Iron_Will Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Howdy everyone, thanks for having me. I'll get right to it: I watched a lot of movies and with a vivid imagination and an interest in history (military in particular) from classical antiquity to the present, I thought I would build a working forge, buy an anvil along with some tongs, hammers, etc and start by cranking out an "expedient" sword like Ehud from the Old Testament... ...and here I am about 2 years down the road with nothing to show but 2 coal forges I built that could actually weld and an experimental "modular" propane forge that I'm getting extremely close to welding temperature and a very humbled ego. (It's not so easy finding blacksmiths to study under in or around San Antonio, TX) Laugh if you want but may my folly be a light with which another man lights his own path. I love the science and physics behind metallurgy and am continuously amazed by the knowledge and ability true Blacksmiths possess and seek to eventually obtain that with which I revere. Will Brown Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2006 And now for the "Bonus": Unlike many who join a forum only to make their post a request for information vs. a true introduction, I chose to endeavor to BRING SOMETHING TO THE TABLE instead of merely ASKING TO EAT FROM IT. My latest burner experiment with my own version of a poor man's hybrid burner: A Venturi-driven 1 1/2" chamber 6" in length with a short 6" barrel with tons of excessive adjustment available. I literally had just fired it up last night for the first time running the choke completely open using a MIG Tip with far too large of an orifice for entertainment. And now my pictures are here for your amusement as will be any note-worthy revelations as I come across them. P.S. I am at a loss to explain it but @ 30 PSI, this thing "BUZZES" just like a German WWII V-1 Buzz Bomb and has to be heard to be believed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latticino Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Have concerns about the combustion that appears to be taking place inside your mixing chamber. Doesn't the steel pipe just downstream of the galvanized reducer get pretty hot after running the burner for a while? To me it looks as though the mig tip needs to be moved a good couple of inches towards the mixing chamber and the mixing chamber may be a bit on the short side. It appears you have made it adjustable, have you tried it with the tip closer to the mixing chamber? How about discharging into a forge? NA burners are quite loud, if you are looking for a quieter burner I would recommend a blown style with a ribbon type outlet (for real quiet you can even locate the blower somewhat remotely and put it in a baffled enclosure). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Welcome aboard Will, glad to have you. About your burner, there is so much wrong with it it'd take more time to correct than just build one correctly. Seriously, put that . . . "thing" on a shelf to remind yourself what trying to reinvent the wheel can lead to. The main issue I see with it is your lack of understanding of how the things work. Until you get at least a working handle on how they work stick with proven plans. There are a number of good burner plans linked and posted here, some are simple, easy and effective up to Ferrari type high efficiency burners. The level of your of shop skills will have a lot to do with which you should choose and your success. Oh another clue it doesn't take a lot of experience to spot, the flame should NEVER be burning inside the burner, not even a little bit in the tip of the nozzle let alone clear back at the air intakes. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Howdy from College Station Texas! 20 hours ago, Iron_Will said: Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2006 Glad to hear! if your ever down here again, feel free to shoot me an email and stop by, would love to have a fellow beginning blacksmith over, maybe I could teach you a few things, and you teach me some also, that's what where here for! Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron_Will Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 Well thank you Sir, that's mighty kind of you and I shall look get word to you before I'm back up that way again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron_Will Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 The orifice size on the MIG Tip in the first pictures was way-oversize (like ~ #50 over-sized) which of course was why the flame kept lighting in the tube...WAY TOO MUCH PROPANE moving TOO SLOW out of a orifice that was TOO LARGE resulting in much REDUCED VENTURI PERFORMANCE...I knew it was too big but my curiosity got the better of me and made for a pretty cool picture but the configuration was useless for any forge. First Forge Trial: Broached out a new MIG Tip to about a #76 and smoothed out both ends of the pipe along with the inside of the FRONT 1 1/2" - 1" Reducer. It would not stay lit in open-air and I took that as a good sign and then set it up in the forge and began. Compared to the 3/4" Mako-Style burner I was using, THERE REALLY WASN'T A COMPARISON TO BE MADE: Using the same size orifice, the "Trailer Park" Hybrid was able to exceed it in every way cutting the "room temp-to-forge temp time" literally in half while running at 30 PSI. It was able to IDLE down to almost 3 PSI and I briefly pushed it up to 40 PSI but beyond about 30 PSI it's just a waste of propane. I tried a lot of different angles and lighting to capture the inside of the forge but as can be seen, the light was just too bright & intense. So how did it do? This is a solid 1" X 1" piece of 1018 taken from room temperature to beyond critical in just under 10 minutes. I stopped the forge just after seeing the sparks coming out the exhaust and that the steel had started to melt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 3 hours ago, Iron_Will said: Well thank you Sir, that's mighty kind of you and I shall look get word to you before I'm back up that way again! It's a pleasure to be of help! Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 It appears to work just fine from here, good enough. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aessinus Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 Howdy! '83 myself & son is '13, both MET Ain't material science & metallurgy fun? Welcome aboard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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