Making a Brake Drum Forge More Effecient

[GoodThing Factory]

Made my first forge from a semi brake drum ... after using it w charcoal for a few weeks I'm realizing the "fire pot" is way too big and wasting a lot of fuel. I know this isnt exactly a revelation but I'm not ready to ditch it yet so trying to make the thing as efficient as possible ... So far I've tried building up 2 sides  w furnace cement (a waste of time and money) it never really cured properly and what did harden has already chipped off. I tried inserting a couple of pieces of 12ga sheet metal to form a more V shaped fire pot - in principal it seemed to do what I was after  ... concentrate the fuel closer to the work piece but with nothing behind the sheet to insulate it I'd think I'm losing a lot of heat. 

My questions ... is there any real drawback to using just the sheet metal? What's involved in placing fire bricks ... can i just place them in there or would I need to cement them to the sides of drum? What about putting a few regular bricks on two sides? And finally, I've read a bit about using clay to insulate  - can I build up a clay lining on two sides. 

Pics attached for reference ... thanks in advance for comments / thoughts

 

 

Edited October 18, 2015 by GoodThing Factory

[Michael]

A couple of fire bricks set around the tuyere will give you a deeper fire. You can knock the corners off the bricks with a masonry blade in an angle grinder, or a brick chisel. Cut corners will fit the round side of the drum. No need to cement anything in place.  I did this with my brakedrum forge burning charcoal. Works great, deeper fire and less fuel burned.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

A brake rotor works better, but to make what you have work just continue cutting around at the lowest level you have cut now. My vintage forges have shallow depressions, say 1"-1.5" deep. Put a sheet metal pan around the lower cut drum, and get going.

 

[Charles R. Stevens]

Disapearing text bug

Fill in the drum with 4" of adobe or cob, scoop out a 4" deap by 6" bowl and traughtle back the air to a gental breeze. 

A 6x2" bell reducer makes a good fire pot. 

Charcol and botom blasts arent the happyest relationship, side blast is better.

 

[Frosty]

And here you're expressing a symptom that might hold you back. You have a piecce of equipment you KNOW doesn't work well, is inefficient and costs WAY too much to use but you STILL want to try and make it work.

Sure, you can MAKE anything "work" but you'll be much farther ahead here and in life when you recognize when it's time to move on. Except for attaching truck wheels to axles and spindles I've only discovered one thing a truck drum is good for. They make outstanding buried anchors though not as good as almost any automotive steel wheel. I will admit I've yet to make my semi brake drum "pot bellied" stove and I THINK those'd be DE bomb. Then again I'm wrong often enough I'm not surprised anymore.

Back on point, if you just throw together a functional charcoal forge for now and improve your skills at the anvil you'll start learning what you really need in a forge and better still you can sell your mistakes, use the money to buy tools, materials and such.  Sooner or later you'll probably find a patron who'll pay you to do something that truck drum forge is perfect for.

Or maybe BBQ lunch on it for the employees on holidays.

Frosty The Lucky.

[yahoo2]

any light coloured clay brick will handle far higher temperatures than their red brothers. you can cut and lay them like pavers in a bed of sand. The only spot that may need some tweaking is where you want the heat from the coals reflected back into the fire. it is possible to sculpt a depression from white clay and coat it with high temp coating if you have some handy. it makes a big difference to the heat of the fire.

[yahoo2]

if you stick with the bottom blast, the grate needs to be bigger for charcoal to get that gentle airflow, the holes should cover at least a 3 inch area. the way to do this is make a  steel ring to place on the forge floor and drop the grate on top.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Wile you are working out the bugs, just use dirt, way less expensive. 

If you want to try side blast I will walk you threw it.

guess I need to build a couple of "no drum" forges to show the new guys. 

[GoodThing Factory]

Disapearing text bug

Fill in the drum with 4" of adobe or cob, scoop out a 4" deap by 6" bowl and traughtle back the air to a gental breeze. 

A 6x2" bell reducer makes a good fire pot. 

Charcol and botom blasts arent the happyest relationship, side blast is better.

 

Thanks  - is the main issue with bottom blast sparks / fire fleas or are there other qualities side blasts have that I'm not aware of? So far the fire seems to be pretty good - getting mild steel to bright yellow pretty fast it just seems like the fire ball is way too big so burning lot's charcoal for no reason. 

if you stick with the bottom blast, the grate needs to be bigger for charcoal to get that gentle airflow, the holes should cover at least a 3 inch area. the way to do this is make a  steel ring to place on the forge floor and drop the grate on top.

thanks - good suggestions ... i appreciate it. 

Wile you are working out the bugs, just use dirt, way less expensive. 

If you want to try side blast I will walk you threw it.

guess I need to build a couple of "no drum" forges to show the new guys. 

be great if you posted something ... i got most of my ideas from youtiube videos and almost all the builds are bottom blast brake drums mostly from semis ... granted you can't take everything you see there at face value ... i mean one guy made his forge from galvanized steel which if i'm not mistaken will  send you to the emergency room after about 10 minutes of breathing the fumes,

A couple of fire bricks set around the tuyere will give you a deeper fire. You can knock the corners off the bricks with a masonry blade in an angle grinder, or a brick chisel. Cut corners will fit the round side of the drum. No need to cement anything in place.  I did this with my brakedrum forge burning charcoal. Works great, deeper fire and less fuel burned.

thanks a lot

[Charles R. Stevens]

Now this is my speculation, but bottom blasts blow the are up, wile a side blast blows side ways, hits the far wall, then tuns up. Takes the air a fraction of a second longer to go up. 

The side blast over the last two mallina burned charcoal mor than wood, a 3/4-1" tuyeer (3/4 pipe is close to 7/8") if you mesure from the center of the tuyeer, you want about 1-1/2" to the bottom of the bowl, 4-1/2" to the top. 

Now with a wooden or thin steel box, we usualy want 2" of insulation (adobe, cob, sand, hard fire brick) so thats a 8" deap box. Now to keep slag and crud geting stuck, one usualy uses a "bellows stone" personaly i notch between bricks and keep the tuyeer back so it dosnt burn up and if I use coal i dont get slag stuck under the tuyeer. If you stick the tuyeer out in the fire you are doing it wrong. 

Walla, a forge, infact the forge from the early iron age up untile the industrial age. 

Bet you new that befor you bought all that 2"

[Frosty]

My favorite thing about a side blast fire is you can SEE exactly where the sweet spot is and it's easy to access. It's a much better system for charcoal and works a treat on coal too.

Frosty The Lucky.