Evan Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Hey, i've decided to ditch my old oxiacetalyne gas setup because i can't efficiently heat up larger amounts of steel, so i have some natural lump coal and a brake drum i'm going to use, i just don't know what to do for a blower. how much volume of air would i need? i live on long island so its not easy to find an old crank blower or blow motor. I mean, will something like a hair dryer work? i guess that seems like a pretty ghetto solution but i don't necessarily know what to use. maybe a shop vac or something? any help would be appreciated. thanks. Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timekiller Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Im using an old BBQ grill, with a hair dryer and pea coal. I can eisly get to welding temps! Heres a tip, I used a hair dryer with a "cool blast" button taped down to save electric. I also have a router speed control hooked up to control speed of the fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RainsFire Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 ^^cool lol I hadn't thought of a router speed controll + a blower.. that makes just about anything possible as a blower. I personally usually use a hand crank blower on an old rivit forge, but as you said, there kinda hard to find.. so just make something work. for a while I was using a pipe drilled with 5 or so pin holes (about 1/34 dia) and an aircompressor with a valve off an old co2 tank. worked like a charm but often overloaded my compressor and made way to much noise.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Make sure you have a way to tune the air input because most blowdryers put out too much air for a typical small forge. Other sources of electric blowers are car heater blowers---requires 12 VDC power source Blowers built into things like copy machines Bathroom exhaust fans, etc. Compressed air is probably the most expensive way to get it as it wears the compressor which is expensive to fix or replace in order to do something that can be done by cheap things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted October 19, 2007 Author Share Posted October 19, 2007 cool, sounds good. thanks for all the suggestions, i think for now until i find a more suitable replacement i'll just get a blow dryer with a speed setting, or get a speed router. thanks alot for the input, that was really the last variable for me to set this dealy up. Thanks Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psilogen Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 my first forge was a portagrill with a hair dryer too. right now we've got a shop-vac with the tube in the other hole, but I've got ducttape covering all but a square half-inch or so of the intake, because I don't really need my bottom draft forge acting like some kind of horrible coal fountain if you can find a squirrel cage and a motor, it's not terribly hard to rig up a plywood assembly for it, but if you've already got a hairdryer, just disable the heating coils and go to town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 Strip out an old tumble dryer for the fan, they're quiet, shift a lot of air too and you can hook up the fan to any motor you've got handy if the one it's got is broken. To control air blast either a light dimmer switch or a butterfly valve, slide gate etc etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie Zietman Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 I'm using an old tubledryer's fan. Like Ian said, It's quiet, and puts out as much air as I could need. On trash day look around, there's always someone who wants to get rid of a dryer. good luck! Merry Being, Archie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 BP0128 Forge Blower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 Hmm. a dryer fan eh? how hard is that to get out of an old dryer? i just don't want to be tearing up someones bulk trash in their front lawn to get at it.. Thanks Ian, and Archie. That forge blower looks nice but i don't want to be buying something proper, looks like it might cost a bit, since i'm in the teeter toter stages i don't want to let too much money in this. but thats good for the future. thanks again. Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 i just don't want to be tearing up someones bulk trash in their front lawn to get at it.. Take the whole thing, leave no traces. Once you get home you can decide how to remove the motor and fan. The dryer case makes a nice work table. There are plenty of wires, switches, and timers that can be used for other projects. Besides, if everything on the dryer is a total loss, your trash man will still take it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted October 21, 2007 Author Share Posted October 21, 2007 mmmm. i drive a corolla that might a bit o fun. i could probably borrow my uncles pickup. i'm gonna keep my eye out. cant you sell heating coils to a scrap shop for money anyway? or am i thinking of something else... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale Russell Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Evan, quick , cheap & nasty . Find youseself a vacum motor , hook a lite dimmer switch ta it & Noise will drive youse CRAZY , but u'll ave move then enough air bloke Dale Russell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted October 21, 2007 Author Share Posted October 21, 2007 not a bad solution, thanks dale. vacuums certianly aren't in short supply. wow i got plenty of options now heh next trash vacuum i see i'm tearin it apart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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