or otherwise redirecting variable amounts of a fixed volume blast source such as a hair dryer or electric blower with no electronic speed control.

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I didn't think about water and electrical. The bellows I really want are the hand cranked ones. I almost hand one but the guy changed his mind( he was giving me an anvil, forge, bellows, and some metal, but he just changed his mind a said no when I got there). I used one out a Jerry w's place and they seam to work pretty well.

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I started out with a hair dryer and then upgraded to a bathroom exhuast fan : ) . I bought a reohstat but have not installed it as I have a simple solution that has worked for months. I simply adjust the position of the fan to the pipe, the same can be done with the hairdryer. Rather than attaching it to the pipe, a simple shelf to support it will allow you to move further or closer to the pipe will regulate the air flow into the pipe.

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  • 2 months later...

Don't even worry about a sliding air gate or anything like that. Simplify things and use pre-constructed when possible. Just hook up a 1 inch shut off valve for plumbing into your piping and use that to regulate your air flow the same way you would regulate the amount of water coming out of a garden hose.

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  • 1 month later...

I'm still pulling together my setup, but ditto on Admanfrd, that's my plan.  Hair dryer plugs into the dimmer, HD even has one that is foot operated for about $15.  Duct the dryer to the forge, run the dryer cord to the foot operated dimmer, good to go.  At least in theory - I haven't actually put it together yet!

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  • 5 weeks later...

Chief, - I'm going to side with Jim on this - keep it safe.

 

Forges are typically dusty and near water.  It's an easy environment to get shocked. I recommend using a GFCI protected receptacle or circuit to power anything electrical in such a situation. Maybe your hair dryer is new enough to have one on the plug end.  It'll be a large "wall wart" with a test and reset button on it.

 

Most of the inline plug in dimmer switches I've seen are only two prong which will keep the GFCI from doing it's job which is to protect your life.  Unfortunately hardware stores often stock electrical devices and adapters that are extremely prone to misuse.  This would be a prime example.  The plug in dimmers are intended for table lamps in a clean and dry environment.  The $10 one mentioned above is rated for 300 watts.  Hairdryers are typically 1875 watts. That's exceeding it's rating by 600%!  

 

Hair dryers are so electrically demanding that it's a code requirement to wire bathroom receptacles with dedicated higher current carrying capacity circuit. That 1875 Watt rating would very likely trip a circuit breaker or fuse on it's own.

 

Overloaded electrical devices can be sneaky - they can surprise you when it goes wrong.  Dumping water on that fire is how things go from bad to worse.  Heed Jim's advice on the extinguisher.

 

For what it's worth, I was recently told by a hairdresser that  an OSHA inspector warned them about hearing loss due to hair dryer use.  I certainly don't want any more hearing loss.

 

Simply put - I wouldn't recommend that arrangement - the waste gate option mentioned above is a safer choice.  Also, the waste gate allows you to cut flow entirely while you're forging which will save a lot of fuel.  You could rig the valve to a foot pedal with a spring so you'd have a hands free adjustable airflow and a deadman's switch.  

 

Beyond that, I'd look into something that moves larger volumes of air with less speed. It might be worth investigating a furnace blower but you should seek the help of a local electrician to get it put together safely.

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If you disconect the heating elements, you greatly reduce the watage. Curently i use a sewing machine foot switch, but when it dies i belive i will change over to a lighting dimmer (wall mount) and a old style flore board starter swich. This gives me a deadmans switch as well. One might waint a perale cercut that will alow you to bypas the foot switch for long first heats and production runs.

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Charles,  You are correct that the heating elements add considerably to the wattage.  My post was from the presumption that the original poster was looking for a "No wiring needed" answer like our esteemed Admanfrd.

 

I couldn't assume they would have the knowledge, skill and tools to safely disassemble a hair dryer, remove the elements, measure the operating current of the motor, verify the lamp dimmer rating was adequate, reassemble the entire thing, and operate it with a functional GFCI protected circuit to ensure everything was safe.

 

Just removing or breaking the elements doesn't guarantee that the final assembly won't trip a GFCI. In my experience, any time the safety measure becomes a nuisance, people just bypass it. There's lots of OSHA violations issued every year for cords lacking a grounding prong or electrical tape covering a nicked cord.

 

Lots of people look at this forum - some more skilled than others.  I think it's important to reveal how a "simple" solution like the plug in dimmer can set up a chain reaction of problems to someone who doesn't fully understand how things can go wrong.

 

The plug in dimmer is a bad idea because it defeats the GFCI protection that could very well safe your life.  If you're looking for speed control use a three wire control off a sewing machine or a router.  At least they are built intentionally for the high starting current from motors AND they allow for GFCI protection. The router speed control is also a bit more dust-proof. Plus they get bonus points for being floor mounted controls!

 

Two prong plugs are an antiquated design that have been phased out of nearly everything but lamps and low current draw items like DC power supplies.  Many homeowners find their claims denied by insurance companies pointing to some hardware store rigging with antiquated two wire stuff.

 

I'm a Journeyman Electrician, I've seen the aftermath of plenty of electrical faults - they're never pretty.Life is dangerous enough without going looking for trouble.

 

Admanfrd, I really hope you consider this before recommending an unsafe assembly again.

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Charles,

 

Thanks for that! I know there's lots of folks here who know a great deal.  Once you've accumulated the skill and the tools lots of things are possible.  I'd wager that Fluke cost a fair bit more than $10!.  The skill to use it is absolutely worth a good bit more!

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Thanks for calling out the unsafe suggestion. Kids just pop off without knowing what they're talking about and not a thought about what might happen to someone who thinks they do know something. Doesn't make them bad people, just kids, I know I sure said too much when I was a kid didn't we all.

 

We as adults have a duty to keep an eye on the kids and hopefully get them through to adulthood and without taking anyone else with them.

 

Good call Brother.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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Admanfrd, Short version - Say you have something happen to a conductor.......like a hot ember or bit of steel.

 

A GFCI protects people by shutting off if it the current going to neutral doesn't match what's going in (say it's grounding out through a person). They will shut off in the event of even small amounts of leakage.

 

A fuse protects equipment, by shutting off in the event of a power surge or a short.  If you have ahold of a hot wire, and it's not enough to throw the breaker or blow the fuse......well, can you do the jitterbug?

 

So bypassing a GFCI, probably not so good to do. Definitely not going to be approved by your friendly neighborhood electrician....

 

I've got a rheostat on mine, but........sigh...

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Too many problems with people pretending to be electricians, for one I dont know of many 1500 watt lights in the home lamps, but many hair dryers are above that, so serious fire hazzard. In aditiont to the problems of GFCI being bypassed, many hair dryers want a 20 amp circuit.

 

Also at IFi we do not allow people to add to the Darwin Awards list if we can prevent it.   Anyone else remember one kid that used to post here, before his untimly end, that regularly poured gasolene into his fire to boost the temps and flames...?  this is in the same catigory when you add in the water bucket.

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