Brasilikilt Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Hello everyoneA few months ago I built a little coffee can forge and mini side-arm burner.After having used it several times, I am wondering what it is I could have done better, and learn anything I can in regards to optimizing it's performance.Here is a short video showing it running around 15-20 p.s.i (I think)http://s21.photobucket.com/user/Brasilikilt/media/11739874_10204234029952802_437786060_n_zps2ecbwy7p.mp4.htmlWith all the orange flames shooting out, my first thought is that the burner is too large for the forge, and/or my gas pressure is up too high. I still get the dragons breath when lowering the gas pressures below 10 p.s.i, (which was the expected operating range of this forge) but it seems to take *forever* to get anything up to forging temperatures.....I never expected this forge to get to yellow welding temperatures, but it doesn't seem to be getting as hot as it should. It seems to make it only into the lower orange temps, even when the opposite opening is blocked off.I know that my limited experience using gas forges, and the fact that I hadn't forged anything for a long time are certainly factors to be considered.Here are a couple more pictures which may be helpful.As always, any thoughts or comments are greatly appreciatedThanks, and take careBK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 What do you have in it for a refractory liner? What is the chamber volume and what size Side arm is it?Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 (edited) It looks like you have all refractory and no insolating blanket. Ditto Frosty's query. Use a blanket such as Inswool, use an insolating refractory, such as Kast-0-Lite and over coat the refractory with an infrared reflective product such as Plistix or Metrikote. Check out the tutorials at the Forge Supplies page at www.WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith.com. Let me know if you have further questions or if I can help you. Edited July 13, 2015 by WayneCoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brasilikilt Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 Hey there!I did actually line the forge with a single layer of insulation from the pottery supply shop, and covered it with a thick coating of high heat furnace cement from Lowes.In retrospect, it probably was not the best choice (even though it's rated up to 3,000F) because after running the forge for a while, I noticed the cement starting to melt where the flame hits the bottom!http://www.lowes.com/pd_15879-138-35515_0__?productId=3572462I measured the inside of my forge, and the chamber is 3X7", which calculates out to 49.49" cubic inches.I got the instructions from this site: http://www.zoellerforge.com/sidearm.html It says that the mini side-arm burner works great with smaller forges of around 60" cu/in....Mine is not far off.I think you guys are guessing correctly, and that the lining of my forge is to blame. I just noticed on the same website, they mention using 2" of insulating wool in their coffee can forge, when I used only one. They're also using a *micro* side arm burner, for which I did not see the plans, or parts list on the site.... I'm guessing they scaled it down from 1/2" to a 3/8" tube and reducing tee?Thanks for chiming in fellas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.