habu68 Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 I'm almost finished with my demo cart, and I have no experience with the side blast forge operation. My question is what is a typical opening size for tuyere nozzle. I am using a 36 in diameter great bellows that seems to have a plenty (maybe too much) blast with a 1 1/4 in black pipe. I am not using a water cooled tuyere at this point but i have left space in my design to attach one at a later date. The forge cart will be used demos only and it will be unlikely that it will be used for material over 3/4 in square. Any other hints or observations on the side blast forge are gladly acceptedtrail fit of demo cart project - Blacksmith Photo Gallery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBrown Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 I have no idea about answering your question but i so want to build on of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dablacksmith Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 I used one for a couple of years and went back to a bottom draft forge ... I found the side draft took too much playing with the fire ..It was my portable forge with bellows similar to what you have built .I used a 3/4 pipe but your 1 inch should work fine .The secret is use lots of coal and make a big mound ( I tend to run small fires) Good luck ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 Bruce Wilcock may respond on this as I believe he has commented in the past. 3/4 is often mentioned for general work in British texts - 1" should not be too big. PS - I like your sig line, are/were you a plastic molder? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habu68 Posted February 24, 2008 Author Share Posted February 24, 2008 Bruce Wilcock may respond on this as I believe he has commented in the past. 3/4 is often mentioned for general work in British texts - 1" should not be too big. PS - I like your sig line, are/were you a plastic molder? My younger brother is a Tool and die maker and owns a small molding company (up to 350 tons), I helped out at the plant for a couple of years while he was getting up and running. he just recently closed his plant to go to work for one of his customers, and is currently working on the mold design for the 4th generation I-phone. He has done all right for a kid that flunked out of high school and went to work clipping parts at a plastics plant. An example of a couple of his customers:KONG Pet Toys - Legendary Strength, Quality, and Performance One of his first mold designs as an apprentice tool makerOtterBox.com | Waterproof Boxes, Waterproof Cases Tooling and molding for his major customer for the last few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt87 Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 I've seen 3/4inch mentioned in British texts. I've used a back blast coke forge before, and IIRC it had a 3/4inch inner diameter. (And about 3inch outer diameter ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 My younger brother is a Tool and die maker and owns a small molding company (up to 350 tons), I helped out at the plant for a couple of years while he was getting up and running. he just recently closed his plant to go to work for one of his customers, and is currently working on the mold design for the 4th generation I-phone. He has done all right for a kid that flunked out of high school and went to work clipping parts at a plastics plant. An example of a couple of his customers:KONG Pet Toys - Legendary Strength, Quality, and Performance One of his first mold designs as an apprentice tool makerOtterBox.com | Waterproof Boxes, Waterproof Cases Tooling and molding for his major customer for the last few years. I worked in the injection molding business for 18 years - up to 1000 tons, had one tool that weighed 26K lbs. I started in cost estimating and worked my way up to running the plant - was managing 400 people and $50 million a year by 1998. Mostly computer, some automotive and industrial - it's all gone to China these days. Longmont used to be something of a center for moldmaking - we had a couple built up there in the 1980's but I can't remember the name of the tool shop. I do recall that they were very fine molds and ran good parts from first shots. Re Gerald's post: I read in an old text that one of the reasons side blasts fell out of favor in America was that they were fuel hogs. The complaint was that the fire got too long under continuous blast. One thing I have done on a side tuyere is to stack a couple of bricks a ways in front of the pipe to redirect the air flow and contain the fire a bit - of course, that makes it look like a bottom blast...:-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 Re Gerald's post: One thing I have done on a side tuyere is to stack a couple of bricks a ways in front of the pipe to redirect the air flow and contain the fire a bit - of course, that makes it look like a bottom blast...:-D That would effectively turn it into a pocket setup and a good way to go. This allows you to make just about any size fore you need. It's the way I use a duck's nest. My fire grate lays in a depression in my forge table and I make the "fire pot" whatever size I need with fire brick. It's not perfect but it's versatile. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 Some general comments on Tue irons bore size For normal workshop forging in the old smithy with hand bellows was 7/8" as a guide, some were 3/4" others over an inch tends to depend on workshop and types of work they were regularly doing. The actual blast going through the tue on some of these forges is controlled by a slide valve in a workshop set up to control the size of the fire to be economical on fuel, smaller capacity bellows may not need this facility. I have hand bellows that I use coal on and that has a 3/4" hole through and this is more than adequate for what you will need, and because of the relatively small air capacity of the bellows, a slide/ air control is not needed on a set up like this. I would suggest making the Hole 5/8" diameter to start with, and then open up the hole a fraction at a time if this is not satisfactory, until you reach the size that is. Output from bellows may also be a factor in the size you need, I have made numerous side blast forges, mainly used on coke, and with an electric blower, and slide valve to control air blast, and these have had 5/8" bores in, and we can heat/forge weld up to 2"square no problem What you may have to consider is that when making these tue irons up, is the heat they will be coping with. Normally we construct the tue irons in a water cooled jacket to prevent them rapidly burning away, Even cast iron ones will burn away if worked hard. The pictures show a forge used at St Clem's day at Sticklepath foundry in Devon, made by a local blacksmith, the tue iron hole is about 7/8 in this one, pictures should give an idea of how it is constructed using a water tank to keep the nose cool. Pictures were uploaded, may be in gallery under St Clems day forges/ Glen help please.!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habu68 Posted February 25, 2008 Author Share Posted February 25, 2008 What I've done so far is a supply pipe of 2" electrical conduit reduced with a 2 to a 1.25 with a black pipe bell reducer and a black pipe nipple. It will be easy enough to buy a few 1.25 inch to 1, 3/4 and 1/2 inch reducers. My plan, once I get a size, is to through tap a reducer so I can screw a pipe into the back side of the reducer with the larger diameter becoming the water jacket. with a Tee giving access to the water tank. ( I know clear as mud) when i get there I'll post pics. the nice thing about the bellows is that you can very the blast by placing a weight on the top of the bellows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt87 Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 Haha Habu, I recently had a very similar idea to that re: water jackets from pipe nipples and reducers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habu68 Posted February 25, 2008 Author Share Posted February 25, 2008 Haha Habu, I recently had a very similar idea to that re: water jackets from pipe nipples and reducers. The problem is that pipe threads are tapered and you must re-tap the bell from the back side in order to thread the nipple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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